Outline

In this lab you will:

  1. (re)learn the milestones and shape of this class for the rest of the year
  2. think through creative code responses to multiple different themes
  3. sketch out which skills/areas you want to work on in this class

Part 1: EXTN1019B milestones

You’re now in the second-to-last term of the this EXTN1019 Creative Computing class. Well done! But it’s worth taking a minute to look again at the milestones and deliverables remaining in this class. Just like last year, you’ve got:

  • a project prototype demo due on Friday 1 July

  • your final project, which is due on Thursday 22 September, and the final exhibition will be shortly after that (details TBC)

  • Five remaining blog posts

As we’ve mentioned in the labs in Term 1, all of your work in class from here on in will be focussed around these deliverables. In class, we will help you realize your ideas for an awesome creative code artefact/installation.

Part 2: creative code theme responses

One thing about the final exhibition is that there will be a theme, which your work needs to relate to in some way. You’ve got lots of freedom to have your own take on the theme, just like you’ve had with the blog post provocations.

This year’s theme will be announced in next week’s class, but for today we’re going to work in groups to practice coming up with creative code responses to different themes.

You all did some great work in groups in Term 1, especially with your drone gigs, and today we’re going to harness that energy again.

In a series of 20 min rounds, your groups will:

  • be given a theme
  • look around online for inspo (especially for stuff which is vaguely interactive-creative-code-ish, although don’t get too hung up on definitions for this one)
  • sketch out (on paper/whiteboard/whatever) a storyboard for a p5-based creative code project
  • present it back to the group

This is meant to be super low-stakes; no marks, and you don’t actually have to build the thing you come up with. It’s just a chance to learn about different people’s process for taking a general theme and realising it in different creative computing artefacts.

Part 3: what skills do you need?

We talk a lot (and rightly so) in this class about doing interesting and creative things with code, and how computing is so much more than just a bunch of small, isolated “how do you get the code to do this exact thing” tasks. However, those “how do I get the code to do this exact thing” skills are still useful building blocks in realising your vision.

Fork and clone the lab 10 template repo for this week.

For this final part, you’re going to (on your own) write down any coding skills you’d like more support with or things you’ll need to practice as you work towards making a kick-arse creative code artefact for the final project.

You can list these skills in the CC-concepts-and-skills.md file in your template repo. If you’re having trouble thinking of specific skills or concepts, have a look through the Year 11 labs from last year.

Again, you won’t be marked on this, and we’re not looking for ways to expose your weaknesses—hopefully it’s clear by now that this class isn’t about that. You don’t have to share this list with your classmates. However, it’s a good chance for you to reflect on where you’re at, where you feel like your growth areas are, and it helps us plan the rest of the year so you get the support you need.

Before you leave class today, make sure you commit and push your work to git.

Summary

Congratulations! In this lab you:

  1. reminded yourself about the milestones and shape of this class for the rest of the year
  2. thought through creative code responses to multiple different themes
  3. sketched out which skills/areas you want to work on in this class
bars search caret-down plus minus arrow-right times arrow-up creative-commons creative-commons-by creative-commons-nc creative-commons-sa