COMM 2105

Group Paper

Prior to beginning our project, we made the unanimous decision that we wanted

to create a prototype and film and infomercial while not even entertain the idea of doing

a community service project. Equifinality was a system level variable that helped lead us

to the Universal Cup Holder after exploring the idea of creating a pen vacuum.

Stephanie was telling us an idea that she had of a pen that can vacuum crumbs that

may fall on your clothing while eating. This idea was mostly inspired by Nature Valley

granola bars and the enormous mess they tend to cause. After looking farther into this

idea, we realized that this pen-sized vacuum had already been invented. Although we

were slightly disappointed, we accepted that the initial first ideas rarely work out. With

one door closed, another one shortly opened and led us down the path to creating our

Universal Cup Holder. This was a very positive experience for our group because just

exploring the possibilities for our cup holder compelled us to think more about multiple

causation for events in each of our pasts, and if there had been some sort of miracle

product, how that could’ve changed the outcome.

Systems Theory was a big positive for us because recognizing the different

system level variables and individual level variables that make up systems theory

helped our group work more productively and cohesively.

Each individual’s input brought unique skills, abilities, and perspectives to the group

which ultimately allowed us to utilize each other’s strengths and weaknesses to help our

group reach full potential on tasks and assignments. The part of the project where

interdependence stood out most was during the actual assemblage of our prototype and

during the filming of the infomercial. Although we had met many many times prior to

assembling and filming, we weren’t as aware of certain talents that our group members

possessed until those two days. While assembling our prototype, both Tim and Matt

were extremely innovative with design and were able to produce the Universal cup

holder just from what we had discussed in meetings. We hadn’t drawn out any sketches

of our prototype, and Tim and Matt were effectively able to bring the team’s ideas to life

using only cardboard and tape. With the filming of the infomercial Matt allowed us to use

his camera to film which also had a microphone attached and was very ideal for this

project. We all knew from the beginning Stephanie was very funny and outgoing and her

humor gave us the push of energy we needed to make the infomercial more fun to

make and watch. Eva shared her past experiences with being on youtube and

knowledge of effectively editing the video, and just like nonsummativity, all of our

individual skills and characteristics added up to what we all thought was a great output

for our group project. In class after showing our infomercial we had received very

positive feedback from our classmates, especially from Andrea who told us an example

of when she could’ve really used a universal cup holder. If our group was together

longer than just this semester, Andrea’s input could lead to our group creating a more

durable, usable prototype as a better output that could ultimately be sold.