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Assignment Reflection

I began this assignment having moved home to Christchurch to quarantine with my family of 6. I was happy to be quarantined here; close to a forest and beach with people whom I get along well with. Beginning this assignment, I was excited to see what information I would learn about my bubble and the area.

For this assignment, I researched the history of my quarantine location. I also analysed the social dynamics and people within my household. The tasks throughout the course have enabled me to expand my world view and understanding of the society I live in.

My creative expression of my quarantine findings, was quite primitive but it managed to reflect the ideas I was trying to express, particularly of navigating the social dynamics of returning to live with your parents. If I was to do it again I would try and make it incredibly detailed and realistic to really make the piece speak for itself.

From this course, my eyes have been opened to many of the considerations needed when pursuing any design project. Whether it be the ethical guidelines for researching, the importance of working collaboratively to achieve the best design outcomes, or the importance of creating spaces and products that reflect and accommodate all people.

Earlier in this project, one of the things I encountered, particularly when completing tasks relating to Māori’s presence within New Zealand; was the amount of guilt I felt for how they have been treated. Although I am not responsible for the actions of British settlers, I am a product of the society they established and governed here. Meaning that many aspects of today’s society grant me a privilege I don’t even acknowledge much of the time. This baffle’s me because technically speaking this was never my country, yet now, the original inhabitants are oppressed by ‘our’ system that is entrenched here. This made it painfully clear to me the need for reparations and systemic change in New Zealand; something I am now continually educating myself on. To me, it also highlighted the importance of taking care of knowledge and preserving the rich Māori culture unique to this place.

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This is a short clip portraying the diorama I created for assessment 2.

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This is my finished model, it is quite primitive but I think it manages to convey my idea. 

I based this model off my room and sewed two figures that resemble my parents. I then put a figure that looks like me sleeping in the bed and positioned the two parents outside of the room looking in, like how parents tend to watch over a sleeping infant. This alludes to my findings that during quarantine, having moved back under my parents roof there is an unusual social dynamic where my parents revert to treating me how they did growing up, as a child in some ways. I think this is a testament to the fact that we are and will always be children in our parents eyes both literally and figuratively.

 I placed myself in my bedroom as this has been my sanctuary of sorts during lockdown as I have 5 other people living in my house. I used the same carpet I have in my house, in the model and made the room look like my bedroom at home, i also used other found items like fabric, cardboard and doll accessories to make my diorama.

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After getting feedback on Friday, Matthijs suggested that i collage some photos into my model so that it appears super realistic and then as you zoom out you realise it is a shoebox model. I really liked this idea but when it came to executing it, my printer was having issues, and running out of ink which resulted in the images being blue and really bad quality.

So, I think what I will do instead is just make the model as I was originally intending, as a kind of crude model of my bedroom with parent figures at either end looking over like they are looking into a cot. Hopefully I will be able to film a video that starts zoomed in and as it zooms out you notice the parental figures.

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This is a sketch of the way I would like to express an aspect of my findings from my research. It will be a sort of commentary on the social dynamics within my house. Particularly to do with the concept of moving back into your parents house and your old bedroom. 

Because of Covid19, my entire family were together in our house for about 2 1/2 months. This felt very unusual to both me and my older sister who have moved out of home as its like the clock gets wound back and suddenly you feel like a child again. My mum was doing all of our washing, cooking and cleaning and in general fussing over us and it starts to feel confusing because mentally you feel a lot older than the way you are being treated.

I think it alludes to the fact that in our parents eyes, to an extent, we will always be children. The diorama I would make from this is an exaggeration of this concept as it would portray a shoebox model of my bedroom (with me inside it) which has two large parental figures peering over the ends and watching over me as a parent would their infant child in a cot.

My take on this assignment is more to do with the social aspect of my bubble, while also reflecting a small amount of my physical environment.

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My research into the Explore aspect of Assessment 2. I explored a lot of the prompts offered as originally I did not know what kind of path I wanted to take in terms of the creation I make from my research. I now have a clearer idea and I think I will explore and expand on the social and physical aspect of my bubble.

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A brief explanation of my understanding of the rules and relational guidelines

To put the rules and relational guidelines into my own words I would say that the Massey University code of human ethics provides a more linear or logical approach to interacting and researching with people. Whereas the Kaupapa Māori framework provides less ‘rules’, but more cultural etiquette type guidelines. I think the two different frameworks are almost a thinking vs. feeling contrast in that the code of human ethics seems to set out more concrete guidelines - something which I find helpful in the beginning to understand a new topic as I am quite logical a lot of the time and like to have things clearly laid out so that I can analyse and absorb them. The Kaupapa Māori framework, I think, is more to do with feeling; in saying this I mean that a lot of the guidelines are about empathy and appreciating and understanding the history and reality of the people you are interacting with. These guidelines are more like articulations of common-sense and revolve around the relationships we must build in order to gain trust and understanding of the people we are interacting with.

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Beginning to explore my Bubble

My bubble has been shared by my mother Sharon, my father Paul, my older sister Abbey (who also lives in Wellington) and my younger twin sisters Ella and Olivia. We live in Christchurch, I have my whole life. I moved to Wellington in February for Uni and then moved back home only 6 weeks later. I have now been home for longer than I was in Wellington (7 weeks). This is the first time in about 3 years that we have all been together for more than 3 weeks. I have really enjoyed my time at home as we all get on like a house on fire and share the same love of books, movies and board games. In terms of where we are located, we are extremely grateful. 100 metres down the road is a huge forest with walking and biking tracks and through the forest is the beach. We have enjoyed many walks together during this balmy Autumn.

My mum is a night nurse at Burwood Hospital which means that she has been an essential worker during this time. They had cases of Coronavirus at her hospital from patients that had been moved from a Retirement Home. This meant that during this time we had to be very tight with our bubble as we didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, including my grandparents which meant this was a very lonely time for them. My dad has been able to work from home.

In terms of the political or social aspects of my bubble, it can occasionally be an interesting dynamic and many heated discussions have been had in terms of politics and the world. When we are young, our opinions and views on the world tend to be formed by our parents and what their values are. Now that all of us are over 17, we have begun to develop very strong and sometimes differing opinions to our parents. We are also able to challenge and debate their opinions with knowledge that we now have, which makes for some great discussions in which both parties go away having learnt something or having had their perspective on an issue changed.

I feel at peace being at home. I don’t have to worry about money, food, or even making plans with friends. This time has made me even more grateful for my family and appreciative of how privileged we are.

These are some sketches of different creative ways I could express  my findings of quarantine life. I was looking into zoetrope, flip books, stop-motion animation, and drawings or time-lapse video.

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Independent Study: Week 8

We were asked to explore a variety of different ways in which we could creatively demonstrate our future findings from assignment 2.

Diorama: A diorama is a 3-Dimensional Mini model that usually depicts a landscape or scene. I think this would be a good way to perhaps show a snapshot into my quarantine life by depicting a frozen moment. I could use items around the house and be inventive with the way I use things as this will also reflect the nature of the situation we find ourselves in.

Garment/Dress-up: I could perhaps make some kind of garment to represent or reflect an element of my quarantine experience. This could be a good way to allow my current major (fashion) to also be expressed. I don’t really have any images of this as I am unsure how this option would look at this point and it would probably revolve around the concept of lock-down.

Collage: This could be a good way to visualise lots of different elements of lock-down and consolidate them into one image or picture. I could use maybe things around the house, or things that I think represent something about quarantine life. This could also be a good way for me to remember this unusual time by. I could either do this on photoshop, or by hand making it which I would rather do.

Baking: By baking something, I could either turn the baking i.e. a cake, into some kind of sculpture or form that represents something about my bubble or quarantine. Or I could take a less literal route and make the baking more about the act. For example, I could bake an old family recipe and maybe my entire family could join in and to becomes more about the experience than the end product. Or I could bake something for my neighbours and make the purpose about staying connected with people.  (Image is an example of a cake sculpture/model)

Manifesto: “A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views or the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto) 

I could write a manifesto about what my aims were going into this lockdown, or perhaps write one about what I would have done differently during quarantine. Or i could even write a manifesto about my intentions coming out of quarantine,  reflecting in a way on what this time has taught me and what I will do differently going forwards, a public declaration of my future intentions. This could perhaps be handwritten or maybe typed and then manipulated in Photoshop.

Stop Motion: I could create a short stop motion animation that perhaps captures snippets of my day in quarantine life, or the environment surrounding me during this time for example how the trees around my house have succumbed to autumn during the time i’ve been home or how the dynamic of my family has changed having all of the kids back home again. This could either be done by taking many images that are compiled to show movement or change; or, I could use small models and manipulate them in very small increments and take images which when compiled will also show movement and change.

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Week 7: Talking Ink

Unfortunately during this class my zoom stopped responding just as we were about to discuss the provocation - ‘As makers can we assume to be living in a negotiated cultural space? Is this notion the same for everyone?

I feel I don’t really understand the question well enough to give an answer. However I did read the lecture assigned for independent study and found it very informative and eye-opening. Some key points or quotes I noted about the ramifications since 1840 for Aotearoa New Zealand are as follows:

- Firstly the unbelievably sly act of the British adhering to a version of the treaty the Māori had never even seen, yet alone signed, thus ‘ceding their soverignty’

- After the signing of the treaty, officials of the crown proceeded to “take land, lives, resources and power of innocent people” 

- The British continually treated Māori as being inferior in almost every way and tried to eradicate their culture and way of life. This has continued in varying forms into todays society and is reflected in the institutionalised and internalised racism the Māori people face.

- Māori people are still fighting in order to have the fact they never ceded their sovereignty acknowledged. Examples of this are the Ngapuhi claims that Professor Margaret Muhu speaks about, and the desire for a constitution that reflects and honours the original agreements stated in Te Tiriti and He Whakaputanga.

- “Crown officials were not interested in developing relationships of mutual respect and abiding by laws of land.” “To cover their tracks they made up laws to sanction their atrocities and legalise their crimes.”

- Many Māori died from the ensuing poverty of having land and resources taken away from them. Many also died as a result of the introduction of many Pakeha diseases to New Zealand.

- NZ finally signed the ‘United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People’ in 2010. This provided a blueprint for the implementation of Te Tiriti and begins to redress some of the wrong-doings committed against Māori since the signing of the treaty.

- Māori have also had extreme difficulties when attempting to settle claims. As Margaret states “Rather it is a unilaterally crown-determined policy which aims to legally extinguish all historic Māori claims against the crown as cheaply and expeditiously as possible.” This was also made difficult by the fact that claims are historically edited to remove parts that may ‘offend Pakeha’ therefore not reflecting the truth or being historically accurate.

- the above goes hand in hand with the fact that even if Māori are able to ‘win’ a settlement it almost always comes with strings attached. “If the crown relinquishes its claims on land it will have restrictions such as land having to remain publicly accessible or Māori having to buy back land for market value, therefore meaning that it is not a fair settlement.

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Assessment 1: Part B

Q1: What do you think your future area of interest will be in creative practice? Please describe what kind of Making you will bring to the world. (Approximately 50 words)

I think my future area of interest will be fashion. This is a field that has always intrigued me, especially the ability to use clothing as a form of self-expression. However, the kind of making I will bring into the world is more difficult to answer. The direction I see myself heading in is to recycle or upcycle the resources we already have, or find ways to make fully sustainable materials so that we don’t exhaust the earth’s resources. I understand that seems vague but at this stage I just hope that whatever making I do bring into the world enriches people’s lives whilst being environmentally sound.

Q2: To what extent can you assume an authority as a maker? To what extent do you need to engage those that you work with in the creative process? Consider the consequences of making for others. Do only you decide what to make? Or do you work with people in making decisions? What is gained from both ways of working? Refer to at least two of the following: Examined Life, Tikanga, Kumutoto Stream project, The Big Life Fix. (Approx. 200-250 words)

I think as makers we can assume a fair amount of authority because in our case especially, we are gaining a formal qualification in our chosen field, preparing us for the workplace beyond university. Therefore, when it comes to collaborative projects with clients, we are the specialists whom they employ to translate their sometimes impossible ideas, into realistic designs that meet their brief. Allowing varying degrees of artistic license to be employed.

Collaboration was evident in the ‘Big Life Fix’ when specialist designers were employed to solve an ‘issue’ within the client’s life. They used their specified knowledge to create solutions, constantly collaborating with their client to ensure they were fully satisfying the brief. This is also a great example of engaging others in the creative process, as James in particular was very vocal about critiquing his design, especially the aesthetics as well as the functionality. This enabled his designer to explore different options to ensure he was creating the best design for James. I believe as a designer it is extremely important to explore as many channels, in regards to your designs, as possible. This includes doing in depth research, gaining insight from others and trial and error, to ensure that you are creating the best possible version/outcome of a design. Collaboration was also an integral part of the Kumutoto stream project as without the help from specialists and sound engineers, Kedron Parker would not have been able to complete the project to such a high level of historical accuracy. By collaborating on projects, collective and unique insight is shared and used to elevate and improve designs.

Q3: Reflect on what would be possible consequences your making might have. (Approx. 100-150 words)

There is always the possibility that your making will have negative or positive consequences, you just have to hope you’ve made enough considerations for them to be positive consequences. Some possible consequences my making could have (if we are referring to question 1) is that textile waste is reduced as it would be intercepted before it can reach landfills and either upcycled or broken down into something new. Another consequence could be that natural resources are able to thrive as new fabrics are developed that don’t require such destructive and environmentally taxing means of production - For example leather has massive environmental impacts from the rearing of cattle, ‘harvesting’ the hides, the tanning and dying process and then finally the actual production of the final garment. A solution to this, as I said, could be the development of new fabrics like vegetable leathers that can be made from various materials or even grown in labs, this is an area I am interested in because the fashion industry has a massive negative impact on the planet.

Q4: In the Library, collect one physical* and one digital resource that resonate with one of your Curious Instances. Briefly describe the curious instance, and write how these resources have further shaped your understanding of the Curious Instance (Approx. 150 words)

I referenced the resources I found on my blog. My resources relate to two of my curious instances which both involve accessibility. The first being lack of Wheelchair access to many stores in Wellington, and the second being a lack of disabled toilets in various establishments in Wellington. The first article is about a travel blogger who is in a wheelchair and on a quest to find the most Wheelchair accessible cities in the world, ranking Wellington one of the best he has visited. His view of the city was contested by a wheelchair user from Wellington. She argued that there are parts of Wellington that are accessible e.g. the waterfront and Lambton Quay area, but much of Wellington is not wheelchair friendly at all. This made me realise that while we may perhaps be ahead of many countries in terms of ‘wheelchair friendliness’ we still have a long way to go before the same ease of accessibility able-bodied people experience, is established for those in wheelchairs. My other resource was an article about how many restaurants and cafés ignore laws on accessible toilets, which leaves wheelchair users isolated because many places don’t accommodate their needs. Again, this made me realise my privilege as an able-bodied person as I can’t imagine the inconvenience of having facilities that don’t accommodate such a basic human right. These articles have made me realise the importance of accommodating the needs of others within my designs whatever they may be.

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Communication for Makers: Assessment 1 Citations

-       Taylor, Astra (Zeitgeist Films). “Examined Life - Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor”. Youtube, uploaded by 黃小竹, 6 October 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=k0HZaPkF6qE&feature=emb_logo

-       Rameka Alexander-Tu’inukuafe. “Building Culture: why Good Urban Design Requires a Better Understanding of Tikanga Māori”. Idealog, 9 November 2017, https://idealog.co.nz/urban/2017/11/building-culture-why-good-urban-design-requires-better-understanding-tikanga-maori. Accessed 3 March 2020. Blog Post.

-       Mead, Hirini Moko. “Tikanga Māori, Living by Māori Values”. Sidney M. Mead, Elaine N. Hall, Huia Publishers, 2003. Massey.ac.nz, https://stream.massey.ac.nz/pluginfile.php/3634698/mod_resource/content/1/Tikanga%20Māori__Hirini%20Moko%20Mead%20copy.pdf. Accessed 5 March 2020

-       "Episode 1." The Big Life Fix with Simon Reeve, directed by Tom Watt-Smith (documentary) BBC. 2017. (Accessed 30 March 2020 via Massey.ac.nz)

-       Parker, Kedron “Kumutoto Stream Project” (Original source unknown) Accessed through Massey.ac.nz, https://stream.massey.ac.nz/course/view.php?id=44460#section-6  , Accessed 4 April 2020.

-       George, Damian. “Wellington gets vote from British blogger as world’s most wheelchair-accessible city”. Stuff News, 10 Jan. 2017, www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/88244830/wellington-gets-vote-from-british-blogger-as-worlds-most-wheelchairaccessible-city. Accessed 4 April 2020.

-       Harris, Caleb. “Restaurants’ flouting of accessible toilet law leaves wheelchair users isolated”. Stuff News, 29 Feb. 2017, www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/75216842/restaurants-flouting-of-accessible-toilet-law-leaves-wheelchair-users-isolated. Accessed 4 April 2020.

-       All images used were taken by me (Sophie Yeoman) between the period of March 3- March 31 2020, Wellington, NZ.

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How do we know Part 2:

Question 1) What worldviews are encountered in the Artefact episode?

-       The present-day Maori worldview of keeping tradition alive and passing knowledge and cultural practises down through generations. This includes continuing to navigate by the stars and currents etc. also the speaking and teaching of Te reo Māori.

-       Also, the early Māori/Polynesian worldview that was the navigators and explorers coming to New Zealand, also travelling by the stars and currents. A very intelligent people who brought with them knowledge and culture and established themselves in NZ.

-       The European worldview, particularly of captain James Cook and his crew. This was about exploring, “discovering”, documenting and colonising many places. They also learnt many things and collected many precious artefacts along the way.

These two very different ways of being and living are very contrasting. The Māori and first Polynesians to New Zealand lived by the ocean and it was very much a sustaining life source for them; they navigated by the stars and currents which is a complex system that I would think takes advanced knowledge to be able to execute. Contrasting to this, the Europeans coming from England probably considered themselves superior to the people they were encountering on their journeys. They navigated using compasses, maps, and Greenwich mean time. As one of the women in the episode said, “These are two different sets of knowledge to end up in the same place ultimately”. The Navigators way of understanding the world vs Cook’s ‘European view’.

Question 2) What knowledge-systems inform these worldviews?

In terms of the Māori worldview, the passing down of knowledge from generation to generation very much informs their modern worldview because the knowledge they are given has been culminated over many hundreds of years by ancestors. They have system of elders and respecting those that have come before them and what they have learnt, sharing knowledge and living off the land. Learning through experience and upholding tradition with various customs and practises.

The European worldview, particularly of Captain Cook at the time, was to expand the British Empire by setting out to ‘discover’ new countries and document their ability to be colonised by the British. It was a very pioneering mind-set informed by their other expeditions and the maps they had formulated from using science and things like Greenwich mean time, and developing latitude and longitude. Their worldview was to expand on the knowledge culminated before them and make breakthroughs and discoveries that would cement them in the history books.

We can look back retrospectively and appreciate both ways of life and worldviews. In my opinion we can also better understand the Māori way of life now, and know that they were a much more developed and intelligent people than first depicted by Cook. This image that was perpetuated throughout much of New Zealand’s early settler’s history.

Question 3) In which ways is information and knowledge shared and transferred? Refer to examples shown in the video.

Captain Cook had a wallpaper/artwork that depicted his arrival in Tahiti and it was a very Utopian feeling piece. Showing lush green grass, blue skies, palm trees, and peaceful and curious interactions between Cook’s men and the Tahitians.

This same artwork has been adapted into a computer engineered art piece by Lisa Reihana called “Emissaries” which was shown at the Biennale in Venice. The piece was adapted from the wallpaper into a video type piece that used green screens and actors to bring the original artwork to life; thus, making a historic moment interactive and more relevant to today. It also meant that people could learn about this piece of history through art.

For the modern-day Māori population of New Zealand the same passing on of knowledge still operates I believe. They are very family oriented and history and cultural practises are passed on inter-generationally. This was shown in the classroom depicted at various points in the episode that showed the kids speaking fluent Māori and being taught and quizzed about Paikea.

It was also shown that knowledge was shared by passing down from father to son like Mau was shown to do, however his son did not wish to learn these things and so Mau chose 10 people who have been taught and allowed to teach the hundreds of years of knowledge Mau possessed. For example, like navigation by the stars.

Question 4) From your own lived experience, what types of knowledge do you have because someone has told you? Reflect on the qualities that the telling of this information has given you.

After reflecting on this question, it has made me realise that there is not one particularly formative piece of advice that someone has given me, but many pieces of advice culminated over many years. The one piece of advice I have probably received at many different times from different people is to ‘seize every opportunity’. Whether this is to do with opportunities presented at school, work etc. I think it has definitely changed my outlook on life over time because the underlying message of this advice is really to seize life, and appreciate every moment of it. By following this advice, I have been on many trips, tried many different things whether small or big and I can truly say my life has been enriched. This piece of advice is often given to me by elders or grandparents and I think it is because when you get to a certain age you can have regrets about things you never did, so they really are encouraging me to try everything and experience as much as possible so that I don’t have any regrets when I get to that stage of my life. This advice has made me more present, willing to try new things and spontaneous.

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Source Referencing

I was unable to attend the class session where we were shown around the library and asked to find a book and an internet source relating to our ‘curious instances’. Then Uni was closed due to Covid 19 so I have had to find 2 electronic sources.

I looked into multiple information resources from different sources but ultimately found the two from the same site to be the most relevant.

George, Damian. “Wellington gets vote from British blogger as world’s most wheelchair-accessible city”. Stuff News, 10 Jan. 2017, www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/88244830/wellington-gets-vote-from-british-blogger-as-worlds-most-wheelchairaccessible-city. Accessed 4 April 2020.

Harris, Caleb. “Restaurants’ flouting of accessible toilet law leaves wheelchair users isolated”. Stuff News, 29 Feb. 2017, www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/75216842/restaurants-flouting-of-accessible-toilet-law-leaves-wheelchair-users-isolated. Accessed 4 April 2020.

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Task 3: Kumutoto Stream

First Audio Clip:

The way Kedron Parker considers the atmosphere in her discussion is very critical and almost pessimistic, but rightly so when one visits the terrace in Wellington. She describes it as a “concrete canyon” and goes into detail about the disconnect between the nature that once was there vs. the environment of that same area today. Where there once was a rich Māori and natural history and presence, there is now no evidence of this as the stream has been cemented over and flows underneath the ground though pipes. Being a place where thousands of people come every day for work she talks about the importance of having a connection to nature in your free time. Workers spend a lot of time in ‘concrete boxes’ in big concrete buildings away from family and nature and it can’t have positive effects. Even being at Uni, or stuck inside any building for long periods of time you realise the importance of fresh air and a natural environment and just how much a lack of this can negatively impact your mental health. I totally agree with what she is saying about the need for more connection with nature. “They didn’t think about the pedestrian experience when constructing all of these buildings”. She really emphasizes how the atmosphere is inhospitable and cold.

Second and Third Audio clips:

Kedron Parkers aim for this project was initially to nourish herself as she felt the concrete canyon was having a negative impact day after day. This then evolved into wanting to reintroduce nature into the environment of the tunnel as not only a statement about the lack of nature in the terrace tunnel but the need for nature to improve our daily life. As the project was going to be imposed on people (vs. a chosen interaction like going to a museum) she didn’t want to make it jarring or invasive. This meant that she came to the conclusion of having bird song and natural sounds to reintroduce the natural environment that was once there – before the stream was put underground and the buildings were constructed. She aimed for the project to provide people with a sense of nourishment and improve their day and wellbeing through the subtle natural sounds that almost subconsciously relax you.

The process to perfect this included what seems like in depth research about the environment that existed in that place before it was culverted – this included bird song and the sound of the stream etc. they wanted to have a timed soundscape that meant they could have different birdsong in the day, night and morning, that would coincide with the birds that would have been there at that time of day. However, being that the concrete above the tunnel is so thick they couldn’t get a GPS above the surface. In the end, they combined two audio files, one that is 11 hours long and one that is 12 hours long.

Fourth audio clip:

Her evaluation of the project I’m assuming is a good one because I believe it had the intended affect. She mentioned that one thing she like about the project was that people who know nothing can walk through and think “oh, that’s nice” and people who know a lot about the place can really enjoy and understand the audio and the choices that were made in regards to the audio. People can take as much or as little from this as they want.

I really like the approach she took to this project and the subtle way she managed to reintroduce nature. I also really appreciate the consideration for the history of the site and the lengths she went to, to get the right birdsong and sounds of the stream etc.

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Tikanga group discussion

How would you explain tikanga to someone who visits from overseas?

I would explain it as the Maori way of doing things, or the correct way of performing their customs and practices so that they are performed in a way that honours tradition.

How might tikanga apply in your and/or other people’s lives you know?

In all honesty I haven't noticed tikanga applied (in the Māori sense) throughout my life much, I was a leader in the Kapahaka when I was in primary school and there definitely was a proper way of doing things that was enforced and practised in order to honour the traditional style of dance and lyrics we were singing but other than that on a personal level probably not much else. 

What have you further learnt about Tikanga Māori? 

That it encompasses many things and is harder to define than we initially thought. It can be confusing to understand in a way without seeing it in practise. It is the correct way of doing things in the Maori sense but also how those practices are actually performed and is really an overlying presence across the entirety of Maori culture.

What do you appreciate about Tikanga Māori?

That it enables tradition to be continued because it ensures that things are performed in the correct and honouring, respectful way. Therefore, keeping tradition, traditional and correct.

How might an understanding of Tikanga Māori be beneficial to everyone?

I think that it gives everyone a greater understanding of Maori culture which I believe is important, and because we are designers it is likely we will work with many people of various cultures, including Maori, so it is important we have a grasp on some of the key concepts of their culture. Not only this but as we are in New Zealand, every space that we design will have people of different cultures walk through the doors, so it is important that the building accommodates, for example, both Maori and Pakeha.

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Week 3 Class discussion notes Task 2:

- What ‘rights’ do the people we interact with have?

Generally in most design settings we (the designers) are working with clients to meet the brief they specify. Therefore, the people we interact with/clients, have a right to have their opinions heard so that we create the best outcome for them. However, as creators we do also ‘know best’ in many cases as we are the ones trained in ‘this field’, broadly speaking. This means that we can tell what works and sometimes this means that the initial ideas clients have are not doable and it is our job to come up with solutions that enable their ideas to come to life; i.e. to make their ideas functional. “We have autonomy as a designer because we do know best sometimes.”

They also have the right to critique what we do - and they have the right to change their minds about what they want.

They have the right to be treated with respect as this is a partnership that requires input from both parties to have the most fulfilling outcome.

They have the right to be listened to and us to be empathetic.

We have the right/the creative freedom, to explore different ways of solving the issue.

- To what extent were Emma and James rights correctly taken into account?

James and Emma had the right to critique the design because the purpose of the design was to solve an issue they had, therefore they were the authority to decide whether the design was actually functional and solved the issue. This was evident when James harshly critiqued the first design of the camera he was  given because it was too bulky and not all that functional. The designer then went away and improved the design.

They had the right to be listened to, which they were

As I said earlier the designers were within their rights to explore different ways to solve the issue like how Emma’s designers tried various designs that were very different in order to find the best one.