Thoughtfully fill out your reflections on this project.  You are to post in the response tab:

Reflect on at least three takeaways that you learned from creating your project: I was able to further improve my skills in the iLab and I became much more knowledgable in using silicon and resin. I then also got to learn about other people's backgrounds and their life stories. 

Explain what was difficult for you during this process and why: Changing our idea took a long time, as we had trouble thinking of an idea in the first place, so changing it was even harder.

Talk about feedback that you received and how you were able to incorporate that into your process:  We originally wanted to make the chess piece solely out of computer parts. But through feedback from multiple teachers, we were able to alter our idea and change into a resin model containing computer parts. 

The 1980s were a time of computer revolution. This was when the first computers were developed and when computers were starting to become a part of the workspaces. In certain cities in the U.S that had people who had "skills capable of complementing computer technology, such as problem-solving, analytical reasoning, and complex communication," made them prosper. This must be why Miguel got the job as a software designer in the first place. These times were also when games were starting to be made, which might be why Miguel coded a Chess simulator on a computer

https://www.citylab.com/life/2015/12/how-the-computer-revolution-changed-us-cities/422010/

https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/a-brave-new-world-the-1980s-home-computer-boom/

https://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/1970s-early1980s/

Our goal is conveying a short anecdote Miguel informed us about him trying to program a chess piece and his life as a computer operator.

During his time in the U.S, which was around the 1980s, the U.S was thriving economically. Non-farm payrolls increased by almost 20 million dollars. This at the time, was considered a groundbreaking improvement. There was also debate over the topics of "good jobs" and "bad jobs. The good jobs are the one's with high pay and the bad jobs with low pay. Furthermore, people contend that low-skill low-pay jobs was not suitable for decent living environments. This was a conception brought about by the changes of the numbers in the various categories of jobs. The main factor of the debate was based on cross-sectional and point-in-time estimates of employment. Cross -sectional data is a study of the population and is certain type of data that collects by observing many subjects.  Whereas Point-in-time is more focused on each individual.

Doing computer-related jobs in the 1980s provided people with a myriad of job opportunities. The implement of computer into homes was a distant dream in the 1980s it was unbelievable for many people that they could get a computer. People decided to start doing computer related job because of the thought the computer was going to be the future in the 2000s. There were 1.16 million jobs relating to computers in the US. in 1978 and expected to become 2.14 million in 1990. In all of the jobs relating to technology, computer operator was by far the largest group in the field of study.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1981/12/20/jobs-growth-in-80s-linked-to-computer/a93ec635-24f7-4bfe-b18d-adfb7e39105c/
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1992/demo/p70-27.htmlhttps://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/a-brave-new-world-the-1980s-home-computer-boom/

We created a chess-pieced horse to model his life as a computer operator and also as a software developer. He did this because of his interests in computer engineering and the extra money he could make as a computer operator when compared to a driver. We tried to depict a tactful and also visual piece for Miguel. We chose these two senses because when he was doing his job, he had to be very careful to not make any errors when making the chess simulator. We made a silicon model of a chess piece and filled the silicon with computer parts based out of a motherboard. We wanted to create this experience for him to reminiscence about the past as a computer operator and also when he spent countless hours creating the chess simulator.

I was sitting at my desk for days scrutinizing every piece of code and making sure that everything was perfect and working. I felt the glare of the computer screen burning the words and images into my eyes and the never-ending sound of my fingers typing onto the haptic keyboard.