Scratch

mletreat shared these wonderful guidelines and I just wanted to repost them so they are easy for everyone to access. 

mletreat wrote:

I want to say again that I think this is a great idea, and, if done right, could be a valuable resource for our community.  Here are some tips...

For those hosting critique groups, here are some things to explain to help you manage your group members:

--What is the focus of your critique?
--How many people do you want involved (a few, anyone?)
--Who should submit projects? (beginners, artists, kids, etc)
--How are you going to support those that join your critique group?
------how will they know which projects they should critique?
------how will they know how often they are expected to critique?
------how will they know when their project will receive a critique?
------consider making frequent announcements in your gallery
------consider asking people to focus on a single project at a time, so one person can receive feedback from many...then move on to the next project
--How will you keep things organized/structured
------how are you going to keep track of your members?
------how are you going to keep your members focused?
-----consider creating a schedule (new project to critique every day? week?)
--Consider developing some guidelines such as:
------for each project you submit, offer critique to 5 other people's projects
------each person can submit 1 project for critique
------each member must commit to submitting a critique every day/week/month
------critiques should be submitted in project comments

For the project creator, it is helpful to explain some things up front when you are asking for a critique:

--What is your project about?
--What are you trying to achieve?
--Why is is worth achieving?
--How are you attempting to achieve this?


For those of you offering to critique others projects, here are some types of questions to answer in a critique:

--Why did this project catch your eye?  What is the first thing you see/notice?
--How do you connect to this project?
--What stands out about this project the most?
--What makes this project different or similar to others?
--Why did you love this project?
--What impression does this project leave you with?
--Does the style of this project distract from the purpose/concept?
--What message does this project send?
--Is there an emotional story attached to this project? How does that make you feel?
--What is the creator trying to communicate with this project?
--Does the creator do a god job of achieving what they say they want to achieve?

These questions should help you think about others projects in a way that will help you give constructive feedback without hurting anyone's feelings.  Hopefully everyone will keep in mind that the Scratch Community is a place where respect for others and their work is a top priority. 

I look forward to seeing the projects presented in these critique galleries and look forward to participating in a dialog with everyone!

Crit-on!

The template that I use when writing a crit is as follows:

1. Describe or summarize the project.
2. Notice one thing you liked or could relate to about the project.
3. Answer any specific questions the author has about the project.
4. Ask questions to clarify the author's intention and suggest alternative choices the author could experiment with (this is also where I recommend tutorials and other resources).
5. Encourage the author to keep working on it.