Dr Tan's Evaluation on KNeo World Website

While the students were working on their assigning, i.e. evaluating the aesthetics of KNeo World website, I have completed my consultation task. By comparing what I have done with students' submissions, the students can estimate how far they are from being a professional designer, particularly in making design aesthetics judgment.

Herewith the ACTUAL evaluation I did for my client, Knowledge Nation Inc. (KNI) on the KNeo World project website:

The problems faced by KNI can be grouped into two levels: micro level which is the internal limitations encountered by the design of KNeo World; and macro level that is mainly related to the marketing of KNeo World and the products it intends to sell.

Micro-level problems: 
1. The need for active proclamation
As I pointed out in March 2012, the developers, the teachers and the public are not sure what the core business of Knowledge Nation is, or specifically, what KNeo World is all about now. Of course, we have worked out the wiki-like contents and put them nicely in Bundle 1 website. However, such passive proclamation did not work and is not going to work for the current bundle. Hence there is a need of active proclamation effort, in which every visitor of the KNeo World website should be told what KNeo World is and why they should come back and engage with its contents over and over again.

2. The need for an effective metaphor
To achieve maximum effect with minimum means in the above mentioned proclamation, KNI should consider inventing a mascot, whom can be a metaphor of integration between learning and playing among kids. The first idea that crosses my mind is the Prof Owl. Prof Owl in should be actively informing visitors what KNeo World is and why KNeo World is worth visiting. The narrative delivered by Prof Owl would be the non-interactive part of KNeo World's story, the part in which we tell visitors things without letting them do anything. If sources are available, the mascot should be a 3D animated character. However, a 2D animation might be sufficient to catch visitors’ attention. In worst case scenario, there ought to be a static Prof Owl graphic with dialogue bubbles.

3. Games selection should be done by GBL experts
One of the key issues of KNeo World is the lack of unity in the variety of game selection. In fact, the game selection should be done by game-based learning experts to ensure each chosen game is congruent to the learning or playing theme of the bundle. When there is an overarching theme, the bundle would be regards as a unity of different games by parents. To parents, KNeo World sells only one consolidated bundle; to players, KNeo World offers a variety of games in the bundle. 

4. Most novel games and yet acceptable platforms
Every KNeo game should be regarded as the most novel in the eyes of players, and yet they need not unlearn their existing playing habit and preferences in order to learn new interaction platform. In other words, they should purchase the games from KNeo World and then play them in platforms which they are already familiar with, e.g. Facebook (in non-US regions), Android operating tablets and iPhone or iPad. To sell games in Apple Store, KNI should change its role from publisher into co-developer or co-designer of KNeo games. The features of KNeo Meter might not be suitable for inclusion in this model, but the KNeo Badges can be embedded as a meta-game feature of the games KNI acquired from game markets. Players can no longer see their accumulated achievement, but do they really care whether there is an accumulation system or not? KNI has been assuming the players care about the accumulation, but no statistically significant figure has indicated this so far.

5. Adding contents to KNeo World Facebook page
Since there is already a pool of fans in the KNeo World Facebook page, they should be kept warm and informed about whatsoever news and knowledge that KNI intends to disseminate. One idea in my mind is introducing one KNeo Badge in depth a day campaign, in which the fans are learning something about KNeo World every day. When the Facebook group starts to enrich its contents, the fans should be encouraged to create user-generated contents. Of course, there is a serious need to manage the FB group. 

Macro-level problems:
Many reasons have caused no buyers of Bundle 2. It might be a lot of the targeted parents are not aware of the launch; children cannot buy the bundle themselves; adult players distain to buy the bundle as it is labeled as games for kids ages 6 - 14. Instead of pointing finger to who had caused the problems, I think it would be more pragmatic to spend time thinking about how to hard-sell games in Bundle 2. Herewith some common-sensical strategies for marketing:

• Identify specific target market, i.e. the parents
• Promote Bundle 2 games through traditional media, e.g. local newspaper, magazine, TV, Radio, etc.
• Promote Bundle 2 games through new media, YouTube (open a special channel), Podcast, Facebook and Twitter.
• Promote Bundle 2 games in-person, e.g. walk into schools, community gathering events, public libraries, etc.

Having said that the above strategies are common-sensical, it has been very surprising and disappointing that none of them was seen in the launching of Bundle 2 to date. 

ICIK: Dr. Dave Osborne's talk on "Branding"

I am a member of the organizing committee of the International Conference on Integrated Knowledge (ICIK), in which I was in-charge of two matters: international liaison and moderation of talk.

I picked up Dr. Dave Osborne from KLIA last night and arranged for his accommodation at Summit Hotel in Subang. This morning, I took him to Monash University as he agreed to give a talk on "Branding". I had been appointed as the moderator of his talk. I made this opportunity for the Design Aesthetics students to attend the conference:
- to learn from the contents delivered by the speakers, particularly from Dr. Dave Osborne.
- to ask questions related to design aesthetics to the speakers, i.e. verifying what I taught them in the class.
- to learn from me in playing the role as a moderator, i.e. viewing how I put what I said in the class into practice.

Dave is based in Hong Kong and he owns two design companies. He received his PhD from Coventry University, and spent some time staying in Coventry because of that. As I lived more than two years in Coventry, we began our conversation by talking about Coventry and then his PhD. I was impressed by his passion in pursuing a PhD and I shared his pride of securing the doctorate degree. Through the conversation, I realised that he is a friend of my Dean, Prof Dato' Dr Ahmad b. Hj. Zainuddin. He was invited to become the external examiner of UiTM in early 2000s.

Fig 1: Dave's company "graphia | BRANDS" and his profile in the company's website

Dave talked about spatial design and the business of his companies. He raised the issues on old dogs in design work, which ignited the interests of some of students. The students asked the questions which I asked them in the class to verify whether what I said is actually parallel with what actually happened in the creative industry worldwide. This was indeed a good strategy, well-done my dear students! One of the questions they asked was:

How would you evaluate creativity?

En route to the airport after Dave's talk, Dave told me that he was really impressed by the proactive participation of my students. He can see good potential in them, despite the language barrier. I invited him to be our future external examiner, and inquired the possibility of having my students to do internship with him in near future. His answer was positive--although I wasn't sure whether or he was being polite and diplomatic, I was convinced by the extrovert quality of my students.

Aesthetic Evaluation of KNeoWorld portal

Herewith a selected video presentations created by Chong Jia Mun:

Jia Mun scored the highest mark in this assignment, thus her video was posted here as a reference of others.

Technology Creativity vs Cultural Creativity [duplicated from Episodic Episteme]

I have read Han’s (2012) Design Thinking. I found is meaningful for the context in Malaysia. Thus I translated some of the texts for my teaching and sharing purposes.

Technology creativity	Cultural creativity
Aims to improve the quality of living through the enhancement of the performance of products.	Aims to improve the quality of living through the enhancement of spiritual fulfillment.
Grounded on technology.	Grounded on feeling.
Need knowledge as the basis, hence the notion of knowledge economy.	Need pleasure feeling as the basis.
The field of technology requires continuous innovation through in-depth R&D of knowledge.	Cultural innovation occurs through imagination.
Reply on relatively young PhD holders who are graduated from world leading universities to lead high-tech industry. Those who reach the age of 40 might have lost their innovative capability in R&D, thus they have to move into managerial positions.	Rely on heart-touching new styles to lead the creative industry, which might be started who one reaches the age of 40.
Intellectual property (IP) is the substance (本体) of civilization	Cultural creative industry is the appearance (外衣) of civilization
Need to go through vertical, inferential design thinking process within the profession, i.e. a R&D process.	Not limited to a specific boundary or profession, but requires a complete design process to integrate multiple resources, in order to achieve the purpose of commercialization. The commercialization process is alien to literati.

In the minds of agencies which manage culture-related affairs, particularly when they think about nurturing cultural creative industry, the prime focus is creative talents, i.e. those literati who are creative and innovative. Therefore the agencies thought this could be achieved by organizing some training courses or by inviting several world-renown speakers to talk about creative industry. These efforts are merely depleting budget and yet failing to nurture true creative talents, thus leaving the problem of revitalizing cultural creative industry unsolved. This is due to the fact that the actual dilemma is the absence of a creative environment; while the barrier to having the creative environment is a general lack of design thinking capability and habits in the society.

For example, in recent years, for the sake of enhancing the quality of architecture, public and private sectors are keen to hire foreign renowned architects to design, mainly through organizing international competitions. Does it mean there is no creativity in the field of Taiwanese architecture? Of course, judging from the existing buildings in Taiwan, there is hardly any recommended designed by Taiwan masterpiece, but is this solely caused by the tack of architectural skills or talents? No. We all know that the performance of architecture standards can only be achieved through mutual cooperation between architects and property owners. What are the owners? They are the combination of the socio-cultural environment. If there is no vision that can uncover architectural talents in this society; if there is no tolerance that can indulge architects to show off their creativity; if there is no sufficient resources to support architects, we should not blame Taiwan for not having creative talents. In contrast, the required vision, tolerance and resources have been allocated to satisfy the sense of worshiping foreign renowned masters—how would such attitude establish the competitiveness of cultural creative industry in Taiwan?

Therefore for the future of creative industry, we must first recognize and comprehend the barriers in our cultural environment, particularly those irrational factors, in order to identify the thinking method that can generalize all requirements for development. If everyone in the country is geared towards enhancing the attainment of the sense of aesthetics, while recognizing the importance of systematic thinking, then we can truly move forward to a highly developed society, where everybody takes the initiative to be a sensible person.

Glocalization and Design Aesthetics

My experience of living, working and traveling in UK, US, China and Southeast Asia remind me to always keep the need of glocalizing creative contents and products in mind. There was one economist who used the price of McDonald's meal to determine the cost of living in a particular city. I mimic this approach and captured the screens of McDonald's website around the world and showed them to my students, trying to explain the need of glocalization. Herewith the printscreens of McDonald’s homepage in different countries on 24 May 2012:

McD China 

McD India

McD Japan

McD Korea

McD Malaysia

McD Taiwan

McD Thailand

McD US

I referred to a paper I wrote in 2006, titled “Globalization, e-Learning & The Art of War” to explain what I believe globalization is:

Tight economic definition: a catchall phrase for growing world trade, the growing linkages between financial markets in different countries, and the many other ways in which the world is becoming a smaller place.

Broader social definition: a multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch, and intensify worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant.

Glocalize = Globalize + Localize

Next, I began a discussion on the nature and characteristics of creative contents, which covered:
- Dynamic versus static
- Types and variety

Students should always think about what features of a product should be glocalized.

Plagiarism is an academic crime!

I kept reminding students that plagiarism is an academic crime, but unfortunately it still happened. Indeed, I rather punishing a student for not doing his or her assignment than punishing for plagiarism. I already warned the students that I would spend time reading their learning journal, word for word--despite not correcting grammar or typo mistakes as I am not their English teacher or lecturer.  

Student A

Student B

In this incident, according to testimony given by three students, a female student left her Learning Journal unattended while doing her debate in lecture hall. A male student took her journal and copied the above learning record. In fact, I had reminded all students to look after their Learning Journal and keep the journal as something private and confidential. After due consideration, the female student's score was capped at 50% of the total score for being careless; while the male student got zero for plagiarism.

List of Students' Blog (Semester 2 of 2011/2012)

Students' Name	Blog
Aila Nadirah Binti Azmi	http://ailanadirah.blogspot.com/
Aizuddin Bin Osman	http://aizuddin66.blogspot.com/
Book Changwei	http://changwei1991.blogspot.com/
Christoper Anak Ingai	http://christopheradvert.blogspot.com/
Dalila Sha'Irah Binti Abd Halim	http://dilaraaaa.blogspot.com/
Dayana Syafiqa Binti Mohd Zaid	http://advertstudent.blogspot.com/
Dianah Binti Rosli	http://dd-lite.blogspot.com/
Faez Azwann Bin Mat Jusoh	http://faeziefa.blogspot.com/
Faridatul Akmal Binti Mohamed	http://akmalcorner.blogspot.com/
Fati Isma Binti Ibrahim	http://efatiezisma-fatiez.blogspot.com/
Fatin Nur Khalilah Binti Ismail	http://sonatasolju.blogspot.com/
Fatin Zawani Binti Che Manshor	http://atenzlurve91.blogspot.com/
Hadi Farhan Bin Soetiyono	http://hadyzero.blogspot.com
Hazleen Anylia Binti Sabian	http://lynnlya.blogspot.com/
Hazwanni Binti Yusran	http://creapychips.blogspot.com
Mohamad Azkar Bin Mohamed Ghani	http://joka-ghani.blogspot.com/
Mohamad Norazlan Bin Ibrahim	http://azlan5060.blogspot.com/
Mohamad Ridhwan Bin Mohamed Nazli	http://eonenazli.blogspot.com/
Mohamad Sanazi Bin Ali	http://tojiaesthetics.blogspot.com/
Mohamed Faizal Bin Boonsoo	http://faizalboonsoo.blogspot.com/
Mohammad Ikhwan Fikri Bin Ismail	http://ewananimasi.blogspot.com/
Mohd Asrini Bin Yahya	http://asriniyahya.blogspot.com/
Mohd Faez Bin Shukri	http://yellowflash4.blogspot.com
Mohd Fakrulrozi Bin Azami	http://fakrulroziazami.blogspot.com/
Mohd Fizal Bin Omar	http://esthetice.blogspot.com/
Mohd Hanafi Bin Muhamad	http://napidesignesthetics.blogspot.com/
Mohd Hariz Bin Abdul Manan	http://harizmanan.blogspot.com/
Mohd Hasri Hasyimie Bin Mohd Arshad	http://hasrihasyimie.blogspot.com/
Mohd Khuzaini Bin Yahaya Arif	http://mikiya91.blogspot.com/
Mohd Muzaime Nor Bin Mohhajir	http://muzaime91.blogspot.com/
Mohd Nazri Bin Idris	http://rahasiadewa.blogspot.com/
Mohd Nazrizam Bin Mat Nawi	http://nazrizam1991.blogspot.com/
Muhamad Nabil Fikri Bin Abdullah	http://abilcore.blogspot.com/
Muhammad Affifuddin Bin Md Ibharim	http://disambiguationinme.blogspot.com/
Muhammad Amirulhaleem B Za'Ba	http://seuntaikatapohto.blogspot.com/
Muhammad Hairul Anuar Bin Aziz	http://hairulanuar-aesthetic.blogspot.com/
Muhammad Safwan Bin Tahir	http://aestheticdesign91.blogspot.com/
Muhammad Syauqi Bin Muhammad Sophie	http://aseriouslifeonseriousearth.blogspot.com/
Muhammed Sharkhan Bin Sarapudin	http://doublesdesign.blogspot.com
Mutiaah Binti Mat Zain	http://mutiazain.blogspot.com/
Nabilah Binti Sihar	http://nabilah1992.blogspot.com
Nasiruddin Bin Muharam	http://adribleofink.blogspot.com/
Nazirul Izzuan Bin Zul Akmar	http://www.naz89upsi.blogspot.com/
Nik Norsuziana Binti Nik Ibrahim	http://suziana91.blogspot.com
Noor Baizura Binti Zainal	http://aruzazura.blogspot.com/
Noor Fazilah Binti Jamaludin	http://ilahone.blogspot.com/
Noor Syakilla Binti Rozhak	http://deliciakilla.blogspot.com/
Noor Zalika Binti Shamsuri	http://zazabellarossa.blogspot.com/
Nor Adila Binti Azmi	http://www.arteisbeautties.blogspot.com/
Nor Husna Binti Wahid	http://thepiecesofjoy.blogspot.com/
Norliza Binti Untam	http://lizanimation.blogspot.com/
Norsyafikah Binti Mohd	http://eykaamuhamad.blogspot.com/
Nur Amira Binti Yahya	http://mimiyamiyaya.blogspot.com/
Nur Hanisah Binti Zakaria	http://cahayahanisah.blogspot.com/
Nur Intan Atika Rosmimi Bt Mazlan	http://rosmimi-advertisingblog.blogspot.com/
Nur Nasyrah Binti Ahmat Daud	http://anurnasyrah.blogspot.com/
Nur Sahira Binti Mohamed	http://a3st3ticd3sign.blogspot.com/
Nur Zuhairah Binti Mohd Noor	http://zuhairah92.blogspot.com/
Nurshaffika Binti Abdul Hamid	http://nurshaffika.blogspot.com/
Nurul Farhana Binti Mahadzer	http://studentnurul.blogspot.com/
Nurul Shuhaila Binti Mohd Nor	http://q-bicgegerl.blogspot.com/
Qurratu 'Ain Binti Baharudin	http://qainb.blogspot.com/
Rivadavia Anak Josept	rivadaviatesalonikajosept.blogspot.com
Samad Bin Abd Aziz	http://samadanimasi.blogspot.com/
Serinah Anak Sin Liang	http://myavill-cupid.blogspot.com/
Siti Afifah Binti Imran	bigbamb0obeast.blogspot.com
Siti Aisyah Binti Zainal	http://theaestheticeducation2012.blogspot.com/
Siti Juliana Binti Ismail	http://yana-ynaismail.blogspot.com
Siti Maryam Binti Ahmad	http://maryamad.blogspot.com/
Syazana Binti Idris	http://syanasyn.blogspot.com/
Wan Noor Amarini Bt Wan Deris @ Ab Aziz	http://liyniey.blogspot.com/

“Blank Blue Paper” Quiz as the Memory Challenge (adapted from Episodic Episteme)

Today, I returned from my consultation job in San Francisco. Without rest, I game a talk on on “How to prepare for your doctoral study” to fifty over colleagues in UPSI who are getting to embark their doctoral journey. And then I administer a quiz for my Design Aesthetics students using “blank blue paper” self-learning reflection method.

The quiz, which is happening now in front of me, is quite interesting to both the students (I believe) and me. I split the students physically into two groups—Bachelor of Design in Animation and Bachelor of Design in Advertising, in Dewan Kuliah (Lecture Hall) H. To avoid them cheating, i.e. submitting what they have written in advanced, I prepared blue colour papers for the quiz instead of the conventional white A4 papers. Also, to save the consumption of papers, I encourage them to write or draw things in relatively smaller scale. The only question I asked them, and I actually told them before I left for my US trip, is to flush out whatsoever things that they have learned themselves through three sets of notes I prepared for them upfront. I also request them to scan what they have written and post it on their individual blog. Erm…let’s see how it goes. It’s time to collect the outcomes.