Friday, April 29, 2005
"From Tom Paine..." - Gillmore & "Social Software..." - Shirky
Before the invention of personal computer, people stayed connected to the global news through newspaper, and even before that--telegraph. The news were much slower in the old. Now everyone has their own desktop/laptop, which allow them to be connected through the internet. The world has gotten smaller through the mediums like email and blogging. People can check messages with just a click of a button. Blogging allows people to voice their opinions and concerns on various topics without having to go through a bunch of legal process in newspapers.
A Blogging software has been around since the late 1990s. Winer wrote an application, Frontier. One of its features, Manila, was the first program for beginners to create their own blogs. Compression of time and space really do benefits people's lives. However, not everyone is ready to accept some of these new technologies. Some people are concerned with how these technological inventions will effect social interaction, society, and individual's psychology. I think it will be awhile before all these emerging technology become widely used and invisible overtime.
A Blogging software has been around since the late 1990s. Winer wrote an application, Frontier. One of its features, Manila, was the first program for beginners to create their own blogs. Compression of time and space really do benefits people's lives. However, not everyone is ready to accept some of these new technologies. Some people are concerned with how these technological inventions will effect social interaction, society, and individual's psychology. I think it will be awhile before all these emerging technology become widely used and invisible overtime.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Wireless Revolution and Universal Access - Michael L. Best
Communication scholars should look into the developing areas in countries like India or Bhutan. India only 40 millions people have fixed telephone line--how can we expect them to have desire for state of the art technology? The lack of technology affects our daily lives, com scholars can study the way people in India live with technology that are not as high-class as in America. I think Com. scholars can remain objective about this and can easily spot problems that prevent the progress of technology to develop further in those countries. This makes me realize how privileged I am to be living in the US where the birthing of technologies is so fast-paced, and help make my life so much easier in more ways than I can imagine.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
"GNU Manifesto" - Stallman & "Markets Are Conversation" - Levine
After I read the GNU article, I still have no idea what the function of GNU. The ah-ha that I got from this article is that it's related to software program, but it doesn't really quite explain how it relates to the computer realm. It asks users for donations and stuff, but honestly, I have no idea what they want. :( If anyone has any idea about this, please let me know.
I find the article "Markets Are Conversation" hilarious. I found myself numerous times talking to phone technicians people only to hear them asking the same questions over and over again. They're like robots being programmed to handle customers. They don't really care about the frustration that users experience, and in the end they ask you "Is there anything else that I can help you with." and "Thank you for choosing blah blah blah, have a nice day." Their voices are so monotone. No wonder people prefer to deal with automated voice system than people because they are no difference, plus you know you can't get upset talking to a machine; it's just pointless.
I find the article "Markets Are Conversation" hilarious. I found myself numerous times talking to phone technicians people only to hear them asking the same questions over and over again. They're like robots being programmed to handle customers. They don't really care about the frustration that users experience, and in the end they ask you "Is there anything else that I can help you with." and "Thank you for choosing blah blah blah, have a nice day." Their voices are so monotone. No wonder people prefer to deal with automated voice system than people because they are no difference, plus you know you can't get upset talking to a machine; it's just pointless.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Voting... - Quesenbery, Scanlon, Weiner
I totally agree with this article by Quesenbery. I came across a website that told you all these instructions, but I remembered complaining about how hard it was to understand the instruction. It told me click on "mode," but I couldn't find it. That just frustrated me. At first I thought the instruction was unclear, but after reading this article, I realized that the design of the webpage wasn't user-friendly. So as for the electronic voting, if the design of the ballot and other sign in page was confusing to users, they will have a hard time understanding the voting instruction. It doesn't matter how well the instruction explains because if voters can't find it on the site, then it's not efficient.
As for the Scanlon's article, the smaller spaces that are crammed with people's names appeared to be really confusing to most people. They had a hard time reading through each name. This is a problem for elderly people who don't have the best eyesight to read unclear information. This can be fixed by using color modes, bold and bigger fonts. The organization in the ballot design also plays a significant role in easing the voting process.
As for the Scanlon's article, the smaller spaces that are crammed with people's names appeared to be really confusing to most people. They had a hard time reading through each name. This is a problem for elderly people who don't have the best eyesight to read unclear information. This can be fixed by using color modes, bold and bigger fonts. The organization in the ballot design also plays a significant role in easing the voting process.
I found the article by Weiner to be kind of amusing. I just can't imagine using those machines in America because we have more population, and our society is moving at a much faster pace. We have internet and other advanced technologies, so using this machine like India is not a wise solution. If we did adopt this gadget, we'd be complaining about a different issue other than the ballot design. I do agree that simplicity can be more helpful in certain situation, but not for voting. As I mentioned before, the US is a big country with a great deal of population. We can't just count each vote by hands. It will take a long time to complete an election.
I really this extra credit article. I found it to be quite interesting to see that the first voting method used black & white balls. Then it progressed to paper ballot. Back then, I found the design really easy to understand. Just a few names and then voting section, but it progressed? to the punched cards. I never liked this method. I see all these numbers on the paper, and I just felt discouraged to vote. Maybe simplicity really is the way to go, but I think with where we are in the technological world, creating a simple design for the voting ballot shouldn't be that difficult.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Affect and Machine Design - Norman (Extra Credit)
This article says that computers should be subordinated to human beings. It is true in a sense that human beings who have gone through many evolutionary changes and have gathered together their knowledge and create this amazing tool that helps make our lives easier. Although computers can perform certain tasks better than human can, man and machine have a great relationship that exist to help each one another. Let's suppose that if computers don't exist in human world, our lives will be in a much slower pace and it will still take about a week or more to receive a letter from the adjacent town, and computers can't exist with human to help them function right. Computer's general nature is very similar to how humans operate in normal everyday activities: reaction, routine, and reflection. Computers do learn to think like humans or do their creators make them that way?
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Being Analog - Donald Norman
When I read this article, the concept of man-machine relationship is relevant to the movie, The Matrix. Human beings are flexible and adaptable to environment, which is to say that we are an analog; machines are fixed and can only deal with information that suit their functions. Therefore, they are digital. I understand the meaning of analog and digital more after I read this article. An analog is adaptable to the physical structure and can change its function according to the external force, but digital is pretty much fixed when it comes to performing a different task. It's designed to deal with accuracy and precision of data, and that's all it can do. It's almost like a lie-detector. When I said earlier that this article is related to the Matrix because the agents and people are still "plugged" to their surroundings. These people are all digital because they lead their lives in a conventional way--fixed daily schedule, etc. Those who are on the same side as "the one" or Keanue Reeves are analog. They can run faster than normal, fly, and not controlled by the external forces because they are "unplugged."
Although computers could perform tasks that involved details better than human beings can, it was us who created them. So all of our evolutional knowledge are put together in this machine. It is safe to say that computers are the symbolic creation of our intelligence.
Although computers could perform tasks that involved details better than human beings can, it was us who created them. So all of our evolutional knowledge are put together in this machine. It is safe to say that computers are the symbolic creation of our intelligence.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Beginner's Guide - Extra Credit
I agree that these days media has constantly promoted news that grab audience's attention (not necessary informative). Crimes that involve sex and violence seem to get more public attention than news that are about tax or educational related. Murder stories always pop up in the front page of the newspaper with big bold fonts whereas the articles that are about senior citizens or local news get small sections with tiny fonts that doesn't seem to get much of the readers' attention. The amount of money that these famous broadcasting companies make each year was one of my ah-ha moments. No wonder just keep showing what they think we want to see because they get a lot of benefits from this. Another one of my ah-ha moments was when the article talked about the media policy and who had the right to decide on it. For instance, the Federal Communications Commission is one of the groups that has a say in the media policy. It made more sense why the government would side with the private companies. I really agree that if we want to see a difference in how the media functions in our society, we must take an initiative by support noncommercial public broadcasting and etc.
The Role of the Internet ...Media Use - Eric Riedel
These days the media has become an important aspect in our everyday lives. Interestingly enough people rely on TV for many things like a source of news, entertainment, knowledge, etc. The number of people using the print media as a source of information like in the old day, have gradually decreased because you absorb more information faster. However, a study was shown that print media is a much better source to find reliable information, even though it takes longer to retrieve information. Internet is becoming an important source to get information because it offers various mode to finding the data you want in a much more efficient manner. The statistics--60% of people go online to obtain information and this number has increased since the 9-11 event by 27%. This surprises me because this event really has impacted all our lives, but I didn't think about how the media is affected by this. I also agree that even though the internet has become popular among all of us, it still doesn't substitute the traditional media. Mainly because not all information that date back in the past centuries are recorded online. Efforts must be made to retrieve those information by using print media. I think sometimes the internet robs us the experience of actually doing our own work.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Information Overload...Empowerment - Christopher Carlson
This article is very much similar to the another article by Mark Nelson. We have so much information around us that we just don't know what to do with them all. The number of internet websites have increased enornamously in last 5 decades. This is outrageous, however there is nothing anyone can do to stop this because everyone is entitled to the 1st amendment--freedom of speech. The best way to get around this problem is for users to learn how to navigate websites and use search engine wisely by doing finding out as much information as possible about the subject, so that you can use the significant keywords in the search engine, which will give more effective results that will benefit users.
We Have the Information... Information Overload - Mark R. Nelson
I could definitely relate to this article because when I tried to search for something on Google and they gave me over a thousand of results. Only a few of the results were what I was searching for, and the rest were false drops. This was the new term that I learned from reading this article. False drops are documents that fit your search criteria, but are irrelevant to users' needs.
Information overload is the term that I've heard from time to time, but never paid attention to it. The number of prints that are published each year are countless! I've always wondered that people who write all these books and publish prints, do they have enough interested readers to read all of their works? I work in a library and there are tons of documents that are stored away in a storage room. It becomes useless because it will take much effort to try to find the needed information. I guess the information anxiety is term that you use to explain this situation.
Information overload is the term that I've heard from time to time, but never paid attention to it. The number of prints that are published each year are countless! I've always wondered that people who write all these books and publish prints, do they have enough interested readers to read all of their works? I work in a library and there are tons of documents that are stored away in a storage room. It becomes useless because it will take much effort to try to find the needed information. I guess the information anxiety is term that you use to explain this situation.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Principles of New Media - Lev Manovich
wow... I didn't realize that even media has principles and rules. I'm also learning new media and computer term, such as digitization. I've heard it before, but I never really knew what it meant. It converts continuous data into a numerical, which has 2 steps to convert data: sampling and quantization. I didn't realize before that communication requires discrete units and that without it, we would not have language. I guess I underestimated the importance of communication, and how we exist everyday because of IT. Communication has discrete levels, which breaks down from sentence to words to morphemes and so on.
Cool fact: Henry Ford installed the first assembly line in his factory in 1913.
I find the concept of modularity and structure in which it relates to Microsoft Office & Media program, really interesting. Because I never understood how they all come to work when an object is inserted, which lets you edit independently. Ah ha! Media ties to many things even the software programs that we use in our everyday's lives.
I didn't know before that new media has a connection with AI (Artificial Intelligence), which is used in computer games. Technologies really have evolutionalized our world. Everything turns into computer-based world. I've heard of the term hypermedia before, but I didn't know what it means till I read this article. According to this article, multimedia elements making a document are connected through hyperlinks, so the elements and structures are independent of each other. I find it amazing that no matter how fast we progress in the technology aspect, media and art are working together to balance the harmony.
Cool fact: Henry Ford installed the first assembly line in his factory in 1913.
I find the concept of modularity and structure in which it relates to Microsoft Office & Media program, really interesting. Because I never understood how they all come to work when an object is inserted, which lets you edit independently. Ah ha! Media ties to many things even the software programs that we use in our everyday's lives.
I didn't know before that new media has a connection with AI (Artificial Intelligence), which is used in computer games. Technologies really have evolutionalized our world. Everything turns into computer-based world. I've heard of the term hypermedia before, but I didn't know what it means till I read this article. According to this article, multimedia elements making a document are connected through hyperlinks, so the elements and structures are independent of each other. I find it amazing that no matter how fast we progress in the technology aspect, media and art are working together to balance the harmony.
The Medium is the Message - Marshall Mcluhan
I was really interested in the section that talked about how Cubism is a medium, which sends out messages in an abstract manner. The content or meaning of this form of art lies within the canvas. Cubism are not the same the representional (real) paintings, rather artists distort the objects by flattening out to show the dimensions of the object all in one plane. The message that we receive from the medium occurs at the first moment when we come into contact with (sight, smell, sound, touch, or taste). At that moment, the information is being sent from the sender and then to us, receiver.
Monday, April 04, 2005
As We May Think - Vannevar Bush
I really like this article because it talks about the progress of communicational devices like television, recording tool both visual and print. The world has changed so much and humans have thought of possibilities to advance tools to make our lives more convenient. People have constantly updated devices with better reliability and efficiency. For instant, photography that we have seen today have progressed from the past when the plate has to be wet at the time of exposure to just wet during the photograph development. So it definitely saves a lot of time to take a picture. Also looking at the progression of recording device, starting from using a pencil to write stuff down, progressing to a typewriter and then to printing. And just recently, a new device came out which is a machine that can type when you talk to it. We have come so far from the old days when technologies were still developing. All these tools that make our lives easier happen because of the dedicated scientists and mathematicians who use logic and their good observing skills of the world around them to come up with ways to keep advancing technologies.
Can you imagine where the technologies will be 10 years from now?
Can you imagine where the technologies will be 10 years from now?
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Media Technology and Society by Brian Winston
I found this article to be quite interesting. I had no idea that communications are related to Science! Before I read this article, I thought I knew what prototype and invention were, but after finish reading it, I realized that what I knew before were just the area on the surface. By reading this article I got to explore in-dept that there are 4 kinds of prototypes: rejected, accepted, parallel, and partial.
Also Winston used an analogy to compare competence to the idea in our mind/brain. In order to make use of what's inside our brain, we have to think and be creative, which is to use ideation to reach the performance level. I think the diagram that Winston used to explain his points were helpful. It definitely helped clarify some of the stuff that seemed confusing to me at the time.
Fun fact: Bell and Gray <<Bell's rival>> invented a speaking electric telephone on the same day on February 1876. This was during the social necessity of the rise of modern communication and office.
Also Winston used an analogy to compare competence to the idea in our mind/brain. In order to make use of what's inside our brain, we have to think and be creative, which is to use ideation to reach the performance level. I think the diagram that Winston used to explain his points were helpful. It definitely helped clarify some of the stuff that seemed confusing to me at the time.
Fun fact: Bell and Gray <<Bell's rival>> invented a speaking electric telephone on the same day on February 1876. This was during the social necessity of the rise of modern communication and office.
