Digital Media Dr. Jim Rowan ITEC 2110

Chapter 1!

But first… How to make a pdf on a Mac! Any file that is open on a Mac Pull File down to Print In the lower left hand corner of the print window Click “PDF” Then select “Save as pdf”

On the wiki… You can save (to later download) –Text documents (.doc,.ppt,.pdf) –Audio files (.au,.mpg) –video files (.mov,.m4v,.avi) –image files (.jpg,.png,.tiff).jpg,.png will display,.tiff will not Some file formats will not upload –.wmv is one that won’t –.aiff is another

On the wiki… You can display –Text (just type into the edit window) –image: image files (.jpg,.png) –media: for downloads shortFormatHelp – longerFormatHelp – To make the wiki fancier…

Now for Chapter 1!

Telling a story The telling of stories has existed as long as humans have been on earth. So… how do you tell a story? It depends on what media you are going to use… –Is it spoken to a live audience around a campfire? –Is it an audio recording that is played? –Is it written as text in a book or magazine? –Is it captured in a painting? –Is it told using pictures in a photo album? –Is it performed as a play on stage? –Is it recorded on video and played back? –Is it video that is streaming over the web? –Is it captured in the form of a video game?

The media you choose affects the way the story is told If you are using printed text… –you must describe things well If you are using still images… –you have to tell it visually by setting the scene If you are doing Film or Video? –you have moving images and sound... –does the sound emphasize the moving image… –or does the image emphasize the sound? If you are designing a Video game? –moving images accented with sound?

New Media/New Technology Consider if you had spent your life working with the SCROLL… and you were asked to change to the BOUND BOOK... HMMMmmmm SjgQvQ

So… Different Media? Different Affordances! Affordances… a term from ecological psychology borrowed by Don Norman different things afford different interaction handles to pull door open push plates to push door open door levers rotate to open door knobs… twist? hmmm… I hate fake door knobs!

Consider… the Scroll & the Book The Scroll –can’t stack scrolls like books –can’t skip around except to beginning or end –but… reading flows without the interruption of pages The Book –you can stack them –you can level a table leg with them! –but… the reading is interrupted by page turns –add a TOC & page numbers you can skip around –with index & page #s you can go to a specific place

the Scroll, the Book and now... Web-based media –you can consume it in any order you like –links take you to a place (and back!) does a book do this? –each page is in only one place… one change changes everyone’s version Compare that to the Book –doesn’t allow this kind of universal change –doesn’t take you back (no back button) –but you can stick a piece of paper or a finger in it to hold your place… or fold down the corner of the page –you can take notes in the margins

yes, it does make corrections immediately available to everyone… but no history is kept like you would have with book editions you go back to “the same place” and it’s different... were you mistaken or did it change?

Did you read everything? –A book is easy just read from front to back –Hyperlinked web pages… no Web-based also affords searching –You can Google it and find it!

A book? Not so much.. –the Index will help… if the thing you are looking for is in the index –Ever read a book and think... where did I see this before? …and then reach for the search tool? …and then you feel kinda foolish?

New Media/New Technology Adoption It takes time for conventions concerning the usage of new media to be formed… Consider film... –At first there was no sound –then the sound was performed –then recorded sound was played with the film But with time… film developed its own unique forms Hitchcock told the story visually, long sweeping scenes Tarrentino accents the violence with rapid, quick cuts

New Media usage/adoption follows a predictable path At first the new form tries to act like the old form… to make the new stuff look more familiar –With movies, Newsreels “copied” newspaper-like layouts –With computers, the desktop metaphor “copied” the office desk Alan Kay, XEROX PARC –“The best way to predict the future is to invent it” –personal computer usage exploded –before desktop metaphor C:/ is all you got & few people used personal computers

From adoption to discovering new forms of expression We are just beginning to understand what the possibilities are... We are just beginning to understand how to best build new multimedia stuff –A mix of animation and live action 300, Sin City, Christmas Carol, Avatar TV series 24 and the movie Phone Booth? –several scenes are played simultaneously

In this class We are interested in media forms found on and transmitted across the Internet, how they work and how to manipulate them We will build them as projects –audio –still images bitmapped vector graphics –moving images video camera 3D animation

Static vs Time-based media Time-based –Media that changes over time Film Video Audio Static media –Media that doesn’t change over time Pages in a book Photos in an album Images on a webpage

Media Linearity Scroll - linear Book – linear… broken, but linear –Must turn the pages –but… Table of Contents and Index allow some non-linearity –encyclopedia and dictionaries are media that are meant to be used in a non-linear manner Film/Videotape - linear DVD – primarily linear –Chapters allow some non-linearity

Media Nonlinearity Supported through computer-based media –Takes the form of hypermedia –Web pages links to other pages, other parts of pages –Interactive video games you go to different parts of the game depending on your input

But is this new media interactive? Yes… and No Yes: Programs appear interactive, but only within the constraints placed on the interaction by the programmer and the interaction designer –Myst looked like a real world but you only had a few choices you could make No: Improvisation (on the part of the user) can’t happen unless it is planned and provided for in advance by the interaction designer and the programmer

Interaction with computer-based media is through a user interface Human Computer Interaction (my field) –Intermingling of computers, engineering, human perception, psychology, affordance and human performance –Taught here as ITEC 4130 Standard ways to interact with computer-based media have been developed… –buttons –sliders –radio buttons –check boxes –pull-down menus –pop-up menus

A maturing Internet has broadened its scope In the ’90s the internet was seen as a source... –you go to the internet to “look something up” –its use was seen to have an economic advantage… you only have to put stuff in one place and everybody can get to it Now it is a transmission medium –streaming content: live radio –streaming content: view tv shows online

In Summary Media is changing Internet is changing Affecting us socially –we send to people who are in the same room Giving us new capabilities & ways to interact –mosquito ring tones Challenging our views of legality –it’s on the web, can I use it without permission? Challenging our view of appropriate behavior –spam… for instance Media provides opportunities for new interactions and new ways to communicate This class is about media and how it works

Questions?