NWE Help: MOO: Instructor: Assignments: Quilting

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To see how this assignment works, check out the projects. To get to the projects, log in to MOOville and type:

walk to Four Seasons

Here you'll see:

As you enter you look immdediately to the right corner and see a
snow blizzard. As you move towards the corner you are hit in the face
with a mushy, wet snowball.  The wind is blowing into your face.  You
make a snowball and throw itback aimlessly.  You look around and see a
Yetti in the corner of the room.  It starts to move towards you and
you are startled until you realize that it is just a friendly giant
snowman. As you move on snowflakes are falling and your feet sink into
the soft snow.

Startled by this encounter, you look away and see a beautiful garden
in the left corner. Roses, tulips, and daffodils spring up from the
neatly trimmed grass.  The sun is inviting and losses its warm as a
cloud passes over it. A small rain shower moves over the area and
quickly goes away. Butterflies fly freely over the flowers, as birds
gather small twigs for their nests.

You look into the third corner of the room.  There you see a cold gray
sky.  You know it must be autumn.  You see a pumpkin ready to be
carved into a jack o'lantern.  A worn, old football sits off to one
side.  And there is a Pilgrim, fresh off the Mayflower.  He invites
you to join him for Thanksgiving dinner and points you toward a table
covered in delicious foods, from turkey to sweet potatoes.

As you step right, you step into the season of fun ... SUMMER. THe sun
is shinning and reflecting over the endless pool, surrounded by palm
trees. Anywhere you go, you seem to be floating in water. Soon, this
water will take you into the underworld, where you will enjoy the
wonders of summer.

Snow couch is here.  The reflecting pool is here.  The tanning benches
is here.  Hello there! I am a Pilgrim! Would you care to join me for a
wonderful Thanksgiving dinner?  Blissy isswimming around trying to
make everyone enjoy themselves You see a turkey, a butterfly, snowman,
a bird, a football, the peer review, the palm trees, a lounge bar, the
Groundhog, sunshine, Puckett, and a Cloud here.  You have arrived.
Sunshine says, "Oh, I didn't hear you come in.  Welcome!"  Puckett
says, "Oh, I didn't hear you come in.  Welcome!"

For another project from this assignment, type:

walk to Hundred-acre Woods

Here you'll see:

The Hundred-acre Woods You are in the middle of a beautiful
forest. The stream that you came in on is running clear and clean next
to you. It meanders on, eventually to a waterfall that leads back to
the Group Work Hallway. In the distance you can see a well-kept carrot
patch and a house fashined out of a large tree. Above you there is a
treehouse. In the middle of the woods lies a large wooden house with
Robin printed on the mailbox. One nearby tree looks like it would be
great for climbing.  Why don't you give it a try?  To enter the house,
type "frontdoor."  Eeyore is here, looking for his tail. Why don't you
say hi to him?  You also see a timid little pig wearing a green shirt
standing behind a tree.  Why don't you say hi to Piglet and Pooh?
They are both very friendly.  You see a big red ball, why don't you
bounce it!  There is also a list here that tells you what you can say
to Piglet.  You see a chubby little cubby named Pooh, very busy
finding breakfast.......honny of course.  you see a note with Pooh's
keywords written on it, why dont you read it to see what they are.
You see cat, Group 4 Peer Review, and cookies here.  You have arrived.
The tree says Leave me alone, or I'll smack you upside your ugly head
Oh, what a miserable day.  Pooh says, "Oh, I didn't hear you come in.
Welcome!"

MOO Quilt Pattern Assignment head of a black and white cow Part I. (5%)

Now that you have a basic understanding of "digging" in the MOO and piecing together quilt patterns, it's time to try those knowledges out. In groups, you will create a room in the MOO that corresponds to a particular quilt pattern (ex. nine-patch, log cabin, or even just plain crazy). The idea here is to explore what happens to quilting when we translate it into other contexts. Consequently, each group should think very carefully about their room description and all other descriptions involved in the room -- think of this assignment as enacting your pattern or lack thereof.

Each room must have:

An entrance and an exit so that it can be connected to our class MOO space
A room description
At least one "simple" (non-programmed) object per group member (make sure that the object's generic form fits its function) a quilt with a different house in each patch

Consult the NWE's digging help page for detailed MOO help: http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/writing/help/moo/digging/

Part II. (15%)

For Part II, every group's room is going to get a bit more interesting and complex. You will all be creating robots and programmed objects that work with the "pattern" of your room. Here, you might want to think about who is the quilter of your room and what did that artist use to make the quilt.

Are you unsure how to take your MOO rooms and objects to the next level? Things that I'll really be looking for:

How well do you objects and room descriptions "work" with the design of your room? For example, if your room was patterned as a playground and you had an object called a disco ball, you might want to work on how that object relates to your design.
Are your objects locked to your room? If I can't find it when I go to grade, I will give you a zero for that object.
Do the verbs that you've programmed onto your objects add to the effect of your design?
Does your robot belong in your room? By this, I mean that making a robot that's a talking rock wouldn't perhaps be the best idea for a room that's patterned after a bedroom.
When in doubt, always err on the side of having too much description rather than not enough.

Each room will room will now have:

Everything from Part I.
At least one robot per group member (an object that works a lot like a character)
At least one programmed object per group member

Consult Tari's MOO help for a tutorial on programming in the MOO: http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~tari/connections/puppy.html

MOO Quilt Pattern Peer Review Questions

I will match each group up with another group. You are required to go to your partner group, look around, and the answer the follow questions on the shared note in the group's main room named "Group X's Peer Review" (please note that this means each group will have to have aforementioned note in their room).

How well do you think the objects and the rooms relate to each other? Is there something that doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the room? Why? Do you think that a certain object ought to be in the room? Why?
Do the all of the objects' forms follow their functions? Think about what you can do with the object in the real world.
Do you think that any of the objects and/or rooms need more description? Why? Are any of the descriptions confusing?
Can you easily navigate through the groups different rooms if they have more than one? Think here about the connections between exit names and descriptions.
Any other suggestions and/or comments?

All responses are due at 5pm on Monday, March 4th.

This assignment is courtesy of Lisa Hager.