We met up today so we could all work on the model. Due to other commitments a Saturday was the only day we could all come in and work on it. After a slow start we managed to get stuck into things such as the surrounding environment, AI, Sounds and the main building model. I did alot of experiments and stuffing round to try and get people to randomly walk around and to have random AI but it didn't seem to work.
One experiment was to use the chicken system where chickens randomly walk around the level but the problem with this was that once you changed the model to people the animations didn't work so people just floated around instead of working.
We got a fair bit done during the day and had some good discussions to do with what needed to be completed and how we would do it.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Progress Blog
Since the draft proposal we have done alot of work on our Crysis environment. We have added many new things and fixed problems, and generally made it a better real time environment that shows off our design.
The main building has been continually added to and edited in ArchiCad. Interior spaces have been added and the exterior has been improved. For the final presentation we hope to have it completely modelled up and resolved. As well as this, the surrounding buildings have been worked on. Immediate surrounding buildings have had more details added and have been refined to give a better site context. As well as this, roads and vegetation has been added so that it feels more like an environment people can relate to and see in context.
The harbour and the wharf which is a big part of our design has been greatly improved on. With many things add and refined. We have many boats in to show how the harbour is a very integral part of the site and is fairly busy. The wharf itself has been edited and built apon, with better walk ways, benches and lighting, once again to lift the whole environment to a higher level. The harbour plays a big role and these changes help to emphasize that.
These additions have not been with out drama, the level and editor itself has many issues abnd constantly crashes, at times loosing lots of our work. We also learnt the hardway with the uni computers, because they delete everything off the main drives when you log off. At one stage the computer where we had most of our work crashed and needed restarting and hence we lost several hours work.
There have been some team conflicts as well, not in the terms of arguments or fights, but the fact that everyone has other commitments such as work, family or other classes and assignments, this means that we ahven't been able to get things done as quickly as possible.
Our environment is coming along quite nicely and i am confident that it will be finished to a high level for our presentation.
The main building has been continually added to and edited in ArchiCad. Interior spaces have been added and the exterior has been improved. For the final presentation we hope to have it completely modelled up and resolved. As well as this, the surrounding buildings have been worked on. Immediate surrounding buildings have had more details added and have been refined to give a better site context. As well as this, roads and vegetation has been added so that it feels more like an environment people can relate to and see in context.
The harbour and the wharf which is a big part of our design has been greatly improved on. With many things add and refined. We have many boats in to show how the harbour is a very integral part of the site and is fairly busy. The wharf itself has been edited and built apon, with better walk ways, benches and lighting, once again to lift the whole environment to a higher level. The harbour plays a big role and these changes help to emphasize that.
These additions have not been with out drama, the level and editor itself has many issues abnd constantly crashes, at times loosing lots of our work. We also learnt the hardway with the uni computers, because they delete everything off the main drives when you log off. At one stage the computer where we had most of our work crashed and needed restarting and hence we lost several hours work.
There have been some team conflicts as well, not in the terms of arguments or fights, but the fact that everyone has other commitments such as work, family or other classes and assignments, this means that we ahven't been able to get things done as quickly as possible.
Our environment is coming along quite nicely and i am confident that it will be finished to a high level for our presentation.
Week 7 Lecture
For our week 7 lecture Dr John Barton from City Futures Research Centre UNSW came into to talk to us about Urban development. Firstly he ttalked to us about a project that he had a lot to do with which is called UrbanIT Project 2030. It is a large scale design project for the re-design of Sydney, almost like a city of Sydney Masterplan. He showed us an interesting video that they created showing off how different buildings and transport systems had been removed or relocated, new parks and walk ways had been added as well as new buildings. It was an interesting look at what Sydney could look like in 20 years.
He then showed us a set of images based on research that was undertaken near the city in a housing development. His research showed what different people relate with different things, such as happyness, lonelyness, danger and death. This gave an interesting insight into how different people related different things, and a good 3D representation of these themes.
He then showed us a set of images based on research that was undertaken near the city in a housing development. His research showed what different people relate with different things, such as happyness, lonelyness, danger and death. This gave an interesting insight into how different people related different things, and a good 3D representation of these themes.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Week 6 Lecture
For our week 6 lecture we had UNSW School of Psychology. Tom Denson talk to us about Psychology. Mainly relating to group and peer dynamics. So how people react to others in a group, and if how they follow along with what other people say even if they know it is wrong.
Tom Denson showed us some of the previous experiments that have been conducted in groups, where all except one of the people in the group knows about the experiment. In one of the experiments they where asked a simple question and then told to call out the answer. It showed that when all the people who know about the experiment call out the wrong answer, the subject is around 80% more likely to knowingly say the wrong answer to fit in. If asked to write down the answer privately then the subject is almost always correct.
I thought this was a very good lecture, i learnt alot of things and it is ashame that the lecture was cut short due to time constraints. It would have been great to hear more about what tom ahd to say. I felt he related his lecture to our class very well and we all had some very good discussions.
Tom Denson showed us some of the previous experiments that have been conducted in groups, where all except one of the people in the group knows about the experiment. In one of the experiments they where asked a simple question and then told to call out the answer. It showed that when all the people who know about the experiment call out the wrong answer, the subject is around 80% more likely to knowingly say the wrong answer to fit in. If asked to write down the answer privately then the subject is almost always correct.
I thought this was a very good lecture, i learnt alot of things and it is ashame that the lecture was cut short due to time constraints. It would have been great to hear more about what tom ahd to say. I felt he related his lecture to our class very well and we all had some very good discussions.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Conflict
In broad terms, conflict can be defined as the "the process resulting from the tension between team members because of real or perceived differences"
With regard to conceptualizations of conflict, differentiated between two distinct components: task conflict and emotional conflict.
Task conflict occurs when group members disagree about task-related issues, including procedures, goals, and decisions.
Relational or emotional conflict is characterized by disagreements or tension with regard to personal taste or interpersonal style.
An additional conceptualization of conflict that has regained attention is the idea of "constructive conflict," which involves searching out a variety of opinions, openly confronting differences, and critiquing alternative options . A group that manifests constructive conflict could be characterized by high task conflict and low relational conflict. Importantly, it may be this type of interaction that ultimately facilitates effective team performance through constructive divergence.
"Much of the work in the area of conflict has contrasted task (i.e., productive, cognitive conflict) and relational manifestations (i.e., emotional, interpersonal conflict; Pelled, 1996b). On the one hand, dissimilarity has been linked with productive forms of conflict (demographic diversity, Chatman et al., 1998; educational and functional diversity, Jehn et al., 1999; functional diversity, Pelled et al., 1999; functional, education, tenure diversity, Simons et al., 1999). On the other hand, dissimilarity also has been linked with destructive forms of conflict (social category diversity, Jehn et al., 1999; gender diversity and time urgency diversity, Mohammed & Angell, 2004; ethnic and tenure diversity, Pelled et al., 1999). Thus, despite a few examples that diversity and conflict may be inversely or not at all related, the research evidence reviewed here suggests that heterogeneous teams are more likely to experience conflict (whether productive or destructive in nature) than homogenous teams (see also Grossman, 1997)."
Reference - Conflict and Cooperation in Diverse Workgroups. The Journal of social issues [0022-4537] King yr:2009 vol:65 iss:2
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wikipedia Page Analysis
Collaboration - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration
The Wikipedia page for Collaboration is a well set out and contributed to page. It talks about many different aspects of collaboration. from Trade to Military to Education. This broad range of information and topics is essential in a wiki so that it gives the reader a broader education on the topic or topics.
This wiki also breaks down the topic into 2 main headings, "History" and "Contemporary Examples". The first of these talks about how collaboration was introduced in different areas and how it came about. The second talks about how collaboration is used in the present day in different areas. This gives the viewer a broader udnerstanding of what collaboration is and the history of it, as well as how it is used today.
There is a lot of contributions and edits to this page which is, in-itself a good example of collaboration, where many people are all working together to create somthing. Although what this page is missing, is alot of referencing and citations, which is important for a reader to do any further research or simply to prove the validity of an article or what is written.
The Wikipedia page for Collaboration is a well set out and contributed to page. It talks about many different aspects of collaboration. from Trade to Military to Education. This broad range of information and topics is essential in a wiki so that it gives the reader a broader education on the topic or topics.
This wiki also breaks down the topic into 2 main headings, "History" and "Contemporary Examples". The first of these talks about how collaboration was introduced in different areas and how it came about. The second talks about how collaboration is used in the present day in different areas. This gives the viewer a broader udnerstanding of what collaboration is and the history of it, as well as how it is used today.
There is a lot of contributions and edits to this page which is, in-itself a good example of collaboration, where many people are all working together to create somthing. Although what this page is missing, is alot of referencing and citations, which is important for a reader to do any further research or simply to prove the validity of an article or what is written.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Social Networks
A social network is a group of people or organisations or similar that all have a common interest. This may be common visions, or friendship or even a common sexuality. Social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace are internet based tools to help people in these social networks collaborate. If you take Facebook for example, which is fast becoming one of the most popular social networking sites, you can browse people all around the world based on different social status. Such as where they went to school, what their religion is or simply what they enjoy doing.
Social networking is a very important tool for collaboration, specially on a project like ours, because as well as allowing our team to communicate with each other, it means we can find a social network that is interested in similar things or has undertaken a similar task and collaborate with them to find out more information or tips and tricks. This can be very valuable in projects similar to ours, since you can easily find other people with the same interest, it also means that other people can follow our projects and learn from us as well as us learning from them and the project itself. It helps broaden the whole concept of collaboration.
- MySpace
- Flickr
- Bebo
- DeviantArt
- Flixster
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