Catherine,
I lost my usb – the ones with all my work on it in the lab yesterday before I got to back anything up. I don’t have anything except the faulty version that I had in class on Friday. Sorry.
http://a.parsons.edu/~shena514/website/FilmTrivia_test3.html
I went to the show on Sunday, May 3rd where the animation projects were being displayed. I love watching animation and would love to learn how to make (a good) one. (If only I knew how to invest my time properly!) My favorite was “101 Things That Unite and Divide” by Robyn Girard, a deaf student exposing what it’s like to live in a soundless world. I really liked this piece because it was not only politically charged, but it was also humorous. Girard’s piece used no sounds and only visual images and text to communicate to the audience. Personally, I just think sign language is one of the most awesome languages around. When I was little (actually, I was 14 and I guess that’s not too little), I used to spend my time after school learning sign language from internet sources- there are some great sites out there to learn.
Dan was cool; he went to college in California! (: YAY. I think his background in computer science (Mudd) really allowed Dan to ease his way into programming and designing easily. The world is becoming more and more technology based and his creations are of the future. We gasp and awe at it now, but kids actually growing up in this generation will find designs like Dan’s normal. This semester, I interned at a magazine publication and it was very obvious the direction publications are heading. All publications have a corresponding website that they update daily whereas their magazines are produced monthly. It makes me a little nervous that the world is heading this way because I like being very hands on and actually being able to touch and make physical things.
http://a.parsons.edu/~shena514/website/bb_clickthru.html
Truthfully, Flash is pretty fun. That feeling that I get when I make a button and it is successful is amazing. I’ll admit that it’s a frustrating program- quitting abruptly on me from time to time and incompatible on certain computers, but like John Nack stated, “It’s the reason that YouTube took off & video consumption exploded four years ago.” I can see why the program is useful and though I’m not a master or even close to being proficient in the program, I don’t believe Flash should be abandoned.
Learning Flash helps me in other areas such as my Creative Computing class where Processing is used. In addition, it can be applied to html coding as the practicing statements are relevant. Mall emphasized in his article that the world today is increasingly depending on technology; even with that fact stated, I honestly just can’t get myself to focus on interaction. I’m the type of person that needs to be hands on. (Damn it, I’m going to be the mom that’s stuck in her own generation). As a designer, I know I should be somewhat proficient in interaction (that’s probably what the school thinks as well since our curriculum is being changed), but because I have no interest in it, I can’t get myself to actually engage in it.
Mall sort of supports me in this way as he notes that designers should not only be able to function with computer programs, but also without it. Mall sees a good designer as one that can balance both. As a designer, I want to be the best that I can; learning programs such as Flash hasn’t been too difficult so far, but frustrating. Frustrating because I don’t want to take the time to learn it and to engage myself; this is simply because I’m not being open minded. To be a good designer, I need to be. I also need to be balanced.
I chose to re-prototype the already existing application, “The Weather Channel” for the BlackBerry. “The Weather Channel” app is useful in that it gives you easy access to current weather conditions, but this app is also a pain in the ass when it comes to giving fast updates. The application takes literally 5 minutes to load before it displays the weather; when it does load, sometimes the date isn’t accurate; depending on the view you choose, it displays different forecasts for the same day; and there’s no home screen icon with current conditions.
To combat the slow speed of the app, I plan on adding a homescreen icon. Along with adding a homescreen icon to this application, I also plan to add an optional weather icon collection so that users can choose to have the current weather conditions displayed right next to the date/time on their BlackBerry. By doing this, users can automatically see what the weather is like without even having to open the app. This idea comes from the weather widget from the Mac computers.
“The Weather Channel” app is very useful; it provides users with detailed forecasting for current and upcoming weather, but serious improvements can be made to make this app a better one.
My first post! My first blog! Ever! (: I like eating Rolos and sipping on green tea.
