The NHK experience: leadership of the animators

This Wednesday, I went to a video contest hosted by NHK. It was held within the main NHK building right next to the yoyogi gymnasium. Although we had arrived very early to avoid being caught up in the commuting traffic, Moe and I was late due to the weird geographic location from shibuya station. This session was a part of our Education course called "Digital Video Production". It was hosted by a guest lecturer from NHK, and he had wanted us to join the award ceremony for learning. We had three talk sessions during the award; one on science education, one on the possibilities of animation, and one on  preparation for disaster. 

I found the second talk session the most interesting. We first watched a 90-minute animation film which won last year's award. It was called "Wrinkles", or "シワ". I was really surprised to hear that this film was made in Spain, since the story was about a retired bank manager entering an elderly home. But as the movie continued, I saw that people in spain carried the same problems that we do in Japan.   The elderly homes were blank and uninteresting, far from an ideal place to spend the last time of your life. "Wrinkles" depicts the hardships of an elderly man struggling in a fight against alzheimer. 

After the film, the director of "Wrinkles" came on stage and discussed the possibilities of animation along with Yoshio Usui, the creator of Japanese animation, "Crayon Shin-chan". They saw animation as a world where anything is possible, opposing to real-world filming, where there are limits to what a director can create. 

After the session, there was a question and answer time for the audience. So I raised my hand, and asked them "You mentioned in the beginning of the session that animation was teamwork, but how do you guys manage to keep your team facing the same direction when dealing with a controversial topic where each member of the team has various opinions?". Mr. Yoshio answered, "There is a way of suppressing other team members and just going with your opinion, but I personally try to integrate the ideas of others when I feel that it would benefit the animation as a whole. But in reality, I'm not such a benevolent being, and it is important to be able to ultimately make that final decision." 

The director of "Wrinkles" added, "Yes, I don't think animation is a decocratic environment, but I do feel that we have to be able to listen to ones teammates. The most important to thing is for the director to make the ultimate decision." He also said in the end jokingly, "That way we know whose fault it is!".

I agree with the two directors, and feel that a benevolent dictator is better for the society than a mere democratic rule. In our age of democracy, it is difficult for a charismatic leader to appear and lead the way. I oath that when I become a leader I will be a listening yet deciseful dictator.

Never giving up!? (part 1)

 There are more things to life which do not go according to plan than ones which do. I agree to this saying. However, I believe that Dennis Perkins and his fellow editors are wrong. There are times when you have to give up and let go. Take relationships for example. I'm sure many people follow the path of Dennis's theory and find themselves in prison after being caught by sexual harassment. Giving up is a very important factor to human life. Taking some things too far will only result in a terrible catastrophe. It is unfortunate that many of the examples that Dennis used in this chapter was about life-or-death situations, because I think that the secret to determining which problems to pursue and which problems to forget lies there.
As mentioned in previous chapters, it is very important to consider the pros and cons of a decision. When choosing what to do at the edge, we must gather all our resources and rationally consider which path will result in the maximization of profits for you, or  your team. Maximization of profits is not only about business-related situations. For example, when considering disconnecting relationships with the 20% of the people in your surrounding which cause 80% of your problems, you should look at the pros, the cons, and the externality. The externality is the tricky bit, which is about the positive and/or negative effects it would have upon other relationships. Many externalities may be diminished when the decision is exclaimed at the right time, at the right place.
I know decision making isn't that straightforward. People have their values and morals which interfere with rational thinking. We are told to not bring back birds that fell from our nests as children, but do it anyways. That is our morals of sympathy coming into play. I think it is actually possible to internalize the inner emotions into rational decision making. The two key factors: priority, and long-term decisions.

To be continued...

The illusion all around us

I've been taking a documentary class this semester, and have found the precise techniques used by professional documentary directors to analyze media very interesting. This connects with many things Rab has taught us during first semester. 

It is very important for students to have an understanding in media literacy, in order to not fall into the traps of the "illusion world" behind the screens. Daniel Greenwood, the author of "Action! in the Classroom" compares this to the famous allegory of the cave by Plato. He points out that the world portrayed within television is a mere illusion, which is similar yet very different from the real world we live in. Five points are presented which helps students think critical about the mass media around us. 

1. Who created this message?

2. What is the purpose of this message?

3. What technniques are used to attract and hold attention?

4. What point of view is presented in this message?

5. What has been left out from this message?

1. It is important to first analyze the media and figure out the creator of the message. Was it a reputable service organization interested in public safety or a marketing firm inrerested in selling something? Was the creator an organization or an individual? Determining the background and bias will give the sudents insight into the creator's motivation.

2. Once the biases are brought out to the open, interpret the purpose of the message. Was the media piece created to inform? To entertain? To persuade? having students identify the purpose of the message forces them to assess the message and move to a level of intellectiual, not just imotional, response.

3. With the purposes realized, look into the techniques used to attract and hold attention. Video makers have amazing control over the medium used to convey the messages by using various techniques. It is important to understand that the creator has total control over what you are seeing and hearing during a media piece. Thus, students will be able to separate the product or information from the techniques used to attract and manipulate emotion.

4. Having knowledge of the point of view the media piece is presented in is also important in media literacy. In each message, students should identify whose perspective is being represented and then take into abbount the bias that person may bring into the story. 

5. With all of 1 through 4 spread out and analyzed, figure out the empty pieces within the message. A message can be factually correct, yet misleading if it is taken out of context or if some details are simply omitted. Nothing. NOTHING tells the full story. Each creator has their own unique background, bias, purpose, techniques, and point of view. Students should always be skeptical towards any piece of information given to them, especially if they do not have extensive 

knowledge on the topic. 

Daniel suggests in the end that it is our ability to "willingly suspend the activity of disbelief" which puts us into the illusion within the cave. This is our ability to turn off our innate skepticism, practical knowledge of real life, and understanding the laws of physics so that we can be entertained by unrealistic events and sensationalizing stories. It is important to understand that we are doing this while watching media, and that we are subconsciously being dragged into the world like the one Alice has wandered into.

Biases exist everywhere. Until college, we have been taught to ignore such biases and gobble down all the information. Recently however, I am starting to feel that it is more important to question even the most common ideas. If this takes a lot of research and time, fine. Just figure out both sides of the argument, and hae your own opinion. This is what I will do for my research writing essay.

The Japanese equivalent of Shackleton?

So we've been discussing how to manage conflicts, and today we reached to conclusion that it is important to listen first and understand the opponent's point of view in order for them to understant your point of view. In other words; talk less and listen more. Chapter seven discusses this in L@E, and points out that it is necessary to avoid needless power struggles. 

I came back from a long day of class and dance practice, and turned on the TV...

and they were talking of a Japanese version of Shackleton! 

His name is Shingen Takeda, a renowed sengoku-busho from the Middle Ages. 

Wonderful guy, isn't he?

The point is he was doing exactly what we were discussing in class today!

He used to be a very unrespected boss who was not head from his subordinates. As a result, he had escaped from the official work and was slacking off with the ladies. His tutor advised him to listen what the subordinates have to say before voicing his opinion. He did, and everybody started listening to him as well. 

ish. 

Chapter 5 The team message

Timing is valuable. I believe that a large part of leadership is not WHAT to say, but WHEN to say it. Just like a leader's speech has a powerful positive impact to boost the groups morale, the same words spoken at the wrong time has the danger of putting the team into jeopardy. I have experienced it first handed back in highschool. 

I was a leader for my class at the school sports day, and had to rally every one up before having a dance practice every day after school. On the first occasion, I started speaking when not everyone's eyes and mouth was focused on me. I felt  that people would naturally quiet down once they realized that I was talking. I was wrong. Many of the people, though the commotion, could not hear what I was saying. As a result, my voice did not reach out to many of the students, and our goals for the day was not shared. We had a terrible practice that day. 

Figuring out what was wrong, I decided to wait until I had everyone's attention on me. I asked other people in the class to quiet down the students in first and second graders (I was the leader for three grades of the same class). Once I knew they were all focused on me, I started talking. Louder than yesterday, and more simple but effectively. Thanks to my easier-to-understand speech on our goals for the day, our day's practice went smoothly.

I did make a better and simpler speech for the second day to convey the message I had, but this all would not have gone well without everyone's eyes and ears on me. I truly felt that timing was the key essence in speaking out and leading in groups. 

How my programming class sucks

The title says it. My programming class sucks. Seriously. I honestly do not know where to begin, but I guess it it the teacher that is the worst. He   Is   Bad. First off, I cannot comprehend what he is saying. He has an Eastern European accent, which I thought I was familiar to, but apparently wasn't. The fact that he is a grad school professor teaching part-time at our class doesn't help either. He does not know how to teach beginner students how to program.

You might think I'm a hater and I won't deny it. However, in to case it is not my "hater spirit" that has gotten the better of me. Ask any student that are enrolled into the class, and they will give the same opinion. Nobody. Nobody is listening to what he is saying. 

The exercise questions are not helping either. The professor gives us five to ten questions which are homework to be done by the end of next class. Which is insanely hard. Seriously, it is not the kind of work given out to a beginner in programing and expected to be seen done.

*This was written two weekends ago, and thing have turned better since*

The only saviors in the class are the teaching assistants. One of them is Hayato's elder sister, and she helps the class comprehend the professor's incomprehensible language by translating it into Japanese. Or English. Or C(this the the programing language we are learning). Thanks to her help, I have been able to understand little by little, and four weeks into the course understand a substantial portion of the assignment given out for homework. It isn't homework anymore, because I can finish off most of the problems during class time! I actually think I can survive the mid-term exam coming up this thursday.

I have leaned one important thing in this class:

Ask questions when you do not know.

Seriously. This helps out waaaaaay more than not asking. I know that it is important to think on your own; my father has always been keen on this and brainwashed me on it. Constantly asking questions is not good, and will not enhance you way of thought. 

There are, however, some instances when asking questions is more helpful. This is the case when one has no way of solving a problem. And the programing class is just the instance. It's like trying to write an elaborate Chinese calligraphy, when you can't even write Chinese! 

Ask when you don't have any idea. It's way more helpful.

How education in college should be like (a blabber talk)

What are college education for? Do we go to college just because everyone else is going, and it supposedly leads to higher paid jobs? I did not know why I decided to come to college. It actually was more like I did not have an option. Not that I didn't have an option. I never thought of the idea of not coming to college. Education in high school was so non-specific, that I knew I needed to know more in order to finalize my education as a student. I wasn't really sure what exactly I wanted to learn in extensive education, so enrolled into ICU.
So far, so good. Or not. The problem is, we don't learn a lot here. I'm not talking about names of famous beings or theories; I'm talking about putting the ideas into use. I believe that education at its highest point is not just about theories, but more on adapting them into real-life situations. If we wanted to learn about theories or concepts, we can do that in any book. Or even on the internet. Education at universities should be much more than that. We should be more interactive, and through this interaction learn more about adopting textbook theories into the real world.
I am not indicating that what we learn in our classrooms presently is bad. It is important to know the background and structure of the world we live in. However, I feel that the actualization of these blueprints is a far more important process. What we learn in ICU is good. It is simply inefficient.
What we need are incentives to induce professors in making their classes more interactive. It is easily said than done. Monetary incentives seems the most obvious, yet distorts the true meaning of education. Yet the present incentive of "spreading knowledge of their field" is insufficient. We can see this by looking into many of the classrooms, where the majority of the students are asleep or doing some other classwork. The best option would be a hybrid of the two; a realistic and idealistic incentive put together.
A college institution based solely on competition may be a good idea as well. We would have students rate the professors (not in a vague way like the TES scores), and generate lists on good professors and bad professors. We reward the good ones, and fire the bad ones. It will not pervert the ideals of education, because obtaining knowledge is simply insufficient. To be a true "intellect of owl", professors must be good at emitting their expertise to their listeners. The generation of knowledge being stacked on old bookshelves has ended. Along with the web 2.0, such information and knowledge is easily attainable through internet. University professors must be able to offer students more than that.