Entry 5/17

Our engineers have finished strong and made some nice polishing touches that make our app look like a gem. There are some features that the engineers still want to add, but all the functionality that we asked for have been built. The navigation and buttons look very slick and the app performs well and is easy to use.

During our meeting we were able to decided who is going to present what aspects of the app. We were able to go over what we are going to cover and ask the engineers any questions we had.

I am excited to see all the progress that we have made. The app has evolved much overtime and has turned into something that is more amazing then I could have imagined. Our engineers have done some amazing work and they have blown me away by what they can do. Our group is looking forward to presenting our app tomorrow and showing off all the work our engineers have done.

5/10

This week we discussed the final touches we wanted our engineers to make. Since most of the design decisions were made a while back we spent most of our time going over a few key features that we and our engineers thought could benefit from tweaking.

Since we all had things happen later on campus we spent most of our meeting socializing. This was a nice break from all the tech talk. Also, it was fun to learn more about the people behind the code.

The programmers also showed us some of the code that they have written and explained what it meant. The code looks intimidating but our engineers did a good job of explaining what all the different letters and symbols mean.

One aspect of our app that impresses me the most is the map app. I really like visually being able to see where trails app. To me this is a key feature of the application and is also fun. I am excited that soon we will be able to demonstrate our app to the rest of the company.

Week of May 5

The finish line is closing in and iHike still has work to do. This week our programmers did not have anything significant to show us, so we are waiting till Monday to see what progress they have made. In class on Tuesday we talked with our head programmer. We showed him the home-screen art that I created. He told us that right now they are using filler artwork but that replacing that with what we create would be easy.

Talking about artwork we still have not finished a design for our loading screen. Andrew had an innovative idea about animating a line across the screen that would form Mt. Tam. This idea resonated with me as someone who spent over a decade in Marin County. Although I have some experience using flash I am more comfortable with Keynote and in the new version there is an option for creating simple animation. So I am going to experiment with that and see if I can create something that our programmers could then use.

Although our app has grown from a simple idea to a well executed design there will still be more steps if we want to make this an app that could be approved by Apple. Andrew mentioned copy right issues with the photos for the home-screen. Since some of the images are from Flickr getting permission for those photos would probably be easy. Other photos, such as the Gold Gate bridge may be more difficult, although in this instance I could either use photos I already have, take new photos, or better yet talk with a photographer I know from the Star newspaper at Sonoma State.

Overall I feel that our group has put a strong effort together and I am happy with the progress we have made so far. I appreciate that most of the time our entire group shows up to the meetings and I am really pleased with all the work Lindsey has put in. She has been great in facilitating communication between iHike and the programmers by creating a Facebook discussion that everyone has access to. We used this tool to gather all of our trail info for our programmers and continue to use this as our communication platform, since everyone can see all the messages in the thread.

4/27/10

This week we had another productive meeting with our programers. The latest update the programmers demoed to us was the map feature. They will use Google Maps and the user will be able to search within a predetermined radius, for instance 50 miles. The trails will appear as pins. When the user taps a pin they will get more information, like the trail name and rating. Then they will be able to get directions to the trail based on their current location.

The map feature will allow us to give users a visual representation of the trails. The map will be the most interactive part of iHike, so this is very exciting. We have also defined what the homepage will look like. We have decided that we will keep the homepage simple by putting an image in the background that will change every 30 seconds. Besides the image we will have the navigation at the bottom of the screen with a search bar at the top.

Even though there are just a few weeks in the semester left we feel that our app is coming along nicely. The features are coming together and soon we will have the trail information in the app. Seeing the evolution is a fun and rewarding experience.

Group Meeting 4/19

Tonight we met with our group of computer science students. They demoed a prototype version of Marin Hike that included the navigation and some fake trails with filler photos. This week we will gather all the trail information, for our programmers, so they can start building a database. We also discussed and finalized our features, so the computer science people can move forward with the interface. This week we are working on developing artwork for the loading screen and finalizing our homepage.

Clearly our programmers are very talented and organized. The prototype they demoed for us though basic was polished and clean. They also are very good communicators, especially in terms of bring the technical talk to our level.

For the trail information our plan is to go to the rec center and get data such as distance, location, description, and trail name.

iPad, to buy or not to buy?

By now everyone probably has talked about or heard a conversation about the iPad. Despite the horrible name the iPad is actually a pretty innovative product, but that does not mean that everyone should rush out and buy one. Though the iPad certainly does a lot well Apple did not create the perfect tablet. One of the biggest omissions is flash support, though according to Mr. Jobs Adobe is lazy and anyways HTML5 will be the new web standard for video, at least that’s the message Apple delivered. But there are other issues with the iPad as well, despite Apple's criticism of netbooks the iPad is not the best productivity tool. There is no physical keyboard, you can buy a keyboard accessory from Apple for $69, or stick with the 85% virtual keyboard. Of course the iPad runs Apple’s mobile version of OS X, the same as the iPhone OS, and therefore third party apps have to go through the same review process as iPhone apps. Currently there is no office app for the iPad so productivity users will need to rely on iWorks. Of the two iWork apps, each is $10, my favorite is Keynote, and theoretically this could work well for doing presentations on the go.

So would I recommend purchasing an iPad, maybe. Really, the iPad is primarily an entertainment device that just happens to do email, web surfing, and even lets you read books, interestingly Amazon has released a Kindle app for the iPad. So, if you want one device that fits all, music player, web browser, email, and eBook reader then the iPad is probably a good choice. If you need something for composing long emails, taking notes, editing a Power Point presentation, or you want to play Farmville then you should probably stick with a netbook, like the HP mini 311 or something from ASUS. One more thing, if Apple slashed the price to $299, then I’d go out and buy one, sadly Apple wants us to shell out $500.

Politics

As a communication student I take interest in watch and reading political news. A key skill for any politician is the ability to communicate with the media whether in print, online, onscreen, or on air. Though “Convergence Culture” did not discuss Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, this would be a good example of how to effectively use convergence media. Not only did Obama rely heavily on grassroots organizers, he also utilized the power of mainstream media. He used social networking to communicate with younger voters and did television interviews for older ones. As “Convergence Media” pointed out the downfall of Howard Dean was his misunderstanding of the power of mainstream media outlets. I agree with the book that mainstream media still has much power in our society. For instance television still sets the agenda for politics and it is also the media that many people trust. Another element of news networks is repeated material that also reinforces messages, so getting a clip in the news can provide many free hours of free advertising.

Harry Potter

Reading:

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade you have heard of Harry Potter. Before reading about the Potter wars inConvergence Media I was only somewhat aware of the conflict between Warner Bros. Studios and the fan writers. The fact that these fan writers were in middle school and yet were writing novels is an incredible achievement. One of my best friends from middle school was very much into fantasy and he has been writing a fantasy trilogy, though I think he would be in the minority. The point that I’d like to make though is there was no Harry Potter or any other type of writing fan club at our school and yet this could have been very beneficial to the students. What I especially like about the writers fan clubs is that not only were these teenagers absorbing fantasy through reading they were also creating new entertaining content, challenging the studios and conservative church groups, and teaching themselves valuable skills not taught in the classroom. I wish that more schools would pay attention to convergence culture and try to integrate it into their curriculum. One thing that I have valued about my education is how much project based learning I have done. I feel that the classroom in traditional schools, and in many of my classes at Sonoma State, is a stale environment without creative interaction and learning taking place in groups. Also, project based learning requires the students to form group roles, set deadlines, and keep each other accountable. These are the same sort of skills required in the work world, your boss isn’t always going to tell you when to finish a project or what to do outside the office to prepare for an important meeting.

iHike:

Our group made good progress in our meeting. We nailed down what elements we want to have in our app and we assigned detailed roles for each group member. Before our next meeting I am going to find out how we can get access to Apples Developer Kit as well as research how we can get help from the IT center and computer science department.

Star Wars

Reading:

In the United States you would be hard pressed to find someone who has not seen at least one Star Wars episode and most people have probably seen most or all of them. Since the original episode aired though Star Wars has evolved into a franchise that crosses several media platforms and for people of my generation they may experience the Star Wars product more through games then the movies themselves. I have never been much of a gamer myself but I had friends who owned playstations and had some Star Wars games. I’ve even played some Star Wars games for PC.

I thought that it was interesting to hear that Star Wars Galaxies relied so heavily on user generated content. This definitely seams like something that would excite fans because you now are allowing the fans to feel like they are contributing instead of just being a passive player. I can also understand how this approach would not make traditional game companies happy because they do not have a stronghold on the content. So I was not entirely surprised that the Star Wars franchise eventually decided to make the game more mainstream and put the content creation back into the hands of the studios.

Another aspect of the reading that I found interesting was the issue of fan generated films. I agree that the cost of producing a film has come down considerable and that the internet makes distribution a much easier process. I thought that the decision that parody is OK but creating new plots was not was an interesting perspective. I was also intrigued that most parody is done by guys and that girls generate music videos.

Group Meeting:

During our group meeting we discussed key features that our app would provide. In choosing which features we want to develop we keep in mind not only what is cool but also what is feasible in the amount of time that we have. We choose to eliminate some complex features, such as the GPS tracking, since we were not confident we could implement said feature. The features that will be included will be a calculator for water and trail mix, the ability to post trail photos to facebook, the ability to rate trails and report cautions, and finally to get directions to trailheads by inputing the hike location via Google maps.

Entry 4

Blog Entry 4 Convergence Culture: This chapter was a great example of convergence culture in the film industry. When I watched the Matrix I was one of the people who did not cross other medias and play the video game or read the comics. Nevertheless I still enjoyed watching the Matrix and while I will admit at times I was confused because things seamed left out or did not add up, these moments were rare enough that they did not ruin the experience for me. I agree with the EA’s Young that the more layers you put on something the narrower the audience will be, yet despite this the Matrix was still a box office hit. The reason the Matrix was so successful was because the Wachowski brothers were able to take elements from the best human stories; the Odyssey, Lord of the Ring, and Star Wars and mold them into a new fantasy tale with heroes, evil, and a clearly stated mission, in a world that mirrored our own and therefore urged the audience to ask questions about humanity. New Media Language: People who have grown up with personal computers probably would describe computers as a tool rather then a companion. Yet, computers clearly have characteristics that mirror human behavior, and even though your computer may not speak to you like the computer in Star Trek, whenever we look at the screen the computer is communicating a message through visual imagery. Since subconsciously we want our computers to respond to use like a person would we should not be surprised that we try to create this illusion in virtual reality, whether we are talking about a dialog box, web page loading, or the cinema quality of a virtual world or virtual reality quicktime simulation. New Media Reader: There as a lot packed into this essay, yet the ideas were interesting to look at. I liked how the author was able to take multiple disciplines and work them together into his argument. For instance he used feminism theory to talk about the trend in Hollywood films to edit in ways that makes the camera move in voyeuristic ways. He also talked about a zoo and how that was an artificial recreation of something that was real and how the new creation shifted meaning because it was different from the original. R&D: http://www.mortaragency.com/agency/index.shtml What hit me right away when I went to this site was that it had my attention. The images on the site clearly communicate a message and the retro feel of the site reminds me of the “golden age” of media, yet the site still feels modern. I also like the navigation and the information the site provides. http://www.risdall.com/indexR.asp?Rpage=people.html This site I felt was too much image based. Although the pages loaded fast on my computer I would be worried about them loading quickly on a slower connection. Also the pages did not seam consistent and I feel that people could get confused. http://www.leoburnett.com/ I loved the opening animation of the pencil, though again I am not sure how this would load on a slower connection. This site is very visually based and that is appropriate for a media company. The music is subtle yet effective. I also like that there is a loading bar to indicate that the page is doing something and keeps you occupied while the page is appearing. Finally I like the navigation at the bottom and the pop up contextual menus. http://medialets.com/ This site is simple and well organized. Up at the top there are links to the important stuff like “What We Do” and “Who We Are” You can also easily access the companies blog media relations and get in contact. The text on the site is big and easy to read and the homepage loaded without any lag. hootsuite.com This is a twitter application for the iPhone and apparently now for Android too. The name is catchy and easy to remember. The app is also used by big media companies and it helps them brand their companies through twitter, but it can also be used by consumers. What I like about the site is that everything on the homepage is right there without you needing to scroll down. I also like how in the middle of the page there is sort of like a carousal of pages that scrolls from right to left. This looks great visually and also is an innovative way of making a site more interactive and saving space. http://www.ninetimes.com/ This is a Santa Rosa Media company that specializes in creating high impact illustrations and animations for the web, trade-shows, print, and other media. What I like about the site is that they have a slogan on the homepage with a cool animation of a cow jumping off a diving board. Immediately they have my attention and I want to explore their site more in depth.

Entry 3 Reading: From a new media perspective and from a marketing, public relations, and advertising perspective, “American Idol” is fascinating. What makes “American Idol” different from other reality TV shoes is that the ideas from multiple genres are combined. For instance gaming shows have existed for decades and have been popular, contest shows such as “Survivor” and the “Amazing Race” have been successful, and “American Idol” brings these elements together, as well as bring in audience participation. Although I have only watched a few episodes of “American Idol”, I was at a family gathering, I have heard people talk about the show, so I know approximately the format. What is interesting to me is not the show but rather the process and how it engages people. The voter participation helps people feel like they are part of the process, watching the bad people sing makes people feel good about themselves, and then gossiping and debating about who is going to win gives people something to talk about and a reason to watch the show. If any of these elements were missing “American Idol” probably would not be as popular. I also find it interesting that FOX was able to give each audience member something, for instance the singers are young for the teenage audience, and then there are older judges, and celebrities like Elton John for the older generation. What is very interesting to me though is how angering people got when they found out that FOX had mostly decided who was going to win before the show aired. Clearly, the voting was a big part of the show, even though FOX had plenty of avenues to control the votes. Moving onto “The New Media Language. I was interested by the idea that computer user interface and human computer interface use metaphors from ancient history, such as a scroll. Although I am not convinced that the developers consciously choose to model webpages after scrolls, a more probable explanation is that scrolling was the logical for viewing large amounts of texts. I also thought it was interesting to think of a screen as like a prison. I never thought of viewing a movie as being imprisoned but after reading “The New Media Language” I can see this explanation. Equally fascinating is the idea that photography and cinema are impressing the past. Then of course with virtual worlds the roles are reversed because now the person in the real world is being imprisoned instead of the media. This maybe a reason why virtual reality has not taken off with consumers. Although virtual reality offers unique possibilities people do not like the idea of having to transport themselves to an alternative reality. They instead like to be able to be in both worlds at the same time. Clearly, the computer interface did not spring out of nowhere. The idea that forms of cinema, the printed word, and human computer interface came together does not surprise me. I am not sure that I understand how computer windows are a page metaphor. For me there is little similarity between flipping or schooling through pages and reading a book. Again, Apple most likely just figured out that organizing information into windows was useful for the user. For me seeing how cinema influenced computers makes is much clearer, especially for gaming. Recently video games have used elements from movies such as different angles and shots to make it easy for characters to move around. This is also present in virtual worlds such as Second Life. Second Life: While I like some elements of Second Life I found the overall game to be boring. There were not enough people to interact with and the fact that you have to spend real money to buy items was discouraging. I enjoyed seeing the building that other people had created, though I still feel that seeing architecture in real life is more impressive. Although Second Life has some interesting opportunities to explore I just do not feel people want to invest that much time in a virtual world. Why would you go to a virtual bar, when there are plenty of real world bars, especially when you cannot even get drunk? The fact that you do not need to worry about the survival of your avatar also makes the game seam less realistic. In the SIMS for instance your characters have urges that have to be satisfied, for example they get hunger, have to go to the bathroom, and they can fall in love. Since this is part of real life and it is not translated to Second Life the game feels artificial and so you wonder why you are playing it. Also, I feel we already spend enough time in virtual reality on website such as facebook and twitter. Company names: Intersecting Media Fourroadsmedia

Entry 2

Most of us take for granite that most of the media we have today did not exist before the late 1890’s. I was fascinated how the first computers where developed simultaneously for mathematics and art. Before reading about the evolution of media In Language of New Media I did not give much thought to the fact that my laptop has a screen, keyboard, mouse, and buttons, that allow me to visual interact and manipulate the interface. Although the New Media reading was interesting, the material was quite dense and in some cases it was hard to follow, not because it was confusing but because the mass amount of information was overwhelming, sometimes. I found Converging Culture to be a much easier read. Maybe that is because I am more familiar and comfortable with reality TV, or maybe the format felt less academic and more like a consumer book. Regardless, the idea of collective knowledge is interesting to me and I agree that in an internet era we are moving toward that direction. For instance thanks to social networking I have instant access to hundreds of people that I can easily tap for information. If I am working on a project and I need to know something technical about computers, I have a friend for that, or I want to know whether a restaurant is good I can Yelp it. I also thought how the chat boards all had some knowledge that everyone knew, yet had elite groups that worked on different projects and published their finding to everyone was interesting. Even though I have only watched Survivor for classes, I still thought the author made a good choice about using this as an example because everyone knows what Survivor is even if they do not follow each episode. Just as the competitors on survive join social groups, this week I joined Linkedin. This is a business social network. You have options to fill out information about previous jobs you have had, include when you worked there and your position. You can use the website to read peoples professional profiles and also join professional groups, for instance Ford Motor company, that by the way is integrating lots of interesting new media into their models. Talking about new media I downloaded another game onto my iPhone. This was in incredibly simple where you literally are told not to push a red button. So, if you follow the instruction then you just stare at a box and ignore the temptation to push the button. If you push the button then a story line ensues, yet the story line never changes, so the game gets boring quite quickly. That is the point I believe because you can buy additional stories for $1. I still think that making the stories boring so you will buy more is a bad business model. Another app I downloaded is called Loopt and I thought this would be interesting because I remembered it being demoed at Macworld 2008. The app itself is cool, essential it uses the GPS software in the phone to figure out your current location and if you have friends on Loopt, you can see them if they share their location. The idea is you could be sipping coffee at Starbucks, and then realize your friend Jill is just three blocks away and so you could text her and hang out. The problem is that I have only one friend who has the app, so it is rather pointless. For new media apps this week, I downloaded an app from Logitech that is suppose to let my iPhone turn into a trackpad. This was my dud app because I could not get it to work. Even looking at the troubleshooting guide was not of much help. Fortunately the NBC app was much better. This app lets me follow the Olympics, including who has won the most medals, which and that is one of the first elements you see. That is great because that is what I care about most. I also like how I can watch video highlight that I might have missed, and read the athletes twitter updates, if I feel like it. It would be nice if the stories could be organized by event or athlete, so in some ways the user interface could benefit with allowing for customization. Actually there are categories, but you have to touch the screen three times just to get to them, which is annoying. So, not a perfect app, but most the the videos I want to watch are featured on the home screen, so it works for me.

Entry 1

I have been using WebCT for 2.5 years and the software is OK. I wouldn't say that the user interface is great but for the most part it is easy to use. I like the navigation, for instance the tabs are useful, and it is nice that you can communicate with your teacher. I do wish that there was support for connecting with facebook. Also, it is annoying that there is no print friendly option. Talking about social networking I messed around with twitter. I still don't understand why I'd want to post every update about my life but I could see how twitter could be useful to keep people up to date about a company. For instance you could tweet new product launches, news updates, and link to notable stories online. For my game I downloaded something called down hill bowling. The game takes a twist on knocking down pins by adding a course that you have to navigate. You tilt the iTouch or iPhone to steer and you can choose either timed mode or points. If you choose time mode you have to knock down at least one pin from every set, otherwise you fail. You can also get items such as bombs and hover. I found an app for mac called Plex, that basically turns your Mac into a media connected center. You can tap into iTunes, iPhoto, access hundred of internet channels, and tap into the file structure on your mac, so you can choose how to organize your media. Also it taps internet database sites so you can get info about the content. The major problem with this is that you have to do more work. It's nice to be able to be in control of your file structure but this also takes work and Front Row already comes on your Mac and if you already use iTunes to organize your media then you don't need to create a new file structure. I think this app caters to a niche that doesn't like Apple deciding for them how to organize their media, but I think Apple does a good job, so this App creates more complication then I like. But it's still pretty good if you don't like Front Row. I downloaded another app for the iPhone that is similar to Tetris but is not quite the same. For instance there is no falling blocks and no leveling up. That last part makes the game get boring, since the only challenge is to complete the same level in fewer moves. The game is called flood because the object is to flood the floor with the same color blocks. I would say this game is a dead because it is too simple and get boring rather quickly.