Outline

Description

An audiovisual diary is a way for artists/musicians to keep track of ideas and notes for use in future projects. It could be a paper book with, a blog, or personal website. Artists as diverse as Leonardo da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, and Kurt Cobain all kept visual diaries.

Every three weeks, you will be required to take a bit of time outside of class to write about a piece of code art/code music you made in class and post this to your creative code blog—it’s your audiovisual diary. You’ll be using MS Teams as the platform for your audio visual diary. In EXTN1019 we call it an audio visual diary rather than just a visual diary, because we’ll be looking at code music and code visuals over the two-year duration of the course. You can find the exact dates on the main deliverables page.

We expect you to actively engage with the content we deliver during the weekly workshops in this course. The creative computing blog allows you to practice this content regularly as you develop your own style; just as any artist or musician would. On the weeks your blog posts are due, we will give you a provocation ahead of time in the workshop material. Provocations are like written prompts or open-ended questions. They should be thought of as “jumping off points” for exploring a question or idea in your code sketches. Your task with each blog post is to create a a code_sketch which explores this provocation during the workshop and write a brief description about the what you made to post on the Teams channel.

Submission Process

For each topic we cover in class, we either want you to create your own sketch based on a provocation we set in class, or extend some starter code we provide in class. In either case, we want you to create at least one creative code sketch and discuss the process you took to develope your sketch.

Here’s the process for completing your blog post:

  1. Develop your sketch, either in class or outside of class. Your sketch should either explore a provocation we give you in class or use (and modify) some example code we give you in class

  2. It’s not compulsory, but you are encourage to explore variations of what you implemented.

  3. Take a screenshot or screen recording of the sketch(es) you wish to submit

  4. Make a post in the MS Teams CC blog channel. You should include your screenshots/screen recordings, the blog number e.g. “Blog 3” and a short description of your work and process. The text component of the blog should include:

  • a short description of your sketches
  • any sources of inspiration
  • a discussion of the process you adopted to implement your idea
  • a critical analysis of the contexts provided in the provocation

Marking criteria

As discussed at the top of this page, your creative code blog (i.e. your Teams post and class discussion in small groups) make up 30% of your overall mark for this course and there are 10 blog submissions in total. These are marked in three stages over the course of the year.

The marking criteria are:

  • clarity of communication in your post descriptions

  • critical engagement with the specific topic, starter-code or provocation associated with the blog submission

  • reflection on your creative process

Year 11 Assessment Rubric

  A Grade
(9-10)		 B Grade
(7-8)		 C Grade
(5-6)		 D Grade
(3-4)		 E Grade
(0-2)
Communication
20%		 insightfully investigates complex concepts, using advanced language, metalanguage, and supporting media critically explores a range of concepts, theories and ideas, using appropriate language, metalanguage, and supporting media communicates core concepts, theories and ideas, using appropriate language, metalanguage, and supporting media represents some ideas, using some metalanguage and media communicates basic ideas using minimal evidence
Reflection
20%		 reflects deeply with insight on their own thinking and that of others, evaluating inter and intra-personal skills reflects critically on their own thinking and analyses interactions with others reflects on their own thinking and explains interactions with others limited self-reflection on activities and lists interactions with others very limited self-reflection
Engagement
20%		 deep and critical engagement with every topic, starter-code and provocation engages effectively with almost every topic, starter-code and provocation engages appropriately with topics, starter-code templates and provocations engagement includes some references to topics, starter-code templates or provocations very limited engagement with topics, starter-code templates or provocations
Creativity
20%		 always employs creative thinking, drawing on a wide range of sources/influences, to develop surprising and innovative responses to provocations uses creative thinking, drawing on a range of sources/influences, to develop innovative responses to provocations uses critical thinking, drawing on a range of sources, to develop design solutions to provocations uses a limited range of sources to develop basic solutions to provocations develops very limited responses to provocations
Contexts and Justification of Ideas
20%		 employs critical analysis of contexts appropriate to the weekly provocations (which may include: historical, social, cultural, ethical, and sustainability contexts), to justify their arguments effectively, rationally and coherently demonstrates critical analysis of contexts appropriate to the weekly provocations, and justifies their arguments effectively and coherently analyses contexts appropriate to the weekly provocations, and justifies their arguments coherently describes contexts appropriate to the weekly provocations, and explains ideas limited acknowledgement of contexts for weekly provocations. Describes basic ideas

FAQ

So what’s the point of the visual diary?

The point is to practice sketching with code and also engage with the creative code community i.e. the works of other creative code artists and musicians. In the early stages of the course, the sketches will focus on a specific concept we have covered in class.

I’m new to this whole artistic thing, and I’m a bit worried what other students might say about the stuff I’ve chosen—what should I do?

EXTN1019 is a caring place where we’re all at different stages of our learning journey. In general everybody is positive and nurturing to everybody else.

If you ever feel belittled or made to feel like you don’t belong by a classmate or a teachers, then let the course convenor know privately and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.

How “polished” does my code art have to be?

We do not expect your code art to be very polished - they are sketches after all and they can be rough implementations. This activity is about practising and not refining.

How long does the text component of the blog post have to be?

There is no hard word limit, but approx. 400 words.

Do I need to make a post in the very first week?

No. The first post is due in Week 4.

When are the blog posts “due”?

Well, as stated above, you need to make a post every three weeks according to the blog post submission schedule, and it’s due on Fridays at 11:59pm. The first blog post is due on Friday May 24th at 11:59pm.

Do I need to include images/videos of my sketches for the blog?

Yes - either screenshots or short screen recordings (30-50 seconds). Videos are welcome in Teams, but must NOT be submitted to GitLab. You may host videos externally and link to them.

Can I work on it during the weekly lab?

Yes! we will be dedicating the labs for making your own code art with the concept we introduced the week before. So if you create something during the workshop which you want to include in your blog post, then by all means include it. You’re also welcome to use time outside of class to work on the blog.

How long should I spend on this every week?

I’d say that you could probably knock it over in a few hours if you put your head down and get it done. You can obviously spend as long as you like, but if it’s taking you 10+ hours a week you’re probably over-thinking it :)

Can I use open-source code for my blog post?

Yes, for sure – as long as you provide links to any code that you used and you make some interesting changes/additions of your own to the code. You can include the link to the open-source code at the bottom of your blog post.

Can I use other artists’ work as inspiration for my sketches?

I don’t see why not :) You can absolutely look for sources of inspiration and reference them in your blog post (name of inspiration/artist, name of work, link to work). Referencing is part of the marking criteria.

Can I use generative AI to generate code or words for my blog post?

Generative AI is a new powerful tool. However, it will not help you learn and consolidate your knowledge.

If you need to use generative AI - please discuss this with your teacher. There are potential use cases for generative AI, but all use must be pre-approved.

We will look more at generative AI in Year 12.

When will I get my marks & feedback?

As mentioned above, the blog posts will be marked in two stages. You should receive your mark and feedback 1-2 weeks after end of each stage.

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