Deb8ing, arguably the best workshop

So here we are, in week 11 and the debate is finally done. Now I must say that I am a confident public speaker, one who has been used to delivering talks and presentations with ease. This debate was something I was dreading, however, as I did not have any work to show or talk about. It was all about my talking and getting my point across, and this was something I was anxious about. I admit this as my English standard is of a good standard, but not having something to show and reference often leaves me flustered and tongue tied. However, having completed the debate, I do feel more even more comfortable in delivering public talks.

The debate itself was actually (and surprising) incredibly fun. It was myself and Jason, Team Xtreme, against Deirbhile and Aileen. The topic was “Technology limits creativity.” The royal rumble was scheduled as the first fight slot, but due to illness of another team member, we went second. Against the topic, we went second and I personally felt we did well and got our points across well. I must admit though, the counter argument did sway me about what I thought. I had been all for the use of technology but the points made about living in an office, at a laptop, and not in the real world were ones that made great sense to me. This is mainly due to the fact that of recent most if not all of our college work has been done online, on photoshop or on illustrator.

All in all I found the debate a really successful and fun class, even though the workload was high and demanding. This along with the fact we one the debate with a 31 - 21 majority, made me enjoy it even more. The end result was one that made me feel good and more confident in my public speaking and ability to get a point across.

“The use of technology limits creativity in the design process”

Improvements in technology have given chances to people to be able to contact, communicate and work together from just about anywhere in the world.

The ability to real-time edit documents with multiple users in the likes of Microsoft Word 2016 is one of the more recent technological advances of recent. It allows users to receive inspiration, criticism and overall feedback on their work from people that they would otherwise have difficulty speaking to.

This was seen during our talk with guest speaker David O’Donoghue, who spoke about how he worked on a script 9-5 with a colleague in New York, some 5100km away. Never seeing him in the flesh did not affect how he worked, and the ability to work from home meant that he could complete his work to his usual standard but with much greater ease. The ease of use, economic value over having to travel to visit the other individual, and worldwide coverage makes the likes of Skype, What’s App and Facetime essential tools in the arsenal of any creative designer.

Being able to collaborate, receive feedback and critique is invaluable in the creative process as it allows the designer to refine and fix any issues. The use of technology means that people no longer deal with others solely on a micro scale but much rather on a macro one.

In the last 8-10 years there has been a steady rise of opensource and cloud computing that has been impossible to ignore.

The likes of Arduino, Linux and Android OS are all opensource documents and operating systems. The collaborative development from multiple independent sources generates more scope of design perspective than any individual or group is capable of developing or sustaining over a long period of time.

Something available and accessible to anyone, people are now able to create where they would have previously just bought, and fix where they would have just purchased a replacement good.