Design and Content Creation COM585

Week 7 - Production and QA

2006-02-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Phase 4 – Production and QA

This article, I thought, was a good overview when we start production of the website we’re planning now. It will be good to use the client spec sheets and surveys to create a site we will know will be able to be used by the majority of users.

Assessing project status
This article, also again reminded me of the process of construction I live in each day. Before construction (coding) begins, the final review of what the clients needs (useable space), materials (technology), and goals of the project (budget, schedule, functuality) need to happen. Before construction (coding) begins…”address potential budget changes with the client, and make sure you have included resources for QA along with time necessary for fixes.” This is extremely important for construction projects with laundry lists of punchlists once QA is done once and then done again and punch lists and “fixes” are completed.

File Structure and Scalability
Design and construction for redesign and growth…is possible, if time, budget, and space allows. This is especially important now for sites since the last time it was redesign was probably when it was created. Now with websites a huge part of a company, they have more importance in the growth of the company and will continue to have this important place in the company.

Quality Assurance
One of the most crucial steps of the design and production processes for any project. Does it work? Error free? If QA is completed carelessly and with holes, embarrassing or frustrating situations will happen, guaranteed

Week 6 - Audi Site Study

2006-02-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

Group 3 read an interesting article last week about whether left or right hand navigation menus are easier to use and preferred by the user. I thought this was interesting since, like a book, many website sites are designed to be read left to right, and your main point of guidance is on the left hand side. This article studied the Audi website and an experiment which used two groups of people.

One group looked at the site with a left hand navigation menu and the other looked at a site with a right hand navigation menu. The study showed two things:
1. The right hand navigation group looked first at the navigation of the site and then at the content. The left hand navigation group looked at the content first and then the navigation. Initially, the right hand menu group was slower in its tasks, but once familiar with the navigation and site, they did the tasks as fast as or faster than the left hand group.
2. Both groups were asked whether they preferred a type of menu: left or right/ 72% said they have no preference.

Right hand menus seem to be unconventional, and add a more abstract and spontaneous feeling to the site. It opens the site up more. As more sites get redesigned in the coming years, we may end up seeing the left hand conventional way of design be replaced with the right hand menu. Wave of the future?

Week 4 – Hierarchy, Contrast, and Organization

2006-01-29T20:17:00.000-08:00

The Hierarchy and Contrast: The Basis of Good Design article made me chuckle a bit when thinking about the PowerPoint presentations we do for work. The main use of PowerPoint at work is to color site and floor plans and do logistics plans with arrows, flagger people, trucks going in all directions, stop signs, construction fences, etc. Needless to say it’s tough to keep white space or really contrast. However, that’s not to say it can’t be done. We just need to avoid the heavy blocks of text that my boss often adds to “spruce it up a bit” and ensure clients can read the text.

Those yellow blocks were tough to take at first and I made several attempts to tone them down, but each time, he said, “No make the blocks of text bigger and brighter, and put a shaded box around them so they really pop!” Well that’s contrast for sure! “At the heart of all good design is the concept of hierarchy, which is the process of ranking elements (your graphics and text) in order of importance. It is the basis for every design decision and makes you ask yourself the question: "What do I want the viewer to see first?" The yellow text boxes would be effective if the viewer saw them first, but the trouble is there are so many on the 40x30in plan, the eye has a hard time knowing what to focus on first.

I think the trick to this dilemma is organization. Right now these yellow boxes are everywhere on the plan and to organize them in a certain part of the plan would be helpful. Also I think we use too many words and we should make the graphics explain the construction process. The flip side of all this is the construction field has never been the graphics market of the world, and if we come into a client presentation too slick we look expensive and not “old school” builders. Simplifying and using white space making the plan easy to read should be our goals. As Margo Halverson said, “Remember -- white space is your friend. Don't try to cram too much in. Next, group related elements -- bullet points, lists, names, for example -- and isolate them for emphasis. Grouping tells the viewer which elements are connected in meaning, and isolating them (spacing them apart from one another) helps to break up blocks of text and graphics on your slide.” Those are great tips and even though it’s just a construction logistics plan, I think these tips can easily be applied.

Week 3 - Gestalt Theory and HCI Principles

2006-01-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

How do these Human-Computer Interface (HCI) Design principles relate to the Gestalt Theory?

“What moves me about Seurat's art is the incremental, nuanced, part-to-whole way his paintings are built out of elegant little dots, though I feel even more of a kinship with Roman mosaics because the mosaics are made out of big, clunky chunks, and I especially like the idea that something can be made out of something else so different and unlikely. In Roman mosaics, an eyeball is made from the exact same chunk of stone as the background, and this brings up the concept of alloverness and Jackson Pollock. It’s what I aim for in my own work, an alloverness that’s different from what most portraitists do by putting all of their attention into the eyes, nose and mouth.”
—Chuck Close, 1998, http://www.artboy.info/teach/notes/PixelTalk02.pdf

Chuck Close, who attended the UW in 1960, is known for painting small squares and dots to make large portraits. Looking at his works up close, the viewer sees dots, but 10-15 feet away depending on the size of the paintings and dots, the viewer no longer see the squares or dots, but view a whole, clear portrait. The Gestalt theory has been used to explain the process of viewing Close’s works. The viewer puts the “incomplete elements,” pieces (dots/squares) of the artwork together to form a whole detailed piece of art.

HCI design is made up of many elements from the mouse to the screen to icons to menus to keyboards to graphics to text. The HCI principles, like the Gestalt theory tries to convey a whole, easily understood message (or image) with the use of these single elements combined. For example, let’s say many different types of users around the world want to find a chocolate chip cookie recipe from the web. With the use and workings of the Internet, search tools, website, mouse, screen, and printer, millions of users can find the chocolate chip recipe they need. However, if one of those things weren’t working or the website wasn’t formatted correctly to be used by a diverse range of users on Macs and PCs, they won’t be able to have a printed recipe in front of them when baking. Thus their experience using the web would be perceived as a failure not a whole, successful experience.

With the HCI becoming seamless and user-friendly in the last ten to twenty years, we now take the single elements of the HCI for granted when using computers. When driving a car, we expect the steering wheel to steer us and similarly when steering and moving on the Internet or in a document, we expect the mouse to steer us. If either the steering wheel or mouse was not working, the driver or user would not perceive their car or computer as whole working device.

Week 2 - Internet Standards

2006-01-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

How do standards impact as communicators our ability to reach target audiences?
Design standards as well as security standards create a level playing field for the Internet. As a paragraph states in “Chapter – 9: Internet Standards, Protocols and Languages” states: “Why is consensus building important? In an unregulated environment in which standards are allowed to voluntarily emerge, the greater the agreement by major producers and users of the standardized items, the greater the acceptance of the standard. The more acceptance a standard receives, the more it will be adopted, and the greater amount of interoperability between items and products sold by the industries.”

Standards create boundaries and rules on the Internet for communicators, yet it also establishes visual and operating formalities for the users. Like many mediums, users will look for usability guidelines they are accustomed to when using the Internet. For example, in magazines, the reader will look at the Table of Contents for the feature article or topics they are use to. For webpages, people now look at the homepage for the topics and sections they are interested in/in need of hitting.

As communicators on the Internet, we need to understand the standards that dictate the need for clarity and functions of a website. Users have little to no tolerance for confusion when viewing sites. If sites seem confusing and hard to read, readers have now many other choices of other sites with possibly the same information. This leads to another point. Although the Internet has dictated standards for sites such as a homepage that links to numerous other pages describing the company and purpose of the company or service, design must be creative, interactive, and sensorial. It must be intriguing yet functional or the viewer will find a site that does just that and gives him the same information.

When/why might we deliver information that does not conform to standards?
Flash, videos, audio, and loud graphics, I don’t think, have been accepted yet as standards for the web. Many users still don’t have fast computers, lots of RAM, or go to the Internet for entertainment. They don’t want to wait for video to start streaming and are typically on their computers in the cubicle so they don’t want to use audio. However, all of these nonstandards are effective now since they haven’t been overused and are NOT standards. The risk is high – lose a user due to download time or not wanting to try out the nonstandard. But if the user does believe in it and try it out, the video, flash, or loud graphic, the nonstandard can really stick and be successful for advertising, marketing, or a campaign.

Online Class 1.10.06

2006-01-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

Three personal goals:
Learn effective digital design skills
Learn Dreamweaver and Flash
Understand how different digital mediums can be used to market organizations and which are the most effective

Two team roles I would like to take on:
Marketing executive
My job right now has a website that get very few viewers since it is a branch of the corporate New York site of our company. I am interested in tracking visits and hits and learning what makes a website popular and seeing the effects via the stastical hits. I am also interested in understanding how a company with several offices can get their local office noticed by clients via their website. Coming from a very corporate company where design standards are dictated, we have very little freedom in design and content for our local office site. I would like to take this role on to learn as well how to market a site.

Copyeditor
I find that proofreading someone else’s work is almost a game. Finding the grammatical errors or misspellings is fun and actually amusing for me as strange as it sounds. I like the challenge of finding errors in detail (as long as it’s not my work).

Two roles I would not like to take on:
Information Architect
I do not know how to write code nor do I know how to develop proper metadata designs. I would like to learn someday. But I feel my strengths are more on the creative and grammar side, not technical side.

Managing Editor
Instead of motivating others to create content, I like to create my own. Rather than managing, I would prefer to be independent and create and contribute.

Possible project
I had mentioned doing a site specifically for the Greenlake community and providing much more detailed content than what is on the City of Seattle Parks site. After looking at other city’s parks sites, I now think basically the City of Seattle site needs to be stripped down and made more sophisticated and attractive, add some more information that people might want to read such as potential lessons at parks, quirky traditions, press releases, upcoming events, etc. The City of Seattle parks site is cluttered, confusing and hard to navigate. It doesn’t have drop down menus, rather most words are links to other pages. I have chosen 3 nice city park sites that actually advertise their parks rather than just list and describe as a resource tool.

We could also make dog parks a little easier to find on City of Seattle’s site – like linking them from the homepage!

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/summer_programs.htm
http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks/
http://www.nycgovparks.org/

These sites look modern and clean and less run by the government and more by the people. They are community focused and even help improve the parks with viewer surveys.

Week 1 Readings - Design Practice and Roles

2006-01-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

The two readings, although very different, put the design process into perspective for me in various ways. I design things in my job: marketing brochures, covers, powerpoints, and other marketing materials for my company. These two articles described the process of tangible devices as well as websites and the various team members involved their various roles and personalities and how communication styles must be leveled to accommodate all of these intellects. Storytelling and tangible prototypes can be used as a common denominator in the design process which every team member will relate to.

I design independently in my daily job and since I work in construction not too many people have the interest or frankly skills to care about what I create. I do though have to “sell” them on things when I want to create a piece that costs $$$ or when they think it’s a “frill” and not needed. I related to storytelling in a couple ways as a prime step in the design process. This summer I created a brochure for our division and in order for the funds to be approved, I had to create a story/sales piece about why we needed it and what if would do for our company and how potential clients will find it useful.

Another way I see the story and abstract design step useful is in the architectural renderings. These help the design team to convey the use, function, style and environment the building will become once we construct it. We are currently building 2200 Westlake in the South Lake Union district, and numerous renderings have been produced, each time more refined and the story changes and becomes more alive each time. With the construction completing this year, the stories will be realized when condo residents move in, hotel guests live in the large main tower, a Whole Foods opening, and life beginning in this large downtown block development.

Technology product’s design process and architectural design process is similar – just on a much larger and more “concrete” (excuses the pun) scale.

For the means of this class, the roles described in the “publishing team” article may be useful for our class project. The second article may play more to our project as the site we produce will need to undergo much thought and prototypes to figure out what the main product will look like and how it will serve the community,

Reading: E-government, e-society, and Jordan: Strategy, Theory, Practice, and Assessment

2005-11-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

On the lovely CIA website, I found the definition of Jordon to apply to our article, Group 4 read. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/jo.html

The Hashmite Kingdom of Jordon is a small Arab country, lacking water and other natural resources such as oil. “Debt, poverty, and unemployment are fundamental problems, but King ABDALLAH, since assuming the throne in 1999, has undertaken some broad economic reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards”. Our article goes in depth providing research for the e-government implementation for Jordon. The authors do not go in depth about the needs of the country; rather they touch on the burning issues the country needs to face before implementing the Informational Communications Technologies. (ICT) These ICT are assumed by developing countries to lead to improvements in areas such as governance, democracy, efficiency, and economic competitiveness.

However the dilemmas arise as to how much does the government expose their developing nation to the western and developed countries ideas in the ICT?

A few key points the authors rose for the country of Jordan were:
- Balance the needs of people with the country’s pressures of globalization
- Change can be driven by technology and techno logy can be molded by the need for change-
- The move from an 'information society occurs when information rather than materials are most of the exchanges throughout society.
- Developing an ICT strategy requires massive investment into the physical infrastructure

Like many developing countries, Jordan feels the need to adopt the ICT due to:
Competition: “In a networked borderless world, investors have a low switching cost to move from one country to the other, governments that are not business and citizen-centric will not be able to compete. This necessitates a fundamental shift in the way government operates and hence the importance of e-Government." (Jordan, Ministry of Post and Communications (MOPC), 2002b)

Fear of Isolation: “Ignore the Internet and become globally isolated. Embrace the Internet and be obliged to invest in an ICT infrastructure designed by western multinational corporations, use their software, adopt their business and governance processes, and try to be as much alike them while still trying to retain national and cultural identities”

What Jordon thought E-government could do for them after studying other countries systems?
· Improve the quality of government service delivery - faster and easier interaction
· More gov’t info public
· Government more responsiveness by providing more information and services to the public, and creating a new mode of contact between government and the public.
· Save time, money, and other resources for both government and process users by more efficient gov’t processing
· Information technology skill developments for people and companies

Disintermediation
Disintermediation needs to be looked at by the Jordanian government. Similar to the digital divide, is a multidimensional process. It can both empower and damage.
“The foundation of disintermediation is the ability of the consumer to go directly to the producer of a product or service. The consumer is then limited to the products or services of that single producer. Ultimately, this drawback will prevent the extinction of the intermediary." (Stawski, 2001)
The power of the communities in Jordan makes up the countries history. Will the community’s suffer with this technology?
Examples of Disintermediation:
- The Internet allows individuals to maintain a Web site and have the same global visibility as a major corporation
- The Internet empowers women, particularly in communities and cultures where women’s mobility is restricted
- The Web allows individuals to fight corporate power, and geopolitical information control
- The Internet and globalize communications networks, enables developing nations around the world to use time zones to their advantage. India – can work while we sleep
- The Internet can be used to link citizens directly and effectively to cultural resources and educational services
- These educational and resource developments demonstrate the size of the challenge for most developing nations

Communities in cyberspace

2005-11-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

I have experienced the conservative side of cyberspace. I realized this after reading this article by Kollock and Smith. Boring old email, email conferences with work peers, and now bloggs are my extent with cyberspace. No online dating, no IM (yep!), no MUDs, no “not sure” if the someone on the other end is “gender-switching on me (woah – that’s creepy!).

I agree though with the authors, and my experiences in my life are evident of this, "Communities rarely exist exclusively in Cyberspace. It is important to investigate the ways of which social groups in cyberspace will spill out into the real world and vice versa. Can the social relations created or supported in cyberspace alter the fabric of our physical communities?” Indeed it can. It’s like any other communication device. It has rules and if you don’t follow them, you will be considered rude. 48 hours = return an email. ALL CAPS= yelling/shouting. Make a sarcastic joke and not sure if the reader will get it = J…..And the list goes on. I know the email lines at my work destroy the fabric of our physical framework. You really can’t use it, since there’s no telling if someone will a. read it, b. return a message, or c. want to have any input in the matter. I enjoy email as a communication device, because I feel I can get things off my head onto paper and it’s done until the person responds. Unfortunately at work though, I have to write myself a reminder to follow up on the email I sent and either hunt the person down in person or email them again and again and again. UGG! You can tell the fabric is a bit torn via cyberspace at my workplace.

The characteristics of the Internet that affect growth, power, effectiveness of online communities were touched in the article, but the features I feel are most important are 24/7 open lines of communication, anonymity (if desired), common interest groups form, you can edit and delete before pressing “send”, true emotions are not necessarily relayed, and physical characteristics are not seen of the sender/receiver.

Flattener #7 Wal-Mart

2005-11-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

I found the Wal-Mart Flattener of supply chaining fascinating for a couple reasons. One – Friedman sets the stage of Wal-mart’s home office in Bentonville, AK as a gigantic mastermind with acres of distribution centers and corporate offices looking just like any Walmart store. He brings in sushi to the mix and explains that Sushi restaurants are there because vendors (that Walmart outsources with) need to eat right? Well sushi and Wal-Mart actually have more in common that just being in the vicinity of the home office. The conveyor belts of a sushi restaurant represent: speed, price and efficiently distributed products (sushi is always available on the belt), and all of these features of the culinary art are identical to Wal-Mart’s culture. The acres of conveyor belts in the home office campus supply the nation with cheep, fast, and efficiently distributed products.

Two - Friedman says Wal-Mart blames the vendors of the products on why Walmart buys most of its products from outside the US. The vendors want the cheap labor and cheap/nonexistent healthcare so they HAVE to make their products out of the US. Mmmmm…Walmart really does want to buy from the US and even gives the charity-filled example of Sanyo staying here and now one of the top 5 TV makers, but they still HAVE to go where the vendors go and usually that is out of the US. Why then does Walmart carry the Red, white and blue logo so proudly? How American are they?

Reaction to 3rd week readings

2005-10-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

"Technologies of the Third Mediamorphosis"

Good review of what has taken place over the last 200 years in communication tools and digital media. Speed and globalization seem to be the primary themes of why something has been invented. The need for “speed” came with the invention of the railroad and from that point on media needed to be invented faster to accelerate various modes of communication. The electrical current application “sparked” the invention of the electric telegraph, speeding up and increasing the information exchanges.

I found it very interesting that in the nineteenth century most of the media we have today was being experimented with, as well as used and joining the world together. The world was becoming “flat” in the 19th c. The newspapers were invented in the 1820’s and with in only a few years, battles had begun between companies, which are still the case today. The telegraph, railroad and the newspaper blended the world into “one homogenous mass.”

Another interesting piece of infomation I took from this article was inventions were used for entertainment much faster than I originally thought. Bell had initially thought that telephony could be used for entertainment, rather for businesses to do business faster and be able to do long-distance communication. He wanted to hold concerts in once location and “telephone” it to the users in another location.

Radio took off easily with experiments from amateurs becoming the first actual station – KDKA. Wasn’t that station the foundation of that famous TV show in the 80’s? Foggy memory… TV, on the other hand, had more of a struggle to get launched. With the depression and WWII, TV wasn’t officially in business until after the War and then took off with a hurry. Of course, the upgrade option to color came in no time and probably frustrated consumers, since they had just invested in the B/W version – just like today when that new version of Windows or HD TV or flat screen TVs – pricey, but have the “cool factor.” Eventually the prices dropped and color TVs were consumed in by the masses.

The computer age section provided me with some – ah ha’s! Communication, with computing power, became lightening fast, as compared to the telegraph and telephone. Four computers started out connected with ARPANET and now the world is globally connected. Communication with computing power is most of the time without much emotion. Letters and punctuation have to serve as human emotion, which doesn’t compare to the phone or radio or TV. But the speed of the computing technology took the take the place of this and continues to fill the void and gratify humans.

The proof is in the growth of the Internet. It began in 1969 and by 1995, 30 million were users. 10-15% growth was occurring each month in 1995! I think I had only just heard about the Internet in 1997, even as a student who was suppose to be in “the know”! The progress it has made in the last 10 years is mind boggling. But I guess TV and radio and newspapers also had that explosion of progress too when they began. It’s hard to comprehend what the fourth mediamorphosis will be include and if the invention pace could ever be as fast!

Readings Week 2

2005-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

"Informing Ourselves to Death"

Neil Postman reminds me of my grandfather...They both have an extremely negative and unaccepting outlook on technological change and the technological age we're in. However, I entirely respect my granddad's views due to his age and lifestyle...Granddad is 93, lives on a farm in Pennsylvania, goes into the 5,000 person town once a day to pick up his newspaper, usually meets a friend for lunch, and relies on PBS's McNeil Lehrer News each night, along w/ one of the national 30 min news programs for his world and US news. He meets people for dinners, has long phone conversations, and listens to book tapes. He has no interest for computers....why would he need more information and email? He relies on people, print, and TV for all the info he needs. Postman would see my Granddad as a content individual, not immersed in our overloaded information world.

Postman though, I think, needs to consider the positives of all the information we’re exposed to. Most of us certainly, I think, feel that the information we have now are resources and not all information is to be examined or be “bogged down” with. Most people know what’s important to read, watch, or listen to. I mean really..is he saying that at the grocery check out line, you’re suppose to read every magazine about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes or whoever is on the covers that week?? Doubt it. Postman is from the 19th Century…

Chapters 2 and 3 - Media Technology and Society
I was surprised to learn about the competition between Bell and Gray. They seemed “neck and neck”, but Bell was more concerned about his Patents and eventually that helped him succeed. After most of Bell’s experiments, he filed for patents. I wonder what would have happened, if they joined forces. Would they have invented something faster and easier?

The Tools of Suppression for the telephone were included many societal factors. The law of the patent being the primary one. Hubbard (Bell’s supporter and father-in-law) had to sue Western Union for their move 0f using Edison telephones. Various law suits followed. Various devices spun off from the telephone invention: microphones, speakers, phonograph, and gramophone.

Reading Comments - Week One: COM546

2005-10-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

“How the internet killed the phone business,” The Economist

This article provided me with some hope and a lot of skepticism. I detest paying phone bills, and it seems like they are alwaystoo much…kind of like the rise in stamp prices. Call me cheap, but why pay 33 cents to mail a tiny letter, when you can write pages and pages to a friend for free?? Well, I say that, but the first thing I do when I get home is rush to the mail box in hopes to find a personal letter or package …and when was the last time I actually found one??

Well back to the article. I feel like the world will never leave the telephone behind for several reasons, but the primary one being much of the world does not have a computer (and a fast one at that) to support this software.

Some businesses perhaps will use VOIP as another communications option, but will still have phones for those who don’t want to invest time into learning something new. I would like to try it for a short time and see really how much money I’d save. But in reality, the ease of the phone w/ all the numbers programmed in and knowing my parents will easily pick it up on the other end is enough to say no thanks…and that’s another thing, how will the older generations react to this one??

Another issue I had trouble with in the article and with VOIP is how will you use it on cell phones? It didn’t address that fully. In addition, it assumed that you will have a fairly fast broadband connection. Many people are lucky to have it, but will it leave all those others out in the cold? VOIP is going to have sell me A LOT more to make me “join ‘em”….

“Social Aspects of New Media Technologies,” William, Strover, and Grant

Uses and Gratifications: Cable Television
The first thing I gained from this article was information about my and my husband’s television habits… The user and gratifications theory showed me that we typically fall into the entertainment and companionship gratification categories for TV viewing. I was talked into subscribing to TIVO and cable so we would have a wide variety of shows to choose from, and also be able to record what we miss (“instrumental viewing style”).Yet we still channel surf too much which put us into the “ritualized” viewing category, which proves my point I thought before we got cable - we look to the TV to pass time and with all the cable option to even pass more time – I mean waste time??

Critical Mass: Email and Mass Media
One “A-ha” I pulled from the readings was in this section of the article. The FM radio example of a new technology that took 30 years to finally catch on a obtain critical mass. The FM channel was associated with the AM station, but people hadn’t started a relationship with the FM channels. Listeners had all the resources, time, and knew how to work the radio, but were already emotionally invested with the AM station. With some extra money for advertising, people started listening to FM and the “explosion” of critical mass finally took place 30 years after its invention. Never knew this and now I wonder how AM ever can win its critical mass back?

Diffusion of Innovations: Telephone Services
This theory, Diffusion of Innovations, holds ideas which apply to my research interest: Voice Recognition (VR) – its history, present, and future as a valid communication channel.
Knowledge
First the “early adopter” learns about what VR, its benefits, and how the media device (phone, blackberry) can take voice commands.

Persuasion
How will VR help me save time when I make calls, write emails via a blackberry? Will it be easier than typing or dialing a phone call? Will it always understand what I am telling it to do/write for me? Will my privacy be compromised when I’m talking to a machine in public areas?

Decision
The VR software understood what I said and saved me time and I’m more productive! In instances, such as public spaces, where I don’t want to talk I could still type, but I realized how much time I was wasting typing an email on the tiny device.

Confirmation
More uses in other applications -ipods, google searches…VR is catching on to the critical mass for most digital media.

With all innovations, VR will need to meld with and not have negative impacts on society. As the article concluded, “It is not enough to understand the features of a communication technology; the perception if those features (and the wide variety of factors influencing those perceptions) must be understood as well.”

Media Technology and Society. Winston, Brian.

2nd “A-ha” The introduction of the book was tough to get through and my goal by the end of the quarter is to understand Winston’s models.

However, I did learn and that the railway safety led to the need for the telegraph. Pretty cool! What has the car led to recently? GPS video screens?
And all the hands that played a part in the invention of the telegraph. It would be difficult to declare the inventor when so many people are involved.

Finally made it here!

2005-10-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

Wow - I finally made it here on blogger! I love Seattle sunny days (thus the name) and today was unfortunately not one of them, but as always we'll have hope for tomorrow...october 6th!