OUAN503 - Collaborative, Communication

I like to think I've learnt a huge amount about working in a group scenario on a project where everyone has their own distinct roles within the creative process. I realise that one of the main objectives about working in a group for the collaborative modules was to introduce us and in some ways strengthen our ability to communicate effectively in a group. It's really unlike anything I've had to do before - this being the second time I've worked in a group the first being in the first module of the year; Character and Narrative where had to work in pairs. This was different however because it was just with one other person instead of three in this case and it was also contained within the same class so both of us had a similar skill set. One of the hardest aspects of this brief was the fact that the illustrators hadn't had as much experience as some of the software and the preparation of assets that I had, so I was trying to make sure that I was keeping them all informed.

Another aspect of the brief and specifically communication that was new for me was having to run each individual idea past the group and getting it passed was a lot harder. When working individually the idea generation and decision making is self contained, whereas in the set up that was manifested during this brief made it so it was a lot harder to get things done and make progress because there is four different sets of ideas and opinions occasionally conflicting in better cases agreeing with one another. The way I think we intuitively approached this as we were all quite passive when it came to pushing certain ideas was just going with the majority as it was the fairest way and I think because time was pressing on, no one wanted to hinder the progression of ideas. We used a range of tools to communicate at the times we weren't able to talk in person or meet up. These included; Facebook, e-mail and google drive. All of these platforms have provided us with avenues of communication when we needed to discuss ideas and if it hadn't been for these it would have been a lot harder to get work done as it was quite difficult anyway to meet up when others are busy or aren't in University for example. Facebook's chat feature was used the most in which a group conversation was implemented the day the group was formed and provided a constant feed of conversation for us all from the beginning to end of the project. Through this we could plan meeting times, discuss ideas and place files into the chat to gather feedback and make progress at times when we weren't together. E-mail was used mostly for me, between me and Ian when sending files that were a lot larger than the Facebook chat feature allows. Google mail now has a feature where any files over the usual 25MB limit go into a google drive folder that the recipient of the e-mail is then directed to and allowed to download much larger files. This was an incredibly useful tool when sending PSD files, which at times were tens or even hundreds of MBs. Also, video files which nearer the end of the project were creeping close to half a GB in total size. Finally, google drive itself was useful to place documents into a folder which was then shared with the other three members of the group so everyone had access and could dip into it whenever they wanted to. So overall utilising these avenues of social media and the communication tools that we ended up using made the whole process a lot easier and gave us the opportunity to make progress when we weren't all available to meet up. It also meant that we could contribute to the chat at any time, and expect a reply when other members saw the message or received the file.

Overall, despite the difficulties and inexperience I had working in a group of this size and having to work together to divide up work and make sure that as a collective we worked to make sure the work was completed in time for the next person to do their job, we did well to get done what we wanted to in a short amount of time. Furthermore, I've learnt a huge amount about communication and team work as a whole that I would otherwise be unaware of, and I think it's made me better as a practitioner in a group other than someone working by themselves.