At first, when I was told what we would be doing at the communications center, I did not understand what it had to do with english. One is sitting down and creating a story or narrative, and the other is playing with a toy and trying to make an invention. I honestly saw no correlation.
Yet once we began to think of practical uses for the Makey Makey, similarities began appearing. It is actually very similar to the writing process. You have to think of a shell of an idea, and just begin to wade out into the unknown and see how far you can take it. We started with a nugget of an idea: how to use the makey makey to create on the computer. We didn’t want to use it as just a game controller. We decided to use it to control an online etch-a-sketch, expanding upon our idea and using it to draw. From there, we asked each other how we could build on this idea. As it turns out, when we drew it came out choppy and irregular, and it kind of looked like a maze. From there, we decided to go with the flow, which happens in writing as well, and actually build a maze for ourselves and then use the makey makey to get through it.
There were a lot of similarities between the maze and writing as well. One of the big things was that it is really hard to see the big picture and the end when you begin. You can only see a little of what is in front of you, and hope you can take all the right twists and turns to get to the end. Another big similarity was that a lot of times in writing you realize that you are headed in completely the wrong direction, and it is possible you will have to redo a lot of your work or even possibly restart. This is just like how in a maze you can come to a dead end, and the only way forward is backwards.
Definitely there were similarities between the makey makey and the writing process. It gave me a greater appreciation for the fact that getting ideas for writing is actually pretty scientific on some level, and that even something so abstract can be broken down.
