Assignment 5 Step D

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Our final project, overall, was well though-out and planned. Through the course of the semester, as we researched our wicked problem, I was very surprised to find the statistics I did find. For example, there’s more than 2,000 homeless individuals in Austin alone. It’s surprising because that number is solely for the small city of Austin. When taking into account the whole nation, the number of homeless individuals must be a significantly high number. Furthermore, affordable housing is a big issue in the Austin community. As Austin continues to grow, more challenges will arise and there will be a larger number of homeless individuals who cannot afford to pay for a home. Therefore, there has to be something done to fix this issue before it becomes unfixable.

Assignment 4 Step B

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Above is a link to the small group brainstorm questions that we had in class Monday. Our group got together and answered the questions based on our specific interviews and we got to see the connections and differences and the way in which each stakeholder viewed the specific issue of homelessness. It was interesting to see all the different opinions and all the different ways that they saw the issue and it’s complexity. Through the interviews, I learned that it’s a complex problem because there are so many resources that we lack that are needed to solve the problem. Homelessness is an issue that needs to be solved by human interaction. In other words, the community has to come together to solve this issue because the more people that can get involved, the easier it will be to solve it. Though, it would take awhile to do so because first, you’d have to inform the public of the issue, it’s complexity and try to present it in way that that public can see that they will benefit from it because usually people don’t want to do things unless they reap a benefit from it.

Assignment 3 Step B

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Thinking back to when we began this group project and chose homelessness as our topic, I never really thought about all the complex details surrounding homelessness. After this interview, I got to look through the eyes of someone who sees it everyday and has to deal with the problems it brings. I never thought about how this wicked problem affects crime rates or how it fills up jails. Which eventually leads to the expense of law enforcement and how it looks bad for business (businesses would not want to move where there are many homeless people). I also never thought about the fact that homeless people usually migrate to Austin because of its great weather. Through this interview, I learned more in-depth about homelessness that I would not have thought about had it not been pointed out to me by someone else. My current feelings about homelessness is that it’s something much bigger than anyone around is aware. It is also very complex and takes time to solve. There’s a lot of financial/economic talk that goes into this wicked problem so it is very difficult to solve without the adequate resources needed.

Dr. Kennedy’s Photography Lecture Reflection

Dr. Kennedy’s Photography Lecture centered around photography and what makes an image worthy. I found it interesting how he made pictures look almost like paintings by using photoshop. He mentioned that he distorts the images he takes and plays with them and I think that’s very creative. It was nice to be in the presence of someone that has pure passion for their craft. It makes me think that we should be as passionate about what we do as he was.  It was a refreshing lecture.

Step B Reflection

fullsizerenderMy group’s specific Austin-area Wicked Problem is Housing. In class we spoke about the different parts that are involved with this problem and also the individuals involved. Something I didn’t know that I found out through our group discussion is that homeless shelters have certain rules about how long people can stay at their shelter, which I thought was pretty interesting. We also spoke about the fact that the government is a big part of determining people’s social class which goes into a broader spectrum relating to who receives welfare/food stamps.

Week 4 Reflection

The Wicked Problem that my group chose to investigate thoroughly in Austin is housing. The problem of housing in Austin is very abundant as one can see while they’re diving down any street. My specific course is invention and innovation. When thinking of ways to help improve the wicked problem, I could use my course to think of innovations that could help better the current problem in Austin. Also, as my group brainstormed some things pertaining to the seminar today (making our problem a system and the parts of the system,etc) I realized that as a member of the innovation class, I could think up of ways to better already existing organizations.

Austin CAN Presentation on Sept 12

Personally, I found Raul Alvarez’s presentation interesting and at times, saddening. With all the statistics provided, it was easy to see that there are some things that we need to change in society. There were a lot of moments that I wanted to ask why things are as they are. What stood out to me the most was the chart that showed participation in the 2012 presidential election by race and ethnicity. It notes that there were more people that didn’t register to vote in the minority category than in the majority category. I believe that voting for our president, the person who is going to lead our county, is very important. And I would think that that would be something important to other people as well. The statistics are surprising. It makes me wonder, “why?” Why are Hispanic, Asian and Black voting turnouts significantly different than White/Other? What is the main reason that holds the minorities in the country back from showing up at the voting polls? After seeing this particular statistic, I’ve become very interested and curious in the matter.