Jasons Last Lecture (Week 9)

Jason announced today that it would be the last time he would be holding our lectures. To be honest I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad. I would say neither due to being in a daze of bewilderedness ever since his first lecture. One thing’s for sure though, he is one funny dude and I will miss his random and wacky, yet always entertaining lectures.

He was initially going to speak about Cyber-Utopia, although he instead revealed his “All everything, gigantic and super lecture on how to teach yourself Software” (15 steps, using Adobe Flash as an example).

Step 1- Figure out what you need to do and find the best software packaging for it

Step 2- Explore different software

Step 3- How to use software?

Step 4- You cannot learn it all in a few days, it may take years

Step 5- Play around with software as a beginning

Step 6- Begin with the basics and look at the commonalities. You will know appr. 10-15% before you begin, due to using other programs with similar functions

Step 7- Save your work damnit! Save your work constantly so as to save your own ass. Do not save over the same file. Always have multiple versions and save in a name you can remember and one that makes sense to you

Step 8- Use the help file...

Step 9- The help section sucks! Most are designed for people who are advanced in the software and are thus not very useful for novices (Like me!)

Step 10- Don’t get bogged down on one thing, move on and search in different places e.g. different sites through Google. Find specific sites and don’t pay for anything, just keep searching...

Step 11- Join forums and ask questions. Since people are ego maniacs they will answer your questions, however it may take some time. The forums that have many replies would be the best bet

Step 12- Don’t fear tutorial books and video tutorials. Use them but do not buy them

Step 13- Don’t take a course about it because you can find it all free online anyway

Step 14- When you learn one kind of software, another will soon come out and replace it

Step 15- It’s all about content. If you create something that’s easy then everyone else will be able to do it too. This is very cliché and should be avoided by searching, learning and digging deeper

The information may have been straight forward and obvious to many but I actually found his insight useful. He definitely seemed to know what he was talking about (well most of the time anyway). I was ok with his entertaining steps up until step 13. I understand we as humans are all hypocrites and are all full of contradictions, however I felt that saying that we don’t need to take a course about it was a little bit strange considering it was in a course that I am paying for that I learnt that rule. It’s nothing major although it just made me reflected on the irony of it all.

Jason also let us know that he will be taking two lectures during next semester – Digital Writing and New Media Art. I may look into it since all of his three lectures to date have been entertaining, amusing and memorable. I feel it’s a good combination in facilitating one’s learning. And that’s why we’re all here right? To learn....