Donna Wilkinson

LOG 4: REFLECTIVE PRACTISE

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | | Posted on 00:46

Almost two years ago in September 2009 I enrolled into a BAPP course without much knowledge of what it would entitle and with no idea about how much it would affect my life. Since then my professional attitude regarding how I approach new projects and how I reflect upon my own work has changed extremely.

The BAPP course sets out to introduce the students to new working tools, such as Google docs, delicious, Skype and blogging. Having been surrounded my computers all my life I was more than aware of all these tools beforehand so no drastic discovery was made I this aspect, however it did open my eyes to possible new uses these tools could have.

Before the course I was not a big fan of Blogging, I had a personal blog to which I shared some stuff with close friends, but this was hardly ever updated. This course has made me realize the professional potential blogging holds. As a professional actress it is a perfect chance to express my professional in order to make an impact on people within the industry including potential employers.

Google Docs is another tool I used previously for personal uses such as sharing documents and lists with friends, again through this I have discovered the professionally uses it can hold too as it is a perfect way to share comment and work on acting documents with other colleagues.

Skype, now been originally from Spain Skype is a tool I used a lot previously, but funnily enough I would only ever use it with people I was far away from. Using it regularly during this course made me realize how silly this was. I can use it with close friends in order to save money and even more importantly I found that when working on a scene with a fellow actor it was ideal to say go through the scene and notes and ideas for 30 minutes on Skype previous to meeting and working on it in person saved so much time giving us much more of a chance to use the time together putting our notes and ideas into practise.

The skills I have learned during the research definitely show in my day to day life; I find myself analysing the way people express themselves and their body language when telling a story, I am much more ware of if somebody is been 100% truthful or is a voiding a subject.

Within my profession I find that I approach new characters in a much more analytical way. I relate their emotions to my own and pin point any possible links between the character and myself creating a much closer and conscious bond. My interest in new methods is at an extreme, and I am already enrolled in a 4 week intensive method acting course, wanting to learn as much as possible about all the different techniques. During all this I also keep a reflective diary in order to be permanently conscious of the effect my career is having on my life.

I have just completed my last module, the one in which everything finally came together and to be honest it has been the most fun part of the course. The previous modules I admittedly found difficult to link to my career however this one has given me insight I couldn’t imagine into my working environment. Also thanks to my research I got the opportunity to meet some amazing people as well as hear some incredible stories and have changed me and inspired my approach to acting.

In honesty these last months have been extremely difficult and have taken up a lot of time and effort. The writing up the project part was definitely the hardest, I have an extremely busy schedule and finding the time to fit it in and continually having to “get back into it” makes it even harder.

The other day I came across my first draft and was extremely surprised, I compared it to my final draft and couldn’t believe how different they were. It’s curious as I remember finishing my first draft and thinking that not a lot would need to change, its amazing how much I wasn’t conscious of then, and how much re drafting would need to be done.

One of the best parts of this module has been the literature, I have come across so much inspiration and interesting knowledge, however I also wasted a lot of time reading information that was useless but interesting.

My analytical and questioning skills are what I feel have improved the most. These have helped me understand who I am and what I want in life. This self-awareness also gives me a realistic view of what I have to offer and with this I can clearly show employers what that is. My skills of expression have also gone through a massive improvement, this has been something I have always had trouble with, whereas now I am confident I can get my point across accurately and directly with the ability to strongly defend my case.

When I started this course I only had the final outcome in mind, a piece of paper; I never imagined how much impact it would have on me and how much it would involve. When taking on a degree you assume it will just be writing up essays and possibly gaining a bit more knowledge on a certain subjects, however this course has changed who I am.

I look forward to debates and conversation I will encounter with other people throughout my life and that is when the skills I have gained doing this course will be essential. As a total I feel I am now a much more employable person as well as a knowledgeable opinionated adult.

LOG 3: MAIN PROJECT FINDINGS

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | Posted in emtoions, naturalistic acting | Posted on 02:05

My research has determined that the following consequences can exist within the naturalistic acting community:

· Borders between reality and acting getting blurred.
· Emotional consequences during or straight after acting.
· Emotional consequences in daily life.
· Physical consequences and changes.
· Personality changes.
· Long term effects.

I also found the possibility of a link between the use of emotional memory and the increased chances of any of these consequences appearing.

The main benefit of this study is to create awareness within the actor regarding their emotional health when undertaking emotional strenuous characters.

LOG 2: GOOGLE DOCS

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | | Posted on 01:52

Ok so once again we have been asked to trial this program and discuss it, and once again it is something I have used for a long time before this project and I have to say: I LOVE this service!

For me Google docs has been so so useful! I use it with one of my alternative emails, one that all my friends have so it can be bombarded with useless information but also is decent enough to present to any professionals if needed.

So what is Google docs?

It’s basically a word processor online, it allows you to store any files you want on an online database as well as create them then and there…without installing any software!!!

So why do I love it?

· Have you ever been out and borrowed someone’s computer to do something important but they don’t have a decent work processer? Well that’s where Google docs comes in, you can easily go online and with your Gmail account create a new document or spread sheet easily! Not only that, but for example while I’ve been doing this project I have been travelling a lot, as anyone who is doing the course would know, we end up with loads of documents, so we have the option of sending ourselves the files via an email and hoping the computer we borrow while we are away will be compatible with them, or you can easily upload them into Google docs and go online and edit them within the same program save them there and access them again once you are home! This has been a life saviour for me as I have been travelling a lot lately, and has helped me manage to keep up with my work!

· BACKUP! So at some point we’ve had bad experiences from not backing up our files! I know I have…but this makes it so easy you can back up important files, and you don’t have to worry about an external hard drive breaking or a memory stick getting lost with al you backups, instead they are online and easy to access! Thank you Google!!! :D

· Social sharing documents, I have used this program countless times for numerous things. When going to a music festival with friends I will always make a list of what I want to see while I’m there, with Google docs I share it and all my friends who are going with me can see the document and we can compare what everyone wants to see to arrange how we will all do it! I also used it while writing up my dissertation, I had some friends and family who would help proof read the document and with Google docs I simply sent them a text saying it was updated and they could then access the file on their computer and read it, no need to bulk up emails and no need to coincide via messenger!

These are just a few great things about Google docs, but there are many and it has come in handy for me so many times!

One thing however I would like to say is a possible problem I would have with Google docs, is how public your documents can be when sharing them, I wouldn’t share anything majorly private and important, and even work like my dissertation once the person I needed to read it is done I would un-share it simply because I do not trust the privacy of it!

Been careful with things like and keeping it in mind Google docs is a life saviour and one program for which I can honestly say Thank you Google!

DELICIOUS?…not so much…

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | Posted in bookmarking, delicious, networking | Posted on 01:18

So as part of the project I am doing for my degree we have been asked to use and comment on a social networking bookmarking service called DELICIOUS (http://www.delicious.com.) Delicious is actually a service I had experience with previously to this project, however even after giving up on it the first time I decided to re-visit it……I shouldn’t have!

I had to re-sign up to it as I had lost the account details from it previously. This process was quick and easy, I have a Google account and with this and some basic information I had a new delicious account in minutes!

After singing up you have to add delicious to your bookmark toolbar, which again is extremely easy just a matter of dragging and dropping (at least on Google chrome), having done this you are then asked to import your current bookmarks…this is where the trouble starts.

I use bookmarks a lot, and over the years on different computers and internet browsers I have accumulated a fair few. Now it is fair to say that these are all extremely well organized and if I wished to find an old link I could easily locate it, but it also means I do not have just one main bookmark bar but many. Because of this when it comes to exporting you bookmarks in less your willing to lose some of the organized structure you have it is necessary to export the bookmarks in different files. Do I do this as normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but when it comes to importing files in delicious, it gives you the chance to do it one, after having imported one of the files, and I find myself in the main screen. I try to find how to import more files as I’m sure you can but spend 10 minutes looking with no avail….maybe I was been slow, I finally gave up and exited.

So a few days later I go back in and decide id concentrate on the bookmarks that are already in there, first thing I find is a main screen with all my bookmarks not organized at all, this throws me completely as I do not want to see an unorganized mess of my bookmarks, I realize a moment later that on the tab are all my pre made categories and all is still organized with which I sigh relief. However I find I have to mark each one as private or share. There are a lot of bookmarks to decide this on…. After playing about with it all for a couple of hours once again I gave up and left it.

It is true that I possibly approached Delicious this time from a biased point of view with my previous experience of it in mind; however there are genuine reasons I don’t like it:

· To start with I use the internet to explore a tremendous amount of information on numerous different subjects; I have always been very good at keeping my bookmarks organized myself without feeling the need for it to be organized so that anyone other than myself should understand it. If I am looking for a link…I WILL know where to find it.
· For me what I use the internet for is something very personal and private. I don’t like that every time I bookmark a page I have to make a conscious decision if I want it to be private or not, by doing this I feel like I am picking and choosing what side of me I want to show to others, creating a made up external image
· I have a close network of friends with who for years we constantly share links of interest between us via other networking sites. These friends who I benefit most from sharing with do not use delicious ether, so me using delicious would mean I have to share my links consciously twice by making them non private on delicious and sending them to my other group.
· I there is a link I feel the whole world need to see, I would always choose a platform such as Facebook over delicious, as thousands of more users visit Facebook and are more likely to see it!

It isn’t all negative!

Things I do like:

· I do like the fact that you can explore other bookmarks finding new things of interest creating an on-going link, and related pages of interest; this I feel is the best feature and possibly one of the only ones for somebody like me.

So as a conclusion I’m very sorry but I am not a fan! However I am very interested in what everyone else thinks, as I can understand the possible appeal of this program but does anyone really use it?

So if anyone out there has tried it out and like it or don’t let me know what you think?

Maybe I’m just stubborn but I’m curious to see if anyone else agrees with me!

Donna =)

LEARNING DIARY 5: Qualitative Interview

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | | Posted on 17:26

Considering the nature of my research and the result I wish to gain from it I have done an extensive research on different research methods. Doing this I have decided on using the Qualitative interview as my tool of research.

Below I have composed a short summary of some important things I have learnt and are important to know when using the interview.

What is an interview?

It consists on a direct conversation between the researcher and the interviewee in which the purpose is to probe the ideas of the interviewee about the subject of interest. It is useful to record the data from an interview that you can refer to and use when analyzing them. This can be done by audio recording, video recording or written notes. When performing an interview it is very important that I keep in mind the ethical issues surrounding it. I must ensure the participants are fully aware of the purpose of the research and that they understand their rights. For this I will create a premade consent form that will be understood and signed by myself and the interviewee beforehand.

What are the advantages of using the interview?

· Adaptability. You can follow up ideas, probe responses and investigate motives and feelings
· You can get information from the body language of the interviewee when responding or explaining their experiences.
· Responses and be developed and clarified

What are the disadvantages of using the interview?

· Time consuming. Due to the long, in depth responses the interview will take up a larger amount of time.
· Subjective.
· Danger of Bias
· There can be problems when analysing the responses.

What types of interview are there?

Structured and semi structured

This is an interview that enables you to tick or circle responses on a previously prepared schedule. At the end result you end up with a number of responses that can be easily recorded. You can probe deeper on some of the questions if desired; this will normally be recorded via notes on a separate sheet.

Unstructured Interview

Unstructured interviewing is more like a conversation in which the interviewer and researcher discuss a topic. It differs from the structured interview in many ways. First, although the researcher may have some initial guiding questions or core concepts to ask about, there is no formal structured instrument or protocol. Second, the interviewer is free to move the conversation in any direction of interest that may come up. Consequently, unstructured interviewing is particularly useful for exploring a topic broadly. However, because each interview tends to be unique with no predetermined set of questions asked of all respondents, it is usually more difficult to analyze unstructured interview data.

References

Bell, Judith, 2005, pp156-172

Trochim, William M.K, 2006

HELP WITH ACTIVITY 7!?

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | | Posted on 01:07

Please please please! can anyone give me feedback on activity 7?!?!?! as Im not sure if I have done it correctly or not.

Thank you!!!1

Activity 7

Posted by Donna Wilkinson | | Posted on 01:05

   Hospital Quiron (Malaga, Spain)
      Department of Psychology
      Single father’s Parental help program
      Approved: August 1, 2008

      Tell me about your experience with the program.

  2.   How does the program compare to other types of counselling or programs you have experienced in the past?

  3.     What did you feel you learned from being in the program?

  4.     What did you like most about the program?

  5.     What things can you observe about yourself that are different now from when you first started the program that you believe is directly related to what you learned in the program?

6.     If you were talking to another single farther that was about to start the program, what would you tell him?

7.     How could the program be improved?

8.     What are your comments on the length of the program? Just right? Too short?

9.     What do you think about the design of the program?

10. Is there anything else you would like to say about the program that was not covered in these questions?

This is the interview guide used in a parental help program aimed at working single father’s left looking after young children.The program was executed by interns from the Medical University, supervised by the head of department Maria Jimenez.
This is a semi-structured qualitative interview, in which there is a list of questions or fairly specific topics to be covered in the interview guide (above) but the interviewee has a lot of leeway on how to reply.I feel throughout the questions are well structured, however on question 8) they use the use of examples, this I believe could lead the person been interviewed to simply pick one of the optional answers rather than go in depth in their own opinion of it.I do feel that some of the objectives of the questions are mixed, as some of them seem to be interested in the Fathers experience within the program, and others are simple questions about the structure of the program. This confuses me as to what the interviewer is trying to research: If the program was done correctly. How the program has affected the farther.Within the wording I find that the interviewer assumes that the program has been effective and has made a difference, even though they are trying to get feedback on it.The length of the interview is left open, as the questions are very thorough, they ask about all areas of the program including the fathers own personal experience and learning journey, with the interview having this structure it could take between 30”-1H. This is a very appropriate time scale, as it gives enough time to get in depth answers without rushing and without getting to a point in which the interviewee becomes bored.I feel that questions such as “How does the program compare to other types of counselling or programs you have experienced in the past?” are assumptious in the sense that the candidate who may not have received any previous counselling, may feel judged as a single farther, for not doing so.
I think they have created a possible in-depth interview, in which the interviewee does not feel pushed to share more information than they wish. This will help the person feel comfortable, however it could also lack information in the final results. The question structure and timeline are well thought out for what they are looking for, however I feel the general structure of the interview, is a bit jumpy and confusing as to whether they wish the farther to open up about his personal feelings or just give a critical opinion about the program, thus possibly making them feel less comfortable. If they feel the interviewer is not 100% interested in their personal feelings and experiences within the program because of the numerous questions about the structure and design of the program it may possibly lead them to close up and not share as much information as they would like to.All in all they have created a successful instrument for research as long as the necessity of in-depth results is not a necessity., also it would prove extremely useful in a case in which you have a short timescale or when the number of people to interview is extremely large.