belle's field

Persona+Scenario_Peter Smith

2007-03-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

Persona 4

Peter Smith, age 52 -- Senior Consultant

Peter Smith works in California Software, Orange County, California. As a senior consultant, he is an expert in legacy extension, EAI solutions and business intelligence. His work is mainly to help global enterprises migrate legacy applications to Windows, Unix and Linux and make valuable corporate data easily available to their employees, business partners, and customers.

Peter spent 28 years in information industry, within a background in implementing migration or SOA integration projects in Midrange/Mainframe environments. He is a person with "can do" attitude and willingness to work through and help clients. In the weekend, he love to do a little golf or fishing. He plans for family trips in different spots around the world every year.

Peter is a 52-year-old daddy with two children. Justin goes to Stanford University and studies in political science. Diana attends to University High School in Irvine. Peter cares about the politics and the social participating because he insists that next generation should grow up in a clean world without media monopoly. He also encourages his children think independently. He is a typical US citizen who has American Dream and wants to make the world better with free speech.

He only reads, views, or accesses high-quality media like CNN, PBS, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, or Business Week in his daily life. He is also an early adopter for most 3C products in electronic consuming market. Besides personal computer, he uses PDA, GPS, bluetooth earphone and digital camera.

He subscribes several blogs and web sites with RSS FeedReader. He loves the automatically subscribe system because he could update information very quick. The reason why he goes to TheyOwn.net is that he wants to participate in discussion about social justice. Peter believes that people could improve the media content, transfer the media system and expand the communications rights of ordinary people through grassroots organizing, education, networking and advocacy.

Scenario:

Peter is a frequent user of TheyOwn.net. Averagely speaking, he accesses TheyOwn.net two times a week. The first connection between TheyOwn.net and peter was because he attended a public hearing on Orange County Community Library which was held by Voice of Orange County FM 93.7 and TheyOwn.net. Peter and other parents had a great discussion of how the media ownership effect media contents to our children. After that hearing, he started to become familiar with the media ownership issue and surfs relevant websites often.

Peter uses RSS FeedReader 3.0 to subscribe new information on TheyOwn.net. He always reads articles on TheyOwn.net in a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon. He scans through the titles and finds if there is anything interests him. If he finds some, he will click the links to TheyOwn.net and find more related details. He considers that an engineer should not only talk to machines everyday but also communicate with different opinions from different aspects. Social network form the Internet could help him know people who care this issue. That is why sometimes he posts some comments for certain topics he wants to discuss with.

Because Peter wants to be an active user, sometimes he will attend some events held by TheyOwn.net. He thinks these participances carry out his concerns to the community.

week8-Production and QA

2007-02-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

The new title of second-edit in this book would be: Build and Integrate. Thinking about the concept of “redesign” he taught us from this book, maybe he use the same concept when he changed the name of title to make his point much clearer.

This phase gives us a clear review on website designing from Target Specifications, Functionality and Features, Design and Layout, File Structure and Directory Preference to Server and Hosting Information. Establishing the guidelines and worksheets will help project manager create a clear blueprint of the whole process.

The author also talks about the communication between designer and clients, which I think is an important part in developing a website. People have different aesthetic feelings and technical meta-knowledge, thus we always have different view to the same thing. (On the other hand, that’s what makes things interesting, isn’t it?) That’s why communication between human beings is also important as communication between human and machines.

I also learned an interesting concept from this chapter, which is WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get.) The advantage of WYSIWYG could save lots time in coding and make your layout stable. After all, we shouldn’t forget the golden principle “Smaller is Better.”

After attending to this class, I found that I become picky on the interface and the utility. This quarter I participated in developing a community website in Taiwan. They planned to build a new community website offers with blog/album/video/group…like MySpace. In the process of negotiation to the planner, I found that convenience and ease are the most two key factor which will deeply affect people’s willing to adapt to the new interface. Even they designed a fancy interface with cute icons and give people lots space of uploading, the promotion of the new website still hard. That was why we paused the speed of promotion and tried to make the website clearer and easier. From Beta version to official version, there is a long long way.

It is almost the end of winter quarter, but I still haven’t get really familiar with HTML or other webpage languages. It broke I aim this quarter. Fortunately, I still have some time to learn it in the coming weeks. Like learning English, I shouldn’t be afraid of practicing more.

Group1_Persona 1 to 4

2007-02-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

I add Ragan’s persona in Persona2.

Persona1:

Susy is high school student who cares about the social justice. She loves the out door activities and pop music. She runs for the president of student association in 2007. She is also a journalist in school’s news paper Viewers. She has her own blog which discusses about thoughts of life and observation of the media. This quarter she plans to do a project about the media ownership. She goes to TheyOwn.net in order to find some information about big media and the issue of media ownership.

Persona2:

Jack is a 22 year old college student who is a frequent MySpace user. He begins to notice that more and more advertising is showing up throughout the site and wonders what's up. Jack remembers that a couple years back News Corp bought MySpace and he begins to think maybe that has something to do with the changes. He wants to find out more about News Corp and where the company's interests lie. He goes to TheyOwn.net in order to find out what other companies News Corp owns.

Persona3:

Nadiah is a visiting scholar in communication school and also a Phd student from NanYang Technological University in Singapore. Her research topic focuses on the regulation in mass media. Because the regulation policy in Singapore is strict and one way from top to bottom, thus she comes to US to hear more diverse opinions. She is familiar with all major website or institution that cares about media ownership.

Persona4:

Peter is a 50-year-old daddy who works in a software company with two children. He cares about the politics and the social participating because he insists that next generation should grow up in a clean world without media monopoly. He also encourages his children think independently. He is a typical US citizen who has American Dream and wants to make the world better with free speech. He only reads, views, or accesses high-quality media in his daily life.

Group1_Function

2007-02-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Article Search

We mainly offer contents in word format, and our purpose is to gather all relevant information about media ownership, thus the function of search is important. In this project, we plan to have a database after we complete our layout.

RSS Subscribe

Most of our readers might be advanced or unique visitors which means they visit often in a period of time. In order to have more interactions with them, we could offer the function of RSS Subscribing. On the other hands, sending our articles directly to visitors who don’t come could often recall them to pay attention on this topic.

Video Uploading

Because the topic of media ownership is on the spot, there must be some important or related speeches, forums and announcements occur everyday. Video clips could be collected by web managers or users.

What’s new

In order to display the latest news, we can pick the current news or events in this specific column. Five pieces of news on this column will be an ideal number.

Upcoming Events

As a website focus on public interests, we might cooperate with or participate in some other public events. Thus, providing the upcoming events in the center of page might be a good way to promote those events.

Put Comments

The value of every single opinion is depends on how many times it was been shared. The purpose of fighting for media ownership is to protect the independent speech. We encourage our visitors put their comments after reading the articles or viewing the videos.

** I notice that we said that no membership required on our website according to Ragan’s Success Metrics. Thus, should we save a space for users to sign up? Otherwise I have no idea how to track the author after they put a comment or upload a video clip. Maybe we can let general users read all they want to read free, and set up a simple sign up process for users who want to post or upload.

week7-Visual Interface

2007-02-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

Websites about E-commerce

2007-02-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

The definition of E-Commerce we discussed last week will be: Where people can purchase(buy/sale) goods or services online.

Examples bumped into my mind will be the most famous E-Commerce platform-- ebay who sales everything online first; then will be Amazon who is specific in book market in the beginning; in past few years, Craigslist is a growing company in E-Com as well. About the service, visiting Enterprise Rent-a-car or Southwest Airline will meet people's needs to travel without concern. The last one I would like to mention about is the Apple Store which has fancy design.

Book Review_ Emotional Design

2007-02-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

Emotional Design -- Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things

Donald A. Norman

I’d read the book The Design of Everyday Things in my college. The new concepts of information design was attracted me. It’s time I want to see more about the part “emotion” he added in his new book. When the technology reached a certain level (especially in function), people started to seek for something more than the basic usability. There is the niche of emotional design. Users not only buy a product in every purchase but also buy a symbol of fashion and taste. In the age of experience economy, the factor of emotion affects enormously. The book Emotional Design just shows the trend properly.

As a master of engineering and psychology, Norman shows marvelous understanding in the communication between human beings and machines. Like the slogan of Nokia Co.— Connecting People, the interface is the best bridge between users and machines. As a communicator between information and audience, I also have to keep the spirit on my mind. How to make my information easy to be understood? How to make the focus clear? How to make the first-time-user feel comfortable when they need something from the content I provide?... The book Emotional Design gave me some new angles to think of.

How we arrange the order of Chinese contents?

2007-02-06T20:14:00.001-08:00

Renda addressed an interesting question in the class: how we arrange or categorize the order of Chinese contents since the alphabet order isn't suitable to Chinese characters?

I call it "interesting" because sometimes we don't even think over it though we use it everyday. (I guess we miss many things in our daily lives as well.:P) There are some ways to categorize.

# By the order of the number of strokes (in a character)

“一” (means “one”) goes before “二” (means “two”)

# By the order of notional phonetic alphabet / phonetic symbols (we call it “注音符號”)

“不” (pronounce as “bu ㄅㄨˋ” ) goes before “跑” (pronounce as “paoㄆㄠˇ” )

*Only used in Taiwan

# By the order of Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音)

*Broadly used in the worldwide

There are some links about changing notional phonetic alphabet to Hanyu Pinyin:

http://www.cnpedia.com/pages/knowledge/baserule.htm

http://cls.admin.yzu.edu.tw/pronounce.htm

IA_Web Trend Map 2007

2007-02-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.informationarchitects.jp/webtrends2007

Some concepts on this website are cool. Good for my brain, hopefully for yours as well.

week5_Develop Site Structure

2007-02-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

The author cited a phase of words from Peter Morville which I think is the main spirit of information design, “creating consistent and functional systems for navigation, graphics, page layout, and the title languages so that the user knows where to go, what to do, and it encourages them to return.”

Viewing things in different point of view in also important, the author emphasizes fours perspectives: Content-view, Site-View, Page-View and User-view. In deed, as a channel to communicate site visitors, site developers and site holders, a website should embrace multiple functions of different aspects. In the office, we always said that “One will always change his/her entire brain after changing his/her position.” Maybe the meaning of these words is kind of sarcastic, but it really shows that we have to have flexibilities when we try to develop a website.

Content is king. The word is the principle of every medium. We often have too many contents but have no idea how to remove the information we don’t need. How many information you want to display on your website is the scope of content. A specific website and a general website will definitely have different depth and width. The word “chunk” is a good idea to organize contents. By categories of color, style, size, pattern and most important of all, the relationships among the contents, we could have a clear view to classify our information.

The next step is to build a clear sitemap of our website. In order to classify all the information, we should have the concepts of “layers”, like a tree diagram or end-means. The team of website developers has to group up all the contents and name them with a good category. (Also remember, try to use users’ point of view to check if your category is easy to be understood or not.) Nobody is supposed to have the same mind map or thinking process with you. But if they couldn’t understand your category and find the information they need, they will not stay longer. You always have to be considerate to the entry-level users.

The last step is to arrange the wireframe—what do you wish your layout to look like? As we learned from the class, too many meaningless pictures and auto-play flash are annoyed. This part has close relation with the user interface which we can find in next chapter.

The author also emphasizes the path and navigation of the web site. It will be helpful to focus on target users from creating user scenarios and persona. Finding their life styles will help web designers know their tastes and needs, which is an excellent way to communicate designers and users.

Group1_Ideal Website for the topic of “media ownership”

2007-02-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

Obviously, the “ideal websites” I mentioned a few weeks ago don’t suit the tone of media ownership. There are some websites below which are much suitable to our new topic.

@ Free Press

http://www.freepress.net/index.php

I like the format of this website, the way they arrange all the information, including banner and side columns. And I think that because the topic we are talking about is on the tide among media, thus we might like to insert some important lecture video/ news video/ discussion on our website. And we may want to build a list of members who can post their opinions on our website. A column to sign up is requisite. At the end, the function of research is also requisite for people who want to seek some information from our website.

@ Media Access Project

http://www.mediaaccess.org/index.html

When users roll over the side menu, you can see the cute blue button follows which is pretty creative and shows a good interaction.

@ Media Matters

http://mediamatters.org/

The 3-columns design might be a good idea. And a small pic which can present the whole view of the article give users a better understanding.

@ Media Watch

http://www.mediawatch.com/welcome.html

On this website I will focus on the side menu. The idea of a remote control is impressive. The bigger gray buttons present a group, and the small white buttons present another group. The on/off button which presents the home page is also an interesting point.

@ The Big Ten

http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

The colorful figures give a clear image to classify information. If we use this way to describe some details on our web site, we could avoid using the way of one point after another (which will bore people easily).

@ PBS_Media Giants

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/giants/

They display the complicated framework of the big companies, which make a clear understanding to their relationships.

Task exercise - Go to Imaginary Forces

2007-01-30T19:16:00.000-08:00

1.
get to the website
press "project"
press "interactive"

2.
press "contact"

Find the incomplete address:
East Coast Commercial Representation
Roxanne Artesona
212.679.9797

Go to Google Maps
Insert the address

Find the location:

Roxanne & Co - more info »

1201 Broadway # 801, New York, NY

(212) 679-9797

The phone number is the same, thus I guess I find the correct and exact address.

If you are trying to build a website, it means that you want to display your information on it. But this website: http://www.imaginaryforces.com/if.html really breaks the law. In this case, we saw that the fancy flash in index take too many seconds to download, and the main menu is not clear. The worst of all is that category of main menu or sub-menu doesn't match people's cognition. And the pop-up windows annoys users. When I use Firefox as my browser, I even couldn't open the video. The last disadvantage is that users couldn't go back to the previous page, which is really inconvenient!!

week4-Gestalt Principles and HCI Design

2007-01-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

How do these HCI design principles relate to Gestalt Theory?

I think both of these two theories help designers construct the way people look at everyday things around us. I guess many people have experiences to travel abroad. Sometimes it’s hard to describe or recognize a place you want to go or a simple need you have, like restroom, just like sometimes your own language database couldn’t work for you. But you still can “feel” the exact direction according to icons, signs people’s motions. There is something worldwide. You just know that the tobacco pipe stands for men, and high-heel stands for ladies; or blue for men and pink for women. The environment we grew up taught us lots of things to deal with the world, that’s the conventions, that’s the process of socialization.

Computer network is also a huge society with lots communities. Designers have to try their best to make great communication with their users. Gestalt Theory does great help when we talk about the basic principles of design. I think the principle of Figure & Ground is cool. In this case, the common saying that “To see is to believe” might be not that true. There are some interesting pictures.

Others principles like Similarity, Proximity & Continuity or Closure, Area & Symmetry help people classify what they saw. Also help people organize things efficiently. It’s a dialog between designer and user. People learn how to use from daily design; then designers learn how to design from the usage people might expect. They are both educating each side.

The greatest step of MS Office System is to introduce the concepts of HCI, which makes people easy to understand, and make computer an electronic appliance rather than a professional apparatus.

Further more, in the world of design, the author mentioned about the affordance. It’s an efficient way to communicate with the environment. When you see a button, you know you have to press; when you meet a handle, you will turn it to the opposite size. Especially when you are designing a website, the characteristic of WWW is it displays to worldwide, thus you have to care about the way and thinking process of all mankind.

HCI is a great medium between machines and human, like the old totem of royal families, you could recognize the symbol immediately and find the feedback directly. That’s the shortcut to master the rapid-changing machines we have to face everyday.

week3-Extended Information_Internet Protocols

2007-01-27T21:29:00.000-08:00

Internet Protocols

· Building blocks of a network architecture

· Each protocol object has two different interfaces

o service interface: operations on this protocol

o peer-to-peer interface: messages exchanged with peer

· Term “protocol” is overloaded

o specification of peer-to-peer interface

o module that implements this interface

The Design of IPv6

· The Internet could not have been so successful in the past years if IPv4 had contained any major flaw.

· IPv4 was a very good design, and IPv6 should indeed keep most of its characteristics.

· It could have been sufficient to simply increase the size of addresses and to keep everything else unchanged.

· However, 10 years of experience brought lessons.

· IPv6 is built on this additional knowledge. It is not a simple derivation of IPv4, but a definitive improvement.

Resource from: http://www.ee.nthu.edu.tw/english/eindex.html

Assignment 4_Ideal Sites & Aadoption of IM

2007-01-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

1. Ideal Website

As a new medium and new platform, the main purpose in website design is to connect yourself or your organization with the public or potential customers. Thus, we should not only make the website looks “cool” but also make the information easy to be searched and understood.

I found some wonderful websites applying in business:

Nike http://www.nike.com/index.jhtml

With international view, they offer many kinds of languages on their homepage which shows their diversity and globalization. Video with flash menu on the first page displays the main event or promotion this season which has a clear focus. The tear-off menu offers a whole-view of the website.

Cartier http://www.cartier.com/

It was also designed with international view. The flash animations of the product, news, background… gives people strong image about their fancy and classical design. The website indeed promotes their industry appearance.

Apple http://www.apple.com/

Apple is well known as their user interface. They keep their influent Macintosh operating system in their website. In order to introduce their new products (iPhone, AppleTV, ) they divide their website with different category. Following the category as TV (Store), phone (iPhone), multimedia player (iPod+iTune), PC (Mac.), media software (QuickTime), peripheral (Support) and operating system (Mac OS X), people could easily find the way according their needs.

I guess website above will be too ideal to me due to too many technical contents it includes. However, there are some websites of fancy design companies which I think might be workable to me:

Mike Davidson and his partner http://www.dmandp.com/

Beginning with influent flash homepage, they have clear concept of layers and classification of their contents. The structure of the website is explicit which offers me the blueprint of my own webpage.

Mike Industries http://www.mikeindustries.com/

Combining the blog and webpage, they offer clear user interface to access a great amount of contents. The most interesting part for me is the Puget Sound view which will update every two minutes. Users could modify the theme, front and size of the webpage as they like, which is also a cool function. The part of portfolio was designed with dynamic images and sententious introduction.

Culture Design http://www.culturedesign.com/

The consistence of the website is also important. They keep the icons of every page arranged in the same way (with the shape of capital c), and the considerate design on the left column makes people easy to get back to the previous page.

2. Instant Messenger

When we talk about the instant messenger communication software, I think we couldn’t say that IM is a seamless communication tool. Because sometimes it’s hard to get a 100 percent quality communication due to the unstable Internet connection or platform server, on the process of communication. We might lose some information during the message transferring! However, there are some amazing progresses applying in IM, such as we could operate several works at the same time, or even one end is not online. We can also enjoy the long-term or short-term communications which are easily switched in text, graphics, and audio media. Off course, the interaction was increased. IM indeed limits the restrictions of time and space.

Connecting to the standardization, I think IM systems really give us a bad example. There are so many different kinds of systems existing in the public, such as MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, NET Messenger Service, Jabber, ICQ and QQ. The compatibility is still a problem among systems, thus if you want to chat with the same friend in different system, you both have to apply a new user account. Also the connecter list couldn’t be duplicated and transferred between different systems.

Applying with the adoption theory, we could discuss about the amount of users. There are several hundred millions people using IM everyday, and the number is gathering higher every year. IM had already experienced the stage of early adopters and increasing in a rapid speed. Maybe in the future, integrating with mobile communication, the power of IM will be much stronger.

Since we live in the world of division of labor, we shouldn’t expect tools with different function have the same performance. Emails also have its weakness. It’s a single-way communication; you couldn’t expect your receiver stay in front of the computer just in order to reply your email immediately. Or sometime you couldn’t even know if your receiver get you mail successfully or not. Thus, I think IM still have great market place in the future.

Assignment 2_Personal Goals & Positions

2007-01-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

When it comes to my personal goals of this class, I think I want to learn most about project management. I love to organize activities and events, thus I participated in many organizations in college, for instance, international kite festival, University News, Voice of NCCU, even a baseball tournament. In this class, I want to polish my ability of integration from theory and systematic study. Then I want to learn the basic sense of webpage design. Since the Internet is becoming the most central platform of communication, I want to have the ability of design a complete website, off course, have the ability to analyze the already exist ones.

The third, I would like to learn the programming language (such as XML, HTML, XHTML…) after taking this course. Kathy had mentioned that we have to learn the language by ourselves, thus I think I can kind several useful tool book and online tutorials to practice those abilities. By the way, I also want to use the software of flash and database. It looks that I have to spend lots time in front of my computer.

As to the 2 most wanted positions and 2 less wanted positions, I think I can do well in editor and graphic designer, or maybe marketing executive. I was a director of a newspaper, teaching young journalists how to compose an article and modify their words, thus I think I might do well as an editor. Besides print media, I also learned film making and TV program producing in work. I learned how to use the graphic editing software like Photoshop and video editing software like Premiere. Thus I have essential sense to graphic designing. As to marketing executive, I have experience of participating in PR (Public Relation) team and financial management, thus I can also do well as that job.

What my weaknesses could be working in the position of HTML coder and system administrator/ junior programmer. As I mentioned above, I am not really familiar with the programming language and want to learn some more before I really execute.

Assignment 1_Virtual Team

2007-01-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

If I were a project manager of a virtual website design team, I think the most important task for me is to build the intranet social networking. At the beginning, I have to collect all information (including email address, phone number, personal website, IM information…etc.) and employees’ personal profiles from them. In order to assure we have a non-baffle communication channel.

With the medium Internet, I can send e-paper of our company daily to keep updating the policy and operating process of our company. I can also hold web-cam meeting weekly to make sure the project status. Online database is also an important point, which make everyone could update their working process and discuss the problem they face.

As to the identification, first I will hold some activities if possible, because I still believe that face-to-face communication could build people’s relationship in the most efficient way. I think the best way to build the identification is to make people feel they are a “family.” Remembering to mail a birthday will be my little recipe, not to mention in those wonderful holidays. Then offer some welfare to our employees such as gym coupons, movie tickets, or gift cards. Maybe online reading club will be a good way to connect peoples’ relations and minds.

week1-Define The Project

2007-01-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

Reading this chapter reminds me a lot of basic knowledge I’d learned about business administration such as production and operation management, marketing management, human resource management, research & development management, finance management and information management. From external to internal factors, a project needs lots of works in order to cover all details.

This book highlights the part of client survey, which is a quite useful tool to know what you client wants before and after they adopt our production. Before we start to design our website, we could know people’s needs and their user behaviors from client survey. And then after they access our website, the survey could focus on the feedback and their experiences.

Then the author moved into the part of understanding your audience. In my college (I majored in journalism), my teachers always told us to find our target audience, after that, you will know your main direction and content.

“The Web is all about the audience.” You need to know what needs, capabilities, wants, and fickle characteristics of your audience. And there is always a point we have to pay attention. As to access the Internet, a certain quality of technical equipments and skills your audiences have to own. Thus, we can narrow down and focus on our target audience.

At the end, Chapter 3 talks about how to create a project plan, which is the exact part I what to learn from this class. After doing all the researches, it’s about the time to startup. The book offers many details of how to do including making the budget, creating a schedule, assigning the team, planning user tests etc..

It’s a good tool book which offers lots detail examples; I think I could learn a lot from the book and other materials in this class.

week1-The Publishing Team & Web Team Roles

2007-01-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

These two articles talk about the team itself and team members’ roles when we consider the Web is a certain kind of publishing medium. Like living in the society, everyone has to seek his/her own position. People in a website design team should find his/her own position. From head to bottom, from publisher to HTML coder, only when we operate every single part in the design process can we gather the best layout.

One of my favorite movie【The Butterfly Effect】talks about how every single piece affects the whole world. Indeed, we live in a world of division of professional labor. There is a Chinese saying goes as “You can break off a pair of chopsticks, but there is no way for breaking off ten pairs of chopsticks.” Also an English saying says “United, we stand; divided, we fall.” In the society which admires heroism, I think it’s quite good to learn the spirit of cooperation.

I worked as an editor in a TV news station where a great place for people to learn cooperation is. Media is a refined industry which shows a great division of labor. Because no one is perfect, thus we need experts. The Internet successfully gathers people with different professional specialties. After integrating these special skills, people could have better websites which come from more diversity.

Last part I want to talk about the business model. When the word “design” comes to our minds, we might think about the fine art or sophisticated personality, which sometimes means “art is art, never mention about the money.” But in nowadays, division of labor guarantees designers, engineers and market managers could live good lives and focus only on their strengths. Operate with this way, I think people could have better and better service from Internet surfing.

Back to School~

2007-01-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ready for the challenge of Winter 2007!

week9-Information/ Communication Technologies in the Snow

2006-11-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

As an international student who comes from a sub-tropical island, I was amazed by the first snow in my life.

Expecting the snow for several days since I had known that there will be a snow from the weather forecasting software on my desktop, which was downloaded from Yahoo. I was studying in the library and hearing at the KPLU radio online when the snow fell. My friends told me about the snow in words through the MSN Messenger. I run out of the building to feel the memorable moment. At the same time I made a phone call to my friend who lives in San Deigo and told him about the great news.

When the snow became smaller, I went out to take some pictures with my digital camera. (I mentioned above that I had expected the snow for several days, thus I bring my camera all the time.) People were shrieking and playing snowballs on the street. I guessed that people were as happy as I was.

It happened that I have a friend who is coming from Washington D.C. and was stuck by mechanical problem. I was worried about the big traffic jam when he comes back near the midnight. Because I have no TV in my place, I read Seattle Times and Yahoo News in stead. There is a great function provided by Seattle Time. People can search his/her own place or location and see the volumes of traffic.

Next morning, I got my father’s Email from Singapore with great concern about the heavy snow. He said that he saw the news about the snowstorm and black traffic. I used Skype to talk with him and my mother in Taiwan, describing the snow in Seattle. Then I uploaded some pictures about the beautiful and unforgettable snow to my album.

One day after, I woke up and found that I got a bad cold. Thus, I emailed to my boss and told her that I could come to office today.

It was a wonderful snow, but was being bad to my health. :P

week9- Experience on Using Technologies

2006-11-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

Attending to the program of Digital Media indeed push me adopt lots new technology. Recently, I use some new technologies like webcam, Firefox, Thunderbird, Roxio, Flicker, Blogger.com or TiVo.

I think that although the Internet is so called a “Global Medium,” finding the website or software which owns most users is still an important task. After all, what you see and use makes you that kind of people. Thus, I tried my best to get used to all the PC products around me in US.

Also I found some useful software to manage my life, like Active Desktop and Yahoo Widgets. The former is a schedule on my desktop which can avoid me from forgetting something important; the later is multi-function software which provides weather, photo frame, notepad, maps… and so on.

My work, as a technology assistant, also gives me a lot of chances to use new hardware and software, such as Camtasia Studio, VHS-C, conversion software, duplication software and Mac in video editing.

According to the Diffusion Theory, I think I am one of the early majorities in using webcam. Because I have the needs to connect with my family and let them know my new life, I started to use the communication system online, and teach me family to use them as well.

week8-We the Media

2006-11-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

We the Media
Dan Gillmor
Chapter 6: Professional Journalists Join the Conversation

Gillmor mentioned the words of Oh Yeon Ho.“Journalists aren’t some exotic species, they’re everyone who seeks to take new development, put them into writing, and share them with others.”

With the growing interactions among online readers, the trend of “Web2.0” enhances the power comes from every corner. People could sit at home and announce your opinions with a click. In old days, there is a Chinese slang says that “A man could know all the things happening in the world without going out from his house.” I think it was a compliment to all traditional media. However, we could say that “A man could say his words to the whole world without going out from his house.”

Also the rapidly increase of mobile communication and multimedia facilities like phonecamera, home DV, digital camera and, of course PC or laptop make everyone a dress-up recorder. Moreover, Youtube and many other video sharing platforms provide people space to share their experiences, especially the fields that normal journalists wouldn’t ever think of.

One of the definitions of “news” is what is happening. This is also the main reason that makes newblogs so hot. Only the participators in he very moment will have the realest picture. That’s what most journalists could reach. For example, here is the video student shot in the event of “UCLA police used stun gun on student.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g7zlJx9u2E

We talked about the question-Quis custodiet ipsos custodes- last week, which means whoshall watch the watchers themselves. I think newsblogs indeed break the technical restrict and make news industry a common behavior in people’s daily lives. Thus, the “mass” media is truly belongs to the mass.

week7-Notes in the class

2006-11-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

Part A

Lecture of Phil Howard, Nov.14 2006

Almost all the donations in campaigns came to TV commercials. (About 90 USD)

The high peak: 1968, 1972, 1988, 2000, 2004(extremely high)

# Find the definition of “Registered Voter.”

The percentage of population who go online for election is gathering. And election news online indeed affected the vote choice. But people found too much useless information online. è The “only” channel became the “more convenient” channel, which showed that the function of the Internet was changed.

Types of political websites: local, official, non-partisan, candidate, partisan, special interest (the most traffic).

Political Games

Voice Robot

Knowing the profile of voters could save money and time.

Branch Picture of sponsor-- theyrule.net

Vote.com

Calculating a campaign-- exist time and explosion (vertical/ horizontal)

80% banner ads/ 1% click-through rate/ 9% buy message/ 10% passionate enough to write

Political Narrowcasting

MyBestSegment

Jurgen Habermas on the Public Sphere (link)

The public sphere is space where we exchange ideas and challenge opinions. Requires: shared text, conversation, and room for action.
Ideally: all relevant voices are heard/ best arguments float to the top/ agreement based on reason, not force or privilege.

The trend of “don’t vote.”

Because of…. the issue? the way that TV companies operated?

The power of “American Ideal.” / The “big head” in China.

# Group 4 Discussion

Democracy’s Public Sphere— Democracy is ruled by people.
Democracy should provide a place where people can share information.
Democracy is alternative to corporate owned mass communication.
Two-way Medium
Bottom-up v.s. Top-down communication
“Access” is everything.
Libraries help people access the Internet.
Economic Development v.s. University Service
Free Market v.s. Government Regulation
Suggestion: a) Establish permanent public computer access. b) Pay people tp participate in their government.
The role of ISP.
Net Neutrality

week7-The Tragedy of the Commons

2006-11-12T12:53:00.000-08:00

This week’s reading made me a little dizzy. It may due to my poor economic knowledge. I tried to find the main point among the chaotic concepts. When it comes to the concept of “public aspect in Internet,” can everyone get his/her own biggest benefit?

What if we operate the Internet like a kind of “Public Broadcasting System” that we already do to the public media? We could gather capitals from governmental finance or public foundation, and then operate a non-profit medium. Under certain non-profit organization, the Internet could be developed in a way and could produce contents about public issues, art, education and knowledge. Without a doubt, “Public Internet” would accelerate the birth of a civic society.

But it’s all about a Utopia, the character of Internet is based on the diverse opinion market. And also the author mentioned that “The result is administrative law, which is rightlyfeared for an ancient reason--Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?--"Whoshall watch the watchers themselves?"”

And there exist an essential problem, since the Internet needs a series of facilities to access. We face an inevitable digital divide among all people. Not everyone is affordable to all facilities, and also not everyone has enough knowledge to access the Internet. Thus, people with better knowledge will come out better lives, and people with less knowledge will stick in his/her level all the time. It’s unfair, and will defiantly cause serious social problems.

And the author mentioned about the advertising. Is “watching advertising” a type of “labor?” Living in a capitalism world, maybe we are too familiar with all kinds of advertising and don’t care about the 24-hrs bombing. Is that really good? Or is it just a devil to arise your desire?

As to the E-Government and E-Democracy, here are some links to shoe the present status.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/egov/

Expanding E-Government is the President’s goal of utilizing technology to improve how the Federal Government serves you, citizens, businesses and agencies alike. This website provides an overview of the program, the Presidential E-Government Initiatives and the Federal Enterprise Architecture. Please discover the many ways Federal employees are serving citizens, businesses and local communities via E-Government.

http://www.e-democracy.org/

E-Democracy.Org - Building online public space in the heart of real democracy and community since 1994.

week6- Gorup 3 (What New Media Is Not)

2006-11-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

What New Media Is Not from The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich

# Differences between new and old media:

1. New media is analog media converted to a digital representation.

2. All digital media share the same digital code.

(which means digital media allow different types of files to be displayed in the same computer)

3. New media allows for random access.

4. Digitization inevitably involves loss of information.

5. Digital media can be copied endlessly without degradation.

(especially in quality, like tape or VHS)

(the JEPG format, which is used to store still images, and MPEG, which is used to store digital video on DVD.)

6. New media is interactive.

(in this way the user becomes the co-author of the work)

# Take cinema into an instance.

# Old types of Animation

http://www.west.net/~science/animate.htm

http://www.privatelessons.net/2d/sample/m01_04.html

1. Thaumatrope (flash)

2. Flipbook (pic)

3. Phenakistoscope (pic)

4. Zoetrope (pic)

# The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

http://www.siggraph.org/s2006/index.php

http://www.siggraph.org/s2005/index.php

# Cubic Tragedy (Electronic Theater)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klgUgR0l-nc

Ming-Yuan Chuan
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

http://www.ntust.edu.tw/focus/sigg/

ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Computer Animation Festival's People's Choice Awards.

A polygonian girl tried to make herself prettier by using her new cosmetic tools (for polygon modeling of course), and by doing so accidentally ruined her own face. This tragedy may have inspired one of the world's most famous paintings.

VHS-C See the evolution of technology

2006-11-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

Today, I was amazed by the evolution of technology. My boss assigned me a job to find a “VHS-C adapter.” What’s that, I asked. Then we turned over the whole office to find the little stuff. Let’s see what we got. A VHS-C Camera, lots VHS-C tapes and a VHS-C adapter. It‘s totally a camera between a traditional VHS Bata Cam and a digital camera. Seeing this, I nearly could imagine the thinking process in people’s minds. Wow~~ My English is limited to show my surprise, but I really appreciate to the special experience. I found some interesting information from Wikipedia about VHS-C.

VHS-C is the compact VHS format introduced in 1982 and used primarily for consumer-grade compact camcorders. The format is based on the same videotape as is used in VHS, and can be played back in a standard VHS VCR with an adapter. Though quite inexpensive, the format is largely obsolete even as a consumer standard and has been replaced by digital video formats.

A size comparison between the original VHS format, VHS-C, and the more recent MiniDV.

The magnetic tape on VHS-C cassettes is wound on one main spool and used a sort of a gear wheel which moves the tape forward. It can also be moved by hand and so is the spool. This development hampered the sales of the Betamax system somewhat, because the Betamax cassette geometry prevented a similar development.

Bottom and top view of VHS-C, compact video cassette

Example of a VHS-C adapter

VHS-C was one of the pioneering formats of the compact camcorder market, and was released to compete with Video8. VHS-C was larger than Video8, but was compatible with VHS tapedecks, making the choice between the two non-obvious, and splitting the market; VHS-C also eventually crowded full-sized VHS camcorders out of the market. A higher quality version of VHS-C was released, based on S-VHS, known as S-VHS-C, that competed against HI8, the higher quality version of Video8. The arrival on the market of inexpensive S-VHS-C camcorders led to the inclusion on many modern VCRs of a feature known as SQPB, or SuperVHS Quasi-PlayBack, but did not make a significant impact on the market as the arrival of MiniDV as a consumer standard made low-cost, digital, broadcast quality video rendered analog camcorders largely obsolete.

Although Video8 acquired a digital variant, Digital8, it is extremely unlikely that D-VHS will be adapted to a compact format, as the consumer camcorder industry (particularly VHS's inventor and main proponent, JVC) has largely standardized on MiniDV and small-format recordable DVD. Nevertheless, a few VHS-C and S-VHS-C camcorders are still available from JVC at extremely low price points (~US$200), and the media is relatively inexpensive compared with MiniDV tape.

week5-Topic1 The World Is Flat

2006-10-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

The notion of a flat Earth refers to the idea that the inhabited surface of Earth is flat, rather than a curved spherical Earth. Belief in a flat Earth is found in mankind's oldest writings. In early Mesopotamian thought, the world was portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean, and this forms the premise for early Greek maps.

By classical times an alternative idea, that Earth was spherical, had appeared. This was espoused by Pythagoras, apparently on aesthetic grounds, as he also held all other celestial bodies spherical. Aristotle provided observational evidence for the spherical Earth, noting that travelers going south see southern constellations rise higher above the horizon. This is only possible if their horizon is at an angle to northerners' horizon. Thus the Earth's surface cannot be flat. Also, the border of the shadow of Earth on the Moon during the partial phase of a lunar eclipse is always circular, no matter how high the Moon is over the horizon. Only a sphere casts a circular shadow in every direction, whereas a circular disk casts an elliptical shadow in most directions.

The concept of a spherical Earth was espoused by Pythagoras apparently on aesthetic grounds, as he also held all other celestial bodies to be spherical. It replaced widespread belief in a flat Earth: In early Mesopotamian thought the world was portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean, and this forms the premise for early Greek maps like those of Anaximander and Hecataeus. Other speculations as to the shape of Earth include a seven-layered ziggurat or cosmic mountain, alluded to in the Avesta and ancient Persian writings. In fact, the Earth is an oblate spheroid.

Above is the process that how people’s thoughts changed. From the flat world to the spherical world, now we regain a flat world.

I think what Friedman meant by “the flat world” is the process people removing the obstacles in politics and economics, moreover, increasing people’s communications.

The metaphor of a flat world, used by Friedman to describe the next phase of globalization, is ingenious. It came to him after hearing an Indian software executive explain how the world's economic playing field was being leveled. For a variety of reasons, what economists call ''barriers to entry'' are being destroyed; today an individual or company anywhere can collaborate or compete globally. Bill Gates explains the meaning of this transformation best. Thirty years ago, he tells Friedman, if you had to choose between being born a genius in Mumbai or Shanghai and an average person in Poughkeepsie, you would have chosen Poughkeepsie because your chances of living a prosperous and fulfilled life were much greater there. ''Now,'' Gates says, ''I would rather be a genius born in China than an average guy born in Poughkeepsie.''

Wow~ So surprised. We always seek every chance we have in our lives. But in the flat world, it seems that globalization only push us to face more competitions. The third world is a broad and blooming market or a competitive and cruel battlefield? Who really get benefit during the process of globalization?

Here comes a new phenomenon in the coming future, so called “the M Society” which means the mid-class is dying out, while the amount of the rich and the poor is getting up. We face much more pressures in life. You used to think that you can win the battle easily, but now, you have to pay ten times attentions.

On the other hand, as an Asian person, do I really have enough ability to “knockdown” Americans? Or I am just a victim in the trend of flatten the world?

I think the best way to reconcile the crisis is to modify the divide between different cultures. We always could cooperate rather than compete. Trying to minify the digital or technology divide, thus most human beings can get benefits from new technology.

Who is here to lead? Neither western people nor Asian people, I think only people with proper abilities and learning aspirations could get victories in the battle.

week5-Links (The World Is Flat)

2006-10-29T13:02:00.000-08:00

You can watch or listen to Thomas L. Friedman's words online.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4600258

http://info.worldbank.org/etools/bSPAN/PresentationView.asp?PID=1466&EID=732

week5-Neil Postman Ten Principles of Technology

2006-10-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

10 principles of technology, Neil Postman

1. All technological change is a Faustian bargain. For every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage.

2. The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. This means that every new technology benefits some and harms others.

3. Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments and to subordinate others.

4. A new technology usually makes war against an old technology. It competes with it for time, attention, money, prestige and a "worldview".

5. Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. A new technology does not merely add something; it changes everything.

6. Because of the symbolic forms in which information is encoded, different technologies have different intellectual and emotional biases.

7. Because of the accessibility and speed in which information is encoded, different technologies have different political biases.

8. Because of their physical form, different technologies have different sensory biases.

9. Because of the conditions in which we attend them, different technologies have different social biases.

10. Because of their technical and economic structure, different technologies have different content biases.

week4-Topic1 Forecast 2050

2006-10-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

What can we imagine to the future? What will the blueprint be looked like? We human beings always love to dream, and because of the dream, we could keep going.

According to article “As We May Think” which was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in July 1945, argued that as humans turned from war, scientific efforts should shift from increasing physical abilities to making all previous collected human knowledge more accessible.

Vannevar Bush’s view is awesome even in today! He predicted many kinds of technology invented after its publication, including hypertext, personal computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, speech recognition, and online encyclopedias. Many of pictures in his mind came true today.

In my opinion, of course I have only limited view to predict digital trend in the coming 50 years. However, as Dr. Lau’s words “We are here to lead,” we should have some images in our minds.

Nowadays there are four main parts in home digital industry. May I mention in the beginning, I think the next main market in digital industry should be the digital at home. The four aspects might be entertainment, learning, communication, and life management. They can also extent into multimedia home video, learning online, in-time messenger and VOIP, and digital censorship and digital household appliances. Cable will no more only use in TV but the most important resource in every household.

What kind of ability should we qualify to face the rapid future? I think it would be “the ability to solve problems,” “the ability to join the group,” and “the ability to speak the tech-future language.” Let’s make the words simpler. People in the future should prepare more abilities of having interactions with other people and learning individual concepts rather than routine manipulations.

Then, what is the “tech-future language?” This is a language including everything “technology” and “future.” Between “Professional high-tech language” and “daily language,” it describes the whole timeline among the past, now and the future.

Take Japan as an example, as a “Robot Kingdom,” this country worked oout with many experts in robot industry through several decades. Citizens in Japan take the robots as a kind of common sense, but not mention the series famous comics that spread broadly in the world. In their high-tech policy, they even announce their goal to make robot industry a foundational industry, like automobile industry nowadays, in 2020.

Here in US, we also have great development in space adventures. NASA, NCC-1701, Apollo 11, Armstrong landed the moon… every single word contain a high level development and lead scientists a great dream.

As Bush mentioned in his article, we live in “a spider web of mental,” we involve into the high-tech, we try hard to keep up with them, and we should never forget the dream of progressing.

week3-Topic3 U&G Theory

2006-10-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

Uses and gratifications, also known as usage and gratifications or needs and gratifications, is not a single approach but a body of approaches to media analysis that developed out of many varied empirical studies, beginning in the mid 20th century.

The basic theme of uses and gratifications is the idea that people use the media to get specific gratifications.

The basic tenet of uses and gratifications (called UG for short) is that people are not helpless victims of all powerful media, but use media to fulfil their various needs. These needs serve as motivations (gratifications sought) for using media. Gratifications obtained should correspond with gratifications sought for the media to be able to meet the needs of the users.

Jay G. Blumle and Elihu Katz devised their uses and gratifications model to highlight four areas of gratification in media texts for audiences. These include:
1. Personal identity - for example, characters in soap operas experiencing something the audience once did.
2. Personal relationships - a media text provides information for 'water-cooler talk' at work with colleagues, what's happening in the latest reality TV show?
3. Surveillance - lets the audience know what is happening in the world, for example print and broadcast news.
4. Diversion - a media text which provides escapism for the audience, for example a holiday programme.

Text above is the traditional theory. In the article “Determing Uses and Gratifications for the Internet,” we can see that the author mentioned three different aspects of the U&G theory. There are: content gratification, process gratification and social gratification. The last one is mostly about the social network in the Internet.

In my research this quarter, I will use U&G theory to find out why people like to use digital cameras and how the behavior changed after using digital cameras. Moreover, I planned to figure out the different between original users and new adopters. Do the albums online increase the amount of digital camera users? What are the hot albums in this area, and why people like them? With the assisted of other theories, like Innovation Communication, I think I can come out more frameworks about digital camera using.

week3-Topic2 Unintended Consequences

2006-10-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

According to Rob Norton, the law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or "unintended." Economists and other social scientists have heeded its power for centuries; for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it.

The concept of unintended consequences is one of the building blocks of economics. Adam Smith's "invisible hand," the most famous metaphor in social science, is an example of a positive unintended consequence. Smith maintained that each individual, seeking only his own gain, "is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention," that end being the public interest. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, or the baker, that we expect our dinner," Smith wrote, "but from regard to their own self interest."

Take high-tech for example, we can also find many unintended consequences. By the diffusion of Internet, people love to spend lots time suffering on the websites, therefore, Internet addiction disorder (IAD) became an unexpected disease.

Searching from Wikipedia, there is the definition of IAD. IAD is a maladaptive pattern of Internet use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress as manifested by three (or more) of the following, occurring at any time in the same 12-month period:
Tolerance, as defined by either of the following: A need for markedly increased amounts of time on Internet to achieve satisfaction. Markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of time on Internet.

Withdrawal, as manifested by either A or B below:
(A) the characteristic withdrawal syndrome: cessation of (or reduction in) Internet use that has been heavy and prolonged.
Two (or more) of the following, developing within several days to a month after Criterion:
(a) psychomotor agitation
(b) anxiety
(c) obsessive thinking about what is happening on the Internet
(d) fantasies or dreams about the Internet
(e) voluntary or involuntary typing movements of the fingers
The symptoms in Criterion
cause distress or impairment in social, occupational or another important area of functioning

(B) Use of Internet or a similar on-line service is engaged in to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Internet is often accessed more often or for longer periods of time than was intended. There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control Internet use.
A great deal of time is spent in activities related to Internet use (for example, buying Internet books, trying out new WWW browsers, researching Internet vendors, organizing files of downloaded materials).
Frequent talks about the Internet in daily life.
Important family, social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced in duration and/or frequency because of Internet use.
Internet use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical, family, social, occupational, or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by Internet use (for example, sleep deprivation, marital difficulties, lateness for early morning appointments, neglect of occupational duties, or feelings of abandonment in significant others).

Try to think that if you or your friends have these symptoms. Too much would never be good. Like the lecture “Informing Ourselves to Death” announced by Neil Postman, we should never forget the other think point of every phenomenon.

week3-Topic1 Supervening Necessity

2006-10-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

"…supervening social necessity now works on these prototypes to move them out of the laboratory into the world at large." (Winston)

As I want do a little research in digital photography, I found a good example which talks about the supervening necessity of photography from French to US.

The effects of the French Revolution and the Industrial revolution (1789-1914) reverberated throughout Europe for many decades. Massive economic and social changes were taking place in Europe. As a cultural trend, the spread of science ran through the entire continent. In France, the existing monarchy was dethroned and supplanted by the rising bourgeoisie. The intellectual bourgeoisie were the most forward thinking representatives of the government and open to new possibilities. They had an abiding faith in human potential and were receptive to not only scientific innovations, but also new business ventures. Through Daguerre's persistence, the daguerreotype process soon came to their attention. Francois Arago, leader of the government's left-wing democratic party, stood by his party's platform of encouraging anything that might lead to progress. He saw the daguerreotype as an immensely important scientific achievement. Arago is successful in convincing the government to buy the new process for the state and introduce it to the public.

Daguerre, himself, can also be seen as an agent of supervening social necessity. He was an ambitious and clever entrepreneur and his persistence in making his daguerreotype system known and acknowledged in bourgeoisie society contributed to his prototype being accepted.

Once photography was introduced publicly and taken, by Daguerrre, to the United States, the US contributed as an agent of supervening social necessity. The social structure of the US was critical in the photograph's success in America. In the mid-1800s, America did not have a rigidly stratified society like Europe. Success was supposedly possible through initiative, hard work and an entrepreneurial drive. America was also rapidly shifting from an agricultural to industry by embracing many new technical advances from refrigeration to mass production. This new nation had a proud, pioneering spirit and photography soon caught on as not only an exciting business opportunity, but also as a way to preserve and promote its achievements. 'Daguerrean Parlours' proliferated across America in the mid 1800s.

From idea to product, there is a long long way for all inventers. After searching many examples, I think that create something workable and catch the trend is the most important task.

There is an old Chinese saying goes that “Only through the right timing, the right location and the right people can a person get succeed.” Maybe it exactly talks about the “supervening necessity.”

week2-Topic2

2006-10-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

Mention to the applying in Skype, I have to take about the changing of high-tech using in my family. Due to everyone’s different careers, my family separate in different part of the world. My father works in Singapore, my mother works in Taichung, the city where I grew up, my sister studies in Taipei City, and I, I study here in Seattle.

All changes make magical differences. Since my family had faced the situation, especially when the telephone bill getting higher and higher, we finally figured out the solution—teach my parents use the Skype software. It’s an amazing process to let elder people accept new technology, especially if they have mental fear to use computers. Fortunately, After practicing several times, we can successfully talk via Skype.

Through the Skype system, the first advantage is that the cost of telephone reduced fatefully. Secondly, the function of “conference” overcame the obstacle of traditional telephone, and let my family can talk in the some time from four pats of the world. Even more, we could see each other face to face with webcams.

Back to the article we discuss this week, with all these advantages, will the free internet phone or VOIP service kill the traditional phone business? I think the answer is maybe, because they have to figure out the challenges they are facing now. As I talked about the magical learning process of my family, seeing the other side, we can find that there are some concerns in the up-growing communication industry.

For example, you can use the Skype service only through the internet, which means you must have a computer, a microphone, an earphone, the Skype software, sufficient electric power and a workable internet connection. But we all know that digital divide deeply affect the development of digital products. Not everyone in the world can reach a whole set of these PC apparatus. That’s why traditional telephone (even the cellular phone) could survive for a while.

Furthermore, connecting via internet, the security of users’ data and dialog should be concerned. And the quality of users’ dialog is also a great point. What people complained most is about the instable connecting of it. (the second complain is about the unfriendly user interface) The last one, since the capital societies broadly believe in “There is no free lunch,” Skype company (eBay) and other free internet phone operators consequentially will face the issue of charging sooner or later.

In the age of “We the Media,” the roles of sender and receiver were severely changed. We can talk in our own language or know strangers in some networks. However, we have to back to the interpersonal communication ultimately.

The birth of a new media consequentially represents the rise of a new media industry. As a blooming industry, where can VOIP service reach? And what kinds of function can VOIP have? We all wait and see.

Is Skype really a “Telecom Trouble Maker?” Maybe, depends on you are its customer or not.

week2-Topic1

2006-10-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

Living in 21st century, people started to get used to the changes that new technologies brought to us, especially in entertainment, education and information products. Some people would be worried about that too many choices in media will let the capitalism getting overabundant, ever more, broaden the gap between the rich and the poor. On the other hand, some believe that life will gain more diversifications via high-tech communication products.

However, no matter which side of thinking you stand for, we have to face the truth. New technologies deeply affect our life. For example, the developments of “new community” in the internet obscure the side line of traditional communities, and accelerate the world become a “Global Village.” The unpredictable power that communication technology was enabled stimulated our imaginations to the future.

In these articles, the author started with a growing model. It describes the process how a science invention becomes a technological application. With brilliant brains, human beings can always create some innovative ideas. Unfortunately, some of these ideas are rejected because there was no “need” in the market, while some were useful and workable in that time would become accepted. Or there are some similar technology going on, which give people more choices and broaden the market. Last one, the most interesting one, is the technology will be rejected partially. The idea seemed no use in the old days when it was created, but the situation might change after few years. Then, the good-for-nothing invention will turn to a wonderful industry.

The author also discussed about an important concept, every invention will be crystallized when there are demands in the market, combining the media and the market is the constant topic of all managers.

Since our old antecessors, human beings live in the environment which uses broadcast network a lot. Lights, colors and voices are parts of the electromagnetic wave spectrum. People transfer codes through electromagnetic wave to make objects, sounds, graphics, and images could be perceived and understood. Thus, we can say that human beings had already lived in the broadcast network environment. Broadcast network is a kind of carrier, medium, also channel. Contact our message, contact our mind.

Only when we truly involve into a society can we realize its culture and the pattern it was commuted. In this class and the period I stay in US, I would like to know more about the how people in the network think and accelerate the media development.

test

2006-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

test