In this video, Sir Ken Robinson suggests that we are born as artists, and we are “educated” out of creativity. He also comments on the hierarchy of subjects in schools; how writing and arithmetics are seen as the most important, and arts is seen as the least important. Even within arts, visual arts and music are seen as more important than dance or drama.

It’s an interesting concept, and I agree completely. That mainstream education puts a heavy focus on the 3 R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) rather than subjects that require a creative input, such as vis-comm, arts, drama and even home-ec.

I know this was a serious issue in my high school. When I was in year 11, we had a big group of students leave to pursue more specialised fields of study including cheerleading, dance, electrical, theatre studies, and music production/composition. When I was still in primary school, my high school stood as one of the best in the state, in terms of achieving the highest VCE results. But now, my old school doesn’t even make the top 50. It’s probably because there has been a huge pressure from students to cater to the creative needs of students. With shows like “Glee” and “MasterChef” that encourage creativity, students are more inclined to explore and discover the arts.

I remember vividly in year 8, when choosing my electives for year 9, I so desperately wanted to pick Media, Textiles and Visual Communication as my electives, but my parents strongly suggested I pick commerce, or advanced maths. However, I ended up compromising. Over the course of years 9 and 10, I studied advanced english, maths and science, media, commercial design, food technology, commerce, and LOTE. Of course, I understood the importance of my english, maths and science, as I needed to get the foundation right if i wanted to do well in VCE, so i worked hard on them, and enjoyed my creative subjects as a “hobby”. But that’s the thing… I focused on my english and maths because apparently in life, that’s what counts. Notice how maths subjects such as Methods and Specialist scale up when you get your ATAR? and how any of the Arts and Humanities scale down?

We are brought up to believe that certain subjects are more important; that certain skills are more important, and if we don’t strive in these categories, we will not be successful in life. That’s a little unfair, isn’t it?

Something that caught my attention from the 4th week lecture was the idea that a humanities person is trained to “talk about dead things”. We address all the things that are dead, and of the past, and brainstorm what isn’t dead; what is unborn, and what is yet to arise. Adrian proposed that design is a practice that is future-oriented. I can form the links between these two statements and the past readings on double-loop learning and design fiction. It’s like a more comprehensive way of saying “think outside the box”. This also ties in with the statement that Adrian made about design being “fashionable”. Think about it.

Fashion goes through phases. Platform disco shoes, flared pants, halter-necked, tie up tops, jeans and runners (ugh), gladiator sandals, leopard print, etc. Now think about the current trends- khaki anoraks, metallic studs, disco pants, creepers, button-up shirts, skater dresses, velvet everything, chunky-heeled shoes. All of these things that come in and out of fashion are remakes of past trends. Fashion designers recycle trends. They bring up old fashion statements and re-dress them. But it’s not considered recycling. It’s revolutionary. It’s an upgrade. And that’s what design is. It’s an upgrade. A change, an improvement, and a refreshing take to further society. Like a smart phone. It’s an upgrade in comparison to an actual phone. Something that has been around for years. But what is considered old news, is tweaked. It’s changed, improved, and is a refreshing take on phones, in order to push society. And it was considered revolutionary. So what’s to say that the next “big thing” is actually going to be that revolutionary? It’ll probably be a take on something that already exists. But duh, how do you think we got plasma screen TV’s? How did we get new seasons of 90210? How did we get Macbooks and MP3s and even toe-socks? Design fiction. Like Brian suggested, design fiction won’t solve all the world’s problems in one go. Design is also a slow process. Things evolve bit by bit, and nothing is ever “perfect”. And I agree with the suggestion that the focus of design fiction should be more centred around the changes in society rather than the developments of new technologies.

This week’s lecture was much different to any lecture I had ever attended. It was so… Interactive! I will admit that although I found it very helpful that Adrian was able to answer some of our questions regarding our blogs, I still have no idea what this course is about. Nevertheless, I have also found that even after week two, this is my favourite subject and probably the one I will put most of my effort into- Sorry, Politics Communicated, take that!

I did hope that the other tutors had spoken more, or that instead of questions, Adrian addressed points made in the readings. Single-loop and Double-loop learning?! Say what?! I still managed to take a butt-tonne of notes though, and slowly but surely, my understanding of Networked Media is growing (unlike me).

It’s not often that I’m glad to get back to the everyday routine of being a full time student, but after my 6 weeks off working 6/7 days a week since my promotion at my part time job (go, me!) I am so glad to be back at uni. Gone are the days I get to lie in bed for 14 hours a day watching re-runs of Grey’s Anatomy! Gone are the days I get up and reach for a Red Bull to wake me up (not really, I still do this), and gone are the consecutive days I spend in my disgustingly unflattering work uniform!

So it’s been six days since the last “un-lecture” and the first thing I could recall was how much Adrian used examples that involved food. Correct me if i’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure he said he was going to “pump us out like sausages”… Wait what?! And i’m pretty sure at one point he mentioned omelettes, too.

My takeaway from the lecture was pretty  much: Quality over quantity. It’s about the journey, not the destination… Or any other clichés you can think of. I feel like this subject is going to test my thinking. This was probably the only lecture I had that actually grabbed my attention. For once, I didn’t want to open my laptop and chat on Facebook. I wanted to pay attention. I wanted to learn. Like, woah. This is a new feeling.

One of the things Adrian said that caught my attention was how he pointed out that whenever our assignments are “make a poster” or “run a blog”, why do we always question it when we don’t complain about having to do ANOTHER essay? God forbid I have to make another journal for Media, but here I am typing up a blog post. Like an online journal. My insides are crying. But that’s the thing. This is creative. This is fun. Essays aren’t fun! They’re tiring and bland and yuck! Another thing Adrian pointed out was the advancement of technology. Using a $60,000 video camera back in the day, when a $700 iPhone 4s in today’s technological world produces better quality picture and sound? That’s surreal. Next thing you know, we’ll have phones that operate via telekinesis or something.

I guess that’s it though. Change is the only thing that’s constant. And we all have to learn to adapt in order to grow. So bring on journal writing, and blogs, and whatever new and inventive media outlets that are going to potentially be my field of work one day.