September 14, 2008 – 11:06 am
Dan Kimerling of TechCrunch has some interesting and arguable ideas on the relationship between Microsoft and future power users. He writes
Another example of Microsoft’s inability to understand younger users, comes in what I can only call their software design philosophy, which I can summarize as “Throw in More Features”. Yet, that seems antithetical to those products which are selling most successfully in the market place, especially to young people. Microsoft Office is the clearest example of this. The myriad number of options buried in Word 2008’s ribbons, will rarely be used by most users. And in Excel 2008, some users might need pivot tables, but vast majority of those that use spreadsheets will never ever need to use them, nor will they ever write a macro, or script in Visual Basic. What is clear from the success of Google Docs and Zoho, especially amongst college age students, is that people want tools that are simultaneously powerful and simple to use. And that is why not only are web based office replacements, which focus on ease of use,facilitating collaborative exchange, and being able to publish in digital environments, but also iWork and Star office, are gaining traction.
(links in original)
September 13, 2008 – 11:30 am
This is something to look into: SnapPages.
I don’t know a lot about webpage creation tools, such as SnapPages and the product from Google, but it’s well worth the time to play with the software. That’s what we do: play, explore, and wonder at the usefulness.
SnapPages™ provides a suit of tools that make creating your own website a breeze. Each of the tools have been [sic] developed from the ground up to be as simple and easy to use as possible.
September 11, 2008 – 1:17 pm
Something to keep up with is the EuroITV 2009 conference. Context:
EuroITV2009 is a forum for professionals not only from Europe, but from all over the world who are interested in, work with and do research on all aspects of interactive television. The conference will be held in the lively university town of Leuven, Belgium on 3, 4 and 5 June 2009.
The theme of the 7th European Interactive TV Conference is ‘Networked Television’. Interactive television is becoming one piece in a bigger puzzle of different interconnected devices. This not only has technical implications, but also impacts users and television viewers.
September 10, 2008 – 9:54 pm
The forms of news assignment is up and ready for download in the course calendar. Download the description and assessment sheet and turn it in with the completed assignment.
September 9, 2008 – 9:53 pm
Here’s something to follow. A game approach called Superstuct. Here’s the scenario:
This is a game of survival, and we need you to survive.
Super-threats are massively disrupting global society as we know it. There’s an entire generation of homeless people worldwide, as the number of climate refugees tops 250 million. Entrepreneurial chaos and “the axis of biofuel” wreak havoc in the alternative fuel industry. Carbon quotas plummet as food shortages mount. The existing structures of human civilization—from families and language to corporate society and technological infrastructures—just aren’t enough. We need a new set of superstructures to rise above, to take humans to the next stage.
You can help. Tell us your story. Strategize out loud. Superstruct now.
It’s your legacy to the human race.
September 9, 2008 – 7:03 pm
Jess has found an interesting relationship between Harold and PictoChat:
Today in class we discussed the story Harold and the Purple Crayon. I couldn’t help but make a fairly obvious comparison to the PictoChat Battle Stage in Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii. For those who have yet to play the game the PictoChat stage is based on the DS Lite’s chat interface in which up to 16 people can communicate not only through traditional typed text but also gives the option of chatting through drawn pictures and written words using a Stylis and the DS Lite touch screen in an MS Paint-esque format. The Stage for Super Smash Brothers is simply a blank page in which drawings randomly appear that the player can interact with in ways varying from simply standing on the drawings to one image in which a drawn person blows on characters within the game making them react accordingly. Regardless of the drawing’s actions the player is forced to adapt to whatever appears on the spot. Of course there is some repetition but for the most part the drawings are in a random enough fashion to make the stage challenging and interesting.
September 9, 2008 – 6:58 pm
David Andrade has a wonderful post on Vannevar Bush:
Hopefully Final Crisis will be as filled with revelations and jaw dropping moments as this piece was. Off the top of my head I related what Vannevar was predicting over 50 years ago to at least five different modern devices of media. For starters, we have the jump drive. While he was describing something most people would attribute as a floppy, that little device has gone the way of the Dodo in recent years. All things circling about his “Memex” concept, the man foresaw modern interactions with computers when the only computer around was a giant room of devices that mimicked what we now call a calculator and even THAT device, I believe, was at least five years down the road.
September 9, 2008 – 1:44 pm
Mashable brings us news of Wikia Green that hopes to build
the best resource for citizens of the Earth to learn about the environment and how to live a more sustainable life.
In light of our intro discussion of the memex, how might this be another example of knowledge collection and search? Here’s from the identity page:
Green Wikia strives to become a trusted central place to share our growing and evolving body of knowledge about environmental topics and issues with people who want to inform themselves and live in a more sustainable way.
The Green Wikia community also believes that the threats to our environment are real and that they require action. However, the wiki also strives to foster a community where respectful debate and informed viewpoints can be heard.
September 6, 2008 – 10:55 am
Trends are, we think, important to follow, especially when trends noticeably impact things. This from ReadWriteWeb
No matter which department you’re in, Web 2.0 technologies have had an impact. If you’ve been ignoring their prevalence and adoption, you’re at risk of falling behind in your career and your business is at risk of losing ground to its competitors who are tuned into this trend.
What follows is a summary roundup of apps. How does all this connect to a possible field for which you have interest as a student?
September 5, 2008 – 9:06 am
What is Aurora? Time for some exploration.
September 4, 2008 – 7:43 pm
Here’s an interesting entry from Nat Torkington of O’reilly on the subject of ubiquitous computing. He draws from an interview with William Gibson, focusing on this quote:
One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real. In the future, that will become literally impossible. The distinction between cyberspace and that which isn’t cyberspace is going to be unimaginable. When I wrote Neuromancer in 1984, cyberspace already existed for some people, but they didn’t spend all their time there. So cyberspace was there, and we were here. Now cyberspace is here for a lot of us, and there has become any state of relative nonconnectivity. There is where they don’t have Wi-Fi.
Check out the report Torkington refers at trendwatching.com called “OFF=ON”
It’s an interesting subject that goes to the relationship between the digital world and the “real” world.
Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, set out to study the culture of YouTube users, and he ended up becoming a video star in the process. He and his students have been lovingly documenting how people are using their Web cams to express themselves, and his short videos about the new ways the Web is connecting people have been viewed millions of times.
Katie has put up a post on hyperwords, an extension of browser technology. She’s obviously been doing research on Ted Nelson.
I used Hyperwords extensively in the past but found that the app was a little too aggressive on the page. Anyone else try it?
