Confessions of a Menace

Week 8

2007-03-19T16:09:52Z

The purpose of this kiosk is to create a visually appealing poster that is functional and adds an architectural element to the front of the store. It will be a poster that is interactive showing featured sale items along with maps to the items, prices and other featured items within the department. We are hoping to draw more shoppers in to the areas they would not typically go by showing them what that department has to offer.

Week 7

2007-03-19T15:42:33Z

Duluth city council is discussing limiting digital billboards. Should digital billboards be regulated?

What is included in digital billboards? When i think of digital billboard I think of the one up on Central Entrance. I think that it might be a good idea because of their distractive nature. I think still traditional billboards are fine because they are always the same. If you drive by you can glance up at it and then look back to the road. I feel that some digital billboards will cause people to focus more on the board then the road. Drivers may sit and stare at the board to see if it is going to change over to reveal something else.

At the same time I think they are more attractive than the traditional flat billboards and they react more within certain settings.

Week 6

2007-03-19T04:37:35Z

What is a good font for web / interactive design?

Almost anything san serif

What ever you think is going to work. What do you like? what do you want to accomplish?

Week 5

2007-03-19T04:24:42Z

The Kiosk at the Walker is one of the only interactive elements that I have seem to run into. I think that the interaction between the viewer and the device is incredible. From what I remember you do not touch the screen but you put your hand over the top and can act as though you are picking people up. I enjoyed the fact that they were all walking around and not stationary. I would like to find out how it works.

I do not remember any other interactive kiosk's other that the one's at target for wedding and baby shower gift registry. They are ok in design but seem to lack overall apeal.

wow

2007-03-19T04:17:25Z

Percepive Pixle's demo is amazing!

Week 3

2007-02-04T20:48:19Z

Oh Second Life......
I think that the possibilities that a virtual 3d internet offer is amazing. In one aspect I feel that it can offer a world of discovery and possibilities that many people regularly would not get a chance to experience. Such Ideas as virtual museums and classrooms allow individuals to have those experiences when they may not be able to. At the same time I feel as though it also allows for a lot of bad experiences as well. I think that in a world of pure imagination and endless possibilities you are going to encounter individuals who want to use it for negative reasons. Their could be people who create their own digital fantasies that children could come across.

Week 2

2007-01-29T17:04:28Z

The weapon of choice was nintendo DS light.
the game was Super Mario Bros.

]]> I have to say that Nintendo is the best gaming system ever but that is just my opinion.
Overall I felt that Super Mario Bros. was a great edition to the Mario family. With new mushrooms that let you shrink to fit in tight places and your ability to become a colossus with the giant mushroom. I rely enjoy the slim design and controller configuration. It is easy to play and the controls are well read. My only recommendation would be to consider utilizing the touch screen and L R buttons more. The only time it seems as though they used is during the extra worlds and the mini games.

photo

2007-01-29T06:07:27Z

It Worked! Finally

Week 1

2007-01-29T05:15:25Z

1. What is interactive design?
- To me interactive design is the understanding and creating of visual elements that create or encourage interaction. This could include everything for cell phone graphics to the way in which we use and interact with gaming systems.

2. What do you want to learn in this course?
- I would like to better understand the way that design is used in our everyday lives as a means of mass communication. Also, I would like to understand the process behind creating a web page, flash designs, interactive tools and all the bells and whistles.

3. What applications / programming languages do you know or want to learn?
- I’m going to be completely honest and say that I know very little when it comes to programming and languages. BUT!! I would like to learn everything that I possibly can.

Web Terms

2007-01-28T23:31:36Z

brief
Familiarize yourself with some Internet and Web terminology. In an online dictionary of Internet/Web terminology, look for the meaning of the words listed below.

objectives
• To become familiar with the concept of the Internet and the Web.
• To gain basic knowledge of the configuration of the Internet network and the way it supports information.
procedureIn an online Internet/Web dictionary, look for the meaning of the following words.

]]> Internet -A global network connecting millions of computers that enables over 100 countries to exchange data, news and opinions. Each computer is its own host and is independent to choose which internet service provider to use.
World Wide Web - A system of internet servers that support HTML formatted documents.
Web server - A computer that delivers (serves up) web pages. Every web server has an IP address and possibly a domain name. Any computer can be turned into a web server by installing server software and connecting to the internet.
Host - A computer system that is accessed by a user working at a remote location. Typically, the term is used when there are two computer systems connected by modems and telephone lines. The system that contains the data is called the host, while the computer at which the user sits is called the remote terminal.
Web site - A site or location on the world wide web. Each containing a homepage and is owned and managed by an individual, company, or organization.
Web page - A document on the world wide web in which each pare is different and is identified by a unique URL.
Web browser - Software application that allows you to access, locate and display web pages on the world wide web. Two of the most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- Both are graphic browsers and allowing you to view graphics as well as text.
Podcast - Podcasting allows you to subscribe to a set of feeds download them and listen or view them on you iPod or similar device.
Cache - A special High speed storage mechanism. It can be either a reserved section of main memory of an independent high-speed storage device.
-Two main types are memory caching and disk caching
HTML - Hyper Text Markup language, It is the authoring language used to create documents on the world wide web. It defines structure and layout by using tags and attributes.
XHTML - Extensible hypertext Markup Language- Hybrid between HTML and XML designed specifically for net device displays.
XML - Extensible Markup Language - designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations
JavaScript - A scripting language developed by Netscape to enable web authors to design interactive sights. It can interact with HTML source code, enabling Web authors to spice up their sites with dynamic content. It is also an open language.
IP Address - An identification for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. The format is a 32-bit numeric address written as a four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be between zero to 255.
- TCP?IP- Transition Control Protocol / Internet Protocol suit used to connect hosts to the internet.
URL’s - Uniform Resource Locator- Global address of documents and other resources on the web. The first part of the address indicates what protocol to use and the second part specifies the IP address or domain name where the resource is located.
Domain name - A name that defines one or more IP addresses. It uses URL’s to identify particular web pages. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain it belongs to. For example: .gov =government agencies and .edu = educational institutes.
HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol- defines how messages are formatted and transmitted and what actions web servers and browsers should take in response to commands.
FTP - File Transfer Protocol - the protocol for exchanging files over the internet, most commonly used to download a file from a server or to upload a file to a sever.
ISP - Internet Service Provider - A company that provides access to the internet or a monthly fee giving the consumer a user name, password and access phone number.
IPP - Internet Printing Protocol - Allows universal solutions to printing a document from the internet.
Modem - modulator-demodulator. A device or program that that allows a computer to transmit data converting it from saw digital information on the computer to analog waves so it can travel over telephone lines.
Cable modem - Modem designed to opporate over cable TV lines which is then used to create extremely fast access to the world wide web.
Ethernet -A local-area network (LAN) architecture developed by Xerox Corporation in cooperation with DEC and Intel in 1976. Ethernet uses a bus or star topology and supports data transfer rates of 10 Mbps
Wireless -the term used to describe any computer network where there is no physical wired connection between sender and receiver, but rather the network is connected by radio waves and/or microwaves to maintain communications.
CSS - Cascading Style Sheet - A new feature added to HTML that gives web site developers and users more control over how pages are displayed. This allows you to create different style sheets that identify how different elements will appear.
Blog - Short for weB LOG it is a web page that serves as a publicly accessible journal typically reflecting the personality of the author.
MP3 - File extension and also name of the type of file for MPEG, audio layer 3 which downsizes the CD bit rate by 12 without sacrificing sound quality.
JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group- compression techniques for color images When converted from a higher resolution document it may loose some detail.
GIF - Graphics File Format- a bit mapped file format used by the world wide web that supports color images and various resolution.
GUI - A program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use
PHP - an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages