A course in tire repair at the TU/e?  That's one of the first 'technical' skills you learn as a child, isn't it? I was never really good at it, or fond of it, but before I went to high school, my father teached me how to repair a bicycle tire and change a pedal. My mother and sister didn't like it much when I used their bikes as Swapfiets.  

Our students have different skills, which in turn I struggle to master. Especially digital ones. Last week I participated in the course “filming with your smartphone” with some colleagues from communications.  

A super fun, very informative and useful one-day workshop in which we discovered new possibilities of our phone and learned how to build a movie with short shots, and then edit them. Music underneath and, hey, ready to publish it online. Ideal for quickly sharing images of special moments at the faculty.    

Bit it was a bit disappointing. Together with my colleague we managed to shoot the necessary images for a movie. A few close ups, a bit of an interview, some shots a bit further away, a voice-over, ...  

During playback we soon found out that next time we really should use a better microphone. After almost an hour and a half of editing, we had exactly 5 seconds of video ready.   

But practice makes perfect, right? Friday I will be filming during the Demo Day of Industrial Design. Gathering material for my homework assignment. I'm not counting on the result being online the same evening. But it's nice to know that there are many students who, since Green Week, not only know how to fix a bike, but can also help me with tips and tricks regarding video.   

I'm almost ready for TikTok, but not quite yet. Give this generation X-er some extra time. 

Annemarie van Malsen is a communications officer at TU/e’s Department of Industrial Design. The views expressed in this column are her own.