06 - Creative Coding

Transcription

1 06 - Creative Coding

2 Contents 06 - CREATIVE CODING... 1 THE IDEA BEHIND CREATIVE CODING... 1 START CREATIVE CODING AND SELECT CODES... 1 ORGANIZE CODES... 3 Creating connections between codes... 4 Adding new codes... 5 Merging codes... 5 Changing the color and appearance of codes... 6 Undoing changes... 6 Displaying the code frequency and coded segments of a code... 6 Saving the current state of the process as a MAXMap... 7 QUIT CREATIVE CODING AND TRANSFER CHANGES TO CODE SYSTEM... 7

3 06 - Creative Coding The Idea behind Creative Coding During an open coding stage of their analysis process, researchers may create many codes which in hindsight vary greatly in their scope and level of abstraction. Creative Coding effectively supports the creative process in which these codes are generated, sorted, and organized, and in which a hierarchical code structure is created based on the relationships between codes. The function provides a large workspace on which you can move codes and form meaningful groups. You can place codes that belong together next to one another, insert parent codes, rename codes, change their color, and create a logical structure. Usually, however, this logical structure is the result of a long period of open coding and working with the codes. The functionality of Creative Coding is fully integrated in MAXMaps and is carried out in three steps: First, drag the codes you want to work with from the "Code System" into the MAXMaps workspace. Next, group and organize the codes, create parent and subcodes, create new codes if necessary, and change the color of the codes as desired. Finally, transfer the changes to your existing "Code System". Start Creative Coding and Select Codes To start the Creative Coding process click Creative Coding in the Codes menu tab. MAXMaps will then activate Creative Coding Mode and the following workspace will appear: 1

4 Selecting Codes for Creative Coding Please note: When Creative Coding Mode is activated only those top level codes will be displayed, that have a maximum of two subcode levels. All top level codes with more than two subcode levels are not available. Now, single codes can be dragged from the "Code System" onto the blank workspace on the right with the mouse. If you select a code with subcodes, MAXQDA will insert the subcodes automatically onto the workspace. You can select multiple separate codes by holding down the Alt key (Windows) or option key (Mac) and then drag the selection onto the Creative Coding workspace while holding down the mouse button. To select a range of codes, first click on a code and then click on a second code while holding down the Shift key. This will also select all codes between the clicked codes. 2

5 Selected Codes for Creative Coding To remove a code from the workspace, right-click the code and select map. After completing your selection, click the left of the screen. Remove from Start organizing codes symbol at the top Please note: While MAXQDA's Creative Coding Mode is activated, the MAXQDA application is blocked and no further changes can be made to the open project until Creative Coding is finished. Organize Codes Once you have clicked on Start Organizing Codes in the main ribbon menu, you can start structuring and organization your codes. The display will change at this point; the "Code System" on the left will close and a color panel will appear on the right side of the workspace that displays all of the colors currently in use. 3

6 Organizing Codes on the MAXMaps workspace All codes can be freely arranged on the workspace with the mouse. You can move multiple codes at once by drawing a border around them with the mouse and then positioning them as desired. The following options are available in Creative Coding Mode: Creating relationships between codes Creating new codes Merging codes Modifying code colors Undoing changes Displaying coded segments and code frequency of a code Please note: All changes made in Creative Coding Mode are not directly added to the "Code System". These are added when Creative Coding is closed. Creating connections between codes As displayed in the image above, connections between codes are shown with an arrow: When an arrow is pointing at a code, it means that this code is a subcode of the other. 4

7 To make Code A a subcode of Code B, proceed as follows: 1. Go into Link Mode by clicking the Link (Define as Subcode) symbol. 2. Click on the desired top-level code and draw an arrow to the desired subcode. To avoid the occurrence of circular references, existing assignments of the subcode to other codes are removed. To delete an arrow, right-click on it and select Remove from map. Adding new codes Users often wish to group multiple codes under an abstract concept. For this purpose, you can always create new codes by clicking the Insert new code symbol. MAXQDA will subsequently insert the new code in the top left of the workspace. As per usual, you can rename the code by double-clicking on its label. Merging codes To merge two codes, proceed as follows: Drag the first code onto the second code so that the Merge codes tooltip appears. When you release the mouse button, the following confirmation message will appear: Confirmation message for merging of codes After clicking Yes, the moved code disappears from the map. If you have activated the display of the code frequencies, you can directly see that the number of coded segments under the target code has increased. Since some segments may already be coded with the target code, the frequency displayed may be less than the sum of the code frequencies of the merged codes. The merge is provisional until you quit Creative Coding, thereby updating the code system. Then the coded segments are assigned to the target code and the source code is deleted in the code system. 5

8 If you choose Don t ask again, the inquiry for the merging of codes will no longer appear in the current Creative Coding session. Changing the color and appearance of codes The color and appearance of codes can be modified as follows: 1. First, make sure that the Link Mode is off. If necessary, click the Link (Define as subcode) icon to turn off Link Mode. 2. Click the code whose color you wish to change. To select multiple codes at once, draw a border around the codes with the mouse or click on each code while holding the Ctrl key (Windows) or cmd key (Mac). 3. Click on a color in the color panel on the right to select a color already in use. Alternatively, you can assign a new color from the color panel. If you change the color of a parent code, the color of the subcodes will also be changed following confirmation. If you create a new color, MAXQDA will apply this new color to selected codes automatically. To modify the appearance of an individual code, double-click on the code. A dialog window will appear in which you can define the font size, symbol size, etc. Undoing changes Recent actions can be undone step-by-step by clicking the Undo changes symbol. Displaying the code frequency and coded segments of a code In order to organize codes, it can be helpful to visualize the number of each of their associated coded segments. By clicking the Display code frequency symbol, the code frequency will be automatically displayed in brackets after the code name. When you right-click on a code, a context menu will appear from which you can access the following options: Memo Opens the associated code memo. Overview of coded segments Opens the Overview of coded segments where you can inspect the coded segments of the code. Overview of linked memos Opens the Overview of memos where you can browse all memos of the selected code. 6

9 Saving the current state of the process as a MAXMap Working on the code structure with Creative Coding may take some time and may include different stages of development. While you start with arranging codes in groups first, you possibly are merging codes and creating new higher level codes later on. To track these different stages MAXQDA allows you to save the current status of your work as a regular MAXMap: just click on Save copy of current Creative Coding map as a standard MAXMap in the Creative Coding tab. The map will be available after quitting Creative Coding when you start Visual Tools > MAXMaps from the main menu. Quit Creative Coding and Transfer Changes to Code System Changes made in Creative Coding Mode will be applied only once you quit Creative Coding. Once you have finished organizing your codes, you must quit Creative Coding in order for the changes to be applied to your "Code System". To do this, click the Quit Creative Coding symbol in the top left of the window. The following message will appear: Quit Creative Coding The following options are available: Yes the code structure will be transferred to the existing Code System 7

10 All codes from the Creative Coding workspace that do not have a parent code will be sorted alphabetically and inserted at the top of the Code System. This applies also to newly created codes. Subcodes will be inserted according to their hierarchical position. Any color changes to codes will be applied. Merged codes will be merged, i.e. the origin code will be deleted and its coded segments will be moved to the target code. If the deleted code contained a memo it will be converted to a free memo, that can be accessed in the Overview of memos. The Creative Coding map will be converted into a normal MAXMap. No Creative Coding will be closed without transferring the changes to the "Code System". This means all changes will be lost! Cancel returns to Creative Coding. 8