To Team or Not to Team

 I have chosen to complete the Media Studies portfolio with Kevin Love, and we are going to create two separate issues of a magazine. I usually prefer to work alone for projects, especially those involving graphic design, but after reading articles and working through team exercises in class, I’ve decided to branch out and work with another person. Last year, Kevin and I sat at the same table in Global Perspectives and worked through the challenges and demands of that class, so we have a general understanding of each other's interests and skillset. To supplement this, we reviewed our social media presences together. We found that we both had minimal posts on platforms like Instagram and fun videos posted on YouTube from when we were younger. Having a similar media presence allows us to set a baseline foundation for the media content we plan to produce. 

In terms of team building, I did an exercise in class with Kevin where we had to rank the items necessary for survival if we got stranded at sea. At first, we did it alone, but then we met with a team to discuss our reasoning. I enjoyed talking about the different rankings and getting to communicate, especially since a lot of AICE work is independent. Having the opportunity to talk about why I chose what I chose made me realize that there were better approaches and better solutions. 

Additionally, when working in a team, it is important to understand each person’s background and diverse skillset. As a person with varied interests, I have had a hand in everything from advanced research projects to graphic design and board game development. Having these experiences allows me to navigate graphic design programs and understand research articles more fluently, and I hope to use my skillset in a way that betters the team as a whole. In the article “Team building and group dynamics: creating and fostering a culture of teamwork requires trust, collaboration, and accountability,” the author expresses the importance of understanding each person’s diverse background because it will ultimately impact their vision of the future (Becker, 2015). Another example that can be derived from the article is when the author went on to explain how she created teams based on personalities, which is different from what we are doing with this project (Becker, 2015). For the portfolio, we are expected to create our own teams, which gives us freedom, but could also be the roots of our own self-demise. 

Working with a team is a very big decision because of the future implications and unexpected workload that has the potential to add up for one person if the other falls short. With the teammate I have selected, I don’t think this will be the case because of our previously mentioned similar interests and work experience together. In the article, “Collective action: Collaboration, rebellion, creative dialogue: Surrealism as ideological defiance,” the author addresses an akin idea. The author explains how likeminded people that want to achieve a common goal will both work to reach it even if society sees it as impossible (Coburn, 2016). After reading this article, I was much more aware of how working with the right team benefits everyone because of the balance of personality types, common interests, and dedication to a challenge.