1.25.2011
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Interior Design Student Blog: A single voice speaking to a global community of design
Blogs: Technology application for the Professional World of Design!
Key Idea: Design does not happen in a bubble! You need to engage in the whole design process which includes the world, people, peers, knowledge, technology, context, problems, creativity, solutions, analysis, thinking, researching, inquiry, collection, ideation, visualization, and 100 other areas. Engage in the world of design, you will never, ever regret it, I promise!!
What's the goal? As part of the INDS 320 Interior Design Studio III course documentation, you will be required to set up and maintain a blog. Blogs are great for getting ideas down in words and for getting feedback on your ideas from others. Eventually, you'll want to select at least five other blogs from the class to read regularly. Link them from your bookmarks and go to them every time you visit your blog. This gets a good community of thinkers together and talking. I'll make a list of everybody's blogs from the course links page, so you'll want to visit everyone's periodically, but try to keep a core of blogs that you will read all the time and respond to regularly.
What to write about? The blog entries will be everything from a passing thought about interior design to a close reading of/response to a text, or from a request for more sources for an idea to a critique of others contents, designs and opinions. Everyone now and then I will ask you to investigate and respond to something in particular but a good portion of this will be self directed. There is no right and wrong answers and it does no one any good if all 15 of you blog on the same things...boring!!
BEWARE. Always know that this is a public forum and not a private diary. I expect professional discourse.You never know who is going to be looking at your blog... but don't forget...you want to give them a reason to keep coming back to read more!!!The reality: It will be too difficult to blog everyday, I know, I have tried many times, regardless of my best intentions. You may get three days in a row but you'll inevitably miss days here and there. I would suggest designating a set time a min of 3 days a week that you blog. (I would say about 1 hour would do it) You are welcome to do more, just be realistic about your efforts and self expectations. Just write as much as you can. Some will be long, some short. Some will be about class material where as some will discuss whatever you are thinking about or reading that day. Just get in the habit of writing as much as you can.
What else? The blog is also good for keeping your own links page. (see delicious account blog post) As you find good articles, sites, or other resources on the web, post them to your blog. Some of them you'll want to also write about and link from a blog entry. Some you'll just want to remember, so add them to your bookmarks.
The goals for using blogs in this class:
- To practice and improve writing and composition skills
- To develop critical and analytical thinking skills
- To increase personal knowledge of current industry happenings
- To explore the amazing wide world of "design"
- To contribute to the creation and knowledge sharing community/communities in the class
- To develop a public blog that you will keep and maintain after the quarter ends.
The blog will hopefully be more than a class requirement. Continuing to write, think, and stay connected on the web is important for your development as an interior design professional.
Other goals: To give you practice creating and maintaining a blog related to topics and issues within the broad realm of interior design and design in a global context. In the every changing world of information it is an important responsibility is to be informed and to inform others about relevant events, knowledge, thoughts, research, innovations, changes, etc. and provide them with your informed opinion on key topics.
General Guidelines and a blog assignment road map!
- Sign up for a free blog site. (You will be able to move it later if you wish) Here are some sites that I have found to be easy to use and allow you to set up privacy controls: Blogger.com, Blog.com, and WordPress.com.You may also find another free blog spot and use it. My preference is blogger.com but you are free to select one that you feel comfortable in using.
- Create a blog. Select a theme, etc. for your blog. If you have never blogged before there are several tutorials that you can view and take some time to go through all the links and options. (lots and lots of options) Don't be overwhelmed! You can always add things as you become more comfortable with the formatting. Also, please note that this is not a 15 min process. It will take some time to get everything set the way that you want it.
- Be sure to set your privacy settings to public. This is key, this is not a place to post your daily personal musing or life drama. This is a professional site so be sure to check your writing mechanics, tone and content.
- ALWAYS, ALWAYS give credit to information sources. ALWAYS provide links to origins of content to allow others easy access to more information.
- Select a blog title and make sure you write it down so that you can link to it and post it on the Blackboard discussion page.
- As a general rule: each post should comment on the global context of design, i.e. innovation, current events and/issues related to your profession, trends, reports, style, aesthetics, commentary, opinions, evolution, etc.
- Each post should be between 200-300 words in length, include relevant facts, and be spell-checked. There must be at least three posts per week.
- Remember that the people in this class are a creative community in itself!! Commit to comment at least twice on each of your classmate's blogs. (that's a total of 30 comment posts during the quarter) Use the class community to make the best of your educational experience this quarter!! A typical comment should be between 50 to 75 words in length. That's about 4-5 sentences. Add your own analysis, opinion, or thoughts. Provide links to other information that your peer might find useful.
- Wow me with your ability to select a different blog template than available and the ability to add widgets to your blog. Wow me with your critiques and analytical thinking. Be creative in your searches. Create something out of nothing. Don't be satisfied with the expected or standard, find the unexpected and unique. Explore and research the "context" of design and link it back to interior design. Communicate who you are as a designer and who you want to be. (Think back to the words that you selected to communicate who you are)
- Your will be graded on the quality of your post, your professionalism, and writing mechanics, etc., as well as fulfillment of the requirements for posting.
- Have fun and go explore!
Parting Note: Please respond to this post if you have questions or required more information!
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