the Top Three Groups Frustrations!

during the past two weeks we've all had quite a large dose of group work. not only with the module itself, but also with discussions in the entire class (guidelines, studentkår etc.). now, with the group assignment done and the deadline passed, I've finally had some time to reflect on the experiences made during this time. a few things come to mind that, for me, can be quite frustrating with groups. so here it is, the Top Three Group Frustrations List!

FRUSTRATION #1: TALKING IN CIRCLES
you're sitting in a group meeting and everyone is giving their opinions on what the group is up to. but nothing actually happens. after Person A says something, Person B goes on to adress an entirely different topic. so many views and opinions come out about so many different things that what you're really talking about is, essentially, nothing at all.
possible solutions: make sure everyone is on the same page, but how? dare to slam the fist into the table and say "this is what we should be doing", but then again, isn't the problem exactly that this is what everyone in the group is already doing? dare to step back and let things work out, but then again, will they if this group behaviour continues? try to establish rules and guidelines for group communication, but who died and made you king?

FRUSTRATION #2: INTERRUPTING
during group meetings, group members keep interrupting each other. this rapidly creates a climate of verbal "law of the jungle", where the quickest and strongest speaker gets to set the agenda. frankly I'm quite surprised that this happens so frequently! and with people who respect and like each other, as well!
possible solutions: STFU. there, you have it. this one is actually sort of a no-brainer. before the meeting starts, make sure that everyone agrees on letting everyone else finish their sentence when speaking! elect someone to keep track of who's next to speak. this is basic meeting strategy, for crying out loud! we've tried this in some of the groups I've been involved with, and my experience is that it vastly focuses the discussion. "we don't need rules to regulate our hip informal friendly style" you say, but really, I think we do. try it and you'll see.

FRUSTRATION #3: LOST IDEAS
in some of the meetings, a good idea is proposed and then lost in the stream of conversation. way I see it, this has two reasons; a) the person who proposes the idea fails to enforce it or explain it properly, and b) someone else in the group just doesn't listen and quickly changes the subject. of course, both of these reasons are true most of the time.
possible solutions: adressing #1 and #2 above should go a long way towards changing this problem, as they (in theory) would create a meeting environment where things move in a more focused, rational way. however, I'd also like to encourage group members to really think about how they present an idea. do it clearly, like you're talking to an idiot (although you're not; you're actually being very respectful towards the other group members). do it slowly but forcefully. when someone presents an idea, listen. don't think about your next argument or something else entirely; listen to the person speaking and analyze their idea. then give feedback on the idea, not on the person!

that's my Top Three. what's yours? the same? something completely different? what do you think of the proposed solutions? do you have new ones or do you disagree? let's hear it! =)

sunday

back in school after a chaotic weekend in Gothenburg, filled with rain, bad festivals, rain, frustration, rain, christian control-freaks, rain, and some wonderful girlfriend-time. that's all the info you'll get.

the train rolled in at 2100 hours and I've been sitting here almost since then, trying out our presentation in the projector with Landy. the colors get really messed up when sent through the projector, which is not that surprising. after some live tweaking we managed to get a decent result. I guess the workload for tomorrow will be me and Landy doing illustration and powerpoint, while Pandy, Samuel and Johan do the final write-up of the interviews and structure the content of the presentation. again, I'm really pleased with the group process so far. you go d00ds.

probably no point going home tonight either. harrr. oh, I discovered that my Vaio contains a sort-of powerful videocard! along with the processor and other features, this actually makes my laptop significantly more mighty than my desktop. hm.

hours going by

yesterday I got my brand new Sony Vaio! I'm very pleased with it so far. however, I wanted to have it up and running with all the relevant software today, so it got kind of late and I ended up sleeoing at the school. I guess that's the reason why today has felt sort of weird, as I kind of lost myself in a productive blur. also it messes a bit with you to stay in one place for too many hours. Niklas and, apparently, a bunch of AD people spent the night here too, so I wasn't lonely!

anyway, we're getting a lot of stuff done! got another interview, this one with ms. Guacci of Grey International, one of the big fat companies that Mauro from Mutado told us about. unfortunately the gods of technology fucked us over, as the Skype connection was extremely unstable and we lost most of the interview. we got enough out of it to work with though. we've also started working on the presentation itself, a process that I'm extremely pleased with so far. it won't be the most fly shit around, but it'll be sort of unique, methinks. above all I'm very happy about the guys in my group, and the effectiveness they're all showing. go go andy, andy, johan and samuel! here's a taste of the overall style we're heading towards;

in english please!

english. a language richer, funnier and more widespread than swedish. also the language of this blog, from now on.

and sadly a language rather poorly spoken and understood in Italy. despite this slight language barrier, today we had a very interesting Skype interview with Mauro of Mutado, a neat little agency there who've done some work for MTV, among other things. this is a part of our current assignment about the digital media industry. Mauro was extremely helpful and gave us many interesting bits of information. some of the main points;

- when meeting a client in Italy, always wear a business suit and a tie
- when looking for good media schools in Italy, look abroad
- when visiting Italy to work within the digital media industry, be prepared to enjoy the food and girls more than the work

overall, we got the impression that Italy is still a bit "behind" compared to the UK and the USA within the digital media industry, and that the agencies who soak up the biggest italian clients are well-established foreign companies who open up offices in Rome or Milan. being a small, native, independent agency is, according to Mauro, an uphill struggle. the big clients just don't have enough digital media experience to trust you. Mauro also pointed to the lack of good media educations (meaning focus on the work itself rather than the theory around it) as a significant problem for the italian digital media industry.

the second very interesting experience today was listening to our CEO Mattias talk about the history and future of the digital media industry. Mattias has been around for quite some time, and he gave us a brief overview of the changing swedish attitude towards the internet, starting in the 90's. what really made my mind spin, however, was a video from an italian (!) thinktank, outlining a possible scenario for the development of the digital media up to 2051. basically, it was argued that all media would merge, copyright as a concept would become obsolete and simulations as real as reality would be available to everyone. "Experience is the new reality."

pretty amazing food for thought!

this all reminded me about a sci-fi proposition rather common today in both fiction and non-fiction (The Matrix etc.); if we assume that, in the future, mankind will be able to create simulations of reality that are as real as reality itself, then who is to say that we, and what we experience, aren't already simulations? that is, simulations of mankind in 2007, created by the future mankind. also this ties in with philosophy in general; "experience is the new reality" is hardly a new idea. but that's a topic for a different blog.

all in all, a very interesting day with lots of new impressions. good times.

hemfärd

dags att kila hemåt. schyssta föreläsningar idag, kul att få inblick i hur folk i branschen tänker. även bra med såpass olika karaktär på Briggs och Tony, som verkar ha ganska olika perspektiv. egentligen behöver min hjärna smälta det hela lite mer innan jag kan reflektera djupare om vad som sades.

annars jobbar alla på som flitiga små tomtenissar. jag, Hannes, Oskar, Andreas, Martin och Nico skall styra upp riktlinjerna för vår utbildning, är det tänkt. detta kom vi fram till efter ett halvkaotiskt helklassmöte följt av ett mindre kaotiskt smågruppsmöte i "ledningsgruppen", dvs. vi. påminds återigen om hur jävla viktigt det är med tydlig arbets/rollfördelning för att vara riktigt effektiva. samtidigt är det lite känsligt i en sådan här fråga, eftersom alla i klassen måste känna sig delaktiga i skapandet av det här dokumentet. det är ju riktlinjer som mer eller mindre officiellt skall ligga till grunden för resten av vår utbildning. krävande men roligt att ta på sig experimenterande med sådant.

skolan - dag 2

då var man igång med bloggen. jag hade en blogg en gång när jag var liten, innan det hette blogg. då var det skitkul. jag gillade att skriva och att vräka ur mig dömande påståenden om folk och världen i allmänhet. sen växte jag upp, eller fick mindre tid, eller både och. nu är det alltså dags igen. men nu är det annorlunda! nu skall jag försöka mig på att föra en konstruktiv, självanalytisk blogg i syfte att reflektera och därigenom lära mig saker. känns faktiskt rätt utmanande.

detta är dag två på Hyper Island. efter UGL och teambuilding, där vi grävt i våra psyken och lekt med varandra, har vi nu kommit igång med själva kärninnehållet, undersöker läget för den digitala mediabranschen i världen. jag och mina bröder arbetar med Italien. det går säkert bra!

just nu har vi föreläsning med jonathan briggs. kompetent, brittiskt och ytterst givande. ypperligt.