Miranda, Yun LIU
- u3554843
- 2021年2月9日
- 讀畢需時 13 分鐘
已更新：2021年5月30日
Blog#1
Week 01 / Session 01 / 21 January 2021
1. Course Summary: The first group meeting “Introduction”
A series of course-related materials, including course outline, course objectives, house rules, and assessment criteria were shared by Professor Barry. After the brief introduction, all of the students were involved in a pop-up question of job polling: surprisingly, it seemed that none of us was planning for continuous education after graduation in the next several years. It would be interesting to see if any of the students’ choices of occupational direction change by the end of this course.
Figure 1. Job polling question after graduation. Most students filled the answers in 2 or 3 (private consultancy), and surprisingly none of us selected 6 (further tertiary education).
During the second half of the course, 7 groups of students were established for the group sharing projects. I was selected as one of the group leaders (thank you for those who recommended me - it would be a great chance for me to practice leadership skills), and luckily I was joined by group members that I am used to working with during previous studios. Our team (the Blue Group) eventually chose the second topic, “Where Do You Work?”, after a quick competition with the other groups, because we found this topic a good way to expand our knowledge in the field of Hong Kong, Mainland China, and even overseas. Besides, as a group consisted of students who share diverse backgrounds of studying and working experience, we were sure that we could bring the audiences an attractive, academic, and unique presentation.
Figure 2. The 7 topics for group presentations.
Luckily we got the second one that most of the groups were competing for.
2. Self-Summary: Reflection of Week 01, personal course objectives, & “weekly timetable” activity
Given the fact that this course encourages students to develop personal, creative interpretations of landscape architecture practices, my personal objectives of this course have been set to be:
Making weekly self-reflections of each week’s class session, which may include useful links/relevant materials/news, etc. as references;
Create a self-organized activity: A timetable, which consists of schedule planning, as well as records of the time spent on certain events relevant to the course. This activity shall create a reminder of all the tasks (during class session, group study, and self-study time) and improve my personal time-management skills.
Figure 3. Yun’s Week 01 planner: a group discussion was hold on Friday to develop the potential research direction and presentation style for the group assignment.
Blog#2
Week 02 / Session 02 / 28 January 2021
1. Course Summary: “Introduce me!” session
Our Blue Group joined the discussion with Professor Barry from 10:00~10:20, shared the initial proposal of the group presentation and received positive feedback. We had an idea of creating different characters that represent diverse personalities that could somehow be found commonly in college: by presenting virtual characters that shared certain characteristics and skills, we hoped that the audiences would find similarities or differences that they obtained, observe how the characters react to particular situations, and potentially reflect on diverse plots happened throughout the presentation.
Figure 1. The six characters proposed for our group presentation. Each of them shared characteristics and skills that were commonly found in daily life.
After the group discussion, we reached an agreement that the research contents and presentation style had great potential for development. The group presentation would not only provide the audiences with an overview of the landscape architecture-related occupations, but also make the 45-minute sharing time legible, creative, and interactive.
2. Self-Summary: Reflection of Week 02 & weekly timetable
During the group discussion before class, our Blue Group found several communication skills useful, including:
Flowcharts: it was extremely helpful when we were brainstorming for the early stage of presentation structuring and plot composing.
Listening, negotiating, and collaborating: negotiation has always been essential, especially when our group was divided for certain plot/setting of the presentation. As the group leader I tried to collect ideas from all the members and allocated the work based on their interests/specialty, i.g. some group members had previous experience in video editing, while the others had more social connections in the field of practical practice.
Interactive design: in this early stage, our group had this idea of adding as many as interactive elements into the presentation as possible. Since the group study would be presented online via ZOOM, real-time Q&A sessions, animated videos, and interviews with professionals shall support the interactivity of the presentation, and we shall discuss further next week.
Figure 2. Flowchart of the overall presentation structure. It was very essential for the group like us to organise the stories that happened to each of the six virtual characters.
Figure 3. Yun’s Week 02 planner: we started to hold more group discussions before/after class. The reunion session right after the class session on Thursday was essential for our group to digest the feedback.
Blog#3
Week 03 / Session 03 / 04 February 2021
1. Course Summary: “Are You a Landscape Architect?” presentation (Orange Group)
The presentation was interesting in terms of the way it was presented: the TV show - the Millionaire was interesting, while real-time Q&A sessions were interactive. I found some questions easy, but most of them a little bit hard to answer, for instance:
Figure 1. Some of the questions in the Q&A session require research and reading on more specific, detailed contents of the group's topic.
The group provided us with a better understanding of the professional part of landscape architects in Hong Kong. I found these categories much clearer after listening from them:
Legal liabilities
Qualification of professionals
Related associations
Codes of professional practice / ethical behaviors
Figure 2. The game created a series of interactive moments (and it was very quite interesting).
2. Virtual Company Visit: Earthasia virtual visit#1, by Ringo Lee
Ringo's introduction of materials related to the company was well-prepared and closely-related to the course's topics. Among them, I found the company / project team structure well explained, which allowed us to develop a better understanding of typical working structure in the context of Hong Kong as well as in the international-level.
Figure 3&4. The typical company and project team structure of Earthasia limited.
3. Self-Summary: Reflection of Week 03, useful links (organizations/glossary, etc.) & weekly timetable
During the entire week, our group held several group discussions to decide the major presentation structure and (more specifically) allocate the workloads. It has been a very collaborative experience working in the Blue Group, as everyone actively shared their concepts. Among them, all of us agreed that the idea of “using emoji for answer collection” was appropriate for the Q&A session, because sometimes the online voting system was slow and it might be a waste of time. Besides, when each of the group members received tasks allocated to them, they were also asked to interview professionals relevant to the sub-topics; in this case everyone did a good job keeping pace with interviewees.
Figure 5. Yun’s Week 03 planner: this week is consisted of (increasing) group discussions, either hold online and offline to better prepare for our group presentation on the following week.
Blog#4
Week 04 / Session 04 / 11 February 2021
1. Course Summary: “Where Do You Work?” (Blue Group)
It was our group’s turn for the presentation this week: overall it has been very fluent and interactive, and we found most of the audiences liked the special design of the game (Produce LA! competition) as well as the way of answering questions (using emojis to reply). Since the day was very close to the Chinese New Year, we also added some relevant elements into the interview video at the end of the presentation.
Figure 1. One of the most helpful strategies we applied during the presentation was to allow our audiences directly select the development direction(s) of each character at certain plots.
Figure 2. A typical Q&A session built throughout the presentation to provide answers for the questions that most graduates would meet after graduation. Most of the answers were collected according to research studies, while some of them were supported by our interviews with real professionals (i.g. interview with real estate agent in Mainland China, etc.).
During the presentation, we received some questions about the general policy in Hong Kong in relation to working in the public sector (i.g. employment policy for non-permanent residents of Hong Kong). More information shall be accessed here: https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr11-12/english/panels/ps/papers/ps0521cb1-1819-7-e.pdf . One of the most frequently asked questions is that, “Public servants serving in all government departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region must be permanent residents of the Region, except where otherwise provided for in Article 101 of this Law regarding public servants of foreign nationalities and except for those below a certain rank as prescribed by law.”
2. Virtual Company Visit: Earthasia virtual visit#2, by Ringo Lee
More detailed information of the typical working procedure and typical work types of Earthasia limited was introduced by Mr. Ringo. Topics covered by the day including:
Company coordination
Typical graphic types of the works of Earthasia limited
A virtual journey of the office
Figure 3. The company visit was hold virtually online based on ZOOM.
3. Self-Summary: Reflection of Week 04 & weekly timetable
During the entire week, besides further develop the group presentation contents, interviews with professionals in a variety of industries related to landscape architecture were also completed and the answers we received from the interviewees were summarized in the form of videos. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, the professionals in the category of "public sector - Hong Kong", especially involving those working in the Hong Kong government bureaus refused our invitation. But still we tried to collect information in the public sector, for instance the statutory bodies in Mainland China, i.g. airport and subway companies.
Besides developing the presentation, I also spent time building the course website (handbook). I accepted the mission to develop the "glossary & links" session since it would be a good way to learn the terminologies while construct the website.
Figure 4. The general layout of the "glossary & links" session. Users could click the buttons to explore more (terminology and useful links) of each topic.
Figure 5. Yun’s Week 04 planner: the most important mission this week was to successfully finish our group's presentation (Group Blue).
Blog#5
CNY Break / 19-20 February 2021
Self-summary: Self Reflection and Information Sharing
The Chinese New Year Break mainly consisted of 1) time for digestion and reflection of the course material and 2) website building of the group presentation and sharing relative glossary and useful links. In terms of the feedback and questions we received from the group presentation on Feb 11th, our group qualified some of the knowledge points with further explanations. The materials covered by us were divided into eight main sub-topics, and they shall be accessed at https://landscapepropractice.wixsite.com/website/where-do-you-work.
The “glossary & links” part of the course website has also been revised according to Professor Barry’s suggestion that a brief context and terminology list could be helpful if they are listed at the homepage (https://landscapepropractice.wixsite.com/website/glossary-links). The glossary and useful links shall be progressively added with the development of the course materials weekly.
Figure 1. The typical format of the “glossary & links” homepage. Additional table of contents/list of terminology has been added for a quick summary.
Figure 2. Yun’s CNY Break planner: this week has mainly consisted of group presentation digestion, reinforcement of relative information collection, and course website building.
Blog#6
Week 05 / Session 05 / 25 February 2021
1. Course Summary: “Are You the Boss?” (Purple Group) & Mini Quiz#1
The Purple Group’s presentation on steps to run a business has been successful in terms of:
- Rich interview compositions:
It has been lucky to hear from professionals from a variety of landscape-related industries. I got to know more about the basic business operations processes, as well as working experiences shared by the bosses or managers, and the information shall help strengthen our job-finding skills. Also it was impressive to see how much time and effort the group spent on organizing the interviews.
- Good question selection for the Q&A session:
Some of the questions were closely related to the hot issues these days. For instance, the public voting question of “Do you think a physical workspace is necessary for a landscape firm?” has raised increasing concerns under the impact of global pandemics. Are offices really necessary? From my perspective, as time passes by, the definition of “workplace” shall be evolving frequently in the next few decades.
Figure 1. The increasing tendency of working-from-home activities has gradually raised the idea of the “necessity of physical workplace” to a hot issue these days.
Useful Links:
“Post pandemic, we will still need the physical office”, shared by AECOM, 2020
“Virtual Office vs Physical Office: Which is right for your business?”, shared by LANDMARK, 2018
Mini Quiz#1:
Overall I gained a good grade on mini quiz#1. Most of the incorrect answers appeared in questions that covered topics related to risk management and preparation for business operation in landscape-related industries.
Figure 2. One of the questions I got incorrect answers: beware of risks.
2. Self-Summary: Reflection of Week 05 & weekly timetable
This week has continuously been a productive week, which consists of course material learning and website construction. For instance, after receiving feedback from classmates and the professor, the glossary was improved with trilingual definitions (English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese) for the wider range of potential audiences.
Figure 3. The improved trilingual format of terminology definitions.
Figure 4. Yun’s week 05 planner: this week has mainly consisted of mini quiz preparation and course website construction.
Blog#7
Week 06 / Session 06 / 04 Mar 2021
1. Course Summary: “Develop or Control?” (White Group) & Mini Quiz#2
Advantages of the presentation shared by the White Group:
- Good question selection for the Q&A session:
The group provided suitable questions related to the topic, and almost each of the questions were explained based on case studies in Hong Kong. When the locations and on-site photos were together given with the correct answers, we got a better understanding of the site-specific situations.
Figure 1. Questions were given in terms of case studies that had real locations & site-specific conditions.
- Appropriate explanation of legislations of development or control, relative authorities, and things that should be paid with the most attention:
For instance, the different types of resources, including trees (natural resources), villages (cultural resources), and industries (economic resources). The group also shared great information about EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) and its statutory processes in Hong Kong, which covered some of the thesis focuses of my classmates.
Figure 2. Flowcharts helped clarify the complicated statutory processes of EIA in Hong Kong.
Things that may be improved by the White Group:
- Interactivity of the presentation:
Since the group presentation is long (around 45-minutes), there is hope for the student group to keep the entire presentation interactive and interesting. By adding more interactive activities (i.g. game sessions, or real-time conversations with the audience) or videos (interviews or animations, etc.), the interactivity of the presentation shall be somehow improved.
Mini Quiz#2:
As more and more topics were covered by the quiz, I found this time the questions harder than before. One of the difficult questions is:
Figure 3. One of the questions I found difficult from Mini Quiz#2.
Note that there are no restrictions on qualifications for submitting a TPRA; and the correct answers are: “Ask if the new design is already fixed or can changes still be made?”, “Say you can do it”, and “ask for the related documents to be supplied”.
2. Self-Summary: Reflection of Week 06, Useful Link Sharing & weekly timetable
This week I have gradually found the quizzes became harder than before, since all previously-mentioned topics were covered. In this case, I decided to spend more time researching on relative materials as preparation.
For instance, some of the useful links are:
“A Guide to the EIA Ordinance”, provided by Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, 2011
“Ecology in EIA Part III: The New EIA Ordinance”, written by Richard T. Corlett at the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, University of Hong Kong
Besides, the course website (both “glossary & links” part and personal blog) has been progressively updated in this week too.
Figure 4. Yun’s week 06 planner: the increasing difficulty of quizzes indicated that further preparation shall be completed before each class.
Blog#8
Week 07 / Reading Week / 12-13 Mar 2021
Self-summary: Self reflection, information sharing & weekly timetable
The reading week has been a good time for self reflection and leakage searching of the previously-mentioned course materials. I spent the majority of time on the course website construction on Friday and Saturday.
Figure 1. Yun’s week 07 planner: the Reading Week mainly consisted of course website updating, including the “glossary & links” session and personal blog.
With the increasing impact of coronavirus, there has been increasing concerns of “health” and “safety” within the wider public, and my attention to landscape architecture has also been attracted to pandemic-related designs. Some of the latest interesting projects that worth sharing include:
“COVID-19”, by Landscape Architecture Magazine, 2021: in a variety of spaces, such as retailing spaces, educational spaces, and community spaces, how could landscape designers reimagine the spatial compositions and functions? https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/tag/covid-19/
“COVID-19 Perspectives”, by Sasaki, 2020: Talking about one of the most frequently asked questions these days, “How Much Office Space Will We Need Post-COVID?”, the Sasaki employees provided their unique answers: https://www.sasaki.com/covid-19-perspectives/
“Domestic technologies of quarantine”, by Studio Boom, 2020: Taking advantage of this moment of radical productive stasis to think constructively about the future of living, it's be- come a necessity:https://www.koozarch.com/abstractions/domestic-technologies-of-quarantine/
Figure 2. Imagination of future homeplaces with the development of domestic technologies of quarantine. Image courtesy to Studio Boom, 2020.
Blog#9
Week 08 / Session 07 / 18 Mar 2021
Course Summary: “Winning a Project” (Red Group) & BLEND Inside-view#1
Advantages of the presentation shared by the Red Group:
Successful structure of the interactive game session:
The group had a quite successful presentation structure that was progressively supported by the Q&A session based on the question-and-answer game. Some of the answers were recorded before the presentation, and it was good to learn from the conversations between different group members. The videos also offered a feeling of “live”, a real-time TV show.
Clear flowchart of the subtopics:
The major subtopics, including consultant selection and contract regulations, were clearly represented in the flowcharts of the presentation. The flowcharts were suitable ways to clarify the knowledge points within each subtopic.
Figure 1&2. The application of flowchart was a successful presentation skill.
BLEND Inside-view: company virtual visit
The BLEND office provided us with information including:
Bid winning strategies
Project overview and experiences
Contract agreement
Virtual journey of the BLEND office
2. Self-summary: Self reflection & weekly timetable
This week was mainly focused on course material preparation and website construction. I have been inspired by the presentation structure used by the Red Group, and similar strategies shall be used for presentations later.
Figure 3. Yun’s week 08 planner: this week has mainly consisted of course material preparation.
Blog#10
Week 09 / Session 08 / 25 Mar 2021
Course Summary: “Organizing a Project” (Green Group) & Mini Quiz#3
Advantages of the presentation shared by the Green Group:
Appropriate layout and rich information:
According to the idea of “getting your designs built in the way you want them to be: by starting to choose the right procurement method”, the presentation was clearly structured into introduction, procurement methods, and quiz competition session of potential questions. Data visualization (for instance, in this case the risk comparison from low to high) in diverse formats further strengthened the representation of information.
Figure 1. Rich data visualization of the procurement-related information.
High interactivity of the presentation:
The application of animation and voice-over videos strongly supported the interactivity of the presentation. I found the animation truly interesting; and the question-and-answer session at the end, with the conversation between the audience and the group members also kept the idea of real-time interaction.
Figure 2. The application of animation was interesting, and it largely increased the interactivity of the presentation.
Mini Quiz#3:
The Management Consultant may be any person whom the Client trusts to run a project on their behalf. An RLA is more than qualified and has all the right project management skills, experience and cross-profession understanding.
Figure 3. One of the major questions that a lot of answered incorrectly during the mini quiz#3 .
2. Self-summary: Self reflection, information sharing & weekly timetable
This week was mainly focused on course material preparation, quiz preparation, and weekly website construction.
Furthermore, I would like to share a useful link related to landscape procurement:
“How Product Procurement can make or break your project”, by World Landscape Architecture, 2018: one of the most important procurement processes is to decide the products, such as vegetation types, paving materials, water features, and signages that shall be installed into the landscape project.
Figure 4. Yun’s week 09 planner: quiz preparation and website construction.
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