Creating My Own Selfie Stick – COMM 3444 Mobile Gaming

Nature of Project and Concerns

In starting this project, I wanted first and foremost to create and tackle something which I have never before attempted to do in my life and which could potentially offer me new skills and knowledge that could be applicable to future jobs, projects, and even problems that I undertake. Likewise, being a creative project itself, I also wanted to create something which I could still use in the future and could serve as some sort of tool or equipment for me to have.

As such, the initial idea that I had for this project was to create a makeshift drone using helium balloons and building a balsa wood rig for my iPhone and that by attaching a strong wire to it, it could offer me a certain amount of control over it so that I can take aerial video shots with it. However, after considering the amount of time and lack of necessary and proper information that I would need in order to complete this project, I decided not to do it, and instead, still wanting to create something that I could use for video equipment for my iPhone, I decided to create my own selfie stick instead. While I have previously seen and used a selfie stick in the past, I have never really attempted to create one of my own and as such, I thought that it would be an exciting challenge not only to learn how I could create one of my own but also, to have one for my personal use only. In this case, the main concern that I had before I embarked on this project would be the amount of time that I would need to successfully build my own selfie stick but also the availability of the necessary materials that I would need in order to do it. However, regardless of the time constraints and the availableness of the materials I needed, I was determined in creating this project, and though I might fail, I would learn something from it.

Problems Encountered

The first issues that I encountered with my project were, first of all, the different amount of videos or web resources that there is for making one’s own selfie stick. I quickly realized that the guides or tutorials that I wanted to use for the creation of my own selfie stick were either too simple or too complex to make, either by having some guides simply instruct one to tape the iPhone to a spatula or by having other videos weld things together. I was initially not able to find a medium difficulty instructional tutorial that could guide me into creating my own selfie stick by not pursuing either a too easy or too difficult approach to it.

However, once I was able to find a video that did have a medium style of difficulty tutorial for people looking to do their own DIY selfie sticks. The next problems that I encountered were that I was not familiar with some of the materials used in the video to create the selfie stick, as well as the fact that some of the steps in the video to create my own selfie stick did not really work for me the same way. Starting with the materials, the problem I had with this was that I was not familiar with what a PVC pipe was, and so I bought small pieces of plastic tubes that I ended up joining together to create one long plastic tube which I now realize could have been achieved by just merely purchasing a PVC tube instead as was used in the tutorial video. Furthermore, the other problem I encountered while building my selfie stick was that of finding a way to attach or glue together my spare iPhone case to the metal supports in my selfie stick which would become the rig for where I place it. The main struggle I had in this situation was that in using the hot glue gun to attach my rubber case to the metal bands, the glue was not resistant enough to actually connect both things and due to this I had to resort to using tape in order to fix this problem I had.

Tutorials and Guides Used

The leading guide and tutorial which I used in the creation of my selfie stick was actually a YouTube video by a YouTuber called Mr. SunY who actually posts different video tutorials on how to do other DIY’s, Life Hacks, How-To Videos, and other handiwork projects for people that want to try something new or are bored at times. I would have to say that the video guide for this YouTuber was excellent and instructional as by looking at the other videos this person has made it is evident that they possess high handy skills to perform projects like this and competently as well as easily guide other people into how they could do it themselves. As such, I would have to say that the most helpful sources that I used in doing this project was, in fact, the YouTube video from Mr. SunY as the process by which he created his own selfie stick was somewhat easy to replicate, and he made a really great job in demonstrating that to his watchers.

Experience as a Learner

Looking back at the development of this project, I would say that many aspects that have influenced my experience as a learner have been improving not only handy and construction skills that I don’t regularly practice, but also, that of research, investigation, problem solving, and even patience. From beginning to end, the entire process of my selfie stick taught me valuable lessons in planning and doing careful research before undertaking a project like this so as to create an organized plan of how it will be made. Furthermore, it reinforces one’s own ability in how to ingeniously solve problems at hand by allowing us to think in different ways and come up with diverse solutions for them. In the end, the entire experience has been an implementation of various skills that are not only found in doing a project such as the one we made but in others as well.

Purpose of the Assignment

In thinking why this assignment was part of the course syllabus, the main reason why I thought this project was actually done for students was to foster and develop our abilities in not only problem solving but also our enhance our ingenuity and creativity. This was most evident to me especially when I was dealing with the process problems in creating my own selfie stick, and I immediately became stuck as to what I could do to fix my problem at hand and instead of giving up on my project entirely. I would think of another way that I could achieve the same results using an alternative method that was not proposed by other guides or tutorials. Which is why I feel that the reason this project is part of the class is to reflect on some similarities that we may encounter in further parts of the course where even though we might meet a problem and get stuck. We should also be able and willing to find alternative solutions to the issue at hand and ultimately find other ways in which we can achieve the same result in a different way.

Credits

Many thanks to Mr. SunY and his tutorial video for helping guide me through this complicated process.

Also thanks to Wiki How for giving me other ideas as to how I might create my selfie stick.