Our inspiration for our project came from the relaxing feeling and memories of being in a happy place. For Nelvia's case, this is being in her cabin in the woods in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We tried to recreate the relaxing aspect of nature, we show this by showing a Forrest with green light peaking through the trees we made. We used nature as the theme of our project. as we thought about the cabin we brainstormed things that a cabin reminded us of and we came up with threes and light. The light is green because nature is represented by green. Green is a healthy tree, grass, apples, and much more. We originally were going to have the light white, which represented calming. Last second we changed it to green and I like it more than the white.

I walked outside looking at the trees and the birds around me. Trees are rustling and hitting each other back and forth. there was a nice breeze outside of the cabin but in the cabin, it was warm and cozy as a teddy bear.  I felt the hearth of the fireplace heating me up. I look outside and see a chickadee chirping a soft song to himself. I feel relaxed and am not thinking about anything except this little bird.

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.

A time period that we are trying to focus with our test tube project is the last few years of WW2. Margareta was in Sweden at that time and war ended when she was only five. She couldn't remember a lot things about the war but she recalled that her family suffered from the lack of food. They would receive ration cards in order to obtain a small portion of food from the government and sometimes they would even eat rabbit meat for survival. During the war, Margareta's father served in the Swedish army and he hung a rifle in the hallway after his service. When the war ended on September 2, 1945, the news was everywhere in the world and Margareta still recalled her excitement after hearing from the radio. From that moment on, Margareta's living condition gradually improved and she began to eat fruits that she never had during the war. She tried oranges but hated the sour taste, she had bananas but didn't like it. Because of this experience, we are trying to incorporate these strong smells that would elicit Margareta's memories about WW2. 

During the war, Sweden declared the policy of non-belligerency and remained as a neutral nation. However, their neutrality was debated over the years, and their intentions were unclear. In 1939, war broke out between Finland and Russia. Although Sweden never officially declared their assistance for Finland, thousands of volunteers were involved in the war. Later on 1940, Germany controlled the Baltic sea and restrained Sweden's trades with foreign countries. Nearly all the goods that were exported from Sweden went to the hands of Germans. Especially iron ore and ball bearings which were used in wars. As a neutral country, Sweden received pressures from both the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. They tried to appease both sides with their demands, and at the same time, they were also building a strong military force. Throughout the war, Sweden held the initiative of conducting humanitarian missions. They offered help and assistance to thousands of refugees.  

https://ww2db.com/country/sweden

http://www.historyisnowmagazine.com/blog/2017/12/18/was-sweden-really-neutral-in-world-war-two#.XdKoWDJKg00=

1. I learned how to use the laser cutter and I am finally familiar with all the procedures now. 

2. I learned that although feedbacks and suggestions from our coaches are very important, we don't necessarily have to follow their instructions. We should incorporate their suggestions and our original ideas together.

3. I learned that time management is very important when working on a project. Although we had about three weeks in total to finish the project, a lot of things were done at the last minute. 

Explain what was difficult for you during this process and why.

A difficulty that we faced during this process was definitely time management. We laser cut most of our things on the last work day and we didn't have much time to finish the presentation. We should have finished 90% of the work before the last day. Another problem that we faced throughout the process was the fact that we were suggested a new idea three days before the presentation. Although the idea was really good, we didn't have enough time to accomplish it, therefore we had to go with our original design. 

Talk about feedback that you received and how you were able to incorporate that into your process.  

Before the mid review presentation, Aaron and I only focused on the idea of a single test tube holder. However, after the presentation, Mrs.Jones suggested us to make a map and Mrs.M suggested us to decorate the test tube holder. Eventually, we went with Mrs.M's idea and later on Ms. Minifie suggested us to create some texture onto the test tube holder. Therefore, we engraved a picture of the Stockholm city hall on the front of the test tube holder. 

When we heard the recording of Margareta's interview, many of the memories she explained had a rich sense of smells. For example, walking through a Birch forest and smelling the fresh birch barks. After discussing about the interview with my partner, we came to the conclusion that we are going to create different scented test tubes which represents different parts of her life.

The reason we chose this idea was because, scent is one of the most strongest sense, therefore it can trigger memories very easily. We can also represent a lot more things with just different scents. So for this project the different scents we will be using are, Orange, Hand sanitizer, Essential Oil, Apple, and trees. We chose these different scents because, Orange represents a lot of her child hood. When she was a child, after WW-II she ate a lot of fresh oranges which she liked a lot. This is her favorite fruit. We used Hand Sanitizer because it represents her years of working in the Bio Lab as this is a very common smell in labs. We are going to use essential oils because it will create a scent which represents Margareta. We used trees because, during and after the WW-II she used to walk through a lot of birch forests when she was young, so the smell of the forest is very strong in her memory.

As I roamed around the woods, gently touching the aged tree barks, a feeling of homesickness caught me unprepared. The smell of the birch wood and the sight of colorful mushroom laying on the ground, I was brought back to the old times. I could feel the breeze tapping my skin, and I could hear the branches cracking under my feet. I just stood in the middle of the wood and sensed the nature surrounding my body. The leaves, flowers, and grasses, I was able to sense ever subtle movement as if time has slowed down.

My first takeaway was directly from Madelyn, "if you still can, get to know your grandparents. Ask them questions, record your conversation and cherish it. Learn about them" That is something that really hit me home because I only have one grandparent left and I am definitely going to really get to know her before I can't anymore. My second takeaway is the effect that I can have on people. I went into this project having no idea what to expect and not even knowing this person but, the impact that we had on her through a project was astounding. The same way it impacted her, it impacted me. The last thing I took away from this project was how to manage time well. We only had so much time to make this project. We had to change our idea, recreate our prototype and many other edits. But in the end, we created a great project and I'm super proud of it.

Once we made our change from our first prototype we had difficulty making personalizations to the project. We weren't sure what to do but with the help of other coaches in the iLab and teachers, we found more efficient ways to make our project that much more special.

The feedback we received at the mid review basically fueled our advancement. The coach suggested to elongate the star of David for our kaleidoscope vessel. We did exactly that and made edits and tweaks accordingly.

At first, I was very confused with project, because we were told to complete many unrelated assignments. Once we interviewed Madeline, I understood the plan for what we had to do next in the project. After we interviewed Madeline, a takeaway I had was how much we were able to learn about her life since we had never met her. We then worked on prototypes, sketches and building the kaleidoscope. After Mid-Reviews we had feedback to personalize the kaleidoscope more, and find a memory to represent the kaleidoscope. We then personalized the kaleidoscope more by using red and blue beads, and decorating the outside of the kaleidoscope. So another takeaway I had was how easy it was to apply feedback and make changes to our kaleidoscope and presentation from that feedback. I think that it was sometimes difficult for our group to agree and/or make decisions that would change our project. Another takeaway, I had was how capable we were of making things in the ILAB. There were times where we were very productive and completed work that we didn't think we would be able to finish in that time.