Dingoo against 10 Heuristics

I am going to rate the Dingoo against Nielson’s 10 Heuristics. My son bought this little handheld game console so that he can play games from multiple systems in one handheld device (Arcade, NES, game boy, Atari, Sega, etc). It was a special order game device that shipped from China.

1.    Visibility of system status
Feels very solid, not cheap. Turning on the game is a little strange. You have to slide a lever to the right and “hold” it until it comes on. When the screen lights up, you are ready to go.
2.    Match between system and the real world
When the battery dies, and you try to turn the dingoo on the low battery comes on for such a short time it is hard to figure out what is wrong. All symbols are evident and the same as any other game system.
3.    User control and freedom
Many buttons and controls like a Nintendo DS, menu like PS3 – very simple.
4.    Consistency and standards
The buttons are in a different location than other handheld games but simple to pick up on the differences.
5.    Error prevention
The sleep mode comes on too quickly – can’t fix. That’s all I could find for errors – no prevention. oops, I take it back, my son fixed it – with ease.
6.    Recognition rather than recall
Even though you have to guess and press buttons, you eventually will figure it out – without breaking the Dingoo. Not exactly intuitive even for an avid gamer.
7.    Flexibility and efficiency of use
You have to recall what buttons you pressed. For instance you have to hold down both “select” and “start” at the same time to end game and then scroll to “end” and push “A”. Do it once and remember forever, because if you forget or lose instructions, there would be know way of knowing this without trial and error.
Accelerators — Basic. If there are any new, I have not found them.
8.    Aesthetic and minimalist design
The Dingoo is small and sleek and easy to hold. The screen is straight forward and easy to scroll through to find the game you want to play. Very solid little game.
9.    Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
I have never come across an error message. You just have to keep pushing buttons to get around. Not entirely intuitive – but not necessarily annoying either.
10.    Help and documentation
It came with a little instruction booklet in multiple languages. If it gets lost you can find more information on the Web.

Even though this rated poorly against some of the 10 Heuristics, I really like it and recommend it, this little thing comes preloaded with games, can play music, read e-books, connect to TV, play the radio and just about do everything. I give it five stars as entertainment for the bored.

Internet and Wireless Media Scavenger Hunt

What is a Centralized, Decentralized and a Distributed Network?

A centralized network would be in one specific location, decentralized, the trend today is the opposite of centralized and distributed would be a network that is spread out over more than one location. See samples at bottom.

Centralized: all nodes are connected directly and only to a centralized hub or switch. All data is sent from an individual node to the center and then routed to its destination. If the center is destroyed or not functioning all communication is effectively cut off. Hmmm.

Decentralized: the trend in modern day “business environments”. This is the opposite of centralized, which was prevalent during the early days of computers. Decentralized computing is the allocation of resources, to each individual workstation or office location. A decentralized network uses several centralized hubs. It is almost like several small centralized networks joined together. Each individual node is still dependent upon the proper functioning of its hub and the route to it.

Distributed: A distributed network model has the processing power distributed between the client systems and the server. Most modern “networks” use the distributed network model, where workstations share in the processing responsibilities. The distributed network is “a communication network which will allow several hundred major communications stations to talk with one another after an enemy attack.” A distributed network would have no centralized switch. Each node is connected to several of its neighboring nodes. Therefore, each node would have several possible routes to send data. If one route or neighboring node were destroyed, another path would be available.

This is crucial for using as a mass communication tool. One would not want one main power source to shut down the entire world from communicating. Or…maybe one would?



Is new media technology all progress?

Mass Communication has changed my profession in print design drastically. When I started in the graphic design field, I would create my product from start to finish including prepress and offset printing. I was an artist and the term used for my profession at the time was “Graphic Artist”. The process was more difficult as there was no WYSIWYG desktop publishing. You put your “code” into a typesetting machine and your text came out. At this point you took the type and placed it on a page in the way it looked the best. Typically this was done on a light table with a t-square. Every part of the process was hands on – you got up and moved your body from one station to the next. Each piece was specially crafted and hand delivered. Today, the same process is at our fingertips. The design and often times the delivery of the message is from your PC.

I have had to change from being an artist to a computer techie. This change was huge for me in the late 1980’s to 1990’s with the creation of (Aldus Pagemaker, then Adobe Indesign), I felt a computer was replacing my artistic talent, but it was even a larger impact with the creation of the World Wide Web. I went from being the master of my domain to being a “newbie”.

My AHA moment came when the pod cast discussion came to the topic of how unfiltered text can be brought to the masses. It was once “filter then publish” and now it is “publish without filter.” There is no gatekeeper as of yet in this process, therefore we must focus on teaching the PUBLIC on what kind of information to consume.

Mass media technology can be a good thing if used correctly. It speeds up the process of mass communication, and it has become a much more simplified process for sending the message. It has completely changed our very recent past and not always for the better.

New media technologies can also create a very strange youth and it is so new – we don’t know how. I have nieces and nephews who lack the art of simple conversation. On holidays they bring their iphones, ipods and gameboys. The cousins sit on the couch next to each other and play with their technology devices individually and independently.

My teenage son walked home from a party the other night. I was worried that maybe someone “said something” mean to him – I asked, “what happened?” He replied “nothing – they were all just sitting on the couch texting each other”.  And I was worried that maybe someone SAID something. Progress?

2012

2012 and the disaster film media hype horror

There is a lot of media involved (and affected) by the new film 2012. The new film is produced by Sony Pictures, distributed by Columbia Pictures and directed by Roland Emmerich the director who brought us other disaster films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. The film is about the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. Information on the Mayan calendar and its relevance to the new film is readily available and can be found on blogs, wikipedia, in internet and newspaper articles, movie trailers, television documentaries and even radio.

In an effort to promote the new film and to reach a larger audience the producers have both created and allowed mass media that encourage the receivers to buy into the film plot that the world will come to an end in 2012. The film industry and many others are capitalizing on consumers in a way that could cause harm and possible deaths. I believe that the media hype and push for 2012 is crossing the lines in media and entertainment. The movie should be taken as an exciting form of entertainment and should be sold as that. It should not include internet trickery as a way to be taken as truth, thus making more money in movie sales.

Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas. Similar quotes suggest the same; University of Florida anthropologist Susan Gillespie says the 2012 phenomenon comes “from media and from other people making use of the Maya past to fulfill agendas that are really their own.”

“If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn’t have any idea,” said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. “That the world is going to end? They wouldn’t believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain.”

Bernal suggests that apocalypse is “a very Western, Christian” concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are “exhausted.”

“It’s too bad that we’re getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they’re too young to die,” Martin said. “We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn’t live to see them grow up.”

Sony has set up a fake website to convince people that the world will end in 2012. It details what the world will be like after 2012, offers survival kits and asks people to sign up for a lottery to be saved. Dr. David Morrison, a senior scientist at NASA’s Astrobiology Institute says he’s gotten nearly 1,000 e-mails from people who believe something catastrophic is about to befall the planet. He added that some letters have been from teenagers who said they would rather commit suicide than watch the world come to an end. Sony claims it’s obvious the Web site is a promotion for the movie. “It is very clear that this site is connected to a fictional movie.”

My personal favorite link is http://www.2012officialcountdown.com/?a=dannasshop

Here you can buy books and CD’s to teach your family the truth about how the world will end in 2012 and how to take steps to prepare for it. I am saddened for that year to arrive as we may lose lives to the hype and it would be by and large BECAUSE of the mass media and how easily and quickly it can spread through the internet. This may be the beginning of where new social media avenues might be forced to gain a conscience.

The end of the last Mayan calendar signifies the end of a calendar cycle, the same as our current December 31st of every year.  2012 may be the end of the Mayan calendar, but it will not be the end of the world. . . . . . .or will it?

References

2012 official website http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_%28film%29

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568506,00.html

http://angel.lwtc.edu/section/content/Default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=DC7E21D342B74982898D943C649276A0

Graphic Design in New Media

Graphic Design in New Media, reviewed by K. Walker

The article I read was short and accurate about graphic design basics, yet completely took the “design” out of graphic design. By the title I assumed this would be about – well, graphic design in new media – but it wasn’t.  The article covered the basic mechanics of graphic design, breaking it down to almost a science. What the article does not cover – is design being any form of art or the idea that one must have a specific talent to produce good work. The article was written as if it were to be given to a computer scientist to show “this is how to be a graphic designer”.  The scientist could understand what a graphic designer does and by following the step by step process shown he could get his project done just as easily and successfully as a professional designer.  He might even laugh and ask “Why would one want to get a degree in a field that requires no skill, one could just follow the guidelines here and become successful”.

The article goes on to list basic graphic design skills and standards in table format. The article headings are; Design as a Plan for Communication, Perception, Design Principles and Conclusion.

In the opening paragraphs the author wrote his opinions on graphic design. This quote in particular, caught my attention.

“Today, with software that is readily available, anyone with interest and motivation can work directly with design elements and see the results instantly.

Computer scientists and engineers can develop web sites, and lay out and print color documents directly, without the services of a designer or professional printer.” (Graphic Design in New Media)

Although the article would be useful to a beginner in the graphic design field with no background or education in art, my opinion of the article is very low. The article takes away the concept of creativity and promotes computer scientists to do their own graphic design.

Graphic Design in New Media. (2003). In Computer Graphics Companion. Retrieved from http://168.156.198.98:2226/entry/cgraphicscomp/graphic_design_in_new_media

The bible, mass communication and mass media.

Mass Communication: any form of designing and delivering a message to an audience.
Mass Media: The channel used to deliver the message to a an audience.

The bible, mass communication and mass media. There are no specifics in this narrative, just generality. It is not intended to discredit religion or the bible, it is merely a “what if” article. Questions we might ask ourselves would include “what if the bible was written today”, or “what if the bible was written 2000 years ago but had the ability to be mass communicated as easily as it is today”.

What if the type of mass media that is available today such as the computer and internet, was available 2000 years ago? Would the individual who came up with the idea that there is only one god be beheaded? Stoned to death? Or would he just be another individual with an opinion. What if the bible was written today, and sent through mass media channels, would the bible have the same magnitude it has today, or would it have been blogged to death? When I asked my 13 year old son, what if the bible was written today, and could have been mass marketed. His response was, “I don’t think anyone would even publish it”. That said, you don’t need a publisher anymore to mass communicate through mass media.

Would the bible still exist if it were written after mass communication was available? It may exist but I bet there would be continuos articles and additions to the bible as humans believe that they are the disciples of Jesus and Gods word? How much would the bible change throughout the ages? Would we allow this change?

Now that humans have found stories written by disciples that were not added into the bible, why can’t we add them to the bible today and send it out through mass communication? Who are the gatekeepers on this topic?

There would not have been the issue of translation. The stories told 2000 years ago could have been typed in exactly and sent to the masses. Secondly, because the stories that were written by women were excluded by man, I don’t think women would buy into the bible – definitely not in today’s society.

If mass communication was available 2000 years ago, the bible would have been discussed and decided upon by millions at a time, not 8 or so individuals. Would the bible today be seen as just another story – easily told and just as easily dismissed. Maybe about as effective as an episode on television?