Week 6 Lectorial Reflection
This weeks lectorial centred on media as a form of research and collaboration. My past experiences with group projects in high school is mixed, if I was a part of a motivated and organised group it was a great way to approach a larger project. Yet if the group was less than stellar, the workload would fall to me or I would lose interest as I would feel I was working towards an unachievable goal. As we are about to begin Project Brief 4 which I believe involves working in a group, this lectorial was a good introduction into why learning to collaborate is very beneficial for a person attempting to be a part of the media industry. The pros and cons of collaboration were laid out before us
Strengths
- Share ideas/solve problems
- Inspiration
- Rigour – having stronger vetting process to evaluate ideas and approaches
- Support
- Maintain focus/drive – makes you more responsible
- Speed
- Share workload
- Tackle bigger projects
Weaknesses
- You end up doing all the work and others get credit for it
- Project ‘dies’ because no one ‘owns’ it
- You rely on other people and they let you down
- You don’t feel comfortable in expressing your opinion
- Cannot reach compromise
- Project lacks unity
These are all common circumstances I have experienced throughout my schooling but having the seven characteristics of a positive collaboration allowed me to see where I went wrong and how to improve on any group projects in the future. One of these characteristics that I see as the most difficult to achieve would be being equitable, sharing the workload equally. Something I hope to experience in my future collaborations is what Keith Sawyer describes as perfect group flow. One particular aspect of this concept I believe to be the most difficult in terms of work delegation is ‘Blending Egos.’ While group work provides a fantastic environment for ideas to flourish as members can bounce them off each other and build towards evolving that idea, ego can be a difficult thing to control in a group situation. Some people who like being in control may overlook other members ideas and there will be less opportunity for contribution. Balancing egos may be difficult but the concept of dispute resolution methods may be a good way for every voice to be heard. In addition, with my past experiences informing this view, the most important part of collaboration is organisation and time management. A rigid timeline ensures people meet certain goals when they need to be completed which stops infighting and attempt to place blame on other members of the group.
While my past experiences with collaboration may be mostly negative, I am looking forward to working with people whom I share a common interest with and see how we can evolve as a team working to produce a media artefact.
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