I realized earlier I was terribly behind on blogs and set out to start a new one... with no topic. This lead to net surfing where I bumped into a joke article about facebook status updates.
http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1794521
Entertaining in any case, it still made my mind jump back to our discussion the other day about how people use updates and stream of consciousness posting. All things considered, these status updates may almost not seem that insane if they were possible. The fact whoever made this up posted them like actual updates (such as Kennedy's little song thing) just made it that much more entertaining.
On a side note, why do people tend to just post song lyric status updates? Sometimes sure maybe they fit what's going on in their lives but most of the time it just seems... strange...
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pop-Up Ads
Do they work? I don't think I have ever clicked on a pop up ad in my life, and seeing one has never made me want to use the company that caused it. Quite the opposite actually, I just instantly think they're trying to hack me or something and flee as fast as I can and never trust the name from then on.
Sidebar ads and others that just sit on the screen somewhere are better, I'll actually read those and sometimes look into them, but usually not click them. In truth generally I'll go through google and look up what's being advertised to make sure it's legit. What I'd think works best are kind of subliminal ads, things that aren't big and flashy and fit in with the content of the page like the sidebar under "suggested" friends and hobbies on Facebook. Mostly just because you click on them on accident.
Sidebar ads and others that just sit on the screen somewhere are better, I'll actually read those and sometimes look into them, but usually not click them. In truth generally I'll go through google and look up what's being advertised to make sure it's legit. What I'd think works best are kind of subliminal ads, things that aren't big and flashy and fit in with the content of the page like the sidebar under "suggested" friends and hobbies on Facebook. Mostly just because you click on them on accident.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Failed Websites of the Week
Talking about testing websites and such in class today I started thinking back over website issues I have encountered just in the last month or so. Some sites clearly didn't have someone test them, and not just for an attractive appearance.
Really I'm not sure if I'm surprised or not that so many of these terribly built or glitched websites belonged to companies and government agencies. Fort Carson's website for example is designed terribly, it's nearly impossible to navigate, it glitches, it changes styles on random pages, and it seems to not have been updated in a while. Same goes for sites dealing with various government offices.
A professional site with a significant number of problem glitches is sadly Bank of America. Several of the buttons are broken, and that kills confidence when it's an industry handling your money, and creates frustration immediately when you can't do what you want when you want to.
Really I'm not sure if I'm surprised or not that so many of these terribly built or glitched websites belonged to companies and government agencies. Fort Carson's website for example is designed terribly, it's nearly impossible to navigate, it glitches, it changes styles on random pages, and it seems to not have been updated in a while. Same goes for sites dealing with various government offices.
A professional site with a significant number of problem glitches is sadly Bank of America. Several of the buttons are broken, and that kills confidence when it's an industry handling your money, and creates frustration immediately when you can't do what you want when you want to.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Crowdsourcing from the crowd
Even the week before this one we discussed crowdsourcing and how it was changing things, everything from logos to wedding photographs taking a hit in one way or the other. In many cases this is a sad thing... people that built their lives around a profession suddenly getting pushed out of it by some high schooler that got a really nice camera for Christmas. On the other hand, if people are able to produce something for free and post it for a dollar and customers are happy with that over things selling for over $100... then maybe the product wasn't worth over $100 in the first place.
Good stock photos are important to have if someone is doing a project with them or does photo manipulation work. The quality has to be good, the size has to be good, and the image has to be what you want. Before this would require going to a professional photographer and looking through their portfolio and hoping you find something you want, and then paying through the nose for it. Frankly, in the age of digital photography I don't think there's a reason to do that. After the initial purchase price of the camera and computer and software someone needs, they aren't putting any more money into making their portfolio. From there they're just trying to afford food and bills. Now though, even stock photos are like art. Someone will pay hundreds or thousands for an amazing painting or print, and some peoples' work gets left in their closet for years because it's not wanted. Stock photos can be amazing and worth big money, or they can be mediocre, and if someone was selling mediocre work before where now other people can pay a dollar and get better, maybe the person trying to charge a huge amount should end up going bankrupt, or find a new angle.
Good stock photos are important to have if someone is doing a project with them or does photo manipulation work. The quality has to be good, the size has to be good, and the image has to be what you want. Before this would require going to a professional photographer and looking through their portfolio and hoping you find something you want, and then paying through the nose for it. Frankly, in the age of digital photography I don't think there's a reason to do that. After the initial purchase price of the camera and computer and software someone needs, they aren't putting any more money into making their portfolio. From there they're just trying to afford food and bills. Now though, even stock photos are like art. Someone will pay hundreds or thousands for an amazing painting or print, and some peoples' work gets left in their closet for years because it's not wanted. Stock photos can be amazing and worth big money, or they can be mediocre, and if someone was selling mediocre work before where now other people can pay a dollar and get better, maybe the person trying to charge a huge amount should end up going bankrupt, or find a new angle.
A tad late, but on the matter of Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle was of course the clown created out of somebody's twisted imagination that went on to commit the first digital "rape."
Most of the people in our class looked at this as a bunch of people overreacting to something fairly minor, and considering the general mindset of anyone that hasn't been addicted to a chat room or MUD of some sort (especially a Roleplay chatroom as this one seemed to be) that's perfectly understandable. For those that have though it becomes more than just a matter of some annoying text and a bit of public embarrassment until everything was cleared up. Just as people get personally attached to characters in books, it is even more likely and logical that they get very attached to characters of their own creation. As such, when these characters are hurt or assaulted it's not only embarrassing, it is to some degree emotionally painful.
Most of the people in our class looked at this as a bunch of people overreacting to something fairly minor, and considering the general mindset of anyone that hasn't been addicted to a chat room or MUD of some sort (especially a Roleplay chatroom as this one seemed to be) that's perfectly understandable. For those that have though it becomes more than just a matter of some annoying text and a bit of public embarrassment until everything was cleared up. Just as people get personally attached to characters in books, it is even more likely and logical that they get very attached to characters of their own creation. As such, when these characters are hurt or assaulted it's not only embarrassing, it is to some degree emotionally painful.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Presentations, always fun.
Presentations this week lead to a broad view of interactive media, varying from components of one or many devices to the highly complicated devices themselves. Really, it shows just how broad of a subject interactive media is, and it's one that grows almost daily. New technology seems to pave the way for making NEWER technology, making one wonder if it's ever going to be possible to hit a ceiling with our inventions and developments.
On that note it's strange that people are hung up on making so many of the same thing with slight differences... different color mice, rhythm games with different names, different but very similar smart phones. It seems that a company's time could be better spent making an even better product rather than someone else's product in red with a different logo.
On that note it's strange that people are hung up on making so many of the same thing with slight differences... different color mice, rhythm games with different names, different but very similar smart phones. It seems that a company's time could be better spent making an even better product rather than someone else's product in red with a different logo.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Interactive Media is Interactive. Yup.
It seems I missed a blog assignment, which considering I was gone on the day we normally get them makes sense. That means this blog is the result of fishing through other peoples' blogs and trying to get an idea of what was posted. Mostly we seem to have interactive media either defined or some aspect rambled about. Either way I'm writing, right?
Interactive media is kind of an oddly shaped umbrella. Obviously blogs, games, social networking sites, and in truth the internet as a whole fall under interactive media. On the other hand, at what point is it considered interaction? Are we interacting with the TV? It isn't responding to you, other people aren't communicating with YOU using it, and the only thing you can change is the channel with a clicker... and the hue and saturation I guess. Still, it's definitely media, and multiple people around the world can end up talking about the same thing because of it. Same goes for radio. So is it interactive even though it's not the media itself you are actually interacting with? And come to think of it, why isn't extroactive media a term?
Interactive media is kind of an oddly shaped umbrella. Obviously blogs, games, social networking sites, and in truth the internet as a whole fall under interactive media. On the other hand, at what point is it considered interaction? Are we interacting with the TV? It isn't responding to you, other people aren't communicating with YOU using it, and the only thing you can change is the channel with a clicker... and the hue and saturation I guess. Still, it's definitely media, and multiple people around the world can end up talking about the same thing because of it. Same goes for radio. So is it interactive even though it's not the media itself you are actually interacting with? And come to think of it, why isn't extroactive media a term?
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