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What makes something biodegradable? As Kelly Oakes explains in a BBC article, biodegradable is a material that can be broken down by microbes and turned into biomass, water, and carbon dioxide.  In fact, most items are biodegradable, the issue is the time they take to decompose, where food waste might take a few months to decompose. Items such as plastic can take hundreds of years. Even items that claim they are biodegradable, such as the common coffee cup needs the right environment and equipment to decompose quickly and properly. You can’t simply throw your coffee cup into your compost at home and expect it to decompose at a quick rate. This opens a big question that if majority of materials say they are biodegradable but still needs this special environment and equipment to decompose. What happens when these items aren’t disposed of correctly or mixed with general waste that they don’t reach the correct destination? Are we going backwards where materials take years to decompose?

The next big step, materials that can decompose easier in-home compost, or creating an environment that simulates an industrial recycling/composting site. This would give consumers the confidence and satisfaction that their own waste is delt with in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

So why am I talking about biodegradable materials, well in our studio project the brief was to tackle a situation that impacted the environment or community. Our group decided to lean towards environmental impacts which leads us to sustainability. Asking questions like what can decompose, how long does it take to decompose, what are the requirements for materials to decompose. These big questions are to help us gain knowledge on creating a biodegradable packaging solution for seeds.

This Table shows a rough time frame of how long some common items will take to break down if left in the environment. The information in the table was sourced from Science learning hub.                                          

               References:

Oakes, K. (2019, November 5). Why biodegradables won’t solve the plastic crisis. BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191030-why-biodegradables-wont-solve-the-plastic-crisis

When researching this week I came across a video and transcript on the importance of consistent innovation by Blade Kotelly. Blade talks about how in larger companies they generally don't have innovation built into all there departments, they rather concentrate on one area. Start-up companies compared to already established businesses have innovation as a core concept in their Culture. They have to have a strong grounding of what their product or service is intended for and whom it’s for, pending more time on the finer details

as blade explains. This is an advantage as its more difficult to implement innovation in larger established businesses. Blade continues to explain that what made a company successful in the beginning won't necessarily keep them successful, hence the importance of

consistent innovation being built into a company's structure.

In my opinion the Creative technologies degree gives us a unique perspective into innovation. Learning techniques that push us to constantly think of new solutions, ideas and a different approach to challenges. This skill gives us the opportunity to help companies expand and innovate in ways they hadn’t thought of. This prospect of helping to

Shape the future is what excites me the most about growing in this degree. What excites you about the degree?

References

Week 4 Reflection Sound and experience

This week we were encouraged to think about the experience materials have on us. Such as using metal as clothing, glass instead of a plush cushion, and ingredients like coconut as to how it feels and reacts to different environments. Thinking about what the experience will be is crucial when designing and creating, imagining how that item will be used, how it operates or feels to the relevant consumer.

The idea was to create a device using the Makey Makey that would be able to play sounds that we had recorded.

We thought about using chairs, class walls, or pens for triggers that would connect through to the Makey Makey and Laptop releasing the relevant sound, but we decided to reuse the materials from our previous project the board game. We took apart the previous game to use the base as our platform, creating a square box to house the wiring and copper tape. We cut nine square holes out of the base, cut nine squares out of the monopoly board which would be used as the buttons. When the square buttons are pressed the relevant sound would sound.

Each square hole has a piece of cardboard running through the middle, and two sheets of aluminum foil on each side. Two copper strips, one connected to either side of the foil. The key objective was to keep them separate so that the connection wasn’t ruined. The copper strips would then run down to the bottom of the base making sure they didn’t touch the other copper strips. We connected each coper strip to their own alligator clip which was then connected to the Makey Makey which was connected to the laptop where the sounds were loaded.

On the top of the base, we folded small pieces of paper that would act as a spring, so when we put the square cutout on top it would bounce back when pressed. We also stuck copper tape on the square cutout so that when the square was pressed the copper tape touched both sides of the foil the connection would then be completed making a sound that corresponded to that square. The same was done for all nine squares each with a different sound.

Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan, only four squares ended up working correctly, the others had connection issues.  

Week 3 Reflection Boardgame and Emotion

In this studio we looked at the Emotion that a sound or icon can create. Looking at the history of icons and sounds, such as how a danger, caution or stop signs make you stop and think carefully of your next actions. A sound of a message notification on your phone can make you feel nervous and the ringing of a school bell at the end of the day can make you feel free. The point is that icons and sounds can have a massive impact on our emotions and that atmosphere around us.

Hacking a board game to change the functionality of the game. Our group decided to hack a game loved and hated by most, monopoly. During our group discussion we came up with many ideas of what we should change or add to the game. We came to a unanimous conclusion, that the game needed to be more interactive and entertaining. We added sound to the four main areas of the board which were, ‘go to jail (police siren),’ ‘go (money sound),’ ‘free parking (beeping horn, ‘and visiting jail (clanking of jail bars). Each time a player lands on one of the above spots a corresponding sound would go off.

We painted the original box. We elevated the game to create a more comfortable playing position. We hid the wiring and Makey Makey inside the box. For each of the four positions that we modified, we cut a hole and stuck two copper strips through into the base. We used two alligator clips for the ground and for the trigger that was connected to the Makey Makey for each of the four positions. The Makey Makey was then connected to the laptop which had a program for monopoly that we could implement our own sounds and electronic dice. We created the bases for the figurines for each player which had copper tape under the base which would complete the connection when the player lands on one of the four positions, it then makes the relevant sound.

Some of the things we could have improved on – We originally intended on having LED lights along the bottom of the board for affect – but ran out of time, for future projects time management is an area that I feel needs improvement, so that our project can be completed to the standard that we would like. It would also be beneficial to have better wire management.

Reflecting on this project, it was a great experience to work with a group of people that had a range of skills and knowledge that was solutions focused. Although we had some challenges the group were quick to respond and find a better outcome.

Week 2 Reflection Papertronics and Interface

Week 2's studio slides was on Interface, what it means and the approach to implementing it into future projects. An interface is where systems, organizations, subjects and objects interact with each other. Creating an interface that is easy and understandable isn't an easy task, but without it great systems, products and even organizations won't grow and have the success they desire.

A great example of an interface is the Mackey Mackey which creates a controller out of any conductive items.

This was my first time working with Papertonics – by creating a simple circuit using a LED, battery, copper tape, paper and a switch of our creation.

We created a square outline using coper tape, then we cut out gaps for our battery, LED and switch. We stuck the battery and LED in two separate gaps, sticking coper tape to the positive and negative for both the battery and LED. After checking the circuit and the connection, we had to create a switch out of a general item which we tried using a number of items but quickly realized a paper clip would work the best. We bent the paper clip into a step shape, stuck it to one side of the coper tape above the last gap we cut out. The idea was that when you pressed the paper clip it would touch the coper tape completing the connection, therefor when released the connection would be broken.

Although this was a simple project with few materials, I did gain experience and knowledge throughout the project. I learnt about creating a simple connection. I also learnt how to manipulate general items into future projects where materials might be limited.  

Intro:

Hi my name is Cameron and I want to be a creative technologist because…

To me a creative technologist is someone who has the future in mind. That looks

At a situation and says how can I change this? What can I create? How can I improve?

Creative technologies is a multi disciplinary field, which means they do not have the boundaries  

Of being in one discipline they can jump between them using skills and knowledge from each 

Area such as engineering, design, business, arts and so on.

I read a good book called creative confidence by David and Tom Kelley they describe creativity as a muscle that can be strengthened and nurtured, not something you are born with or without.

I have always considered myself problem solver, I want to be able to look at wicked problems 

And be able to positively impact them. A wicked problem is something that is determined as difficult or impossible to solve situation because of its incomplete, contradictory and changing nature, some examples poverty, climate change and education. The reason wicked problems are seen as impossible to solve is that they require knowledge from multiple disciples. This is why in my opinion  Creative technologists have the best chance of impacting wicked problems with their broad knowledge and collaborative nature.

Ive been called a jack of all trades.

Since leaving school and working full time I have always had an interest in engineering, design and business. I could never seem to make up my mind of what to study, I knew I couldn’t studying one discipline as my passions involved a bit of everything when I finally came across the creative technologies course at AUT I was thrilled to have found a profession that incorporated so many disciplines and had a similar outlook on life as I did.

While growing up I was always the person taking something apart to figure out how it worked and if I could improve it. Every time I was out with friends my mind would wonder looking at everything trying to picture in my head how that item was made and why was it made.

When I left school I immediately went into to work full time as I was told that there was no profession for what I wanted to do and that the ones that had a resemblance to my passions I wasn’t good enough for. So I went to the first thing that came along which was retail, while in retail I worked my way up to managing a store. This is wear my love of leadership and mentoring came from, having not lost my passion for creating and tinkering I left retail and got some brief work experience in engineering factories and construction yet nothing grab my attention they all seemed to be focused in an area of expertise that was focused on one discipline never did I see retail, engineering and construction share knowledge to create something spectacular.

I want to be a creative technologist because I want to be multi disciplinary, I want to think outside of the box not just follow the instructions, rules given to me, I want to collaborate with people to create, to change, to improve the world around us. I want narrow limitations by creating prosthetics for those with disorders and disabilities so they can tackle there dreams, maybe I want to create a virtual world for those who can’t leave their homes or hospital to connect with their community. Or do I want to help tackle our planets environmental impacts, The point is I might not know what way I want to impact the world but I do know that for me being a creative technologist is my way to start.  

References 

Where does inspiration come from? Good Question! (2015). Where Does Inspiration Come from? Good Question!, 1. https://www.exploratorium.edu/publicspaces/blog/where-does-inspiration-come-good-question 

Kelley, T., & Kelley, D. (2013). Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All (Illustrated ed.). Currency.

Connor, A. M., & Sosa, R. (2018). The A-Z of Creative Technologies. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies, 5(15), 1. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.10-4-2018.154460

What are Wicked Problems? (n.d.). The Interaction Design Foundation. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/wicked-problems

Images:   

 https://unsplash.com/photos/J1pPsLYWxD0

00:01  Kelvin Han - https://unsplash.com/photos/ML0Bdrx8Go0

00:11  Ameer Basheer  - https://unsplash.com/photos/2r5adxul49E

00:21  Uriel Soberanes - https://unsplash.com/photos/MxVkWPiJALs

00:31  Nam Hoang - https://unsplash.com/photos/hUbpMeCK5TQ

00:40  Ethan Hu - https://unsplash.com/photos/4iWcG8dp6t8

00.51 ThisisEngineering RAEng - https://unsplash.com/photos/uOhBxB23Wao

01:01 Abhyuday Majhi - https://unsplash.com/photos/J1pPsLYWxD0

01:10  Markus Spiske - https://unsplash.com/photos/RuRYRswYDkk

01:20 Tim Shepherd - https://unsplash.com/photos/jNJT8Pe9ze4

01:29  Annie Spratt - https://unsplash.com/photos/OIuCXxx08yg

01:35  Roman Mager - https://unsplash.com/photos/5mZ_M06Fc9g

01:44  Hunter Haley - https://unsplash.com/photos/s8OO2-t-HmQ   

01:49  ThisisEngineering RAEng - https://unsplash.com/photos/nyAzMQ6Ejgs

01:59  Max LaRochelle - https://unsplash.com/photos/KxJKPddlYOM

02:06  Cole Keister - https://unsplash.com/photos/vEgVWRBr2VY

02:11  ThisisEngineering RAEng - https://unsplash.com/photos/32PpagSzeGs

02:18   Science in HD - https://unsplash.com/photos/8S2RmC-POCU

02:24   Alison Wang - https://unsplash.com/photos/mou0S7ViElQ

02:34   Markus Winkler  - https://unsplash.com/photos/6CSJWMs6JVA

02:41  Mike Petrucci - https://unsplash.com/photos/c9FQyqIECds

02:46  Clark Street Mercantile - https://unsplash.com/photos/qnKhZJPKFD8

02:52  NeONBRAND - https://unsplash.com/photos/hF-Vaf9P1vs

02:59  Annie Gray - https://unsplash.com/photos/WEWTGkPUVT0

03:05  Dimitri Houtteman - https://unsplash.com/photos/2P6Q7_uiDr0

03:10  Alex Knight - https://unsplash.com/photos/2EJCSULRwC8

03:14  Mika Baumeister - https://unsplash.com/photos/Y_LgXwQEx2c

03:18  Rohan Makhecha - https://unsplash.com/photos/jw3GOzxiSkw

03:23  Austin Distel - https://unsplash.com/photos/mpN7xjKQ_Ns

03:27  NASA - https://unsplash.com/photos/Q1p7bh3SHj8

03:30  ThisisEngineering RAEng - https://unsplash.com/photos/o6jUolZ7QJk

03:36  Barbara Zandoval - https://unsplash.com/photos/w0lI3AkD14A

03:44  Antoine GIRET - https://unsplash.com/photos/7_TSzqJms4w

Music reference:

Art of Silence - Dramatic / Cinematic [Free to use]

First time using Makey Makey, our goal was to make an interactive controller out of general items, for a game called snakes. the first challenge was to figure out where to ground the Makey Makey. We discovered the best way was using ourselves as a ground, so we clipped the clip onto our finger. Realising that this was quite a painful, rudimental way of securing the wire, we hatched a plan to create an aluminium bracelet that would work without the pain.

Next up was to figure out what we could use as buttons to control the left, right, up and down movements. We tried a number of items such as chairs, play dough, pens, paper with coper tape. After some experimenting, we found that the best two options were play dough and the paper with the copper tape, we decided to go with paper and copper tape. Reasoning behind this was so we could create arrow symbols to point which direction we wanted the snake to go, which made it more interactive and easily useable. Lucky for us we had an origami wiz in our group that added some flare to our buttons. We attached two copper tapes, one at the top which was folded over to the inside, with the other copper tape from the bottom to the inside. When the clip was clipped, we pressed the down the arrow to complete the connection, yay.

The only thing left was to position the buttons in their prospective places, making the game easy to interact with. Bring on the players. :)

How am i using my 10 hours this week?

This weeks 10 hours was mainly spent on researching some history of creative technologies such as the U.S platoon Ghost Army. That was comprised of artists, creatives and engineers lead by Gilbert Seltzer in world war 2 with the responsibilityof deceiving the enemy, by creating inflatable tanks, fake convoys using speakers and instilling fear into their enemies through scripted conversations spreading from town to town.this shows that if you look hard enough through out history you can find instances where creative thinkers have impacted the world. Not only was I looking at the history of creative technologies, I looked into what the future holds for us. I came across I.D.E.A. district in San Diego who have created a place where you live, work and create. Their vision is to build a community of creative out the box thinking entrepreneurs for networking, sharing ideas and pushing the boundaries of creative tech to get us to that brighter future we all are looking for.

What is a creative technologist?

Cycling to work Loopy

You can see In the Loopy for cycling as a form of transportation, it shows the links cycling has to various groups and how they can be affected when cycling as a form of transportation is used rather than a vehicle.

In this brief paragraph I will not be elaborating on how cycling impacts these groups, as after some research this topic is far too big for a brief overview.  Instead I will be commenting on some growing concerns to wanna be riders.

Cycling is not with out its down falls, such as safety and geographic location are two of the biggest. NZTA are looking into ways to improve these areas, for example NZTA is currently looking at adding a walk/cycleway running along the Auckland harbour bridge to connect Takapuna through to the city, completion date has not been disclosed at this stage. (ref.1NZTA (n.d). ref.2(Auckland Harbour Bridge which will transform walking and cycling. (2019, April 22).

This is a massive break through for Auckland and North Shore residents wanting to cycle to and from work. NZTA has more plans in the future to create more paths that are safe, easy to follow, well lit, and more convenient when riding from and to different locations. (NZTA (n.d).

I know this does not solve all concerns when considering to cycle vs driving. However as cycling becomes more and more popular as an alternative to driving the more concerns will be heard and addressed. 

References: 

NZTA. (n.d.). Auckland’s transport system. Nzta.Govt.Nz. Retrieved March 5, 2021, from https://www.nzta.govt.nz/planning-and-investment/nz-upgrade/auckland-package/