Kendall's Bashing:
My experience at the Communtiy Bash was short, yet eventful and surprising. We were told we were going to get interviewed, and I got something much more than I expected. I thought that the man that asked us was going to just ask us questions, but we ended up surrounded by an entire camera crew. That was really crazy. The thing that was more helpful was the class presentations. We presented to our projects in front of our entire class. This was what the experience was like.
My experience with presenting the website in class was very helpful. I got some feedback on how we could look at our research and how to make our plot look more presentable. Also, Keyaira and I got a lot of good comments about the design of our website and the titles and pictures we used for our caption. I thought I explained everything very well and had a projected voice. I wished that I could have had more time with the data analysis and making the plot look good.
From the questions asked about my project, I learned that my question was not answerable with the plot that Keyaira and I had made. Also, I learned that people really like to learn about the Zooniverse project Snapshot Serengeti. Keyaira and I thought about making a plot with the x-axis as the date where each animal was spotted and the y-axis being the actual location of the animal. We could also look at other animals like cheetahs and impalas with the same question.
This was my experience on bashing my peers and community. It was a great experience. I would definitely recommend someone else participate in this program, and if I had a chance, I would definitely do it again. I hope that one day I get to explore more about the project I worked on and this website. Now, Keyaira will tell you her experience on bashing our community and peers.
Keyaira's Bashing:
Although I did not stay the entire time for the Community Bash, I still had a great time. It was an experience I would never forget. Kendall and I did not get to present our project to other people, but I still had fun with the people that were there with us. The most interesting part about that night was that Kendall and I got interviewed by a group of people that interned at the Harold Washington Library. I expected them to just ask a few questions and go about their day, but then people with video cameras, microphones and tape recorders came out of nowhere. I wasn’t nervous, but it scared me how quickly they got their equipment ready so they could conduct the interview.
Overall the interview was nice, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The people who conducted the interview were nice and didn’t ask anything but three questions. At the end of the day the Community Bash, for the very short time that I had stayed, was fun and an experience I would love to have again.
My experience presenting in class was great. I thought that I wouldn’t be prepared for speaking about our project in front of anyone, but it turned out a lot better than I expected. I went up to the front of the class thinking that I would forget what I was going to say or that I would completely mix and jumble my words and make a complete fool our of myself, but I didn’t. I explained everything perfectly well and loved the feedback from different people. I learned that I am able to speak in front of my peers and even strangers and that I shouldn’t be that afraid of public speaking.
As for my research question I learned that if we had enough time to create more graphs and go more in depth with our question, then we would have been able to test if our hypothesis was true. In the end, I liked the outcome of our project and feel good about presenting it to others next week.
