Good night and good luck

This is the a class blog for Introduction to Political Science 110, Spring 02008, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. It is now closed, but will remain online as an archive of our semester's journey.

Just as I asked my students to produce a Reflections paper at the end of our class, now that the summer is over I've made the time to post reflections of my own over at the sceptical futuryst. The post is aimed at anyone who may be interested -- futures studies and design educators in particular -- to learn from the experiment in future-jamming that we carried out together for the class.

Congratulations again, both to my students -- you guys were great -- and to our collaborators in the art class with which we worked, Beginning Digital Imaging 400, led by the exceptional Mr Scott Groeniger. I learned a great deal from you all.

Energy Discipline -- Final Submission

hi everybody,
sorry that our group wasn't able to post our final project earlier, but
better late than never.

the link to our website is:

www.MadManMax.com

I would have posted our pictures, but one of the art students as the
original copies, and the website won't let me copy them. But if you're
interested and would like to check them out, they can be found at:

www.MadManMax.com/Presentation

((the capital 'P' is essential))

Hope everybody has a wonderfully fantastic summer, and i hope to see
you all around campus.
michelle*

my ad-busting pics

alright so here are the pics I showed you guys today for my presentations! unfortunately I was only able to finish up the Calvin Klein pic today when I got home.  

media continuation group's pictures

media continuation installment

Alright so our power point didn't exactly worked out the way we hoped, but none the less props should go to Minho for putting it all together at the last minute.  Anyways, so our group did the media continuation future and over all I think it worked out quite well.  Granted we had a bit of a rough start in the beginning, we were still able to get this project off the ground and installed out in the public.  Like I've said in class, we had minimal interactions with the posters so I wasn't able to get anyone's reaction to them.  Also Claire from the art class took several photos of the installation, but it's unfortunate that she came down with a cold and wasn't able to get us the pictures in time.  Our original idea was to get a vending machine so that we could dispense the "pills" (Tic Tacs), but we didn't have to time to pull off the stunt.  Our back up idea was to maybe go over to the bookstore and just swap out their tic tacs for ours if they had, but again we didn't have the time to pull off that stunt either.  

Overall I really liked this experiment.  Not only did it really open my eyes to how the future could possibly be, but I believe that this was certainly a once in a lifetime experience for many of us to actually be a part of something like this.  I wished I could post up more pics of the project, but like I've said before it's unfortunate that Claire came down with a cold.  However, if I remember to, I'll gladly post up the pictures later on this blog! Good job everyone on their projects!

minutemen april1808

the presentations were exciting. It was nice to see how far some groups took the project. ePaint was actually the most interesting to me because of how tangible the scenario seemed. My second favorite group was the magnets. I thought the magnets were a great idea and people couldn't really just walk past it without reading what it was about. as far as the group work goes..i didnt really like it all that much; i think mostly because the groups were so big it was hard to rally that many people to focus on getting the project done. I like the idea of combining with an art class, but i didnt really like the large size of the group and the fact that it was hard to get the art class to understand the focus of the project and not go off on tangents.

INSTALLATION OF MEDIA COLLAPSE PROJECT

Printing from high-tech graphic printer

Poster installed at campus center.

Poster and surfboard artifact…fire hazards alert!

Students passing through the posters and looking puzzle. What is that?

Campus center security silenced out saying to take everything down after 3-4
minutes up on the wall.

Second installment at the Art building. Barely anyone looking at the poster.

A closer view of the poster the idea of “Surrender now and food/supplies will
be provided.

Minute Paper 4/17

It was cool to be able to see everyone's projects at the same time. Each group did a good job at trying to represent their scenarios and also at installing them throughout campus. For our project's installation and data gathering, it was kinda hard since not many people looked at our posters. I dunno if they weren't eye-catching or people thought they were some kind of advertisement. Another hardship that we had during installation, was the scotch tape that we bought from the bookstore, it didn't stick. We used many pieces of tape and it just wouldn't stick. I was happy how the posters and fliers turned out and i wanna thank Cari and Bobby for the wonderful job they did on them and also want to thank Hannah for all her hard work too.

4/18/08

Power Point Presentations of all the groups were amazing. I thought I put lots of effort in mine even with very limited source at the time, but some of the group's PP presentation was just so good that I felt bad. This collaboration with Art class students was awesome. I never knew that Art students will have so much to say about Politics or future or anything like that. Not only were they good at making things artistically pleasing to our eyes but they were very smart in general knowledge. Our group's presentation was really good in a sense that we had to improvise the whole thing because my powe point presentation didn't show up on the computer because the power point I used was the newest version. I thought I was in trouble but everybody in the group knew what we are suppose to be talking about so everything went smoothly. All in all it was really good stuff we did and I enjoyed it a lot.

Minute Paper 4/17

One thing interesting I noticed about many of the presentations is how far all of the final products seemed to be from their initial topic and path, such as the China focused media scenario just using the communications to the mainland being cut off as the starting point. The project that really stood out most to me was the media discipline in which the government rationed media access based on health. It surprised me how many people seemed to be reacting with the belief that it was somehow scary or too much control, while to me it seemed like the best idea I have ever heard to cure the obesity problem in the US. Of course I feel probably the most important moment in today's class was the look on the face of the arts class teacher when he saw the location that one poster had been place, specifically within the poster stand. It was particularly funny for me because both at the time and in the presentation in class, the other group members mocked me for specifically making sure to distance myself from that placement, and effectively be not part of that placement. It seems that in retrospect my instinct was correct that something about that placement was a bad idea.

Andrew

Minute Paper for 4/17

Today's class consisted of presentations of our future artifacts.  The presentation that I most liked was ePaint because they seemed to do a lot of researching into their topic, which got them all passionate, and it was just great.  I thought media discipline had really realistic looking graphics, and it's amazing she drew most of them.  The Mad Man Max group was pretty good because they has the magnets, which I thought was a very effective way to shock people or just get their attention.  Plus, it helped that David was on the school paper and was able to get a little story published about them.  Unfortunately, most groups' postings weren't able to stay up long enough for many people to take much interest in them, but overall I think everybody did a great job! Those graphics students are amazing, you just pitch a graphic idea to them and it's done within the class period, like riding a bike for them.  So thanks very much to Nick and Mike for making our project breezy.

Media Discipline Photos/Slides/Poster

These are a couple of the slides from our PowerPoint, one of our posters (I wanted to post both of them but unfortunatly I only had this one on my computer), and a few of the photos we took outside Campus Center.

Minute Paper (04-17-08)

So, today was very exciting and interesting after two weeks of collaboration with the Art students and all the hard work were lay out based on the different work produced by each group. I felt overwhelmed by listening to all the very educational and some bizarre artifacts by other groups like the Dream pill. It looks realistic and imagine having an actual vending machine, I think I would actually give it a try. And working with the Art students we both learned from each other. The Art students with their special talents on producing fascinating imaging and our idea about the scenarios based on the different futures we encountered in our scenario. I also think hands down, everyone did a great job somehow. Another idea that got my attention has to do with the blood sample ATM. They got their idea going very well and to me it is well put out and the power point looks official. Overall, every groups have interesting idea at one point going along with there scenario.Good job everyone! Now that this is finish our upcoming presentations should be very entertaining too.

minute paper 4-17

Today's class was probably the most exciting class of all. I really enjoyed watching everyone present their projects to the rest of the class and explain their artifacts. It was nice to finally see everything come together after trying to sneak peaks at little bits of projects here and there. I must say, everyone did a fantastic job with everything and everyones ideas were creative and original. The e-paint project was very intriguing to me for the fact that that type of work is already in the making. It seems so futuristic, yet its right around the corner.
It was a blast working with the lovely and talented art students. They were great at interpreting ideas and conveying them through the art work. They made everything that much more realistic.

Media Transformation

Here's a little picture trail history of what our group media transformation went through as we put forth our work for the public to see.

A closeup of the card posted

What's this?

Grab a paper? Grab a card as well

Kinkos worker wondering what he's just printed

Please visit our website!!

Don't forget to go to our site www.finemannuniversal.com

Minute Paper 4/17

Wow, very impressive everyone. All of the projects presented where both original and, considering the short amount of time we actually had to work, really professional. I was particularly impressed by the multi-media approach many of the groups took, with everything from magnets, blogs, posters, business cards, websites, and video/PowerPoint used. I would also like to say that I’m really proud of the way my group persevered through some really serious problems. Whether it was campus center changing their minds and taking away our TV, the fact that we where constantly forced to work with only two or three of us present, or it was equipment problems like adapters not working or our camera dieing within the first minutes after setting up our project we always found a way to make it happen, adjusting to our problems and getting right back to work. In conclusion it has been an honor to work with both the art students and all of you, and it has been a privilege to have been part of this project.

Mark Alexander

minute paper [17 apr]

i was extremely impressed with every group in class today!  everyone did an amazing job; the posters, fliers, websites etc came out looking so great (very professional looking!).  we are really lucky that we got to work with the art students. 
 
one of my favorite installations was the idream pill vending machine.  i would have never thought of that.  i'm sure tons of people stopped & looked at that poster & wondered what it was.  it was really eye catching and official looking. 

Installment Pictures for Energy Continuation

This installment was posted on the elevator door.
This installment was posted outside of Hamilton Library
This is an installment posted in Moore Hall's bulletin board.

Minute Paper 4/17/08

Today's class was really interesting to see all of the groups' future jamming projects. I must say that all of the groups did really amazing jobs in creating detailed posters or websites. With the help of the ART students all of our groups were able to put our unique ideas in very creative graphics. I thought the group who did the energy Mad Man Max stickers were really good in coming up with an idea that could catch a widespread audience. I really enjoyed joining classes with the ART class not only because we were able to put our creative together, but also because of the fact that we got to meet new people.

04.17.08

so today we got to see all of the completed projects, and i must say
that it made me very proud to be a part of this class and our future
jamming process. i was very impressed by different ideas and means used
to catch the attention of the general public, and i can say without a
doubt that our projects have definitely left an impact on a significant
number of people. my favorite project by far was Finneman Universal and
their "device free" concept. i thought that business card was very,
very effective and aesthiccally pleasing, it defintely looked ligit.
Thhe fact that it was practically text free definitely left a lot of
room for curiosty and interest, and i found it very compelling; it
looked very professional. I also thought it was genius to make it on a
business card because this allowed for the production of many, which
enabled them to reach more people. the website was also very well put
together and came out very nicely, and all in all i thought the whole
thing was very well thought out, from the logo creation to execution.
While this was my personal favorite, i think that every group had their
strong points and things that made thier project unique and powerful.

04.15.08

(i'm sorry this is so late, it's tuesday's blog)

i thought my group and i would have to spend today making our magnets,
however, when i got to class i was delighted to learn that the art
students had already finsihed making them. that definitely saved us so
much time, and allowed us to get started on installation right away. i
had a wonderful time distributing aftifacts from our future around
campus. It was exciting to know that everything came together quite
seemlessly, and now was our chance to really reach the general public.
we were able to put almost all of our magnets on cars, only saving a
few for ourselves and the presentation. in the beginning we were more
focused on putting them on cars that consume more gas, like big trucks
and SUV's, but after awhile i started putting them on any car because i
thought that limiting our intending population would definitely bias
our results. David, on of our art students, works for Ka Leo and so we
went and talked to the editor and she loved the idea of featuring a
picture of our installation process in thursdays edition. i was really
excited about it because i know that our project would catch the
attention of a much wider audience then it would have otherwise. all in
all, it was a very successull day.

Installment pictures for Energy collapse

We installed on the upstairs UH Bookstore windows



This is an installment outside of Subway in Campus Center

This is an installment outside of Starbucks at Campus Center.

Today

Today's class was really fun, I enjoyed seeing everyone Else's projects and ideas. I especially liked the gas one. Mainly because that seems so realistic to me , the last drop of gas could happen in our lifetimes and we really have no idea. not only because of the limited supply but because of the increasing prices. I thought all the projects were put together nicely and it shows allot of creativity in our classes, I mean we did come up with those ideas just from an idea/situation. With all the work that went into the projects they all were great. Good job everyone. see you on Tuesday.

minut paper 4-17-08

Today in class we went over our projects, and presented them to the rest of the class. We talked about where the artifact installations went, and where they were most effective. The most intriguing presentation was that of energy transformation i believe it was. The one with the ePaint. I am extremely interested in alternative energy, and always have been. I am definitely going to do some follow upon this technology. I would love to find out how to make this product, or at least the science behind how they work. This technology is great, however, we all know that oil companies are filthy rich and ideas like this are continually silenced. So even if this technology does come to light, it will not make energy any cheaper but it will make for clean green energy.

One minute paper 4/17

In todays class we got to present our projects that we were working on.  I was very impressed with everyones project.  It was cool to see what others did and the approach that they took to get the project done and to get it out in society.  I had a really fun time doing this project because i felt like i had a little impact on society.  I really enjoyed doing this project and thought it was a very fun and important project to do.

istalation minute paper

we finally got to see everyones projects! they were all super cool and
amazing. The work was great. Good job everyone. Im glad we had that
experience of future jamming.
Attached here are some pictures of the project.

4/17/08

Today was ok but i feel i did not get to contribute artistically to our project. i felt we should have made the pictures  look more physical but whatever. The future will be determined by our generation   and that is a little scary for some but ideal for most. we all must stand up for what we believe in and not take anything for granted.  Some people like to talk about doing things, other than really doing them . A person is a good as the words that they speak, and it is always neccessary to stay true to your word to the second unless unstoppable forces keep you from choosing your path. which in that case dont ever give up and dont ever loose sight of the future changes you want to make.

Minute paper 4/16

Sorry this is a little late.

Unfortunatly there isn't to much to report on today, our printing ended up consuming our entire class time forcing us to postpone going public, but we plan to be up and running Thursday morning.

Mark Alexander

Installation time?

Ok so today was supposed to be our day to install our projects and
observe..unfortunately we weren't able to get that far into the process
since we were prepping the posters and such. However looking at the
posters today, I'm sure we will get some crazy attractions. I'm hoping
that the pills will pull through later too so that we will have
something else to give out. Look out for our posters everyone! Dream
vendors!
--
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