Semester 2- The Elderly Challenge

1) What have you learnt?
I learnt that thinking of a product and making a product are very different. Firstly, thinking of a product only requires one to think and to just sit and let the ideas come. But to make a product gives a much greater impact. I learnt the steps of processing information and to make sure my product would turn out well. Success always begins with small, little steps. I had to study the difficulties of the elderly and to see if I can think of a product that would help. I would need to ask myself a lot of questions like Will this work? or Does the elderly really NEED my product? This required a lot of thinking and many steps like researching, testing, presenting my product etc. Critical thinking is definitely needed for this elderly challenge. Other than the above, I also learnt that the elderly needs more help in the various ways possible. Listening to my friends' presentations, I saw the many different aspects that the elderly would need help in. Example: Walking, picking things up, household chores etc. I think the purpose of this elderly challenge is that it not only focuses on ADMT skills, but also planning and to see what elderly need help in.

2) What are the difficulties encountered?
At first, I could not come up with the correct questions to aid me in thinking of a product. Then I had problems if I would stay with my product or to think of something else. I had problems with researching on the current products and Finding the necessary materials needed for my prototype.

3) How did you overcome the difficulties?
I would consult teachers for assistance on thinking of questions, answering my own questions and researching. For the materials part of the prototype, I replaced The materials with other materials with similar functions and can fit to the expectations of the product.

Reflection - Prototype

1. What are the difficulties you have encountered during the process?

It was quite hard to understand what was needed to be done to test the design considerations as it was quite a new topic and I was quite clueless.

2. How do you overcome the difficulties encountered?

After discussing with my group members, we found out the things necessary for the testing and we listed them down, along with short explanations and realised it was not so hard after all.

3. What are the two key takeaways for this lesson?

The meaning of prototype and what are the steps needed to take in order to ensure the prototype or design is feasible and what are the tests needed to be carried out to test the product.

Ergonomics (Product description and Idea Trigger)

i) Describe the product. (Appearance, Color, Function, etc)
- It is red with a inner outline of silver.

- It is made of rubber and the tip is a bit flexible.

- It is light.

- The silver part is made of plastic, which makes the body hard.

- It is a stopper.

ii) What are the design considerations when designing this product?
- If the product is durable

- If the product can stop the object that it is supposed to stop.

iii) Would an elderly faced difficulty using this product? If yes, what are the difficulties that the elderly would face?
- Squatting down gives the elderly some difficulties.

iv) What do you think can be done to improve on the design of the product to suit the elderly? (Sketch the improved design in your sketchbook and take a picture of it. Post the improved sketch at the end of your post.)
- It could have a handle or something inside the product package to prove as an extra "hand" so that it would not take the elderly to squat down/bend down to put it in.

Ergonomics II

1. What is Ergonomics?

It is a form of designing the job, equipment and workplace for the worker.

Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergonomics

2. What are the 5 aspects of Ergonomics?

They are:

- Safety

- Comfort

- Ease of use

- Efficiency

- Aesthetics

Adapted from: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ergonomics

3. For each aspects of Ergonomics, explain with an example of a product that is designed for the elderly, how the product meet that particular aspect of Ergonomics.

- Safety- Medicine Bottles- enlarge the print size of words on the label so the the elderly (those that have impaired vision) could see the instructions more clearly. By using Ergonomics, we can discover the best font size we could use so that the words could fit into the limited space on the label and those with impaired eyesight could still see it.

Adapted from: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ergonomics

- Comfort- New digital alarm clocks (which could have been replaced for the elderly): The displays of some of the clocks are very very bright, so it catches attention very easily, especially when it is left in the dark. Using ergonomics, we could redesign the clock based on the contrast principle and maybe include an auto-dimming device (something similar to iSight) when it is placed in the dark, so that the user may be able to sleep well at night as elderly are very sensitive and mostly are light sleepers so they are easily woken up.

Adapted from: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ergonomics

- Ease of use- Street signs: the signs can be quite hard to spot when the elderly is in a unfamiliar area, so we could use ergonomics to improve the design so that it would be more visible to the elderly, who might have some eyesight problems.

Adapted from: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ergonomics

- Efficiency- Rocking chairs: The rocking chairs are usually made of wood, and it can be very uncomfortable and hard without a cushion, so we could use ergonomics to improve the design such that the rocking chair would not be so uncomfortable to sit on and lighter in weight.

Idea from: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ergonomics

- Aesthetics- Signs at the shopping area: The signs at the shopping area can be made more aesthetic by haveing them made in the same pattern and design.

Idea from: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ergonomics

Ergonomics I

Comparing the two workplaces:

The more high-tech workplace has all the items that solved all the issues like comfort and simplicity, incorrect height and depth, task lighting, freedom of movement, prolonged laptop use and usable desk space. It has an easily adjustable chair, a monitor arm (so that the computer would not take up too much space on the table), the freedom chair (a chair which can be adjusted to the likes of its user, like handles, height, depth...), The L2 laptop holder ( something that props the laptop up so that there is more space to spare to write notes. ) It also has an access rail, a rail that the laptop is attached to and can be pulled out from. The not so good workplace could not fit the meets of the worker, as the chair could not be adjusted to make him feel comfortable as he was leaning too forward and his facial expression showed no comfort. The lighting was either too little or too much. He had too many things on his table that he had no more space to put the necessary things, yet alone move freely. His laptop could not be propped to his favorable height.

Elderly Challenge- Observation 4

I think the taxi stands should have seats as sometimes the peak hours people have to wait quite long at the taxi stand, so providing seats for elderly or maybe letting them have a priority queue so that they don't need to stand too long at peak hours. The seats provided is so that they don't need to stand too long. Some elderly may have leg problems and cannot take too long a wait just for a taxi.

Google Sketch-up.

The TV was downloaded but overall, the bed has a button next to it so that the elderly can alert their family of helpers at home that they need help, like getting off bed to the wheelchair. the cupboard has pretty low handles so that elderly that need wheelchairs can open them. the hook next to the cupboard is a hanger hook so that they can reach their clothes easily. there is also a dressing table. the room has bright colours as they can help to brighten the room and hopefully the elderly's mood. :)

Elderly Challenge- Observation 3

I noticed there are very few toilets in very big shopping areas and parks like sentosa and esplanade as they are quite far from the food areas and the signboards pointing to them are small and hard to find. The elderly may need to walk very far to go to the toilet and they maybe very urgent. We youngsters can run, but they can't. Thus i think they should provide more toilets and bigger signboards in the shopping centers so they are easier to find.

Elderly Challenge- Observation 2

I noticed there are usually only one handicap toilet cubicle, so if its occupied other elderly wich leg problems or use the walking stick have to use the normal cubicle, which has no handle bar for them to hold on to when they need to stand up, so they would have some difficulty. The government should provide the usual cubicles with handle bars so that elderly have support to stand up, especially for squatting toilets.

Elderly Challenge- Observation 1

I see that some of the elderly go to the wet markets to buy their groceries every morning or every weekend. The floor of the market is very wet and slippery, because it is an enclosed area and the stalls all need to wash their goods or to clean the floor, especially for fish mongers as they need to keep their fish fresh. They use ice, which melts very quickly as the place is not air-conditioned and many people touch the ice while picking fish. The floor ends up very wet and slippery, because the shoes the elderly wear are quite old, and are losing friction/grip. Thus it is easier for them to fall, as their bones are not as good and working compared to ours, we can walk in ease, but they can easily fall and hurt themselves.

Holiday work part 1- understanding the Elderly population.

• Explain in your own words, the FOUR key recommendations of the report.

The first key recommendation is the housing of the elderly. Singapore wants the elderly to live as part of the community and thus are going to have a comprehensive range of housing options available in order to meet the needs of the elderly.This is also complemented by good care services.

The second key is the accessibility for the seniors. Singapore wants to be able to allow the elderly to be able to interact with the wider community and lead they own healthy and active lifestyle.The flats and buildings have transport systems that are easy to follow in order to get the elderly to their destined locations.

The third key is caring for the seniors.In order to maintain the dignity and quality of the elderly's lives, eldercare and healthcare services are easily found around Singapore, these services are efficient and cost-effective, and it is easly located so that the elderly can find it easily.

The final key is opportunities for the seniors. There would be fulfillment of relationships for the elderly and their friends, family and the community. They would take part in community activities where both the young and old take part in, so that they would nurture positive attitudes towards aging and seniors.

• State ONE way that the CAI report is recommending to make our public housing more elderly-friendly

The Housing Development Board upgrades the sold flats to non-slip tiles and grab-bars in the toilets to prevent the elderly from falling or slipping on the wet floor when they are using the bathroom.

• State TWO ways on how we can ensure that the quality of elderly care here in Singapore is affordable

The Government should set up a Caregiver Centre to support families in care-giving through provision of information resources and programmes.

The Government should partner the private and people sector to study and develop the range of community-based nursing services and personal care services, to enhance the range of services available int the community to allow "aging-in-place".

• After reading the CAI report, what do you are the THREE things that you can do, as an SST student, to help overcome these elderly challenges

I could gather some of my friends to arrange some activities that we could do with the elderly like playing games or helping out with their daily needs, so that we can interact with the elderly, especially those who live alone, so that they would not feel so lonely.

I could visit the elderly at the old folks' home and teach them some of the cool IT stuff that we learn in school, I could also talk to them, keep them occupied and less bored so that I could create some valuable bonds with the elderly and we could communicate better.

I could present a design of a commonly used furniture at home and make it easy to use so that those seniors with different difficulties would not have much problems in completing these common tasks.

Personal Reflection (NEwater visit)

1. What are the 3 key takeaways from today’s visit?
The two processes of purifying the waste water, the four national taps and the importance of NEWater in Singapore.

2. Name 2 concepts that you have learnt today during the visit.
Water conservation is very important. NEWater is not contaminated water, but purified drinkable water, although there is no minerals in it.

3. What is the 1 interesting thing that you have learnt today?
Bacteria and viruses are much larger than water molecules. I did not know that bacteria could be so big compared to water molecules.

4. What are the things that you can do to help with water conservation in Singapore?

I could translate the message to my family and friends about conserving water. For myself, I would try not to spend too much water, like taking long showers and leaving the shower on when I am bathing and to use just the amount of water I need, instead of overusing it.

TAKEAWAYS! :D

1. What are the 3 key takeaways from today’s lesson?
During presentations, we should have lesser words and present more on the slide so that the audience would listen to you, knowing the information is not on the screen. We should think further before drawing out our ideas to see smaller details like time. the audience should not be too noisy. :D

2. Name 2 concepts that you have learnt today pertaining to design and describe why is it important in design?
Creativity and planning. Creativity is needed in most design as it is needed to attract people to look at it and be curious about it. Planning is needed to be able to have long-term ideas and the project should not take too long to be ready.

3. What is the 1 interesting thing that you have learnt today?

Simple things as the topic organic food can be so interesting.

Best time to take photos

The best time to take photographs are in the morning and in the late afternoon when the sun is low. It is known as "Magic Hours".

CNY at school

help center

黄老师 talking to 2 teachers

黄老师 talking to 2 teachers

entrance of canteen

Zhi Qi looking at the Pictures she took

Ziying trying to take pictures of us.

Two days before Chinese New Year, a school, SST, celebrated their first ever CNY as a whole school. The celebration lasted for 2 hours before going back to our lessons. The two lessons we had were ADMT and Biology. During ADMT, we had a mission on the last 15 mins of the lesson. the hunt for photo taking! looking into the macbook help corner, i saw hardworking men helping two ladies. then, I proceeded to the canteen with the others. that was where i saw our chinese teacher talking to two other teachers. I took 2 pictures of them, and headed out of the canteen. I saw Zhi Qi there, looking at the pictures she has taken. I noticed that she had a nice pose, so i took a picture of her without her knowing. Then, we saw Ziying upstairs! we took pictures of each other before heading back to class. :D

Photography

1) Different types of photography

there are black and white photography, advertising photography, ariel photography, architectural photography, astronomical photography, baby photography, cityscape photography, commercial photography, concert photography, digital photography, documentary photography, equine photography, family photography, fine art photography, food photography, glamour/ fashion photography, infrared photography, landscape photography, macro photography, nature photography, night photography, pet photography, portrait photography, seascape photography, travel photography, underwater photography, wedding photography, wildlife photography...

taken from: http://www.shotaddict.com/wordpress/2006/10/18/1382.html

2) Equipment

lens, filters, flash and camera bag are basic needs for a camera.

taken from: http://photography.about.com/od/photographyequipment/a/basicequipment.htm

3) Aperture

It can also be called an aperture stop for the photographic lens, which controls the amount of light that reaches the image sensor. The size of it can regulate the film's degree of exposure to light.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture#In_photography

4) Focus

Be able to sharply focus on the object.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography#Function

5) Shutter Speed

Adjustment of speed of the shutter so as to be able to control the amount of time in each exposure of light during which the imaging medium is exposed and can also control the amount of light striking the image plane.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography#Function

6) ISO speed

In film cameras, it is used to let the camera know the film speed of selected film on the camera.

In digital cameras, it is used as an indication of the camera's gain from the light to numerical output and it can also control the automatic exposure system.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography#Function

7) Metering

It is a measurement of exposure to allow highlights and shadows to be exposed to the photographer's wishes.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography#Function

8) White Balance

electronic compensation for colour temperature which is associated with a given set of lighting conditions so as to ensure that white light is registered on the imaging chip to allow the colours in the frame to appear natural.

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography#Function

9) Composition (Rules)

the rule of thirds, golden section rule and the diagonal rule.

taken from: http://www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html#rule1

10) Techniques

The techniques are high-speed photography, tilt-shift photography, black and white photography, motion blur, infrared, night, smoke photography, macro photography, HDR, panoramic photography, RAW processing etc.

taken from:http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/22/the-ultimate-photography-round-up/

Difference between Isometric, Oblique and Orthographic Drawing. :D

Isometric Drawings: They are 3D drawings that shows three sides of a figure which are all in dimensional proportion. For these type of drawings, the angles are not all at 90 degrees. They are in fact drawn 30 degrees from the base line.

Oblique Drawing: An oblique drawing is a 3D drawing with the most distinguished side facing the person that observes it. It is 45 degrees to the horizontal.

Orthographic Drawings: These drawings are views ( front, side, back, etc. ) of and object, but an orthographic view is only one side.

Adapted from: http://www.cdli.ca/depted/g7/ortho.htm , and, http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/demosites/series9/905/2_draw/draw_t3/htm/draw3_2_2.htm

Differences:

Isometric drawings are 30degrees from the horizontal line but oblique drawings are 45degrees the the horizontal. Orthographic are drawings that show side of the object. Isometric drawings show three side of the figure all in dimensional proportion but oblique drawings are drawings where the most distinguished side is facing the observer.

ADMT-Environment :D

There are quite a few types of environment, I picked a few types that i find more familiar and some quite unfamiliar ones. Let's see...

1. Environmental Science- It is a interdisciplinary field that involves both physical and social sciences. It causes the surrounding conditions that affect man and other organisms as natural and human resources are interdependent, which means that the use or misuse or one affects the other.

(adapted from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_science )

2. Natural Environment- It is commonly referred to as simple the environment, causes all living and non- living things occurring naturally on Earth or some other region thereof. There are some components that help to distinguish the concept of Natural Environment , such as the complete ecological units that function as NATURAL systems without massive human intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena. As well as the universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear cut boundaries, such as air, water, climate, energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, which are not originating from human activity.

( adapted from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_environment )

3. Environmental Art- It refers to art dealing with ecological issues or the natural, formal, political, historical or the social context. In the early phases of environmental art, it was the most associated with sculpture, but now it encompasses many media.

(adapted from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_art )

I think that the environment is the surroundings that we live in, but it does not only contain living things, but non- living things as well. We humans depend on other living things, and they depend on us as well. Non-living things are made by humans, not made naturally. things that are part of the natural environment occur naturally, not by humans. Environmental Art is made by humans, it started from sculptures and now it has been improved into media.

ADMT Lesson 1: personal reflection.

1. What does ADMT means to you?
2. What are the attitude that an ADMT student should have?
3. What are you aspiration as an ADMT student?
4. How do you think you can achieve your aspiration?
5. Sketch how the world would look like without art, design, media and technology. Describe briefly your sketch. [Take a picture of your sketch and post it on your personal blog.

ADMT means to use other ways of drawing or designing art besides pencil and paper but media and drawing using our learning devices. It is an improvement of artwork using technology and we can edit the parts of the drawings we made to make it look better.

I think that an ADMT student should be able to appreciate art done by other classmates and by famous artists. We should be eager to learn the different ways to draw or create art, and to listen and follow the instructions given by our teacher.

I aspire to make a drawing that expresses my usual moods and thinking, as well as attractive and beautiful strokes that can be admired by many.

I think that I must not only listen to the teacher but to do some research and practice of my own during free time after lessons. I can also look at the many different types of drawings done by artists to see how I could improve on my own artwork.




There are two different views of this photo as one is Tinted using picasa while the other more blur picture was transferred directly from my phone. I think that the world would be dull, black and white without art as art brightens up peoples' day. The girl is sad that the sky was so dull, no pattern of the stars, and the balloons she lost grip of do not have colours on them. Even the grass is not green. I imagine the world to be this dull if there was no art in it.