Curation Progress Report #3

Curation Progress Report #3

Continuing with the last week's progress in giving a clear and simple description of the subject, I will have to say that I've progressed into much deeper explanations and examples.   As this week's goal, I've decided to finish providing the viewers with clear examples such as explantion videos and links to a website that explains the aspect of distinctive automobiles that I'm trying to curate on my webpage.  As I moved on with my project, I've just finished including the different views of the car enthusiasts who value different things when choosing their rides.  During the researching process for this week, I found one thing that I did not know about before.  The thing that I learned is the direct and port fuel injection system that Scion FRS uses in its boxer engine.  By using both fuel injection method, the fuel can be spray and combusted much more efficiently and since one can be turned on and off, the performance of the engine is improved due to the use of the two injector at the right time.  Even though I knew that they had two fuel injectors in each cylinder, I did not know specifically about the benefits that it posessed.
As a I'm approaching the finish line in curation project, I will be focusing on putting the right amount of final touches and try to take out the unnecessary information which might just make the project long but not at its best.  Before I even do this, I should think about what the subtopic is mainly focusing on and delete out the informations that fit into the other category.  Last but not least, I'm going to make sure that I've used at least 25 different sources so that the curation is more complete and do not lose points that I can get by putting little bit of more effort and time into the project.   

Best of Week: Ted Presentation and The Possible Opportunities

Best of Week: Ted Presentation and The Possible Opportunities

From what I remember, when I was first introduced to the basic ideas and the form of TED Presentation, I thought that the topics related to future growth and sustainability will mainly be related to the enviornmental aspect and not differ much from other to other.  However, as I explored more choices of parts that I can do a research and present for the class, I found out that I can present a future sustainability which is greatly affected by the use and growth of automobiles.  After this initial thought process and deciding on focusing on the automobile aspect of the future growth and sustainability, I've came across another difficult task.  It was to show it to the audience so that anyone can understand it easily and carry it forward in their lives. However, I realized that unless I have a clear examples and pictures, I wouldn't be able to accomplish this main task.  In order to do this well, I spent good amount of time searching and selecting only the most clearest and easy to understand topics.
If I had to mention why I enjoyed TED Presentation, there are several reasons that clear describes it.  First of all, the topic that I've chose was what I wanted to do a research about and kept me focus throughout the process.  Additionally, I found a lot of interesting facts about automobiles that I didn't have clear knowledge about since the research process gave me a chance to explore new areas and opportunities.  What I mean by opportunities is that by doing the research about what automobile can do to the environment, I could have easily identified the focus that the automotive industry will mainly focus on.  I also thought that this will greatly help me in the future in finding the true occupation that I will love doing for my life happily and challenge me.  To sum up the ideas, the TED Presentation not only gave me a chance to learn about the impacts that cars have to the environment, but also the opportunities that are nearby.

Curation Progress Report #2

Curation Progress Report #2

After learning about the initial startup techniques from the curation progress report #1, I've had much more clear ideas and structure that I will be working with.  As a specific accomplishment this week, I've decided on 5 main sub topics that I will be focusing on this curation project and have written the beginning paragraphs for each subtopics that will introduce the readers and viewers to main ideas that I will be expressing in website that I'm currently building.  As another important accomplishment, I've also added several crucial example videos that will show the differences between different types of the exhaust notes that only certain people will prefer.  Not only that, for some subtopics, it was necessary that I needed further informations that can support my examples that I provided, so I added a link to the websites to the subtopics that needed further explanations.

During the week 2 of the curation process, the most difficult obstacle that I had to overcome was figuring out and deciding the most important introductory ideas that will be clear and concise since not everyone is an expert in the field of automotives.  In order to ease the difficulty of the subject, I've decided to add some examples that everyone can simply understand.  Another obstacle that I've faced was getting used to the tools and controls that I have to use in order to edit or add information to my web page. However, after struggling for about 15 minutes, I finally started to understand it by little by little.  As the curation progresses, I'm liking the idea even more and more.   

Considering the parts that needs to be worked on soon, I'm planning to focus more on the specific subtopic and include as many examples and facts as possible to curate the question and the solutions more clear and understandable.  In doing that, I think that I will have to choose a background design and color to be more information focused and to a bright color.  After completing these steps, I will recent news and technologies in automotive world in the opening page which makes the curation more informative and try to use the spaces in the structure of the page more widely.

Curation Progress Report #1

Curation Progress Report #1

As I chose the that I was going to curated by myself and strategy, topic for the curation project was bright from the very beginning.  The main point that I will be focusing on are the charateristics and components that make a car desirable and much more than unique.  As a first stage in starting the actual project, I decided to make my own web page using the Google Sites.  I had a few difficulty choosing the menus and options even though it proved to be much simpler, the curation finally began!
As of now, I've done deciding the layout and setting up the subtopics that are crucial topic and that I will explore and foucs on curating.  In each subtopics, I currently have knowledges that have accumulated over the years as I've been deeply interested in individual components that make up a vehicle and I've also added specific details that will help the reader with a clear description and understanding.  On the other side, the biggest obstacle that I have to overcome during the curation is use this opportunity and learn much broad information about automobile technology and opportunities that are available out there and not just try to stick to my current knowledge by itself.
As I was working on the project, I actually believe that I might have found one of the path that I can follow in the future.  As the project progressed, I found out that creating a website where anyone can share a interesting facts and information that are about a wide variety of vehicles can act as a one big space that can grow into a united car related website.  It can include from personal reviews, to a internet community.  I'm planning to take this step little bit further and actually start from the very beginning.
 As the next steps in the curation process, I am planning to start from gathering sources that can be used in curating and sort out the most crucial informations.  Another step that I will complete in the near future is to organize the information so that it can be located where it needs to be and don't use the unnecessary information that can avaid the reader from understanding the topic and informations.

Captured Thought: Mashup Effect

Captured Thought: Mashup Effect

As a happy and sad final semester of highschool year, I have to admit that the quarter flew by quickly without me noticing that it will soon come to an end.  However, on the other hand, I realized that our class has been through many interesting and meaningful tasks this quarter as well.  If I had to choose one of the most interesting activity that caught my thought instantly, it had to be the mashup project that we did about the book Letters To a Young Poet. To put this more clearly,  This was one of the few projects that I actually spent good amount of time on and loved doing.  According to my memory, I believe that the project progressed and improved rather quickly as I got much deeper into the project.  I also started to realize the meaning of the project as I became more familiar to the entire structure of the project.
To be more specific on my thought process, I honestly did not have any opinion about what mashup actually was.  It started out as me finding sources to use for the entry and therefore, seemed more like a fact listing activity.  However, I was soon to find out that it was not the intent of this activity and that it was 180 degrees around.  It was more like brainstorming the idea and listing possible connection.  After that, I could easily connect the sources and make it flow as if it was a single writing piece.  The most important message that I've received during the activity was that as I start putting the information down, I could arrange the other information so that it can form a perfect puzzle.  I might be exagerating a little but the information truly did fit like a puzzle.  As a lesson from this project, I've learned the importance of brainstorming and in what way it can help me organize my thought and connect the dots together.  After all, the mashup project will remain as one of my favorite activity of the year.

Metacognition: The Mashup Process

Metacognition: The Mashup Process

As a first step in the process, it was necessary that I had to choose a "theme"  that  I had to choose in order to focus my thinking to.  As my selection I chose love as my choice without thinking much about other topics.  One of the reason was that I believed many parts in the book that described about the love and why it is so important.  When I started looking and finding for the sources, I was confused and lost, thinking that there is no way I can finish this project in the time frame that I set.  However, this way of thinking was going to change vastly as I went more deep into the subject.

It has been almost an hour gathering informations and try to figure them in order so my mashup can flow like it has been planned from beginning.  To be honest, this part troubled me in a way that I had to organized the information that I've gathered from variety of sources and had to make them "flow".  However, this process became so much easier as I continued on throughout the project.  My thought process became famiar to the process and I was able to remember the past sources and connect it to the next one with only few troubles.

As I got closer to ending the process, I've learn that our minds and thought process work so much more efficient as we start a  certain thinking and learn about the process.  I liked how my thinking that it would take me hours and worrying about the process changed 180 degrees around as I worked on the project.  In addtion, I thinking that this project was most engaging and enjoyable project that we did throughout the year.  By doing the project I learned how to connect the sources and themes that are similar and make them into one smooth writing.  For next time, I'm planning to use this thought process when I'm working on other essays and variety of writings in school 

Connection: Capturing Attentions

Connection: Frank Gehry and Car Commercials?

As a car guy who spends many hours into watching and paying attention to different parts of automotive news and new technology, I have to admit that the post-modernism examples that we learned in class caught my attention the most.  To be more specific, the car commercials helped me the most when I had trouble understanding the main ideas that distinguish post-modernism from modernism.  From my experiences, car commercials tend to emphasize the cars' main-focused character such as performance-oriented or affordability and tries to focus on certain age group as well as more broad group of buyers at the same time.  In order to do that, they've used a variety of different styles of backgrounds and way of displaying their product.  The two commercials that come up to my mind as great examples are the Cadillac and Chrysler Commercials.  As for Cadillac, they used the phrase "let's dance" and an "art and science design" when they were trying to change the brand's image from old man's car to more performance oriented luxury vehicle.  On the other hand, Chrysler used "imported from Detroit" phrase, displayed the images of different parts of Detroit, and emphasized the quality.

In today's commercials, I feel like each commercials are distinguishable and has a unique aspect that grabs the viewers' attention in a different way.  From this idea, I felt a great connection between Frank Gehry's work of architecture and his unique style to today's car commercials.  What I've noticed from his work while we watched a documentary about him was that he uses these techniques and styles that might seem weird at first.  However, this, what might seem weird, is totally new in that no one else uses it and in addition, it is purposeful at the same time.  To be more clear, the design seems like it was only focused on the aesthetic beauty and imagination of the designer.  However, it also accounts for the purpose of the building such as lighting, openness, and the flow of the materials.  What amazed me the most was designing the architecture and making it come alive in real life.  It must have taken great amount of details and careful construction since it doesn't just have square corners or round corners in everyside of the building.  I think that the uniqueness and the quality are the two most important parts that sets it apart from others.

Blogging Around

Blogging Around: Kimmy D and Marie T

To start off the blogging around entry, I couldn't agree more with Kimmy D's blog entry.  She did the change of mind entry and experienced the stages of her point of view and how it evolved as she learned more and more about the idea of modernism and postmodernism.  She also shared a great example which also helped me in understanding more about the ideas.

Hey Kimmy! When I started the reading I was seeing more and more connection to my experience.  Just like how you felt, I did not have much of an idea about modernism and postmodernism.  However, it changed completely.  I agree with how commercials and movies that we saw as the examples in class truly gave us more clear view of the ideas.  I really liked how you sum up all the things that you learned at the end neatly. Nice job!

In Marie T's blog entry, she talked about her confusion about the two ideas: modernism and postmodernism.  What caught my attention when I read this was that she used an honest voice in her entry which made me want to know more about the later stories.  She also shared great examples in order to visualize her point.

Hey Marie! First of all, I really liked the honest tone that you used in order to show your point and confusion that you had in the beginning.  I don't think I have ever seen a writing this honest and straight forward.  Anyways, similar to your experience I really had no idea about the two ideas: modernism and postmodernism.  However, as I saw different examples such as an architecture comparing the two different eras, my mind started to change also.  Great job!

Change of Mind: Art and Dimension is Everywhere!

Change of Mind: Art and Dimension is Everywhere!

To start off by telling the truth, it was fair to say that I was introduced to the idea of modernism and postmodernism in this depth for the first time.  When I was introduced to these two different periods of ideas, I felt confused and lost.  It introduced me to areas that I didn't pay attention and expected in my daily lives when I was watching or listening to different works of arts starting from TV commercial to the amazing poems that I didn't know the true intent about.  However, it was not far from changing completely.  In my opinion, the example that helped me in changing my mind was the different type of commercials and movie clips, since it visualized clearly on screen what the different interpretation we can make from the art.

 As I mentioned earlier, I started my journey of understanding the meaning of modernism and postmodernism from the  far way behind.  Although I didn't have a broad knowledge about arts nor commercials, I'm satisfied with how familiar I got with interpreting and understanding the work of art from the point two different periods of ideas.  For the understanding, I think that automotive commercials helped me in making a distinction about the two different sides of commercial: Enonomic side and Cultural side.  As I continued in understanding, I learned that even though we see things, we might not be looking at what it really is since it has been view thorugh some other media tool and might have been effected and modified.  Also, I learned one more important thing from the automotive commercials.  The idea that helped me to realize more was that commercial contained many different aspects of art and that style has been considered the most important part due to display the product better and attract consumers.  Even though I cannot say that I fully understand modernism and postmodernism, I now have much better understanding and I've improved my understanding from learning.

Connection: Martin Luther King and Entrepreneurs

Connection: Marting Luther King and Entrepreneurs

I didn't realize how the time flew by me over the past weeks.  When I caught up, I realized that it has already been almost two full weeks since we entered our second semester of senior year.  As I started to think about the fact that this is the last time that I will be in highschool, the time just seems to go faster somehow.  Anyways, what I can say certainly is that the past week has not just passed.  In fact, I was introduced to two of the remarkable lessons, a short video called "Tenacity is just as important as interllectual" and a "Letter From Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King.  To start off by introducing the film "Tenacity is just as important as interllectual", this film described the idea that knowledge can be one of the factors to success but person will not be likely to succeed unless they have tenacity.  To be more specific, It explains that a person must have a risk taking ability and a passion to continue on even if he/she faces a obstacle.  On the other hand, I learned the intention of "Letter From Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King.  What I learned and think the most important idea from the letter is that if the injustice and unfairness is present, we need to step up and challenge the status quo. In addition, another thing that shocked me is the writing itself.  It truly had a most effective way to show the audience what it was tryng to deliver and tell.

However, what I really want to talk about on this blog entry is the true connection that links the two important and risk taking people, Martin Luther King and the entrepreneurs around the world.  When I was coming up with the idea on who and what I will focus on connecting, this very idea came to my mind instantly.  In fact, both person had the great characteristic of risk taking and an ability to pursue what they believe was right and what they want to spend their lives on.  As a result, both person has greatly influenced and is influencing the world that we live on and had it changed into more equal and efficient place to live in.  As I learned in the short film "Tenacity is just as important as interllectual", the ability to overcome the obstacles and taking the risk in order to follow their own passion played a major role.