Devin Cogger

About Me

I'm a Junior attending Evergreen to earn the equivalency of a Visual Arts degree.

Interests

I enjoy 2D art of various forms, specifically pen and ink based mediums. I am also interested in diversifying my areas of study and to explore new and unfamiliar fields, hence my enrollment in this course. Outside of class I enjoy creating audio files, running, making self-notes to aid in memory recall, and playing the E- Dorian scale on my acoustic guitar.

Thoughts on Learning Objectives

It would appear that I have my work cut out for me, seeing as how I am quite unfamiliar with a lot of the terms we've already discussed as well as the ideas behind the program theme as well. From what I gathered of Wednesday's introduction, it seems we are investigating John Dewey's suggestions for how to solve problems first on an individual level, and then to take a process of reflective inquiry along with methods of scientific reasoning/systematic analysis, and to ultimately implement these methods/procedures on a greater scale to find solutions to problems effecting members of a community. I recognize that my interpretation of our objectives is likely crude and patchy at this point, but I plan to make efforts to more clearly understand our goals as a class.

Week 10 Thoughts on Learning Objective 6:

List #1 (A compilation of frequently used terms throughout POI)

Civic Intelligence/Civic Ignorance Community Inquiry Participatory Democracy Theory & Practice Local Knowledge Resource Mobilization Social Activism, Innovation, and Sensitivity Pro-Sociality Patterns: Creative Commons (The Commons) Sustainable Design Strategic Capacity Public Service and Responsibility Individual Intelligence (g) vs. Collective Intelligence (c) Grassroots vs. Ivory Tower (Perspectives) Think-Tank Meta-cognition Community Outreach & Development Citizenship Skills Community Studies/Social Science Asset-based vs. Deficit-based Mapping of Demographics Open-source Software Game Theory/Team Building Exercises & Simulations “Prisoner’s Dilemma” “Tit for Tat” “Star Power” “Pandemic” Models for Social Change See Me Models/Diagrams “The 9 See-Me Relationships” The Homunculus Fallacy Street Science Group Cohesion Philosophical Concepts with Practical Consequences

List #2 (A rough process for working within a community to promote social change)

Engaging a community (community outreach) Identifying its “local knowledge,” “street science,” and other contextual sources for experiential and testimonial knowledge. Harboring community inquiries and addressing shared local issues, needs, or concerns. Forming a “body of knowledge” Hosting collective discussions and participatory debates/decision-making sessions. Providing independent research to contribute to the whole/Think-Tank. Planning ahead for unseen inhibitions, constraints, and barriers. Preparing for and initiating collective action to lead to social change. Forming networks to enhance communication through online sources and social interactions. Working with local organizations while sustaining original values/mission statements. Mobilizing/Identifying Resources. Documenting progress. Performing reflective/recursive acts of meta-cognition to assess and measure successes and failures.

Issues I'm interested in

If it is advisable for each student to try to direct what they learn in this class to contribute to their academic interests, I would like to see what I can learn about the connection between civic engagement/intelligence and the issues of public art. I suppose the community of Olympia would be a good start, as there seems to be a very distinct division of civil action artistic participation between east and west Olympia. An issue I've been thinking about that I think might generally inhibit social change is a lack of interest or unwillingness for members of the public to engage in social action or awareness events. If this is indeed an actual issue then I think there are a lot of different factors that play a role to contribute to this behavior, and it will take some more thought to ponder the causes and effects of these social gaps.

Contributions

I do hope to be able to contribute some helpful ideas and suggestions, but at this point I'll need a bit of time to sort through the material and gather my thoughts about our coursework, especially since I am still in the process of becoming comfortable/acquainted with this subject.