This week in ds106 we revisited our goals for the course. Everybody feels they are on track, and a few people added some revisions. I expected more changes and redirection due to the somewhat chaotic nature of how we do things here. Perhaps it is a testament to the flexibility of the course and the creativity of the class that everyone can find ways to achieve what they want.
I gave people a brief feedback email this week, and one common comment was to review How To Write Up Assignments Like a Blogging Champ, because the narrative in our blogging is more important than the media we create. It was serendipitous to find David O. White’s post How ‘Art School’ teaching avoids a losing battle with technology this morning, because he expresses the same point:
1. The emphasis is on assessing the creative journey, or the narrative of the work, not the output or the ‘product’ of the work.
2. There is no such thing as a good picture of a horse.
It’s not about passing a test or meeting a standard. It’s about experimenting and learning and articulating our efforts and growth.
White conveniently also addresses the issue of generative AI. “It’s genuinely difficult to get Gen AI to produce the crazy looking cartoon because it simply doesn’t have enough to go on.” Is it “crazy looking” or creative? With the possible exception of Dr. Oblivion, AI seems to tend towards the average rather than the novel or creative. But it is a thing we can work with creatively. One of the things we’re doing here is playing with it and, by blogging, thinking through what it means to use it creatively and how we may do it.
