Hi,

Know it has been a little time since we really focused on your individual UO Blogs site for the seminar, but we wanted to send you a reminder email about making sure you have those set up properly and also to remind you to really start to think of how to make the design your own (as in breaking out of the default template).

Of note for the design aspect we will be doing a lot of hands on work in our Tuesday meeting time, which some of this will apply to thinking about designing your site in more dynamic and creative ways.

But in the meantime it is very important to be sure that your sites are working the way in which Kelsey and we worked with you all on in Week One.

A good amount of information below, some might not apply but read through generally to make sure it does not apply and if it indeed does go back to the details.

* First be sure to get rid of all the default pages and posts, such as “Sample Page” and “Hello World.” Start to make this site your own!

* Second important setting is to be sure to have your “Final Project” page set as your “Home” static page and your posting page set to your “Journal” page. Be sure in the “Settings” under the “Reading” section you have under the “Front page displays” selected “A static page (select below)” and “Front Page” set to “Final Project” and “Posts Page” set to “Journal.”

* Images and Media!!! = This whole seminar revolves around the power of images and visuals, so be sure to start to really think about adding more visual information to ALL of your Journal postings. You can do this easily when composing a Post and use the “Add Media” button to upload images or add video embed code to your Postings.

* Categories = Be sure you are assigning a “Category” to your Journal postings.

* Posts versus Pages = Some of you have posted your Journal Entries as Pages, ALL of your Journal entries need to be Posts. Just be sure all of your Journal entries are listed under the “Posts” section of the Dashboard. If by mistake you created individual Pages for each entry, you can just Copy/Paste the content from the Page into a new Post.

* Not able to see the Pages you created in your Menu? = Another possible issue is not being able to see the proper Menu bar with your new pages, if this is the case go to “Appearance” then “Menus” and in the Menu screen click on the tab that says “Manage Locations” and finally on this new screen select in the “Assigned Menu” drop down options “Menu 1” and “Save Changes.” There are some sites where we cannot see your Journal page and this could well be the issue, if you are signed in and cannot see the Journal page in your Menu neither can we.

* Not able to see the Journal page you created in your Menu? = Most likely the order of making it Private and adding it to your Menu was off, so if you cannot see it go back and uncheck the “Private” setting for your Journal page, go to the “Menus” option under “Appearance” and make sure it is part of your “Menu 1” and if not add it to that “Menu 1.” And also make sure the “Manage Locations” option is selected to your “Menu 1” (see above). Once you can see it in your menu go back and check off the “Private” setting for your Journal page.

* Widgets = You should also start to think about what type of Widgets you want to show in the sidebars. To access these and add and remove Widgets go to “Appearance” and then “Widgets/” On this Widgets screen you can remove Widgets from the sidebars by finding the sidebars on the right side of the screen and click/drag the Widgets out of the sidebar box. To add choose the Widgets you want from the “Available Widgets” list and drag them into the sidebar boxes. This is an important part of customizing your site design and making it your own. For example most of the sites still have the “Recent Posts” widget and is listing out the Posts which are private, so this will be weird for the public visitor to your page so our recommendation is to take this “Recent Posts” Widget out of your sidebar.

* Design and thinking creatively (Part 1) = Be sure to play around with different Themes. You can test different Themes by going to the “Appearance” section of the site Dashboard, then to “Themes.” In this list you can search through all of the Themes or narrow them down by looking through the Theme categories. You can then mouse over the theme and choose “Live Preview,” which will then open your site up in the a preview screen to test out how it will look in the new Theme. In certain Themes you can even navigate through your site in the preview screen to see how images and media will look on other pages such as your Journal page. Be sure when you are done testing it and do NOT want to use the Theme to click on the ‘X’ in the upper left corner. If you want to use the new Theme click on “Save & Activate.”

* Design and thinking creatively (Part 2) = Choose header and background images of your own that really highlight the themes Art and Science from the seminar, and later be sure to really think about how to “spice” up your site’s header and background images to reflect your Final Project theme and ideas.

Again these sites need to be developed throughout the term, and we are expecting a high level of engagement to be demonstrated within your Journals, such as our expectation is that you are working with the content writing, posting of images and media, and thinking about your overall site design throughout EVERY week. Only working half way on the outside of class activities will be highlighted significantly in terms of the postings and design found on your sites.

Here are some neat examples of other student projects in other classes where we really thought they made the design and layout their own (notice the ways in which some are more “flashy” and some are more straightforward but still elegant in their presentation):

http://blogs.uoregon.edu/artofnature/ (this is a wonderful project/course site and cool in that is not one of our classes but has some similar subject matter)

http://blogs.uoregon.edu/hlamb/

http://blogs.uoregon.edu/england/

http://blogs.uoregon.edu/aad250mcree/

As always please feel free to let us know if you have any questions. And also if want to meet individually with us about any of this contact us to set up an appointment.

Best,

Robert and Julie

Greetings at the end of Week 2, everyone!

I hope you enjoyed Dean Walton’s discussion and visualizations from the Scientia Venustior exhibit of UO related scientific images. I know that I enjoy this project as it nicely represents many of the conceptual approaches we explore in the course (scientia venustior winners reverse order PPT file).

Especially consider ways to make your project on the blog space stand out and be unique from other projects with a clear identity that makes it distinct from other projects in the class as well as in online spaces and searches.

Please contact Dean for any of your scientific research needs at dwalton@uoregon.edu. He is very friendly and helpful.

If you are looking to create your own Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) to discuss what is of primary importance or ways of thinking differently about the scientist and artist you are choosing for the term, you may find that site at Wordle.net

For Week 3, prepare the following:
Your Finalized Report 2 (see guidelines under the Assignments link under “Resources” on the course blog)

Read Marshall & D’Amato’s article on “Art Practice as Research” and begin reading from The Emotional Life of Your Brain (read sections outlined here: https://blogs.uoregon.edu/aad199artmeetsscience/the-emotional-life-of-your-brain/).

3) Write/Record & Post Reading Response to “Art practice as research in the classroom” and The Emotional Life of Your Brain chapter (Journal #5). Include at least 1 aspect of each of the following from each article: something that
highly interested you;
confused you;
you want to further study, or
you want to further discuss with others.
Due no later than 10a.m. Monday.

4. Tuesday will be a partial creative work session so please bring any art/craft supplies you have on hand to use on your own or to share (markers, papers, tapes, glues, colored pencils, computer applications, etc. )

Finally, a note that Robert and I are generally most available to you by appointment (i.e. contact us about some dates/times that might work to meet with you) and I will hold regular office hours on Thursdays between 12-1. My office is Lawrence 262. Robert’s is PLC 68.

All the best,
Julie

All,

Hi, the below talk came across my email and looked of interest for our seminar (and here is a full listing of upcoming A&AA talks and events: https://aaa.uoregon.edu/events/ and for more UO talks and events: http://calendar.uoregon.edu/).

As such Julie and I decided to add another possible “Achievement” to the list.

This new achievement is to attend at least 2 outside of class academic events (talks like this, etc.) and write up a “reflection” reaction posting about your attendance in your blog Journal.  If you choose to do this achievement be sure to add a Category to your blog site titled “Outside Talks” and mark your Journal entries focused on this achievement as this Category.

Your Journal Postings will need to answer the following questions:

 

This “Achievement” will be a seminar “Event Specialist.”

Let us know if you have any questions about any of this!

Best,

Robert and Julie

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Landscape Architecture Lecture by Stacy Levy: “Drawing Water”

Thursday, January 22 at 5:30pm to 7:00pm

Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom 1720 East 13th Eugene, OR

Hi all,

We hope today’s session with the Science Literacy Group and Science Pictionary helped you to better understand ways of visualizing science terminology and concepts.

This coming Thursday, Dean Walton, Science Librarian, will be joining us to discuss a display of artworks created by scientists at the UO.  This will further assist in ways of thinking about how scientists create and use research visualizations to understand and display data. As noted in the assignment list below, please read the brief article via the online link and post a reading response (i.e. journal entry under the category of reading response) about the question, “What interested you and makes you want to know about similar work at the UO?” This brief entry (1 paragraph) is due no later than 10a.m., Thursday.

And, of course, a reminder to please contact us if you have questions. Assignments are outlined below.

Here’s our introductory video from the class:

What do you think about this application of the scientific method?

See you Thursday!

Julie & Robert

Assignments:

1. Review, Write/Record, & Post about the artists of interest to you from the list of sources found on our UO Blogs course site. Details of this activity are further outlined on our blog site. Look at a variety of possibilities. Narrow down your preferred artists to 2-3 selections to examine over the term. List the pros/cons of your interest in each artist within journal. Post this journal entry in your blog by class time on Thursday. (Journal #3)

2. Finalize problem to explore + artist selection for term project. Use assignment guidelines posted here on our course site to explore why you are selecting this artist. Write a proposal (Report 2) for what you will explore about this artist/scientific topic during the term. Due next week, Tuesday, January 20.

3. Read brief online article: Palmer, C. (2013, June 21). The art of science: Princeton scientists and engineers create a stunning collection of scientific images better suited for a gallery than a lab meeting. Retrieved from: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/36123/title/The-Art-of-Science/

4. Write/Record & Post Reading Response to Palmer (Journal #4). Address this one question only: What interested you and makes you want to know about similar work at the UO? Due no later than 10a.m., Thursday.

Hi Everyone,

It was fun to find out more about everyone in our class today with our “Sometimes/Always/Rarely/Never” activity and discussion of engaging with the exhibit at the museum.

We know you likely have lingering questions about the Achievements and term-long project. These will be able to be well addressed on Tuesday during our last half of the class. Please bring any questions you have.

If you have questions about Journal #2 or Report 1, please let us know. Details we discussed in class about these assignments are outlined below as well as under the Course Schedule on our course blog. The blog again is available at https://blogs.uoregon.edu/aad199artmeetsscience/

Assignments for early next week:

Report 1 due on Tuesday, January 13– Bring a printed copy to class. This is your 1-2 page discussion of the painting you selected at the art museum on Monday. Do the following:

1. Describe the artwork — What is the mood of the artwork? How does it make you feel? What initially draws you in to the painting or pulls you back from it? What movement and flow does it suggest? How does texture work? What aspects stand out to you? What do you like about the work? Dislike about it? What is the title of the work? Who created it? When was it created? Many other descriptors questions can be addressed here depending upon how you engaged with the artwork.

2. Analyze the work in these two ways:

a) Information from the museum text panel and/or this link to the museum’s site for this exhibit: http://jsma.uoregon.edu/FarmingFoodFineArt

b) Another source you find regarding background of the work. This could be about the artist, Karla Chambers, about sustainable farming practices, about organic and other nutritional food movements, the style of acrylic painting, or another topic related to this artwork.

3. Reflect on your findings. Now that you have described the artwork conducted some preliminary research about the artwork, context, or other background information, share how your understanding of the work has altered, deepened, or developed in other ways.

4. Connect — Write about ways in which this artwork comments on one (1) aspect of contemporary society, a social or political movement, the geographic location in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, or other context of the setting in which this artwork exists. In many ways this leads to a specific argument that you may have about the work and its value or place in an exhibit setting such as this or as useful to discussion of contemporary life.

5. Reference list — include a reference list for all sources cited in the analysis section.

Journal 2 due by Monday, January 12, 10:00a.m. — Post your thoughts, questions, and ideas about Wilson’s Art + Science Now chapter on your blog journal. This gives you a chance to sharie your comments about the chapter and to experiment further with your blog. The article is the last one printed in your course packet.

Again, please let us know if you have questions we can address.

Best,
Julie & Robert

Original!

 REMIX!!!