Looking for Navitas BuddyPress

If you are looking for the Navitas BuddyPress site, you may have ended up here by mistake. The correct address is http://hm.vfowler.com

Cheers,
Vernon

Another subdomain for another unit of study. This time it’s the Curtin University unit Engaging Media over at http://med104.vfowler.com which just finished last week. As well as a remediation project, the unit covers areas of communication, information, entertainment, and play.

Distribution of a multimedia project should have been one of the very first matters considered during the initial concept stages. The matters of distribution can have some very simple as well as complicated reasons for choosing one method over another. There are many contributing factors to determine the right delivery method:

• Target user group
• Client’s wishes and expectations
• Product’s limits and limitations
• Interactivity
• Expertise

So far, common forms of distribution are:

Optical discs

CD-ROMs, DVDs, etcetera…

Intranet

a high speed internal network

Internet

a mass distribution medium

Hardware or embedded application

embedded devices that are not normally associated with computer interfaces, i.e. organisers, kiosks, mobile phones, and etcetera.

Intranet versus Internet delivery

Content management

Content management is a system of organizing the delivery, storage and access rights of all the media components of an internet or intranet delivery system.

By the system administrator or broadcast administrator, content management is used to set-up and manage scheduled content or on-demand programs, channels, recordings, and file transfers among various media servers. This can include the setting up of group profiles or individual profiles, in other words allowing only certain groups or individuals to view certain media.

Embedded devices

Typically these devices have no keyboard or limited input capabilities, and somewhat limited display capabilities and data storage. They are usually dedicated to performing certain functions or tasks only, and include mobile devices (personal organisers and mobile phones), home devices (appliances, home automation systems, home theatre systems, home security), automotive (GPS, in-car entertainment systems), and industry systems (information kiosks, ATMs, and cash registers).

Due to advancements in computer memory and CPU miniaturization, devices now have the capabilities to provide levels of interactivity and intelligence previously unheard of. We are also seeing not only the breakdown of input and output limitations, but also a merge of delivery methods, in devices such as the iPhone.

Embedded devices traditionally perform dedicated functions, and are designed with a specific embedded software application. The end user cannot modify such closed systems. We see embedded systems everywhere – at the cash registers, in industrial controllers, at home in our digital set top box. They are usually simple to use, sturdy, fast and reliable. Unfortunately updates or upgrades contribute to the problems of a throw-away society and are costly in both time and money. Hence the reason developers attempt to future-proof systems as much as possible.

The choices of delivery methods to best deliver products are constantly increasing. Choosing the right method is not always your choice. The best safe guard is to know right from the conceptual stage, what delivery method(s) you and your team will be designing for.

Selling the product you have made, whether that be to a client, to a customer, or to an audience, is crucial. A fantastic product marketed terribly is worthless. First impressions do count. Often the quality of your product will be judged by the quality of its presentation, so put your heart into it!

Making a fantastic product is great. Making packaging and promotional material is the next step.

Target the audience

As you start to decide the packaging, stay focused on these things:

• If you keep focused on who you are designing for, then it is a lot easier to come to a concept without forcing it.
• Do some research. Look specifically at the packaging and the promotional material for products targeted at the same audience bracket. http://creativedepart.com/category/packaging/ is just one place to start that research. Try to appreciate what elements others have used to good effect. Be critical of stupid design moves. Put yourself into the demographic of the product’s target group and assess it how they would.
• Ask around. Basically, get a feel for the current market.
• Use graphics, fonts, and language that are relevant for the demographic the product is aiming at… Compare the different demographics being aimed at on the packaging of these 2 racing games:
  
  
  

Ratings

Just like movies, video games are governed by a ratings system.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings are designed to provide concise and impartial information about the content in computer and video games so consumers, especially parents, can make an informed purchase decision.

The process

Make quite a few possible package designs, and then cull them. If the design is incongruous with the rest of the project, file it with all the others sacrificed. Choose the 1 design that best fits the criteria – classy, attention-grabbing, effective, and informative. Remember, the purpose is to sell this product.

Layout

This final design stage is so important, regardless of how mundane the project may seem after your months of hard yakka. Package layout is comprised of fonts, copy, and graphics.
Text layout is vital – this is the text that is going to convince a client/customer that the cool box they just picked up is actually worth buying/trying.

On the front, on the back

See Packaging and the Premiere for the list of vital elements to include on the front and on the back of the packaging.

Fonts

Be consistent and use the same highlight fonts on the packaging as those in the actual product. Check back in Multimedia Fundamentals for the typography links. Legible and scannable are rather crucial qualities, and a secondary font should be used for body text.

Colours

Again, consistency is the name of the game. Besides, if using modern design software, you can save quite some effort and literally just re-hash existing artwork and palettes. However, other packages of the same genre will all be sitting on the market shelves alongside each other. So it may pay to add a classy, contrasting colour. Check Multimedia Fundamentals for the colour links.

Writing copy language and aesthetics

The language you use will either sell your product, or lose a user’s interest. Marketing departments should determine and prioritise the most important parts of the product, and the copy should reflect these important features. Sometimes it might help to use short words, but it is always best to avoid industry jargon and genre specific language. Use exciting language that briefly explains the purpose, features, and highlights.

Text should be large and clear, and restricted to designated areas on the box. Keep the blurb brief and in a compact space. Use bullets to visually distinguish between points.

Graphics

Primarily derived from sketches and the product, artwork must be consistently themed. Only a few screen shots are needed on the back. What actually makes a good graphic depends on the genre and target user group. A children’s game cover graphic would misrepresent an adult game, and vice versa. A good graphic also encapsulates the themes and characters of the product without necessarily reflecting the actual content. Cover designs of a variety of games all show a number of similarities and common concepts: a prominent title, and one central graphic feature.

Cross-marketing mediums

The important thing with cross-marketing is identifying the most effective mediums to use for promotion. Cross advertising a product for middle-aged business men in a drum’n'bass zine may not be the most effective method of advertising. Again, it comes back to being able to assess your audience – to know what other information mediums they access, and utilize those. Other potential information mediums are the web, radio, print, and any genre specific mediums.

Web marketing

Creating a parallel website is a great way of cross-promotion. Keep it consistent. Use the same fonts/colors/graphics as the actual product and the box. Include lots more information – reviews, in-depth discussion of plot, and etcetera.

The website for Grand Theft Auto IV (http://www.rockstargames.com/IV) mirrors the colours and artwork from the actual game itself. The website also features news (pictured right), radio stations, merchandise, updates, subscription, game information and other features.

Print marketing

Get reviewed. Advertise in relevant magazines (gaming, etcetera). Remember to use big headings and graphics in advertising material, and only provide basic information (website/distributor and genre).

All phases have pre-determined deliverables, milestones,and timelines. The approval of deliverables by the client signals the end of the phase. A signed contract specifying the product design, cost, schedule, copyright, etcetera, are what make up a development agreement. After the discovery phase, the prize is the contract. The Functional Specification is the deliverable at completion of the design phase.

Functional Specifications

The audience for the functional specification is the team of professionals who will make the product: producer, director, researchers, artists, engineers, sound designers, quality assurance testers, marketing and sales staff. It is the job of the functional specification to break the client’s broad ideas into detailed descriptions of what it does, how it is used, and what it looks like. The specification doesn’t say anything about how it is implemented, but it does include all the interactions from a user’s perspective. Creating this blueprint saves time and money as it is easier and cheaper to change a Word document or PowerPoint presentation than to re-program an entire application if the client suddenly recalls another feature the product simply must have. The spec also operates as an agreement between the client and developer – after approval from both parties, additional changes have to be negotiated. This saves the developer a lot of work, and creates a more trustworthy deadline.

Contents of the spec

The writer needs to be a person whose discipline is design and user-interface, and is a skilled and detailed writer. Familiarity with user experience issues is a definite plus. The writer has to visualize how the different features work, how a user might use each feature, and how navigation through the information will be done. This has to be written down in the greatest detail, and be in balance with current technological limitations and business demands. The contents of the spec include:

• Executive summary
• Global conventions
• Node map
• Node-by-node descriptions
• Screen layouts
• Action/Animation descriptions

Things still to do:
# Create a graphic design specification based on your first assignment
# Create a storyboard based on your first assignment

Packaging

Poor packaging can lead to poor sales and interest from intended users. Generally most multimedia products are packaged as CD-ROMs inside a shrink-wrapped box approximately 9 inches wide by 10.5 inches tall and 1.5 inches deep.

Your product is only as saleable as its wrapper. Packaging needs to entice as well as inform, while remaining true to the essence of your product or service.

http://www.media-schmedia.com/print_zman_games.asp

Premiere

The premiere of your product is as much a marketing event as a release from all the hard work done on the project. Some things to consider for a successful product launch are:

• Draft a premiere plan, at least a month prior the big event. Studio 1151 has a premiere plan form.
• Organize invitations and remember to invite:
  • Key stakeholders
  • Project investors
  • Media representatives (for publicity)
• Organize marketing materials, including handouts, banners, balloons, etcetera.
• Organize refreshments, entertainment, waiters, etcerea, and have speeches written and rehearsed before the event.

Expectations are personal. When we get our hopes up, the film turns out lousy. The question of whether Second Life met or failed one’s expectations is conditional upon prior knowledge and experience. Personally speaking, I feel a lot like Neo about to take the red pill in The Matrix. With very little idea to begin with, and a smidgen of prior experience with 3D interfaces, my expectations weren’t demanding. After spending a few hours in my Second Life, I find:

• The level of immersion is immense!
• The simple flow of basic movement and interaction is smooth.
• The graphics are generally stunning for such a diverse range of worlds.
• The avatar modification process is cumbersome. Computer-literate reporter Kristina Dell of Time magazine, agreed it is not intuitive, spending her first hour wearing both sneakers and high heels (simultaneously).

Money is the sore point for me. Bar monthly access fees, so far the internet has been free for most of us. A serious limitation in Second Life is that it seems I cannot experiment with building a house without buying virtual land with real money (converted into virtual $).

There are several purposes that interest me and I can see huge potential for. As a social networking tool, it truly excels over facebook and the likes. People are not only meeting over the internet, some are virtually married in Second Life. See for yourself the birth of a son! Truly this is collaborative construction gone crazy.

In this 3D version of the web, you can also experience simulations and interaction like no other. Architects could utilise the platform to provide great experiences to clients in virtual models before the foundations are laid in the real world.

From the arts, sciences, health, languages, to history, music, and so on, the benefits for educational uses are truly mind-blowing. Additionally, entertainment industry applications are endless – for example virtually visiting a U2 concert is a dream that you can experience.

Nonetheless, these are not the top crust applications. Matt Cowan, a Rueters reporter, describes the second wave, in enterprise and education, as the new driving force behind Second Life.

Dell also reports on some of the real world problems for Second Life.

Every business has its growing pains. But as companies explore why their expensive virtual outposts remain largely empty, Second Life has other, potentially more serious, issues. Governments are scrutinizing the four-year-old site as a possible haven for tax-free commerce, child-porn distribution and other unsavory activity.

Further on, Dell tells of disgruntled users uniting against commercialisation of Second Life, and attacking shoppers. One participant grumbled on the site’s blog, “the only things left to do on Second Life will be getting griefed in sandboxes and going to church.”

References

2007. Virtual Social Worlds and the Future of Learning

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2jY4UkPbAc [Accessed May 8, 2009].

2009. The birth of my Son Jacob Cleo Khandr

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y5u2Vk8m5E [Accessed May 9, 2009].

Cowan, M., 2008. The ‘second wave’ of Second Life. [[News]]

Available at: http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=92549&videoChannel=6 [Accessed May 8, 2009].

Dell, K., 2007. Second Life’s Real-World Problems. Time

Available at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651500,00.html [Accessed May 9, 2009].

Second Life – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life#Fee_schedule [Accessed May 8, 2009].

Although initially sceptic and frustrated with the learning curve, I am starting to realise how Second Life can be beyond awesome for learners. Let’s face it, we all learn and many of us loathe the necessity due to the form that the learning takes and the lack of control. Mention a lecture and most of us cringe. You can’t pause a lecturer and you’ve got to be there in those cold, hard seats, listening… Too bad if you’re deaf or have a preference for visual or experiential learning styles.

So what makes learning in Second Life different? Virtual classrooms can be attended by a global audience, and students can learn from their safe environments, but these are features in every form of distance education. Let’s examine the benefits of the learning opportunities in this virtual world compared with those of traditional education environments and distance learning.

• The sense of immersion makes it an ideal tool for role play and re-enactment.
• Scavenger hunts create an interactive method for learning vocabulary, for instance. Surely a faster, more effective, and more interesting way than learning by rote.
• Guided tours of replica real world places that students would find difficult or impossible to visit in reality. The Sistine Chapel, or a scaled model of the interior of a Dell computer are just 2 examples of such destinations.
• Albeit via an avatar, learning by doing is highly productive.
• Collaborative development is fostered in Second Life. Educators can join groups and network with others for professional development. Collaboration and exchange is stronger and more immediate than other communication methods such as blogs, forums, or email.
• Simulation possibilities can provide understanding of what it is like for others in the real world, and aid in our preparation.
• Immersive self paced tutorials and quizzes can be carried out in virtual space, and results fed into a database.

Play these pertinent YouTube clips below.

References

2007. Educational Uses of Second Life

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOFU9oUF2HA [Accessed May 8, 2009].

2007. Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGR9q43dag [Accessed May 8, 2009].

Second Life – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life#Education [Accessed May 8, 2009].

Print media primarily uses static imagery and words as the form of communication, whereas multimedia focuses on a variety of techniques, including sound, graphics, and movement. As such, in a multimedia presentation, keeping text minimal engages users more effectively. Less than half the screen should contain text, at least from a design perspective.

Further guides about using text

A guide for font sizes is to use about 10 to 12 point for body text. Superior headings should be double their inferiors. To maintain semantics, all headings should be larger than body text.

Font faces can fit into 3 broad categories:

• serif, eg. Times New Roman, Courier, Garamond
• sans serif, eg. Arial, Helvetica, Verdana
• and decorative, eg. kids fonts, funky fonts, classic fonts

Sans serif fonts tends to encourage the eyes to meander all over the block of text, and have been used for headings. Traditionally, serif fonts have been used for large bodies of text because the serifs form a line that draws the eye onto the next word. However, given that we are rarely going to present a large body of text in a multimedia presentation, the freedom of font choice is upon the designer. It is far preferable to present a large portion of text as small, readable chunks.

For any given presentation, avoid using more than 3 different font faces. Also avoid use of italics on screen, as it can be very difficult for users to clearly and quickly read the text due to the fact that italics break across the pixel grid. Use some alternative methods to highlight sections and draw emphasis. Check out ilovetypography.com for not-so-bland articles on typography that’s all around you. Visit welovetypography.com and myfonts.com if you too have a thing for examples of sexy fonts, or typefaces…

In colour terms

Complementary colours, those directly opposite on a colour wheel, are a good choice for use as accent colour in your colour scheme. Interestingly, the shadow of an object will also contain the complementary colour. For example, the shadow of a green apple will contain some red. Either light or complementary colours are particularly useful for text when using dark backgrounds.

All good designs certainly take accessibility into consideration. So try this Accessibility Color Wheel (wheel.zip) to assist choosing background and foreground colour pairs with a suitable WCAG contrast ratio. Giacomo Mazzocato designed this fantastic tool, which also simulates 3 kinds of vision deficiencies.

Presentations also use colour to convey mood. You must research your target audience to colour your presentation accordingly, be that bright, primary, pastel, muted, earth tones or otherwise. More about colour theory at Color Matters if you’re interested. Also, a photo based palette generator (check this sample) courtesy of bighugelabs.com, and everything for colour lovers at colourlovers.com …

Graphic styling

In addition to colour, several other graphic factors contribute to successful multimedia communication.

• Style – modern, art deco, postmodern, industrial, cartoon, anime, etcetera. Try to identify with the primary user group and carry the style throughout the presentation.
• Texture – wood, puff paint, metal, marble, sand, plastic, etcetera. Texture helps to set the tone, such as business-like, laid-back, formal, friendly, or casual.
• Line – generates feelings of chaos or control.
• Lighting – assists setting the tone and mood of the presentation. Low-key (deep shadows) or high-key light (bright and evenly lit) can set mysterious or light-hearted moods.

Next: The basic design principles of Balance, Unity and Movement.

1. Identify three benefits associated with the use of telecommunications technology.
2. What are the elements in a telecommunication system?
3. Compare and contrast the wireless communication channels.
4. Identify three telecommunications media that physically connect to telecommunication devices.
5. Define and describe three different services offered by telecommunication companies?

1. Cost, time and distance?
2. From a general model of telecommunications, there are 5 elements involved in moving the signal. The communication starts at the origin, a sending person (and computer), then goes through some telecommunications device, say a modem for example. Next the signal is transmitted through a medium, such as copper phone wires, to another telecommunications device, and finally a receiving computer – and hopefully a person too.
3. Microwave, satellite, radio, cellular radio, and infrared:

   Microwave towers transmit signal up to 30 miles – the curvature of Earth interrupts the line of sight at larger distances. Long distance telephone is a typical usage scenario for microwave as it is suited to high volume communications.

   Satellite is replacing microwave as it reduces the 30 mile distance problem. Still using line of sight, but the footprint of a high altitude satellite is huge, overcoming the need for relay stations.

   Radio-wave frequencies transmit over short distances and do not require relaying. Easy to install and inexpensive devices send radio waves through normal office walls, but can create electrical interference problems with other office equipment.

   Cellular radio sounds like a localised low power relay antenna system for mobile telephone users and data communications. Computer processing coordinates the transmissions as mobile users move from one area to another.

   Infrared light, not visible to the human eye, can be modulated or pulsed for conveying information. Your TV remote control uses IR and possibly peripherals communicating with your computer also utilise it.

4. Coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, and fiber-optic cable are three media which physically connect telecommunication devices.
5. Services offered by telecommunications companies include:
   1. Switched lines are telephone lines provided by common carriers that people can access from their computers to transmit data to another computer. The transmission is routed or switched through paths to its destination.
   2. Integrated Services Digital Network [ISDN] is a high speed data transmission technology transferring voice, video, image and data simultaneously. ISDN uses existing telephone lines, and forms a popular upgrade for firms whose requirements exceed standard telephone capacity.
   3. Digital Subscriber Line [DSL] provides high speed digital data transmission from homes and businesses over existing telephone lines. A popular alternative to ISDN, and modems are necessary with DSL technology.