Wort and Portia from Word Turtle Island About 2.5 years. That's how long I've been working on Word Turtle Island to get it ready to publish as an early access game. It's about the right time to be getting the word out and to get myself into practice with showing up social. Practicing being more present even if it's chaotic and inconsistent. Such as…

This is Spell, the magical cat who hosts a save place to practice spelling words. In the middle of working on my next big game Word Turtle Island, where you use words as weapons to battle creatures taking away the books of power, the idea for Spell's Spelling came to me. In this episode of the Polytechnicast I reflect on how this came about and how…

In the overlapping circles of feasible, viable, desirable, what is the emphasis and culture practiced? I received a question via my Mastodon account about minimum lovable product vs minimum viable product. @Nycteris@mastodon.art: "So @robstenzinger I was just reading about “minimum Lovable product” vs “minimum Viable product” because you want to ha…

شماره اول مجموعه جدید رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم: «ماجرای برجک ۹:» فروردین ماه ۱۴۰۲ کاری از اعضای کانون‌های فرهنگی و هنری پلی‌تکنیک تهران ---------- معرفی مجموعه ماجرا: ماجرا. (جَ ) [ ع . ماجری ] (اِ. ) سرگذشت. آنچه واقع شده، آنچه جاری شده، آنچه رخ داده، شرح حال، حادثه، پیش آمد. در هر دقیقه، تعداد ماجراهایی که از کنارشان عبور می‌کنیم، از تعداد دفعات پلک‌زدن…

W-O-R-D up. Reflecting on game development and how it feels affirming in a way that other video game projects meet delays. I thought I'd have Word Turtle Island ready for first or even early access by now yet I also feel good about how it's coming along. Related Links and Resources Why are so many video games delayed and cancelled? - Verdict Why Vi…

شماره اول مجموعه جدید رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم: «گوش‌دارو - وقت عربیه» فروردین ماه ۱۴۰۲ کاری از اعضای کانون‌های فرهنگی و هنری پلی‌تکنیک تهران ---------- معرفی مجموعه گوش دارو: نوش‌دارو، دوایی است برای شفای هر مرضی، حتی امراض صعب العلاج. این دارو، تنها به مقدار اندک در اختیار پادشاهان بوده است و هنگامی که پس از رزم رستم و سهراب و تراژدی مرگ پسر به دست پدر …

شماره صفر مجموعه جدید رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم: «بازسازی یک خانه پرخاطره». اسفندماه ۱۴۰۱ کاری از اعضای کانون‌های فرهنگی و هنری پلی‌تکنیک تهران ---------- توی روزهای پایانی سال که هر کسی یه جوری مشغول خونه‌تکونی و روح تازه بخشیدن به اوضاع و احوالشه، رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم هم یه نوسازی اساسی رو تجربه کرده. این قسمت به بررسی سرگذشت رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم و نیم‌نگاهی ب…

Equity is not about treating everybody the same. John Gates, Purdue’s vice provost for diversity and inclusion, says it’s is about providing people what they need to succeed, even if that means treating people differently—and what we do innately in our lives is what we should do in our classrooms and offices. See this episode's hotlinks at our webs…

Prototype cards for my creative warm up cards game Doodle Creatures Have Needs. An update about Word Turtle Island and a few other projects I tried to finish this month. Related Links and Resources More posts and extras like coaching sessions at my Buy Me a Coffee page (coaching sessions are all sold out at the moment) Interactive Storyteller blog …

In this episode I ask why I've posted so few things in 2022. It's a bit about what I'm currently working on and it's also something I've been trying to figure out for years. Related Links and Resources More posts and extras like coaching sessions at my Buy Me a Coffee page Interactive Storyteller blog Sign up for my newsletter Games and Classes Rob…

Mike Reckowsky, director of industry relations in Purdue Polytechnic, says companies that sponsor students’ senior capstone projects receive working prototypes that address real-world problems. See students’ unique problem-solving abilities on display during our Tech Expo, and learn why your company should partner with our college. See this episode…

How did building cities in the dirt with toys and listening to soccer games on the radio lead a boy from Colombia to a distinguished career in industry and higher education that spanned three continents? It’s the story of Daniel Castro, the new dean of Purdue Polytechnic. See this episode's hotlinks at our website: polytechnic.purdue.edu/techiestod…

James Letsinger, a 2013 Construction Management Technology grad, is overseeing construction of Purdue's $140M Engineering & Polytechnic Gateway Complex. He discusses what his job is like each day at the construction site and what it means to him to advance from being a graduate to building his school’s future home. See this episode's hotlinks at ou…

Toni Munguia, affectionately known as "Miss Toni" to legions of current and past Purdue students, loves them like her own family. Toni tells us how she first came to Purdue, why working with students is so meaningful to her, and how her TECH 101 course makes a difference for students and the Polytechnic. See this episode's hotlinks at our website: …

ویژه‌برنامه رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم به مناسبت نوروز ۱۴۰۱ کارگردان: نگار قول‌بیگی گویندگان: نگار قول بیگی، حنانه امین‌پور، محمد رضوانی زاده نویسنده: محمدعرفان خانی تدوینگر: محمدهادی پهلوانی عکاس: امیرمحمد اسلامی قطعات موسیقی مورد استفاده در این شماره: Mim Rasouli - Narenj Hamid Reza Afarideh - Tolo Hamid Reza Afarideh - Rouya Mohammad-Reza Shajarian - Del…

Whether the work that you take on is building on skillful work in the past or not, things got to the way they are for some reason. Now you're here. In this journal I share reasons to find others past work as useful research and signals to help instead of joining a narrative that it has little to no value. Even if that past work wasn't well done, it…

Have you been part of an organization that seems to repeat projects that don't learn much from one another? It's a thing I've wondered: why do companies forget? This episode of the Polytechnicast I journal about group memory and wonder if it would be helpful to remember what different teams have tried and learned in the past. Is it because we resis…

Any path that brings you to journaling about your art, here I share some context around planning what you'd want to get out of your journaling plus choosing and creating prompts that are a good fit for what you want. Related Links and Resources Art Soundoff Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge, join the class at Skillshare or download your own …

Something I'm grateful for is to be on a learning adventure together with folks I've worked with. At times I get questions from folks who listen to the show and folks I've been on teams with in the past. I'm going to include all this in a category of listener questions and make a few Polytechnicasts based on these questions. In this episode I get a…

Abby Perez is a user experience engineer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. In 2018, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Purdue Polytechnic’s UX Design program with a minor in psychology and a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. This episode features interviews with Abby recorded several years apart. See this episode's hotlinks at our website…

Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar, associate professor of computer and information technology, fights crime using cyberforensics, a branch of digital forensic science pertaining to evidence found in computers and digital storage media. She has become a national leader in the field. See this episode's hotlinks at the Techies Today website: polytechnic.purdu…

The emotional work of discovering, including, representing, and collaborating in design is what I explore in this think aloud journal. This recording didn't start as a Polytechnicast or even an exploration about UX Mindset but that's where I found myself going. Since the beginning of 2021 I've been blogging every day on my Interactive Storyteller b…

شیوع ویروس کرونا و انتشار اخبار پیاپی مبنی بر تعویق کنکور، کنکوری‌ها را دچار سردرگمی و مشکلات فراوان کرد. در این قسمت از پادکست رادیو پلی‌تکنیکوم با هم تجربه‌های کنکور کرونایی شما را بررسی می‌کنیم و کمی تجدید خاطره برای کنکوری‌ها داریم.

Here I explore some of the reasonable and unreasonable goals I had for this month of journaling and developing the UX Mindset series. Practicing this kind of thing helps you meet your own creative process quirks and explore ways to change and work around those quirks. I recorded so many more rough draft journals than I posted, at least 2:1 if not 3…

Actively learning is a lot like using applied research. It's a very useful place to work from, you can be confident enough to proceed making things yet not too confident to prevent learning as you go. We setup teams and organizations to sink or swim based on too much certainty. We're certain often from a combination of ego and efficiency seeking wi…

Where does UX go wrong? Whether a system is broken at the surface or takes deeper understanding to see how it's not serving the health of its audience along with it's other constituencies: UX can be used to help fix or to make things worse. How can that be? Organizations have a lot to do to just exist and maintain exsistence. Some are not questioni…

It's useful to have even a rough concept of what you're working toward, things you know are important or likely to encounter, or at least are worth checking to see if they'd be helpful. For example, a mental model like a creative progression going from rough concept to refined to complete. You can have a UX Mindset informed mental model of getting …

Any product we make connects a variety of groups of people. UX Constituencies are groups of people I find relate to most any project/product/system/endeavor: your audience, your team, your organization, the world, and you. Here I explore why considering each of those groups helps you make more meaningful things whether you're a UX expert or any per…

Listening is the most powerful thing you can do to understand. Here I share a few ways of listening that work individually or combined to meet the needs of you and your team in the moment. And the UX Mindset series continues! Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series UX Mindset for Business UX Mindset for Software Engineerin…

Being open to including others is a big start to making something more meaningful. List making is one of the best tools you can use no matter if you identify as a ux designer or not. This episode continues the UX Mindset series! Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series UX Mindset for Business UX Mindset for Software Enginee…

Audiences learn about your work, then what's it like for them to learn more, to support your work. If you offer a variety of products how do they find the one they need in this moment? UX Mindset for artists has two distinct and useful concerns: Making your work findable, purchasable, useful, and usable Including the audience in the work itself Thi…

Advocate for design in order to advocate for and include learning about our audiences. We designers practice many useful skills to help us and those we work with to make inclusive decisions that shape products and systems. Something that can get overlooked along the way: helping others see the value of this including of human context. It's useful t…

As someone who's worked both as a software engineer and ux designer I want to share the value adding human centered design tools for making engineering decisions. This episode continues the UX Mindset series! Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series UX Mindset for Business Art Soundoff — Lean Into Art Rob's Products and Way…

Continuing the UX Mindset series, I share why I think it's so useful for anyone running, planning, or leading a business to see user experience design and human centered design tools as so worthwhile to include in decision making. Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series Rob's Products and Ways to Support the Polytechnicast…

Something I've been considerering for a number of years: how can I help spreat the tools of ux design far and wide. Human centered design + understanding systems and situations where the things we make connect with the audiences we serve are useful mechanisms for so many. Here I talk about how I started with "UX for all" then "Practicing UX" and am…

Since I'm taking part in a creative challenge called Art Soundoff (http://artsoundoff.com), I decided to use the workbook from my Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge workshop. Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge is available on Gumroad and Skillshare. Related Links and Resources Polytechnicast - Creative Challenge Worksheet - YouTube Vide…

Guitar Fretter is 10 years old and I still have more ideas to add and refine. Some of those ideas I'm putting into a new game, some I'm putting into the classic version of Guitar Fretter. Recently I thought I'd make a quick art update and I expected to be ready to publish in about 4 days. Did things get out of hand where it took 4 weeks instead? An…

In this Polytechnicast I consider how I've found MVP useful. Also how MVP and any highly celebrated business and design concept will go through a cycle where the name for the concept draws more and more negative takes. And I share the news that I'm launching a Patreon of news and special episodes of the Polytechnicast and more! Related Links and Re…

Nadeem Ali, a mechanical engineering technology student, went on not just one, but three, internships! Getting real-world industry experience during college is how to "diversify your experience outside of your book-smarts," he says, to make you especially attractive to future employers. See this episode's hotlinks at the Techies Today website: poly…

Rosemary Astheimer's students watch her pre-recorded video lectures before coming to class, so class sessions are used for active learning and problem-solving. Astheimer, assistant professor of practice in computer graphics technology, says the "flipped classroom" method better accommodates different learning styles. See this episode's hotlinks at …

I wrote this article called Being There When a Team is Starting Their First Design Journey, my first Medium article. So many organizations in the recent 10+ years have asked: what if we explore if we should build something for our audience instead of just can we build something. They may not have intended to ask that question at the start, but they…

"The opportunities are almost limitless" for today's students in construction management, says Mark Zimpfer, assistant professor of construction management technology, because more workers are retiring than entering the industry. Graduates often find themselves leading big projects just two years after earning degrees. See this episode's hotlinks a…

Today I annotated 11 double sided physical pages of goals and what happened next is I left them at a bagel place. Related Links and Resources Online store for Rob Stenzinger: workshops ebooks for ux design, creative coding, creative challenges, goals, and storytelling For Skillshare subscribers or those new to Skillshare who'd like to sign up for 2…

Purdue Provost Jay Akridge speaks with Polytechnic faculty and staff about the University's growth, its investments in faculty and facilities, and its future aspirations. The landscape for higher education will be very different in 2030, he says, and the time to start preparing is now. See this episode's hotlinks at the Techies Today website: polyt…

Renee Thomas, director of Purdue's Black Cultural Center, knows that being active in the campus community leads to academic success. With music, performing arts and cultural programs, the Black Cultural Center helps students get involved in “edutainment” — education through entertainment. See this episode's hotlinks at the Techies Today website: ht…

As a guest instructor I recently taught a class about making use of visual storytelling to serve the product design process in a variety of ways - especially through sketching the stories and visuals as quick doodles. Related Links and Resources Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade memory match out of memorizing the notes on a fret board is…

As part of the Art Soundoff creative challenge, I explore this journal prompt "Outlets". I consider how guitar, drawing, and playing games appeal to me in some contexts as a way to wind down or decompress. Related Links and Resources Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade memory match out of memorizing the notes on a fret board is on SALE for…

As part of the Art Soundoff creative challenge, I explore this journal prompt "3 things about your art". Fantasy art, comics storytelling is something I found later than sooner, and sketching are all building blocks for my work. Related Links and Resources [Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade memory match out of memorizing the notes on a f…

Sharing your time to listen, learn, and help connect others to the community you've been part of is a worthwhile endeavor. In this episode of the Polytechnicast I reflect on some recent volunteering I'm doing to support those studying systemic minded human centered design. Related Links and Resources Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade mem…