The End of Digital Media :( (Week 12)

Reactions to BDC 101 Digital Media

Wow the semester flew by and so did the digital media class. I still cannot believe thirteen weeks went by. When I first got my schedule I did not know exactly what digital media was however, after my first lecture and lab on week one, I know exactly what was going to happen throughout the thirteen weeks. I loved the course because it gave me a chance to learn software I was not normally accustomed to. What I really enjoyed about the lectures is the history that we learned on a week to week basis. Every week Professor Lori would deal with a topic and give us a breakdown of it, along with examples. This was really helpful because I knew what to expect in the labs. The labs were great because they provided a small class who could interact with the professor and always asks questions. Professor Henry Warwick always took the time to answer questions while doing the tutorials. If I ever had a question which I had many over the twelve weeks Henry or lab assistant Joanna would always happily answer my question and lead me in the right direction. The lecture and labs were really helpful for me as I learned how to use fireworks, flash, CSS and Dreamweaver efficiently enough to understand how they work and what their purpose is. When I first started this course I was worried because I knew very little about these software applications and realized that all assignments were worth a great deal. However, the tutorials really helped as I got to ask questions so that when I worked on it at home, I knew exactly what I was doing.

What needs to be changed or improved

The only thing I would recommend in the digital media course is flexible hours for extra help. On a couple of occasions in the begining of the semster I wanted to ask a question or get help but the hours were against my schedule and were only offered later on the day. The problem was I live an hour and half away from Ryerson and staying after six o’clock was a little too late for me. However my problem was solved when half way through the semster flexible hours were offered which made a lot of people happy.
The labs and lectures were very successful and further enhanced my knowledge on digital media. Through the tutorials and Professor Henry and Joanna’s assistance I also became skilled in Fireworks, Flash and Dreamweaver.

In what ways has this course changed me?

This course has changed me in many ways. It has made me realize that hard work, patience and dedication is required when using new software. All software required patience and dedication as they were not easy programs to work with. The tutorials helped but there is so much a tutorial can do. A student must ask questions and experiment with the program in order to learn. Like they say practice makes perfect. If one follows a tutorial and does an assignment only using what they learnt in tutorial classes that person will get a satisfactory mark. A conscious student should ask the professor questions in order to enhance their education and knowledge on the program as well as practice with the program after class hours. This instance happened to me. In my poster assignment I followed a tutorial, doing what I consider the minimum and the end result was a B mark, which is a good mark however, as a university student you always strive for A’s. As a result, for my flash assignment I asked questions, did my tutorials thoroughly and researched online. However, what I did different this time was practice with flash ahead of time learning different things each time. I would spend fifteen to twenty minutes a night playing around trying to learn different things based from my labs. The tutorials were posted online on blackboard so I had the opportunity to practice at home or whenever I had time. The end result was an A grade which made me realize that with practice, patience and determination, anything is possible.

What is the most important thing ?

I think digital media is an important class. In the lectures we learnt about the history of media and how it has evolved into what it is today. Also in the lectures I learned about the colour wheel, types of file formats, typography, flash, as well as the characteristics of web and much more. All these were put to work in the labs as we used are knowledge from the lectures and used them towards our labs. Over the thirteen weeks I believe I am more confident with digital software as I can use flash, fireworks and Dreamweaver for my own use such as creating my own poster, flash video or my own personal website.
The most important aspect I am taking away from this course is the knowledge gained from Professor Lori and skill gained from Professor Henry. Professor Lori taught us the history and provided us examples from the media while Professor Henry explained to us the digital software. Henry explained the software and what their purpose is. After thirteen weeks I can finally say I am skilled in fireworks, flash and Dreamweaver. Like they say learning from a teacher is learning the right way and I believe that Professor Henry and Lori have further expressed my interest in digital media.


http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cgi-script/csPublisher/library/Smiley%20Face%20(flat).jpg

Dreamweaver (Week 11)

This week in my digital media lab class, we were introduced to Adobe Dreamweaver. This program helps individuals create websites without them having to know the HTML tags. Adobe Dreamweaver is an example of a What You See is What You Get web. Essentially WYSIWYG is used to describe a system in which content displayed during the editing and creating stages is similar to the finished product. Dreamweaver is a good program because it helps us with the HTML. When I first started using it I was a little confused however, Professor Henry and lab assistant Joanna further explained and helped me with some minor issues I was having. One problem I was having was linking the websites to the page. Instead of linking the webpage’s I was told an easier way was to save each individual file. This was really helpful as it made things really easy and quick since my three individual webpage’s were clearly labelled and connected to the index page. Other than that issue, the tutorial was very clear to follow.

http://www.tritech-computers.com/store2/images/Adobe%20Dreamweaver%20CS3%20v9.jpg

Our final assessment is to create a personal website which will critique in class on week 13. This assignment is strictly to assess the skills we've learned on Dreamweaver, over the last two weeks. Professor Henry is marking us on a pass or fail mark basis. The mark will go towards are class participation. Professor Henry has told us that week 12 of our tutorial class would be a work period for our websites. This is a great idea as we can ask questions if we are having any difficulty.
For this final mini assignment I was thinking of creating a website focused on vacation destinations. Since all images have to be our own or royalty free, this topic will make it easier for me to include them. My brother three years ago went on a European Trip that lasted for six weeks. In that time he took thousands of photos and as a result I have the option of picking several images for my personal website. I am planning on having three or four pages that connect to my homepage. It was very difficult choosing which photos I want to include in my website however, I decided to choose Switzerland, France, and Italy. Each page will include different photos of each European Country. The first page will be my index page with navigation to the other pages. The first page will connect to the Switzerland webpage. The page will contain pictures of the beautiful Swiss Alps and scenery. Each page will contain pictures of its own country. I plan to make some affects for each image but I still have to decide what effects to use. Each webpage will essentially include a couple images and a brief history of the country destination.

Here are edited images using Fireworks of the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty both located in France.

Web 2.0!!! (Week 10)

http://www.robmillard.com/web20map.png

Well, we all know what the Internet is but what is Web 2.0? What's so special about it? Here are five characteristics that define Web 2.0

1) Dynamic content & viewable on multiple platforms

2) User contribution

3) Social Media

4) Online Applications

5) Harnessing Collective Intelligence

1) Dynamic content & viewable on multiple platforms

Over the course of the last few weeks we have been learning about the characteristics of Web 2.0 which was coined by Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media Inc.
No more shall the internet just be what it is. It's always changing. Dynamic content is information that is always changing. For example, you can now get interactive pages that let you personalize your own space the way you want it to be shown to you. For example, this very blog I am currently using can be displayed the way I want it to be displayed.
An example of a dynamic characteristic is a Playstation 3 console. Dynamic content is a characteristic that refers to content that is viewable on multiple platforms. A Playstation 3 is an example of dynamic because the content and design live separately. The content lives in a database that is placed on a webpage only when needed or asked. The benefit of this is that it allows for quicker page loading and it allows just about anyone, with limited or no web design experience, to update their own website via an administrative back-end. The Playstation 3 sole purpose is to play video games however, does so much more as you can download content, play videos, surf the internet etc.
http://gamer.blorge.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/playstation3swindle4.jpg

2) User contribution

The second characteristic is user-generated content. User-generated simply refers to content that individuals help produce and create. Present day, the internet is no longer strictly used for professionals. It's used by anyone who knows how to use a computer and has internet. The interchangeability of information allows content from almost anything and anyone to be put on the internet. A great example of a user generated website is the "Internet Movie Database." Commonly referred to as IMDB.com, the site allows people to chat and discuss in regards to their favourite celebrity’s. This site allows people to create new topics and discuss anything relating to their favourite celebs. People are also given the advantage of posting images and videos of their favourite celebrities. IMDB allows viewers to vote on celebrities with regards to their popularity. This is considered user-generated value, while discussing celebs is considered user-generated content.

http://www.robertroose.com/img/posts/imdb-dvd-iron-man-01.jpg

3) Social Media

The third characteristic is social media. Social media refers to online media that provides opportunities for socializing, connecting and sharing. Over the years socializing has expanded allowing people to share content such as photos and information with others. There are many examples of socializing networks which include Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. Another example includes Flixster. Flixster is a social movie site allowing users to share movie ratings, discover new movies and meet others with similar movie taste. In addition to the site Flixster has applications available on Facebook, MySpace as well as on the iPhone.

http://mike.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/flixster.jpg

4) Online Applications

The fourth characteristic to Web 2.0 is online applications. Traditionally applications were thought of something that we would buy and install on the computer. However, there is a new trend towards software that runs software online. Instead of purchasing software, the applications open from your browser without actually installing or downloading anything. How cool is that? There are many examples of online applications that one can use for free. My personal favourite is MapQuest. MapQuest is a map publisher and a free online Web mapping service. MapQuest allows you to find a route in a matter of minutes, quickly and efficiently. MapQuest lets users automatically find their location, access maps and directions and locate nearby points of interest including airports, hotels, restaurants, banks and ATMs all at the click of a button.

http://ancestortracks.com/Westmoreland,%201857/Daniel_Koch_tract,aerealMapquest-view.jpg

5) Harnessing Collective Intelligence

The fifth characteristic is Harnessing Collective Intelligence. This characteristic uses tagging which essentially means assigning keywords to content such as videos, photos, songs, etc. Why tagging you ask? Well tagging makes it easier to organize and describe information in a manner that is personally meaningful. Tags also enhance productivity and save us time. Along with this, it is now easier for anyone to create content which would usually be left for professionals. This is called "crowdsourcing." In the early stages of internet, websites were created using HTML programming. However, now days there are web builders that allow you to create your own website. An example would be Tripod. Tripod is web hosting service that formed part of the first wave of user-generated content. Tripod offers a variety of free web hosting services offering a blogging tool, a photo album manager, and WYSIWYG page editing. Websites like Tripod allow easy access to creating your own website without using HTML programming which to many is difficult.

http://members.tripod.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/gem/tripod_logo.gif

Table Pong (Week 9)

Flash Assignment

Artist Statement
My concept was to create an interactive ping pong game involving in some capacity tennis. Tennis has been one of my hobbies for the past ten years; as a result I have created an interactive game. My goal is to attract a large audience into playing my interactive flash video game. The flash game is called Table Pong, incorporating Ping Pong, Table Tennis and Tennis. I wanted to create a game that stands out, captures the audience’s attention and persuades them to play. The rules of the game are simple, score ten points before your opponent does and be crowned Table Pong Champion.
The target market for my interactive flash video game is children between five to twelve years of age. It was quite easy deciding what age group to target however, the approach and the way I would format buttons and images was at first difficult. Before I started with the project I planed everything and did a rough sketch on paper so that I had an idea of what I was going to do. The interactive flash game “Table Pong” is geared towards young children who enjoy the high replay value of this game.
Based on my limited experience with Adobe Flash, I decided to find some tutorials on the web in order to help me further establish my plan on creating a cool and interesting ping pong/table tennis game. The first aspect that needed to be considered was the layout. I had many ideas however did not know how to transpire them. I had a general idea to create a ping pong game, however with the love of tennis I decided to incorporate ping pong, table tennis and tennis. I decided to create a bird’s eye view of a tennis court that I would use as my background. The tennis court was created on Abode Photoshop and exported to Flash. Next I started creating my main menu which incorporated a basic title, three basic buttons and my symbol which is two table tennis paddles in a form of an X with a ping pong ball in between. I took a photo of a paddle and flipped them over to create the X with a ping ball in the middle. I decided to use the Stencil Std type font as it gives the game a more children-like feel and with the black background, an appropriate appearance. For the instructions, I used the Impact font to give it a clean and professional look.
There were many challenges and obstacles that were encountered while creating my interactive flash videogame. One major challenge was the action script function. With my brief knowledge of flash I decided that additional research was necessary in order to create a captivating and interesting game. I did some research on the internet and with the help of some online tutorials I was able to further my knowledge on the action scripts. The action scripts are the most important part of my interactive flash videogame and as a result the bulk of my research focused on it.
The finished product was one that I was very pleased with. I spent a lot of time on the interactive flash game and it was very rewarding to find out what someone can learn by experimenting with different features. I learned a lot about the various types of fonts, symbols and action scripts. During this assignment I also learned how to convert pictures and use them as either a motion clip, button or graphic. My piece surpassed my envisioned goal, and looks like a videogame that children would actually enjoy playing. Although there are a few minor bugs in the game, the game is still playable and enjoyable. I am very pleased and excited about my accomplishments.

In Class Critique
My animation was viewed in my lab class which allowed for constructive criticism. However, my fellow peers and Professor really enjoyed my flash interactive game. I was privileged to watch the work of my peers. I was truly amazed of how exceptional all students work was. They applied all skills used in our tutorial but to a higher level. It was amazing how everyone had a different idea to work with. It simply shows the range of creativity in our class and it truly was impressive.

Covers that Have Meaning (Week 8)

My album cover of choice that reminds of me of a contemporary album is none other than “Genesis- We Can’t Dance.” This cover has a simple look yet an important meaning. The cover shows a drawing that can clearly be seen as father and son together looking at the sky. In the background the sun shines on them. The drawing represents a perfect day as everything in the drawing seems perfect. I remember when my parents purchased the Genesis CD when I was in grade three. I remember looking at the childlike cover and loving it. The cover had something the both children and parents could look at. The father-son in my opinion has an important meaning and the way it’s drawn on a mountain like hill makes it that more special. I believe the meaning of the father and son is to show closeness that the two have for one another.
An album cover that I found on the website www.alexsteinweiss.com was one that appealed to the eye, incorporating two objects. The cover incorporates a theatre screen board and a record disk in the background. This picture is very intriguing as it has nice clean and smooth look to it. I like the combination of the two old school elements. I also really like the red lines on the record disk. The redness gives it a more vibrate and sharp look.

The Genesis cover along with the cover found on alexsteinweiss.com reminds me of contemporary covers.

http://www.landofgenesis.fr/genesis/albums/17dance.jpg

http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/as_index.html

The Idea Counts (Week 7)

This week was an interesting week especially in our digital media lecture and lab. In our digital media class we were introduced to a SFX assignment which looks very exciting and promising. Using other means to produce sound is very difficult, yet interesting. I loved the example where they used fruits and vegetables to reproduce a video game. The sounds sounded so real it was kind of scary. All the sounds were reproduced using secondary means such as fruits and vegetables. This assignment is very exciting but will be very difficult to reproduce an image using other means of sound.
In our digital media lab we got our hands on the flash program, learning the fundamentals. This week we learned how to make a motion guide which allowed us to make a bee move around the page. This might sound like nothing but the reward was thrilling for me. We got to create a path in which allowed the bee to move anywhere around the page. The most exciting thing this week was putting sound. The sound made the flash video complete. Without sound it did not feel complete. I learned more about flash however, only two weeks using the program there is a lot more to learn. One thing I’m looking forward to is using the slideshow tool. As mentioned in the previous week I want to create a possible slideshow interaction. I believe the interaction tool will allow me to create a basic yet exciting flash video.

The Adventures of Flash!!! (Week 6)

This week in digital media class we were introduced to a new program and new assignment. The new program is called Abode Flash. There were many ideas expressed in our digital media lecture. The flash program is a program that is complex however, with a little practice and patience, looks like a fun program. In the digital media lecture I loved the example “Do You Want to Play a Game” and “Ross Macaulay.” These two examples captivated as I was in shock on how great they were. I am naturally a person who has high standards but these examples will be very hard to reach.
One of my more interesting ideas is to create a Halloween flash video. My inspiration is to create a scary and daunting video in which a series of scary questions would be asked with animations and photos in the back. This is a tough task however; with some patience and practice anything is possible.
Another one of my examples is to create a motorcycle slide show. My brother has a Honda CBR 600CC and I always wanted to do a slide show of his bike. I believe this would look awesome on flash and would really captivate people through both the actual bike and the loudness.
This project will require some research and thinking on the layout. The project will also require myself to get familiar with the program quickly as I only have three weeks to complete this project.
There are many techniques that must be used however, my experience is minimal and I must use my labs to further my knowledge as I am relatively new to flash. Almost all the videos are produced using flash however, my experience is minimal and I must further my knowledge in order to get a better look at what I want to produce.

http://www.skipnoproductions.com/test/Site/Images/flash_logo.gif