https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz Made with whimsy en-us 2019-02-15 01:36:20 UTC 2019-04-19 12:14:46 UTC hello@padlet.com christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/331597982 After watching the video in lecture, what became valuable to me was making the person being interviewed feel like they mattered and that I captured the true person through talking to them. I find this important because the job of an interviewer is to relay the story of another person and it is important that this information is truthful and personable. Unfortunately I was not able to execute these goals. 
I felt a bit awkward asking random people if I could interview. Even though they were very comfortable, I noticed that I stuck to the script and went right into asking the questions verses giving an introduction and making there person feel comfortable. I feel as though this crucial if you want a person to open up to you. 
I definitely learned that this is a skill and you can often get more information out of people than you expect but just making them feel that you are trustworthy in a sense. 
Having a partner to work with was definitely a plus. My partner was a resource in that she would ask additional or follow up questions and even bring up things that I hadn't even thought of.]]> 2019-02-15 02:46:18 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/331597982 christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/332205899 This week, what I found particularly valuable to me was becoming more comfortable with interviewing. It definitely helped when I made it seem more of a conversation then an interrogation. I asked follow up questions, got to know the individuals I spoke to and they goto to know me better as well. Its amazing how the way you approach someone can make all the difference on how they feel opening up to you. This is definitely a skill to have in many different situations when you would like to get information out of people. This week we walked around the mall to interview people. This was a challenge because people typically are walking to class and it can even be hard just to get them to slow down. We learned that it may be easier to approach the people that are sitting down around the fountain and those that may have more time on their hands. I noticed that one girl was laying stretched on a bench, giving me the idea that she did not want to be disturbed and decided to look elsewhere. I love having someone to work with just because their experiences are different from mine and they may have the ability to form the connections that I cant. For example, we interviewed two girls that were recruiting for a sorority in front of mckeldin library. I am not familiar with greek life but my partner was able to continue the conversation and connect with the people better than I was. ]]> 2019-02-18 02:02:26 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/332205899 christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/338460342 This is week was my favorite week so far. Students were able to complete field work by going to the Mona Center in Temple Hills, Maryland. I really enjoyed learning about the Mona center, and seeing the potential that it has to help the community. I definitely saw the dream that members had a creating aa community center for people where they receive necessary resources for survival. I was a little surprised when we were given the autonomy to go explore around the mona center but I really enjoyed that aspect. We had visited first the ALDI right behind the center, a nail salon and a small art shop in the "Marketplace" It was a bit nerve racking to approach someone outside of the college setting because we are going in completely blind, but the people were typically nice and willing to talk to us. I noticed that a lot of the people had the same concerns. They felt the community was as united as it used to be. They wanted more centers for their children to stay and play. Many of them weren't even aware of the Mona center and one men recommended they improve their advertising capabilities to alert the community. To conclude, I really like that after speaking to people, I could recognize/see issues in the community, which even pushed me to want change for these residents. It showed me the importance of community assessment because we would not be aware of these problems if not for talking to people in the community. ]]> 2019-03-06 16:18:43 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/338460342 christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/341603128 I was able to finally come into lecture and share all the things that we had discovered about the people that we interviewed with the previous week. I think what I found particularly valuable was creating themes out of all that information. Sure it is great to know these things, but it is also important to figure out similarities that a lot of people in the community are also feeling. I found that we struggled to find solutions for their problems, which was the overall goal for the Mona Center. At times, I felt a lot of the issues they had with the community was out of our control such as, relationship with law enforcement/emergency services, or the lack of traffic lights and crosswalks. I felt that the Mona Center could only do so much to help the community. I was comforted when the professor said I should not focus on what I cannot do and stay positive. I appreciated having a team because I saw that we all noticed different things with the people we interviewed such as their body language, composure and even thought of other contributing factors. ]]> 2019-03-15 02:20:51 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/341603128 christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/348736811 I did not attend class this week unfortunately due to a death by a family friend. I reached out to my group and we have chosen to focus on the women that we had spoken with in the Nail Salon.]]> 2019-04-04 21:38:40 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/348736811 christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/352483852 This week, we had guests that came in with various drums. They explained it to be to find an internal rhthym that we share with others and see what makes us as people the same but also different. I thought that the message was nice but the overall execution failed me. With someone of African descent, I thought it was bit strange to have a practice strong in an African culture taught by white people. I felt a bit offended when I was looked at as if I was expected to know these instruments used or how to drum well. 
Following that we started working on further on our prototypes and made a sketch of an iPhone that would include features to help community needs such as a map to see what is in the area, a buy and sell option for local businesses and of course the Mona Center. I was really excited to actually put our ideas on paper. Unfortunately, we did not finish the sketch and would have to finish either some point the following week or on our way to the Mona center. ]]> 2019-04-18 04:41:57 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/352483852 christinenzok https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/352484644 This week I was able to travel with the class to the Mona center. We ended up finishing our sketch of the iPhone. We then began to go around looking for people to talk to in the community like the previous time. We decided to go back to the nail salon because people typically aren't too distracted and are just sitting down. We came into a full house and asked if we could present for them our pitch. The people were hesitant but then let us present. While our presentation, I felt our audience was not completely engaged.There was a lot of movement and they would eventually look away, we continued anyways. I felt under our conditions we were able to articulate ourselves well enough for them to understand and still get feedback. We were told that this is a good idea but we need to have future steps to rally the community and encourage them to even use an app like this. One suggestion she had was patterning with local stakeholders like churches which have youth and elderly programs for people. ]]> 2019-04-18 04:48:42 UTC https://padlet.com/christinenzok/s7ptk61mp9fz/wish/352484644