Week 4 - Post 4: Reading - Reframing

What I liked best about this reading was the idea of reframing an event. In Zander's story about the misbehaving teenaged orchestra members, their behavior could have easily been framed as "these teenagers misbehaved and made the orchestra look bad." In that case the trip would be defined as one where some of the participants ruined things for everyone and those teenagers would be defined as people who misbehave on group outings. Both these outcomes take away from the overall benefits of the trip and may have shaded how those particular teenagers were viewed in the orchestra from that point onward.

Instead Zander reframed the event in a more positive way: there were individuals who were elated at their performance and just happened to get carried away because they were still so excited from earlier that night. He gave the individuals a second chance and he kept the event from weighing down the group. Had he verbally reprimanded the teenagers who misbehaved they likely wouldn't have misbehaved again, but the group morale would have severely dropped. Instead he gave everyone the chance to not only brush off the event, but also to focus on what good they could do during the rest of their trip.

When terrible or disappointing things happen to or around us it's important to try to reframe the event in the most productive way. That's not to say you should always put a Pollyanna-type spin on everything and sweep negative thoughts or feelings under the carpet, it's more to say that you try and view things in a way that allows you to move forward positively after the fact.

For example, back in 2008 I left a job where I was paid well and respected by my bosses but wasn't doing something I loved (I was working as an executive assistant) and moved to a job where I was going to be paid terribly but was doing something I was passionate about: teaching (that's my old classroom there on the right). I was quite excited about the opportunity, but it turned out to be a massive bust. As I've complained in class before, the school I worked for was a private institution that cared only about making a profit and truly didn't have the students' or the teachers' best interests in mind. I became so run down and put out by the situation that I quit my job after only 11 months even though I didn't have another job lined up.

I could have looked at that experience as a massive mistake. I left a good job at a company that really cared about doing their job well and moved to a horrific company that didn't care at all about doing a good job. I could have seen this as a terrible error and let that mistake haunt me... except I don't. I learned so much in that job about teaching adults, what I didn't want in a future job, and how I still really wanted to follow my passion for teaching; just not there. I think it was an important experience for me, even though it was also a pretty painful one as well. I was able to frame the experience in a way where I actually don't regret making that decision, even if it turned out to be a bad place for me to work in the end.

Week 4 - Post 3 - Media Project Link

I finally got it running properly! Hooray!

Introducing my Media Project:

Working With Angry Customers: A Customer Service Simulation

The project is a website containing a customer service simulator created in Udutu. It allows retail workers an opportunity to practice giving high quality customer service under the pressure of an angry customer.

My thesis is on the use of simulator software to rehearse skills that must be performed under high amounts of stress. The media project demonstrates just one aspect of the proposed software: branching dialogue.

Chances are you're most familiar with branching dialogue from "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. In a story you're presented with a series of options. Depending what option you choose the story from that part is different. This process continues until the story completes and can create a large number of potential story paths.

Somewhat poorly-written children's fiction isn't the only place this branching dialogue can be utilized. It can also be used to simulate realistic interactions as well. This can be seen treated in a sophisticated manner by recent video games like Heavy Rain, in which a considerable number of choices have severe ramifications on the game plot. It can also be seen in some training materials as well.

For the media project, a simple branching dialogue simulation was created using Udutu. In this simulation the user is a retail clerk attempting to assist an angry customer with a complaint. The interaction choices range from the best service possible to the worst and the simulated customer responds directly to the type of service they are given. The simulation ends only when the customer is satisfied with the situation or has become so angry that she asks to speak to the manager about the user’s poor customer service skills.

This simulation creates a safe practice area for the user to rehearse what responses best serve a customer without the potential to offend actual people. It also gives feedback based on the user’s performance so that they can improve in customer service skill weaknesses.

In the case of the media project, a simple branching dialogue simulation was created using Udutu. In this simulation the user is a retail clerk attempting to assist an angry customer with a complaint. The interaction choices range from the best service possible to the worst and the simulated customer responds directly to the type of service they are given. The simulation ends only when the customer is satisfied with the situation or has become so angry that she asks to speak to the manager about the user’s poor customer service skills.

This simulation creates a safe practice area for the user to rehearse what responses best serve a customer without the potential to offend actual people. It also gives feedback based on the user’s performance so that they can improve in customer service skill weaknesses.

Week 4 - Post 2 - Comment on Mohamed Bahrani's posting

This is my comment posting to Mohamed Bahrani's blog entry Week4 - Blog # 2 - PC vs Mac

I have been a PC user for the past fourteen years, and I am still using PCs in my work. However, I started using Macs after registering with Full Sail University last year. There is no win-win in this argument. It is a matter of opinion, preferences, and maybe, it is just what you have to use as part of your business environment.




I still use both Mac & PC, though here are some of the facts, Mac is safer, as fewer attacks targeting it Mac OS X comparing to Windows. Design wise, I think Macs are more appealing and have a futuristic look and feel. Operating system wise, you can install Windows on Mac, but you cannot install Mac OS X on Windows.
I also think that the default programs (iWeb, iPhoto, Garage Band, etc) that come with Macs are better and useful compared to the ones that comes on the PCs. 

My Response

I'm a hardcore Mac person myself, but I honestly believe that it's not for everyone.

There are a lot of fantastic benefits to Macs in general. First, as you noted, there's BootCamp, so you can install a partition with Windows on your hard drive and dual boot if you need to (you can do this with software like Parallels and run both concurrently as well). Second, the software that comes with the Mac is lightyears beyond what comes with Windows and encourages creativity. Third, I personally find OSX more intuitive to use than Windows. Fourth, Apple clearly cares about both form and function as their software is nice to look at but also functions beautifully. Fifth, because we have much less of the market share we're targeted by viruses much more rarely. Finally, and this is a small point but one that matters to me a lot, there's additional integration between Macs and iPods, which allows me to sync up my calendar and contacts with my iPod easily.

But, like I said, Macs don't make sense for everyone. First, many businesses don't offer tech support for non-Windows computers (alas, this means Linux as well), so using one at certain workplaces is near impossible. Also, certain genres of software have very few Mac options (e-learning is unfortunately one of these areas). If you're someone who likes changing out the components in your computer constantly, most Macs won't work either. People who like gaming on their computer are out of luck on the Mac as most games either never come to Mac or come much later than their PC counterparts (this is a great spoof Apple commercial on the topic from a few years back). Finally, Macs cost a bit more than their PC counterparts. While I do believe the additional expense is worth it for the programs that some pre-installed on a Mac, not everyone has that kind of money to spend on a computer.

It's for these reasons I'm glad there's multiple options out there for operating systems. There's a good fit for everyone, especially with all the different flavors of Linux out there these days.

On a side note, you can technically install OSX on a Windows set up and create a Hackintosh, but it's tricky. Here's one set of instructions for doing it.

Week 4 - Post 1 - Getting past the wall

*sigh*

I had the worst problem getting started on my media project. Well, to be more specific, I had the worst problem getting started on the media portion of my media project. I'd had my idea, a branching dialogue customer service simulation in Udutu, solidified since our first week. I had the whole idea all mapped out, but when it came to actually creating it in Udutu I had the most terrible time getting started. I hummed and hawed and vaguely poked in its general direction until just finally getting it properly rolling and working today (status update: got a great chunk of it in order and I feel confident about having it more than 75% done by the time I do my presentation).

It's not that I wasn't excited about the media project; in fact, I was kind of elated to be putting my thesis materials into practice finally. It's more that I'm starting to just get TIRED.

I've been pushing myself in both my school and work life for the past 11 months and it turns out pushing myself past exhaustion is finally starting to catch up with me. I just want to crawl into a fetal ball and sleep for a month or so to recover. Alas, there's still 5 more weeks to go, so no recovery hibernation for me just yet.

I thankfully hit a second wind (or, well, maybe eightieth wind to be more accurate) today and getting the project to work finally will definitely get me through this week at the very least (although I'm hoping the delight of finally getting a breakthrough will boost my energy for longer).

I'm hoping this will all work out like the exercise class I took the other week. It was my first yoga/pilates/tai chi-style class in a long time and around the middle I honestly thought I couldn't go any further. Not long after that, though, I caught a second wind and by the end of the class I felt fabulous.

So here's to us ALL catching that second wind, making it through the rest of the program, and coming out the other end feeling amazing and refreshed... or, at least surviving the next 5 weeks. Yes, just surviving would suffice ;)

(Anime self portrait made with the help of the Anime Face Maker v1.0 by ~geN8hedgehog, which is an excellent stress reliever, might I add)