Has learned and dabbled in hardware, software, interaction design
Aspire to work in creative technologies
Being a software engineer before mostly feels like myself isolating from the nature or other humans which I feel the need to connect with deeply and I tried to escape this kind of lifestyle. But I still think computational technologies are a precious human invention and deserve great appreciation. And I guess this desire of a new perspective on computation, programming and the reconnection between it with nature and our physical world brought me here.
Each class we were introduced with a wide range of interesting and cool theories, projects and references about cellular automata and I wished there could be certain examples that could go more in depth or elaborated in more details on slides for us to check and internalize these ideas with some help or guidance later after class! but not sure if this is feasible considering the relatively short time span of the class
I really like the splatycode and colorcode exercises and wished I could have more time to produce visually interesting and sophisticated work!
I also really like the homework and examples introduced in class about humans as cellular automata, such as the folk dances for sorting algorithms and programming using your body gestures because of its unconventional playfulness and physicality around programming.
Worst would be when I felt a bit nervous about meeting faces and people I haven’t known before in the first class
Best would be when we all allowed us to be vulnerable and share a part of us through homework we do, digital content we consume as well as physical activities we like and it felt okay and sometimes resonated with others
I experienced lostness constantly recently, especially because I just started my journey of creativity, driven by the constant fear of losing the momentum of inspirations and ideation. Now that I am entering into my thesis year, it took me many anxious and soul-searching days to just decide on a broad category.\nI felt creative every week after the class. One particular moment that spoke to me is when I learned about synthetic psychology and how cellular automata could also be applied to machines. And I would love to experiment over what are some simple sensors and rules for machines that can be perceived as complicated and fascinating behavior by us humans
A new connection I have made in this class (which I cannot believe I was remiss in as an ESL speaker) is the realization that many common programming languages or development tools sets a higher learning barriers for children or even adults in non english-speaking countries as well as the possibilities that programming could be spatial. I believe language is one of the most dividing factors for us human beings and I am fascinated by what people could create with our technologies, after removing the language barriers of programming.
It fascinates me that the class has such a diverse background, interest and skill set. If I had to pick a particular genre, for me it would be works related to actual poems. I enjoy books, poems that connects us emotionally with the world we live in and each other and it adds another interesting layer of visuals to convey the feelings that would otherwise not be able to expressed just through binary black and white words.
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