Pecha Kucha Presentation... You what?!

I still have no idea what this presentation is meant to be about. I don't know what Pecha Kucha is or how i'm meant to go around presenting my presentation!

I found this...

"PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images." - http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what

So basically, it isn't as hard as I thought it would be. But when we are told we cannot directly say what our design process is, that makes it that bit more difficult! I'm quite confused and I don't know if I will be able to do it properly... Ah well, i'll give it my best shot!

Multimedia, Art or Science?

In our seminar on the 12th of October we had the task to argue if Multimedia was an art or science. I found this quite an interesting debate because personally, I can't decide between the 2. Here are my reasons why.

"Multimedia is an Art rather than a Science"

Multimedia can be classed as a creative subject, this relates to art and design. It is also found within the art and design subject area so clearly it must be an art? Multimedia is a way of expression that invloves a lot of human input. If you take away this input, there is no creativity so surely there would be nothing left? Animation requires the ability to be able to draw characters and you need an 'artistic eye' for photography and film in order to get the perfect shot. In order for something to be a science, something has to be proven. Multimedia is purely based on opinion so it cannot possibly be a science.

"Multimedia is a Science rather than an Art"

The area of art is a very broad and opinionated topic. Due to it being so broad, people define different things as art so there is no definite view as to what art actually is. For example, recently the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern art gallery has been filled with millions of small ceramic sunflower seeds. I personally do not class this as art due to it's simplicity and anyone is able to copy it. However, due to it being in the Tate Modern art gallery, some people obviously do class it as a 'work of art'. The scientific development of software and technology has allowed certain equipment to become more complexed and therefore has the ability to be multifunctional. For exapmple, Surface Mount Technology was developed in the 1960s, and went on to be widely used in the 1980s. This meant that electronic circuits could be made more intricate and take up less room. This would lead to the development of plasma tvs, plasma monitors, ipod touch, small computers, laptops and so on. With the electronic circuits now taking up less room, more can be added into the computer, camera, tv or whatever and make it have more memory, run faster and have the ability to do more than 1 thing at once. Without the development of software and technology, we wouldn't have the same equipment we use today in the world of Multimedia.

I have views for both sides, so I can't really say if it's an art or a science. What's your view?

My Multimedia

During my product design course in year 12, we did a series of mini projects. One of the projects was to create a clock for a subject area in the school. When it came to choosing materials for our final prototype, I decided to use Acrylic (polymethyl methacrylate). When it came to producing the body of the clock we had major problems making them look right. My school didn't have a very wide range of machinery to use in order to get a good finish on our clock bodies. One student that was on consortium from another school highlighted that their school owned a Laser Cutter. Immediately we jumped at the opportunity of using the software and equipment in order to make our clocks look professional. 

The laser cutter works by using x and y co ordinates and a high powered laser which the strength can be altered depening on the thinkness and type of materials being used. I had no idea such technology existed in schools until I saw this one. The design of the clock was produced on Techsoft 2D so that the colours of the outline could be changed. This would allow the laser cutter to identify which lines it needs to cut. I found the laser cutter surprisingly easy to use and was fascinated by how it worked. It took no time at all for it to cut out my clock and it did this with amazing precision and gave a really good overall finish. The amount of time me and the rest of my group spent trying to cut our clocks out using hand tools and band saws was ridiculous. This piece of technology really did make our lives a lot easier.