Thursday, May 25, 2006

New Media Exploration



For my new media exploration proyect I would like to do it about NASA. This web page gives you a lot of information about the new technologies that we will be use in the next few years. Like the explorers of the past and the pioneers of flight in the last century, we cannot today identify all that we will gain from space exploration; we are confident, nonetheless, that the eventual return will be great. Like their efforts, the success of future U.S. space exploration will unfold over generations. The president put in a lot of effor to achieve our goals for the next generation. Through exploring space, we improve our lives, boost our economy, inspire future generations, and lift our national spirit.http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Robotics and New Media

At this juncture, it seems to me that the terms multimedia, New Media, and Rich Media all delve into the many new
possibilities of the digital realm and new digital devices and their hybrids.
A subject that appeals to me still is robotics. You can buy robotic vaccum cleaners and robotic lawnmowers
and personal home robots off the web. In 1999 you could buy one for $500US; now at hte same site they cost $260.
They can be found at http://www.robotics.com.
Another interesting site is LEGO toy company's site for home robot building geared for children of all ages.
The product is called "Mindstorms" and found at none other than http://mindstorms.lego.com
Now it is possible to call your robot at home and have it act as a nannycam, doorman, secretary, petfeeder,
or have it fetch for you, cook and serve dinner, or play all types of passive and interactive media. The robotic
massage is probably not far off. Will we be able ask our robots to run the vaccuum indoors and out, and the lawnmower?

Thursday, May 18, 2006

New Media Exploration

THE NEW MEDIA AS A MEANS OF PRESERVING HISTORY

As Second Story Studios has shown the story no longer needs to go in one direction. The new media has made it possible to explore any period in time, both in the distant and recent past. The new media has also made it possible to not only to archive historical artifacts and documents in a huge database, but it has also made this information accessible to anyone with a computer.New Media

The website http://www.national66.com/ is a good example how the past meets new media. Route 66, which is called the Mother Highwway was America's first highway, and although it presently exists in parts, it has become a part of America's past and to this day has its devotees. The curious dicover the history, the armchair traveller can view the photo gallery, and the adventuous can plan a trip.The New Media has also allowed historians to blend computer and history, creating what is now being termed digital history.

A good example is the website for The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia ( http://www.chnm.gmu.edu/) The Center’s mission is to democratize history by the use of multimedia. Among the projects are an exploration of the French Revolution and U.S.History. But where it seems to succeed is in its projects dealing with Sept 11 and Hurricane Katrina.

New Tech: Accessibility

Hello all. Accessibility on the web isn't a new technology as such, but it is a set of issues that are becoming more important as time goes on, and consideration of them will be fundamental to web design in the future.

Accessibility means building web sites so that everybody can use them. There are a set of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (here's Version 1, and a working draft of Version 2) that describe the principles involved and the reasoning behind it. Here are the top three things to bear in mind.

No non-standard technologies to serve crucial information. This means all important information must be written up as text. You can use Flash, Shockwave, Real Media, QuickTime, and any other bells and whistles to add some sizzle to your site, but the information must be replicated in text. The reason is that not everyone has the plug-ins required, or suitably fast computers, or suitably fast connections, so by relying on non-standard technology you shut out these people.

Blind people use the web too. Blind people can surf the web using screen reader software like JAWS, where the computer reads the text on a web-page out loud, or braille displays like this one from Alva. Screen readers read text, so all of the content in Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime etc. is hidden from them. Images are hidden too, so all images on your site should contain descriptions in the Alt tag. This means they can be read out by screen readers, and people using braille displays or with images turned off still get the information the picture contains.
In addition, the text should contain no formatting. Deprecated HTML tags like FONT should be avoided. All formatting should be controlled using CSS, with content marked up and postioned with DIV and SPAN and "id" as appropriate. TABLE should never be used lay out a page, because screen readers may then read the information in the wrong order.
This encourages designers to structure their content in logical order, which is good practice anyway. It also means surfers using text-only browsers like Lynx can still use the web site.

People with other Disabilities use the web too. You shouldn't assume your users have precise motor control. So don't rely on design features that require adept use of the mouse (there goes Flash again). Navigation should be possible using arrows and the tab key. Think of Stephen Hawking using your site.

Why bother with all this?
It's the law. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act says that, for all government websites, people with disabilities must have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of the information by people without disabilities. And the government standard today will be the public standard tomorrow. All buildings used by the public must be built for disabled access, and one day web sites will be the same. (Also see Maguire vs. SOCOG)

It's not that hard. Compared with building a Flash movie, loading the same text up in Dreamweaver and hitting 'Save' is but an after-thought. Likewise, filling in the "Alt" tag takes no time at all. Avoiding TABLE in favor of CSS is a bit more time-consuming, but CSS is the standard and it's just a better way of doing it. Using the accessibility features built into HTML just requires the decision to do it. And besides all this...

It's the right thing to do. The internet is for everybody. Denying
any audience access to your website is a form of censorship and exclusion, and worth avoiding.

More information and guidelines available here and here, some hints for making Flash accessible are here, and you can check a page to see how accessible it is here.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

New Media Exploration


IPTV

IPTV or Internet Protocol Television delivers digital television service to subscribers via the Internet Protocol over a broadband connection. IPTV was introduced in 1995, is gaining favor for Video on Demand, and is most recently promoted by Microsoft as the future of streaming media. IPTV services are often offered in conjunction with Video on Demand (VoD) services as well as Internet data services like Web access and Internet Telephony. The “Triple Play over broadband” packages VoIP phone, IPTV and internet data in one solution and is typically supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure
The main adavantage of the IPTV service is its interactivity. Unlike most cable television system, IPTV services necessitate a two-way stream of communication between service provider/system hub and the end user. Broadband access is the delivery method that enables this streaming media interactivity. Broadband technology uses DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) over the local loop. Bell Labs arguably made IPTV possible with the invention of DSL technology in 1988. An engineer at BL discovered a way to send digital data utilizing then-unused spectrum..
IPTV's network structure allows two-way communication, point-to-point distribution.The end user chooses his or her own broadcast, a true video-on-demand service. The p2p function also lets the viewer pause, rewind and replay the broadcast similar to video data on the Internet. The IP/TV product is an audio/video system, including both servers and viewers, based on the RTP/RTCP and SDP protocols. IPTV often uses IP multicast as well. IPTV trends are expected to grow at a stunning pace over the next five years as broadband adoption grows and DSL service expands. Consumers can expect IPTV news to cover, in addition to video-on-demand movies currently offered, streaming media technology like video games on demand, TV education, interactive news with information on demand, catalogue shopping and interactive advertising.
IPTV is critical for telcos as a way to compete with cable companies, which have already penetrated the telcos' market by offering VoIP services along with their television and Internet data services.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Flash-based image browser

http://www.coverpop.com/visco.php

This site is an interesting way of displaying lots of images. The creator also has a link to a page explaining how he built it. And on top of that, he has put up this page

http://www.krazydad.com/bestiary/

which contains a bunch of flash files exploring different kinds of physics, with explanations of how they work. Good hay.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Design Exploration




Curious George is the name of the movie by Universal Pictures. I selected this website because it has a lot of good examples of flash, 3d animation, examples of the use of backgrounds and sound effects.
Also there is a good balance of text and graphics on the home page. Although this website are mostly flash-based. I really like the way this website are presented because it's a good example of the combination of sound and graphics.
www.universalpictures.com

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Two good sites for web design discussion

Howdy doody everybody,

A List Apart has hundreds of articles about most aspects of web design; flash, html, css, accesibility, just about everything. Although it's a good site for finding tricks to get around thorny problems, I get the most value from the discussion articles looking at web design theory and basic principles. Just what are you trying to do when you build a web page?

Ask Tog is the web page of Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini, one of the main design gurus at Apple who founded the Apple Human Interface Group. He "does" interface, and his articles contain loads of info about how users interpret web pages, and what you should bear in mind when designing.

Speaking of which, Apple's Human Interface Guidelines were pretty definitive when they came out. You can read them here.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

my resource for finding cool websites

I may not have said exactly said how found the websites (www.okaydave.com and www.okaysamurai.com) that I used for my presentation, so just in case, I'll do it now. I subscribed to www.learnflash.com to get their free flash tutorials. I normally get two emails per week -- one is my tutorial and the other is the "site of the week." I have found most of the sites interesting and creative. In fact, I discovered www.oculart.com in a site of the week.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Studio/Artist Exploration By Jose Luis


For my studio artist exploration project I introduce http://www.24-7media.de/ I find this website very interesting because this company has a lot of experience working with flash. Their portfolio is great, they add a lot of examples of their work. It's interesting to mention that this company is located in Germany.

Design Exploration


The two sites that I will use for my destin presentaion are by Dave Werner. The first one is www.okaydave.com is David's porfolio. The portfolio was originally created a school project, and since then Werner has developed it further. I found his design to be unique and creative. The site is an interactive vehicle for his projects. Each project is on a split screen so to speak, with a video narrated by David (explaining the project) on the left, and an interactive screen with more details on the project on the right side. I thought at first that the split screen would be problematic, but I found it not to be the case. The viewer can always wait until the video is done to check out what is on the right side of the screen.


David's other creation is www.okaysamurai.com which is his personal journal. It is the first interactive blog I have ever seen, and is entertaining as well. It contains his early work and gives you some insight into who Daivid Werner is.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Echo Echo:Resource for flash and other programs

www.EchoEcho.com is an intersting website which I know I will find very useful. It not only provides Web hosting but the site also tutorials for html, javascript, and flash. It also contains Online web master forum design articles, graphics, tools, and tricks. Their website also included their design magazine titled "D-Zine" with an article on XHTML and there are resouces for finding free web space, email, developer tools. I think it's worth looking.