Paint it black!

...or any other colour you like!

To add some fresh stuff to my closet, I sometimes just dye my old clothes in a different colour.
This is a very simple and cheap method as I discovered!
I used this dye for fabric in black for about 2,80€ which I got at a regular drugstore :

 ...and I could dye these two pieces with it:

(They were light grey and beige before)

You need a washing machine for this; The detailed instruction manual is included in the simplicol package, but I assure you, it is simple and it works ;)

Now you try it yourself!

Yours,
Your creative minds

Christmas Decoration

Check out my prezi. I d like to upload it monday evening so changes before then ;)

christmas prezi

kleiderei

Hello again ladies! I hope you are having a nice weekend!
I have a little suggestion to make... yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine about this store that recently opened (about 1-2 months ago) and it's called Kleiderei. Then it came to my mind, that it could be a good idea for a little(!) article/suggestion in our blog... Two students from the HFBK created this project and it consists of lending clothes to people. They have a little nice store near the Reeperbahn. I was at the opening when they inaugurated their store and it is a really good concept. If you decide to take part you have to pay € 14 a month and then you can borrow 2 pieces of clothes a week (I think...). The idea is that you return it clean and of course in the state it was in. (They also have designer pieces, so very, very nice clothes!)
I think it could be a good idea posting about them in our blog, wouldn't it? Because their concept is that people should stop buying a new dress for just one party for example but rather borrow one in order to use it one night and then give it back... They also have books and accessoires I think...
What do you think? I could go there this week and maybe take some pictures and ask them 1-3 questions... :-)


You can check their site here: https://www.facebook.com/Kleiderei

anonym posts

LADIES! Almost 100 "likers" on facebook in less than one day!! I would say WE'LL ROCK IT! :-)

I have one little concern... I wanted to see if people can post anonymously (without having a blogger account or something similar) and it does not work... Does anybody know where to change that option? Christin maybe? That would be great. We have already 349 pageviews!!!!!!!!! So we have to see how we encourage people to comment under our posted projects...

Focus

So many likes- wow :D

But looking at our target group or rather our new followers I started thinking:

Should we really focus on articles right now? Or are our followers more interested in new (DIY-) projects? We could focus on that and publish our ideas for the articles rather as short inputs in forms of notes or short sentences? 

I believe our followers would click on our blog more often and might even change more about themselves if we tried it that way...

What do you all think???

Looks^^

Hey guys,
I just looked at our Blog and ther was no backgroung picture and the writing was all in one colour and thin. I changed the colour theme, writing and background. (Tried to save it w/o using it but that didnt work :/)
Maxie, I know you put a lot of wrk into it so pls tell me soon, if you dont like it. I memoriezed how it was before ;). Everyone else: check it out, comment or change (look at the background and writing options) what you feel is neccessary.
Nighty night

Shopping bags as decoration

Hey there!

Do you remember to send photos of what you have already done with shopping bags to me so that I can create  some kind of hopefully interesting prezi of it?

layout & facebook

Hi ladies!

As we agreed I just changed the layout of our official blog! I think it looks quite good, given that now our background is white and the heather is the focus and simultaneously the "eyecatcher"... but of course our prezis stick out more :-)
What do you think?
Now we just have to keep up with our projects... It would be good if we post 1-2 articles this week, who volunteers or who is ready?

And we also have a facebook page now, which we can start sharing and uploading! :-) I all sent it to you on facebook... The profile picture is our "welcome article", but we still can change it of course! Feel free to change the description... I hope people spread the word and like our page!

And that would be all for now...
I wish "Y'ALL FAA (well four in this case)" a nice weekend!

Frame earring holder

hello ladies!
I finally made the frame earring holder prezi!
take a look at it and tell me what you think about it. I will post it tomorrow so we can show it to the seminar :-)!
cheers!

http://prezi.com/azxplxojgcn9/diy-frame-earring-holder/


the text will be something like this (feel free to change something if you wish)

Hello dear readers!
We have a new little project made just for you!
Girls… do you sometimes go crazy because you don't know where exactly to place your earrings? Or boys… did you ever go crazy because your girlfriend, sister or mother don't know where to place their earrings in a proper and organized way?!
We have the perfect solution for you! You don't need much and after just a few steps you will have a perfect item of decoration for your apartment helping you to organize diverse earrings!
All you have to do is find an old frame in your house, or maybe your grandparents or parents have one they don't use anymore? Another thing you need is fabric, you probably will find a piece of nice fabric made out of old clothes? It's up to you!
Check out our prezi and follow it step by step!

Yours
Creative minds
 

Publishing the REAL THING :)

Hey girls,
I just made the two first entries on the real blog (without publishing them of course) and you can check on them in the edit section of the blog. The embedding of the prezi works just fine! You can click on "preview" and see what it will look like on the blog!

1st Progress Report

( I ) Timeline
   1.) How did our idea evolve?  (Christin)

• DIY
• enviornmental sust.
• Old to Gold

   2.) What to create? (Katharina)

• webpage: complicated -> rather focus on content
• blog: more editors possible, for free, lots of bloggers throughout the world

   3.) Getting started (Ann-Julika)

• Steps we took till now
• articles we will write

(II) General (Ina)

   4.) Webtools we used (- for negative, + for positive)

• Blogger ( -problems creating a blog, - setting everyone as editors was hard, - no notification, + communication and commenting is easy)
• Prezi (-new options make usage harder than it used to be, +interesting way of presenting, + great step by step display)
• Google Docs (- no commenting possible -> always feels like messing with other people´s work, -no notification if things get changed/ no highlighting of changed words/ sentences)
• Facebook  (+share our blog/ advertise)
• Google Sccholar (+academic texts, + keyword search)

( III ) Advertisment (Maxie)

   5.) Show our blog, encourage course to follow it!

Small contribution on dying cloths

This is what I do if I want to have some fresh stuff in my closet :)

I dye my old cloths instead of always buy new things.
These were light grey and brownish/beige before.

Research Questions

1. In what way can old things be reused creatively to support the environmental sustainability?

2. How can our blog help to create a wider awareness for constructive and creative recycling?

Studded Waistcoat Prezi

So this is what I did now. Any Suggestions for changes?

http://prezi.com/1ztjl_hfjvxo/edit/?auth_key=uqmri3b&follow=hr-dobtwzkqv

Questions on the book review article

What is the title of the article? Who is the author? Where and when did the article appear?

‘The Endangered Scholarly Book Review’ by Lynn Worsham  

1^st April 2012 on THE CHRONICLE of higher education (chronicle.com)

What are the author’s credentials?

Lynn Worsham is a professor of English at Idaho State University and editor of JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, & Politics.

What is the nature of the article?

It is a comment regretting the decrease of book reviews getting published in a scholarly way

What is the theme of the article?

The article is about what is important for a scholarly book review

Why did the author write it?

In order to encourage editors to continue publishing scholarly book reviews and to encourage doctoral students to write reviews and instruct them on how to do it right

What does the author claim?

She claims that editors take out review sections because they’re much more time consuming than articles and that they say readers aren’t interested in reviews anymore. However, she claims that this is not a valid point and that reviews, done properly, are still a viable and important contribution to intellectual life.

How does she support this?

It serves an important function to help busy scholars to make informed decisions about what to read and how to use your time wisely.

What is the overall appeal of the article (or lack thereof)? Give reasons.

The article makes people want to save reviews because the author makes them seem appealing not only for readers but also for writers.

Do you agree or disagree with what the writer suggests? Why?

We agree because book reviews are a great honor to an author of books and are very important in a world with so many publications that you cannot read everything.

What options does the article suggest? Explain.

Aside from the "traditional" book review,  another possibility of writing a review in form of an essay is named and has to be distinguished. This way two or more books are dealt with in one essay. In order to achieve this the author does not create one little review after the other, but analyses how the topics of the book are represented.

Do you know of any other writings on this theme? Do they coincide with what you think or what the author thinks?

Does the article provide any new insights for you or a larger reading audience?

The article does not really state anything new in our opinion. Nevertheless, it lists important facts about the structure and making of book reviews in an organised, logical way.

Give your overall evaluation and recap your main reasons for this. 

Would you recommend this article, and if so, to whom?
We would definitely recommend this article because of several reasons: Firstly, it takes the author's point of view as well as the reader's interest into account. On top of that, it includes advices on different genres. Secondly, it is easy to work with because of many lists.
Therefore, it is worth to be recommended to everyone who wants to create a book review in an effective organised and fast way. That means that it is interesting for students as well as pupils.

Prezi bow

Sooo.. I tried to make my own prezi and- as you can see- kinda failed. Well I guess I ll work on that. You all can look at it ( and hopefully edit the prezi). It often zooms in too far when I dont want it to... :/
http://prezi.com/knist-qbifhd/edit/?auth_key=xsvcacc&follow=7pxeuns67yuf

Outline_„People Throw Things Away- Everyday!

Outline „People Throw Things Away- Everyday!

Intro:

·         Society of waste->

·         Things aren’t produced to last

·         people throw away things that are fine

1.       Is trash really trash?

o   Statistics on how much is thrown away

o   It´s easier to throw something away than selling, recycling or reusing it

o   Some people live off other people´s trash so…

o   Most things that are thrown away are still useable, food is still edible

2.       What do the industries do?

o   Many products are not produced to last

o   New technology makes it harder to fix things by yourself/ is more sensible

o   Fashion makes people want new clothes, even when their wardrobe is fine

o   Advertisement makes us buy products we did not really want

o   Cheap products (especially clothes and food) make us wasteful and too lazy to think twice

3.       What can we do?

o   Sell our old things (ebay article to come) or give to charity

o   Recycle

o   Check food and not just date of expiring, inform about how long food is edible, plan meals

o   Reuse things( in a creative way)

o   Ask ourselves: Do I really need/want this?

Conclusion:

·         People are wasteful and

·         People are lead to a wasteful behavior by industries and the market

·         We can not change the market but we can change our behavior and our way of thinking.

Outline - household & everyday life

Avoid senselessly throwing away things
in the household & everyday life!

• ·         Don't throw things away - they can often still be used in one way or another!
• ·         Don't waste money - in Germany people throw away food worth 300€ every year!
• ·         Don't throw food away - in the U.S. people throw away 25% of the food they buy! Make something new with the rests, eat them later or on the next day!
• ·         Don't immediately throw 'broken' things away - first try to repair them or think about   what else they could be useful for!
• ·         Don't throw clothes away - create something new!
• ·         Recycling !

>> MAKE OLD TO GOLD! <<

Outline - Flea market(s)

Hello ladies,
I made a small outline for my flea market article. I hope you like it. If you have something to add or ideas just let me know :-)


- Introduction:  Concept / products that are sold (basically EVERYTHING YOU NEED)
- Some might be bored of several things, but you could find them perfect for something you want to do/decorate/etc.
- PRO: cheaper than new products, often in good condition (if in bad condition: even better price)
- Focus on our city: Hamburg (Nachtflohmarkt, Schanzenflohmarkt…) -> a lot of  possibilities.
- Other cities (Germany? Berlin Mauerpark, etc.)

--> Flea market is more than just selling and buying things. It's about giving diverse artifacts a new meaning, sharing with people and also spending less money.

--> Possible question for readers to interact: What about your city? Have you been to a flee market and do you like it?

P.D. I will include some pictures too.

Introduction Article

This is the link where you can work on the article:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p5lPQ19JEJJXjUu1WJKI2i3PE-YTyrnemEQkWugiugM/edit

But first, you need to tell me your E-Mail-addresses so that I can permit you to work on the document.

Our goal once again(just as a reminder): Creating a blog which helps people to create unusual things to emphasize individuality by using simple methods which are agreeable with environmental sustainability

And now a first try on the Introduction Article:

Every day, people throw things away.

Dear Self-Makers,

Old to Gold is a project blog designed to encourage YOU to THINK before you throw your “TRASH” away. Ask yourselves: “Is this REALLY rubbish?” Maybe you can REUSE it! Many things have MORE potential in them than their original purpose. People tend to regard broken stuff as trash and put it STRAIGHT into the bin instead of having a CLOSER look to find out if a part of it can be used for example as arts and craft materials.

Our blog does not only INFORM you about how much is WASTED, it also gives you examples what you can DO with OLD things so that they seem GOLDEN again. We hope that you can gather some NEW ideas and will gladly support you in your CREATING.

By doing this, you will be able to emphasise your INDIVIDUALITY: You will present yourselves clad in new accessoires which nobody else can copy.

Your OLD “trash” will sparkle in GOLD!

Now YOU try!

Yours,

the Creative Minds

 

Outline of my report on ebay

-          Don’t throw away your old stuff, sell it!

-          You make money with it and produce less waste

-          Buy used things and interact in the recycling circle

Buy and sell used things like clothes, household appliances, technical devices and tools, furniture, games, books, movies and cds

-          Low prices

-          You always have the opportunity to resell if you don’t like it

-          Safe system (PayPal and Ebay secure the trading)

-          Very easy

-          Very large range of all kinds of products to choose from, even internationally

-          You can type in key words (e.g. red blouse m silk) or just browse around

--> Personal experience

PDF: Recycling Project for Schools

Hey guys,
I found this project teachers can do with their students about recycling. It has a few interesting facts in it that you might need. Also, as some of us will be teachers later, we could actually outline a similar project for our classes. We would have to resale arch for current facts them because it will be a few years till we can do it. However, the idea seems quite interesting and it looks like it ll teach the kids a lot.
Here is the website:
http://need.org/needpdf/AllAboutTrash.pdf

Ttyl

Ina

Prezi(prepa)ration!

Hi ladies!
This is just an example and proposal of how we could design or present the steps of our DIY projects. Prezi is not that easy, but after working with it 2-3 times we will get used to it and dominate it! There are several designs we could use, this is just one of them... Just that we get an idea of how the step-by-step instruction could look like.
See you : )

 To see the Prezi click here: Sparkling unicorn

What to do next?

Ideas for projects:
- Ebay (Christin)
- Christmas (and other) cards
- tips for saving energy
- jeans jacket (Christin)
- frame for earrings (Maxie)
- hair (Katharina)
- throw away (Katharina)
- Kleiderkreisel
- flee market

Action Research infed

1)     Outline the two distinct views of action research the author describes.

The British mainly think of action research as a tool to improve direct practice. Participants are doing self-reflective research in a social group in order to advance the reasoning and understanding of their own practices. This tradition views action research rather as an educational implement.

The second view of action research, mainly supported in the United States, is more concerned with the social aspect of action research. Action research is used by a community or a group of involved people in order to change unfair practices or counteract environmental damaging.

2)      Briefly list the steps in the spiral proposed by Lewin.

According to Kurt Lewin, one should first develop an idea to start an active research. After phrasing an initial idea, one has to find facts concerning this idea in which process the idea will be finalized. The next step is planning the research and deciding on the first step of action. Taking this step is the next action. One then has to reflect on the first step, pointing out the difficulties and problems in order to rethink and adapt the initial plan. This procedure of planning, taking the next step, reflecting and adapting is now to be repeated until the active research is done.

3)     What are some of the criticisms action research had to face?
Because the approach and the single steps can be interpreted differently, results may not always be "good", but still "correct" in terms of the process.
Is action research "real" research? 
4)     Why did it decline in favor in the 1960s?

Stringer (2007: 9) says, that action research was associated with radical political activism. 

5)      According to Stringer, what are the characteristics of community-based action research?

The characteristics of community-based action research are the following: It is democratic because all people are enabled to participate. In addition, it is equitable because it acknowledges people's equality of worth. Because it is providing freedom from oppressive, debilitating situations, it is liberating. Furthermore, it is life enhancing because it enables the expression of people's full human potential.

6)      What are its three basic phases?

According to Stringer, the action research process works through three basic phases: Look, Think and Act. The first phase is mainly about building a picture and gathering information. In the second phase, the participants analyze and interpret the situation. Additionally, they reflect on their own and each other's activities so far. The third phase is about resolving issues and problems - the goal of this phase is to formulate solutions to any problems.

7)      How do Kemmis and McTaggert see the relationship between collaborative and individual action?

Accordin to Kemmis and McTaggert the goal of action research is that something results out of collaborative work. But for this collaborative work to happen, the actions of individual members which constitute the group need to be examined in the first place.

According to Kemmis and McTaggart action research has to b

8)      McTaggert states that AR is not a “method” or “procedure” for research. What is it, then, in his view?

Following the spiral (see point 2.) does not mean that action research is necessarily taking place. It is more about commiting to observe certain characteristics of our society and also reflecting some of those aspects, so that a broader knowledge of social practices can be seen.

9)      Scan through the works listed in Further Reading. Which of these titles appeal to you? Why?

1. Atweh, Kemis, Weeks: Action Research in Practice
2. Dadds: Passionate Enquiry and School Development
3. Plummer, Edwards: CARN Critical Conversation
4. McNiff, J: Teaching as learning: An Action Research Approach (The aspect of educational knowledge being created by the values of teachers is an interesting aspect to read about. Family plays an important role in this aspect too. It would be interesting to know how these two themes are linked together.)

Introduction Article

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C4ndMLPe0KfoQjPZrZ6mwQ5SVMqv7x8fVDRC4Zh0YVw/edit

Which tools can we use for what?

Getting started...

After the first difficulties are overcome, we now know who belongs to our little project group and what our topics are. Let us begin by defining our main goal.