My Reflections from Week 1

Prior to the starting of this class, I had a lot of doubts as well as certain expectations of the course. I was inclined towards the thought of having a chance to learn the formation of webpages/websites, etc. starting from the most low fidelity prototypes all the way until the actual coding and creation of the same. My assumptions were based on the very name of the class itself- “Programming as a design tool for Prototyping”.

On the beginning of the class, I was introduced to something entirely new, something that I’ve never seen or worked on in Srishti so far- a new blogging and class collaboration space. I was keenly interested in all the novel factors and capabilities that were brought about by clicking a simple link. From a common slideshow (including controls) to a maintained group journal, its hard to say that these things didn’t in fact spark a great deal of curiosity and enthusiasm for this class.

So far, I personally dealt with two things in this class. One, working with command line. I can’t say that I am completely new to the entire idea of coding or understanding a programming language. I had had some basic prior experience in webpage designing wherein I worked in a more visual direction rather than technical. In this process I picked up some HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP, etc. which is why getting a glimpse of commandline took me a little into the actual working of the way we interact with our computers. Although sometimes I may have felt a little slow to understand, the one I have experienced personally with programming languages is that it may take time, but eventually grows on you with practise.

The two puzzle questions that were handed to us on Day 2 was quite an atmosphere uplifter in class, considering the fact that we spent the previous day staring at our screens figuring out command line. Not only did it break the mood of the class, but it got us thinking in a very problem-solving manner (contrasting to the way we were working prior to that). Ultimately it did not stray away from the focus of the course as it connected back to the topic of coding. To me, the quiz was almost a short ice breaker that took my mind of the programming aspect, but ultimately gave me a more holistic understanding of how these codes work (on a set of permutations and combinations).

The second topic that I delved into over the course of this week, was our first assignment of the class- to enhance or simply an interaction or experience through a conversational interface. I enjoyed this work as it made me look at the campus I study at everyday through a highly critical lens in terms of spotting and gauging the interfaces around me, and further more recall my experiences with them in order to go further and brain-storm about how I could enhance the experience by conversational design.

So far I feel confident about my direction and am looking forward to seeing where this course takes me.