"More Than Meets The Eye" Animated VR Experience

Meeting with Fiona Fyffe-Lawson, Graham Pullen and Anna Notaro to review the annual report for the University's Research Degree Programme Review. Within the meeting I suggested the idea of a new exhibition and networking event for the PhDs and research community at DJCAD. Preliminary idea to be discussed further. Exciting possibilities!

Supervisor Meetings: Date : 26th November 2018 Meeting no : 3 Present : Phillip Vaughan (1 st ) Fraser Bruce (2 nd ) Andrea McSwan (Student) Tasks set and completed since last meeting: (23 rd October 2018) ·          Weekly update of Blog: https://andreamcswan-phd-lightfortheblind.blogspot.com . 70 posts ·          Permanent desk allocated , as I am class rep! in room 5011 (next to the bridge). ·          Plus a laptop is in the pipeline. ·          Met with Caroline Erolin. Good discussion about VR. Wishes to be copied in on communication. VR training scheduled for 12 th December. Google cardboard purchased and VR apps to be experimented with. ·          Made contact with PhD community and will be one of six who will arrange the research talks in the Research Kit...

Great talk by Fraser Bruce about what we can learn from bees and how they operate. I particularly liked his networking dot-to-dot diagrams that indicated creative and social networks; drawing inspiration from bees. The fact that bees play to their strengths and become excellent at one role, rather than trying to be all things to all bees was great. Calum Kolvin spoke about his working practice. I was struck by this piece and how the objects and lighting play together to create a multitude of lighting options; especially on the flat table top that creates the majority of the face. Notice a photo of the composer looking through the window and Calum captured in the fish-eye mirror to the left. Very inspirational and full of depth and colour. James MacMillan b.1959 Composer - Calum Kolvin (1996)

So for my first meeting with Caroline Erolin (3rd)  https://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/staff/profile/caroline-erolin.php  we spoke about VR. Ahead of VR training with Caroline on the 12th Dec, she suggested I play with Google cardboard for now. Not with the expecation of it being good, or a permanent tool to use, but to get me used to the immersive sensation. I didn't like the Oculus Rift experience and Caroline said this wasn't unusual.  So, hopefully this cardboard device, which is easy to remove (!!) will be a good starting point!

Brilliant. Invisible art direction and acting. Utterly convincing and complete entertainment from the 20th Century Fox intro to the final credits.

I love listening to Radio 4's Life Scientfic.  This week (20 Nov 2018) Dr Caroline Hargrove spoke about her time at McLaren F1, developing and designing their Formula 1 simulator.      https://www.theengineer.co.uk/mclaren-cto-dr-caroline-hargrove/ Using VR, F1 drivers would get accustom to race tracks and their experience would inform and lead the development of the simulator. Motion sickness was overcome by being fed small pieces of chocolate! I was particularly intrigued by the idea of a "Digital Twin" that Dr. Hargrove spoke about. I began to consider how this idea could be applied to my research, with the creation of a digital twin, to enable the blind to navigate a 3D space... Digital Twin - similar to an animation 3D model turnaround! McLaren F1 Simulator - similar to an edit suite! Dr. Caroline Hargrove

Keywords & terms: utlising Thesaurus, Synonyms and  Blind, Blindness, Visual Impairment, Low-level function vision, visual, sight-loss, seeing, eye-sight, viewing, sensory, optical, perceptive, look, sight, beholder, sightless, imagine, vision, watch, observe, unseen, ocular, unobserved, visualisation, imaginary, simulate, myopia, amaurosis, cataracts, presbyopia, purblindness, anopsia, typhlosis, darkness, Sight, appearance, eye, vision, after-image, apperception, field of vision, range of vision, perception, Blind, dark, unsighted, amaurotic, blind as a bat, destitute of vision, eyeless, in darkness, unseeing, visionless. Assistive technology, activities for daily living (ADL), assistive technology (smartphone apps to detect colour, paper currency denominations, navigational assistance, text magnification), differently-abled, enabling technology, haptics

Mind-mapping...in the new PhD research room. I decided upon a hands-on, tactile approach in 3D. I find trying to draw a mind-map onto a large sheet of paper or 'clean' digital online mind-map tools, to be too restrictive at this stage of the creative process...it forces my thinking to be convergent too soon. So, for this exercise I utilised an old 'festive colour's A3 pad, that I've had for years (disliked the colours!), a sharpie and masking tape. This enabled super quick free movement and easy placement of ideas.... This reminded me of David Bowie's approach of song-writing. Write the lyrics, tear the paper and shuffle - see what new ideas form!

http://www.sgsah.ac.uk/research/ces17-18/headline_569885_en.html Making a Difference - the longer term impact of Craft Scotland's international exhibition programme on a maker's career and Scotland's creative economy..... Notes taken from Lauren Baker's upgrade... One slide and about one minute's talk about my background and why I am doing a PhD? What was my inspiration? Pete Eckert, Father's deafness Find out what exhibitions there are world wide of blind photographers/film makers Show what events have been attended Screen shots of blog Include evidence and details, photos, mind-mapping etc of what I have done to scope. Show why I have considered X and discounted Y.  Be clear on why I have chosen what I have and what I've discounted and my reasoning Consider longitudinal study of participants in year two - how many participants...1,2...5?  Workshops in year two to reflect findings What is my actual research? What models and tools can measu...

So to encourage divergent thinking I took myself off to the DCA on Saturday, to have a look around the installations and people-watch. Santiago Black Flag  http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/event/santiago-sierra-black-flag  was a black and white photographic exhibition "documenting Santiago's process and planting of the universal symbol of the anarchist movement's Black Flag at the North and South poles. I particularly liked the two huge black and white photos - both placed in a landscape orientation, but the lower one (south pole) was upside down. Mike Kelley - Domestic Homestead. It wasn't so much the content that got my attention, but the layout of the space. Food for thought for how to showcase the final film(s) once done... Portable, scaffolding, headphones and multi-screen

https://northeastofnorth.com/theme/ I attended the NEoN Digital mini-symposium at the V&A on 9th November... Interesting mix of digital practitioners, with a lot of experience stemming from the 1990's. And a term that I'd not heard of before....'Digital Natives'  meaning: those that were born after 1980. Mouchette.org, created by Martine Neddam in the 90's... http://www.mouchette.org/ Pretty dark themes, suicide advice from a 13 year old's perspective. I considered that this may have been one of the first online examples of Catfish. Interactive website that still operates as it did originally. Neddam has now revealed her identity  and gave a full presentation on Mouchette. Many people don't explore the website as they many of the links are hidden or change frequently. The Endless Forest screen saver game.  http://tale-of-tales.com/TheEndlessForest/ . This has become a community and the game's creators intercept the game occasionally as ...

We were asked to work in groups and visually depict our collective understanding of what a PhD journey is... Our group idea below... including a telescope to 'see the bigger picture' and to also point towards oneself, a micro-scope to focus on detail, Indiana Jones (my input!) who is walking towards the unknown and the path appears depending on his point-of-view, stand-point and adjustment...and the Holy Grail (goal) that he is aiming for....

This was a great section of the Researcher Launchpad... encouraging! 1-2% of the population have a PhD. On a university campus, the % is significantly higher....hence the increasing 'consciousness of incompetence' when starting a PhD and meeting post-docs and an academic community!

Fun to take part in this group activity mind-mapping exercise....and, when intense discussion and brain storming was in full-flow, regarding the specifics of the required get-away car...to stir the creative ideas by throwing in the idea of  a 'virtual' bank robbery...ahh creative thinking! Just noticed the light refraction on the white board surface....nice.

The key is.... Kolb's learning cycle... PLAN > ACTION > REFLECT > CONCLUDE > PLAN (action research)

Creative thinking... Divergent and Convergent... I'm approaching this PhD project as any other industry based project... Defined work hours during the working week - usually between 8:30 - 6:00pm and weekends for brain relaxation time. Walking, people watching in cafes, art galleries, gardening, pinterest boards, John Lewis and Ikea are particular favourites! Image drawn and provided by Tracey Stead

Who are Stakeholders? Stakeholder mapping and management High Power & High Interest - Manage Closely Supervisors Work Colleagues Funder/My Husband! Collaborators Manage closely by: Clear, frequent communication, know their availability, clarify expectations, know their point of view, know our roles, negotiate. High Power & Low Interest - Satisfy The University Government Ethics Satisfy by: Check the rules, know what, know when and know the quality Low Power & Low Interest - Monitor Public Media Monitor by: checking, being up to date, notifications, twitter, social media Low Power & High Interest - Keep Informed Family Particpants Peers Beneficiaries Subjects Students Keep informed by: Newsletters, updates, level of tech expertise, know what they'd need to know Flip Chart notes created and provided by facilitator Tracey Stead

Flip chart notes created and supplied by Tracey Stead

http://reflectiveteaching.co.uk/books-and-resources/reflective-teaching-in-further-adult-and-vocational-education/becoming-a-reflective-professional/3.-reflection/reflective-activities/to-adopt-brookfields-four-critical-lenses-in-your-reflective-practice Brookfield (1995) suggests we can take four viewpoints to reflect upon our teaching. 1. Our Viewpoint 2. Our Colleague's viewpoint 3. Our student's viewpoint 4. Literature theory To reflect: I can ask for feedback from my students and my colleagues. Next steps... Arrange for an observation of my teaching. email f.j.paterson or Gordon Sparks

The Complete Researcher Launchpad OPD training suggested that we book an appointment with the librarian at the university, to ensure that we were making the most of the resources and databases available. This was also recommended in Chris Hart's 'Doing a Literature Review' book too. I met with Iain Gillespie and had a full tour of the online Library and Learning Centre portal, the databases, plus a tour of the physical library at DJCAD. Notes: LLC portal > sign in > save searches or save enquiry > set up notifications to ensure I am up to date with recent publications etc To delete articles, searched items > unpin Use general search bar for journals, articles and keywords. Can also select the drop down menu at the end of the general search bar. 'I' selects the category when Inter Library loan can be found Use the large X inbetween the two arrows to exit For Endnote > save article to folder or pin to 'big pin' or 'export to Endn...

Endnote notes: Groups - can be set up e.g Chapters Smart Groups - allow specification of particular terms e.g Forensic. The library will then find any text with 'forensic' in it. Any new books/journals etc will be automatically added. 'New Reference' - I can select TV, Book etc Preview shows how the Harvard reference will appear. When the author is part of an institution (corporate author) e.g David Hart University of Dundee, insert a 'comma' at the end of 'Dundee' - so that Endnote doesn't consider UoD as an author Have Endnote open prior to an online search - as Endnote may not automatically launch when trying to import references from a catalogue or reading listed. Endnote online is not as fancy as Endnote but we can access at home. Sync home with UoD desktop. Create keywords for my search - look for synonyms, variant spellings, keywords, all ways to describe subject, combinations - and then search database. Once searching in a databas...

Honey and Mumford Learning Styles Questionnaire  https://resources.eln.io/honey-mumford-learner-types-1986-questionnaire-online/ As part of the complete researcher launchpad we were given the task of completing the Learning Styles questionnaire. The exercise was a tool to reveal where our learning style is strong and therefore how we learn best, plus to reveal where we are weak and action points to strengthen those areas to become a well rounded researcher. My scores revealed a very strong preference for 'activist', next was 'pragmatist' and the weaker areas were 'reflector' and 'theorist'. Below are the action points that I've taken from the suggestions in the questionnaire...now printed off and on the wall above my computer! reflector ponder alternatives - always identify and actively consider at least three possibilities theorist set some specific objectives and influence events in light of the desired outcome. Be more purposeful a...

Notes and tips for networking Go to departmental seminars Connect and befriend post-doctoral researchers Set up a writing or review circle. 2 or 3 people to meet every three months to share thoughts Get a mentor - and ask to meet for a coffee every few months Join social PhD networking e.g twitter, Thesis Whisperer

A  PhD is a project. Research isn't! Iron triangle of project management... The three parameters below limit or enable quality... Diagrams drawn and provided by Tracey Stead Schedule (Time)    i)  what is the end (Viva) date? Write it on the wall now! How many days? ii)  what are the deadlines or immediate horizons? Upgrade? TMC? Literature Review? Thesis? Viva? iii) ask other PhD research students to share their experience of timelines and allowances for pilots,testing, public engagement etc Cost (Resources) i)   previous information and data ii)  people iii) money iv) equipment/facilities Scope (function) of a PhD What does it need to do? What's the output? What does it look like? Thesis? Expectations? Papers & Reports Films Good scoping questions.. What? How? Why? Who? When What is good enough?  Use good creative thinking to 'limit' PhD - and to NOT keep adding to the scope. Kno...