Students for a Creative Iowa

There is no getting around it, technology is everywhere! Think about when you are walking down a busy street or hallway: how many people do you see with cell phones? How many do you see with a music playing device such as an MP3 player? How many individuals do you know that have a computer? How many persons do you know that regularly surf the internet or check their emails or social media sites? If you are like me, the answer is A LOT. If you are also like me, then you love having all of that technology at your fingertips. But do you know how to use all the convenient technology for and in the Destination Imagination® program? Well, here are a few ideas you can think about/use.

 Type-Written versus Handwritten

One of the most obvious ways to use the technology is by typing versus handwriting. Whether it be typing on a computer or even on a typewriter, typing helps make any document legible (aka easy to read). Often times, handwritten words can be hard to make out, because of ink/pencil smudges or poor penmanship.

• Try at the end of each meeting to have someone type up the notes from that meeting. Then at the beginning of the next one, go over the notes and make sure that nothing is missing. This helps you keep track of what has been decided and what ideas you had before, just in case you need to go back. Keeping and reviewing notes is such a useful activity, the board of Students for a Creative Iowa (cre8iowa) does this at every meeting. Another benefit of typing your notes on the computer is you are less likely to lose those notes completely as you can save the file electronically and print it to have a hard copy.
• You should be using the electronic fillable registration forms and tournament documents. Both cre8iowa and Destination Imagination offer all the documents in a form that you can type into versus printing and handwriting onto it.  Go HERE for the fillable Iowa Membership Forms. Go to the IDODI Resource Area for the tournament forms. Trust me, it’s worth doing as it makes the lives of the appraisers and tournament officials easier which makes it easier for them to help you and/or give your team points!

 Social Media

Many of us use social media sites to communicate with friends and family. But have you thought of using social media for your DI team?

• As you can see, blogs can be a great means of sharing information. There are several sites that allow you to put together a private blog which allows only certain people to see it (do an online search for ‘private blog’ for more information). A private blog would be a good way to share and keep track of meeting notes, ideas, materials, or research.
• The free site, Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/about/), is another potential resource. Pinterest is a virtual board that lets you organize and collect all the images you think are inspiring, cool, or informative. By creating an account you can find, share, and save pictures with others. Try to collect images that help you out with your challenge, whether that is for set design ideas, for research, or something else that you decide.
• Remember the Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/), another potential website resource for DI teams, is a task management site. As a registered user, you can set deadlines for tasks and get reminders about them on your computer or mobile device. Need to remember to pick up more materials, schedule it for the next meeting! Need to remember to get the Iowa Membership Registration forms filled out, make a deadline for it!
• What else can you do with popular social media sites? Can you use them to recruit or fund raise? Can you use them to plan and prepare your solution? Utilize your imagination to come up with your own uses.

 Rules of the Road

The “law” of DI is spelled out in the Rules of the Road, including official uses and limitations. Although lengthy, this is a vital document that your team needs to know. But here are some highlights from Rules of the Road that deal directly with what tech can and cannot do in your solution.

• Are you aware that some pieces of technology are exempt from getting put on the Expense Report? Devices such as MP3 players, DVD players, portable speakers and amplifiers, laptops, tablets, PDAs, and TVs are all exempt as long as you do not modify them. For a more complete list of exempt devices take a look at page 19. All other devices or listed devices that are modified must be given a fair value on the Expense Report. While you can use commercially available devices, I would recommend trying to create your own bit of technology (see the next sections for more information).
• Even once you figure out whether your device is exempt or not, you need to be careful of the power source. On page 22, the ‘Rules of the Road’ lists different limitations on the use of electricity. Devices that require Direct Current (DC), which is typically batteries, cannot have voltage that exceeds 28VDC for safety reasons. If your device uses over 10 amps of electricity, you must have a current-limiting device, such as a circuit breaker, that can serve as an emergency shut off. Otherwise, to be able to use batteries for your tech device, they must be unmodified and commercially available, such as your normal AA or AAA batteries. To use Alternating Current (AC) power, which is typically done by a wall sockets, you must make sure you either have a Ground-Fault Interrupter (GFI) or not go over 120VAC. The AC rule especially applies to homemade devices. Remember any tournament official can stop a performance if they feel like anything is unsafe. So be safe and follow all of the rules!
• For Instant Challenge, technology is a bit of an enemy. Specifically, you are not allowed to have anything that beeps or makes noise, such as a timer on a wristwatch or a cell phone, so just shut off all of your pieces of tech. This rule is an important one to remember in practice, that way you are less likely to have something that beeps during the tournament.

 Technical Elements

Remember my recommendation about making your own device? The gist of the recommendation is due to the fact that it is more creative and innovative to create your own device versus buying one from the store. And the more creative and innovative you are, the more likely you are of receiving high scores. In most of all the Challenges, there is at least one technical element required or a technical opportunity that directly gets your team points.

• Challenge A: ‘Equipment’ worth up to 80 points and ‘Product Design and Usage’ worth up to 30 points; which is 45% of the total Team Challenge score.
• Challenge B: ‘Solar Energy Prototype’ worth up to 90 points and ‘Theatrical Lighting’ worth up to 70 points; which is 67% of the total Team Challenge score.
• Challenge C: ‘Cinematic Special Effect’ worth up to 50 points and ‘Original Soundtrack’ worth up to 40 points; which is 38% of the total Team Challenge score.
• Challenge E: ‘Design and Building of Structure’ is part of the structure Weight Held Category worth up to 140 points and ‘Golf Ball Delivery’ worth up to 40 points; which is 75% of the total Team Challenge score.
• Team Choice Elements, formerly known as Side Trips, are 15% of a team’s overall score. As the name implies, the team gets to choose two creations to receive score (up to 60 points) appraised on creativity/originality, quality/effort/workmanship, and integration into the Team Challenge.

Plagiarism

While technology makes a wide variety of tools easily available, it also makes it easier to plagiarize. Plagiarism is when someone uses another’s idea or thought as their own. Sometimes it is accidental and sometimes it is intentional, but either way plagiarism is stealing. To make sure you do not plagiarize, give credit to the person that came up with the idea. This is especially important to keep straight in research, where information from many different sources gets combined.

What other ways can you use technology? Can you integrate it into your set? Can you make it a part of your skit? Can you use it to make your practices more effective?

Post written by Alisha Heisterkamp, Co-Affiliate Director

Image courtesy of Piyaphantawong/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net