Convergence Creation

You are cordially invited... to a "field trip"

2008-08-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

Drinks after tonight's class (at a to be disclosed location once we are done) to celebrate our final class and Ravi's new bundle of joy :)

Group A: Jakadia Blog

2008-08-25T17:40:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone, please visit our project blog for information regarding the fantastically wonderful world of Jakadia...

jakadia.blogspot.com

Group C presents: Cyber Routes

2008-08-25T17:16:00.005-04:00

The goal of our project was to create a website/database of videos and blogs that house a library of real actual videos of certain running or training clips. The videos would be shot from the first person perspective and could be played at fullscreen and viewed while someone runs on a treadmill at home or at a gym. Shooting from the first person would be a great way to simulate the actual body movement while running/walking. Additionally, we could set up a blog feature that allows usees to rate or comment on the videos/training sessions and potentially upload their own.
Details of quality control and ownership were decided upon so that the produt remains the possession of the company and the overallquality of material is kept to a consistent standard.
As part of the project, we also came up with long-term goals for the project including marketing startegy plans. Advertising opportunities such as product placement with a ticker or greenscreen would be lucrative means of commercializing the product as well as cutomizing it for the individual user. There is also potential partnerships with travel, hiking, and adventure companies.

DEMO

Web Spot:
It would give the user access on the web and it is then outputted to a TV http://www.quanicomedia.com/neu/cyber_routes/index.html

TreadMill Spot:
Demo of video display on a treadmill

http://www.quanicomedia.com/neu/cyber_routes/treadmill.html

*The project management software Comindwork was used for project management and scheduling. Our website: http://CONVERGEC.comindwork.com/

Group B Final Project Statement (RealTime)

2008-08-25T17:14:00.003-04:00

We first started by discussing the RealTime concept and figuring out exactly what we wanted it to do and look like. We spent time going back and forth on menu options and different settings the user would possibly need. We started with the wireframes that Christine created and went from there to finalize the technical aspects of our plugin menu options. First was the main menu (i.e. "Log In," "Manage Account," "Collaborate," etc.). Then we developed secondary menus for each of these options. We had to consider that different software would require different options within the secondary menus. We chose to use ProTools and InDesign as our primary examples for the plugin. These two programs were chosen because they allowed us to demonstrate some of the different options that would be required. Once we finalized the menus, we needed to determine the best way of pitching this preliminary idea. We finally decided on creating a website from which the viewer would be abe to view "demonstrations" on how the plugin would be used.

RealTime "Pitch"

RealTime develops plugins that allow business professionals to collaborate on the same document in real time. Our plugins currently work for selected music, desktop publishing, print and web design, and film software. We have also recently expanded into drafting software by developing a plugin for AutoCAD.

RealTime understands the need for customers to be able to work together on documents. This ability should not be limited by one’s geographic location, nor should clumsy back and forth correspondences be required in order to get input on a document. This is why RealTime developed plugins for individual programs. What is simpler than opening up a document and, within seconds, having your colleague view it simultaneously as you make edits? You can also give control of the document to your colleague so he/she can edit while you watch. Last but not least, RealTime provides a chat function with text, audio and video capabilities so that you and your colleagues can easily correspond while collaborating on your document.

www.mtholyoke.edu/~susanlee/realtime

Final Project Details

2008-08-18T18:42:00.002-04:00

For next week -- our last class -- I look forward to the three group presentations.

In terms of deliverables, I would like to see a group project statement.

Each student should also email to me a description of their contributions to the final project, as well as an assessment of the group process. This will help me in evaluating your final grades.

A reminder that you should all be contributing to the class blog -- participation is an element of your final grade.

If you have any questions email me and I will try to get back to you between diapering!

Class is ON for Monday

2008-08-18T15:14:00.002-04:00

We will be having class on Monday, but I will need to leave a bit early due to my new parenting tasks for my five day old!

Realtime

2008-08-12T02:16:00.001-04:00

Here is an example of the Realtime homepage.

Big Kick #1

2008-08-11T19:19:00.001-04:00

Click to Play

The first episode of big kicks -- Ravi almost pops his hamstring.

Group C : Cyber Routes

2008-08-11T18:21:00.003-04:00

Below is a design comp of the home page of our running / training video product. There will be a web interface and custom interface for treadmils in gyms where available. Thid comp also helps understand the brand and the type of experiece for the user.

RealTime

2008-08-11T17:44:00.002-04:00

For our final presentation, we will be presenting the RealTime website, which will include an informative multimedia piece about how the RealTime plugin works. We will be posting a screen shot of the home page shortly. The website will function as a way for users to purchase and download the plugin as well as register for a username and account.

Group A: "Node"

2008-08-11T16:46:00.003-04:00

So we went ahead with the idea of a "user created world" where artists and storytellers collaborate to create content about a single, fictional world and bring the world to life through their own imagination.

For this portion of our project we constructed a graphical prototype of what the finished homepage and other pages may look like. This homepage has an area where the user can sign in. Buttons (that will be drop-down menus) for navigating the site and uploading art/stories (The Tavern is a chat room/message board, by the way). There is also a brief introduction story and links to recently added content and top/most popular content as well as a story of the day.

The layout for each page will be very similar and the map will always be on every page. The map currently in there is from Warcraft, but it serves as a good example of a fictional map that still leaves much to the imagination.

This second page is an example of a story page. On story pages, a marker on the map shows where the events in the story are taking place. On the left hand side are images and descriptions of characters and places in the story. These can be minimized or maximized by clicking on them.

Class is on for tonight (8/11/8)

2008-08-11T10:31:00.001-04:00

No baby as of Monday morning so class is on as usual tonight (no field trip).

If anything changes, I will update this post.

Looking for a house? Try Trulia Snapshot

2008-08-10T21:23:00.005-04:00

Trulia.com is an independent real estate search engine that aggregates real estate information from various real estate websites. More visually notable, however, is its Trulia Snapshot interactive map of houses for sale (pictured above). It lets you browse homes in a city in a picture slideshow-like fashion. You can also view results by price range with their graphical scroll/browse bar that shows you all the prices available.

I've only browsed through its features briefly, but if you take a look and find other features of note, please do share, especially if you have been in the market for a home before and can be a better judge of how well this website suits the needs of home buyers.

08/11/08 class update

2008-08-10T20:20:00.003-04:00

As of Sunday evening at 8 pm, my wife and I have not had our baby. So I can assume that we will either have class as usual or will have no class (if the baby comes in the next 24 hours). Regardless, we will not be doing our field trip tomorrow.

Please monitor the blog for any updates!

Online tutorials

2008-08-04T20:16:00.002-04:00

I found these older tutorials for the versions of iMovie and GarageBand that we have in the lab.

Assignment for 08/11/08

2008-08-04T20:12:00.003-04:00

1. Monitor the class blog to check on the status of our potential field trip.

2. Access the tutorials for Garageband and iMovie if working in those applications.

3. Check out blip and creative commons per this post.

4. Stay on schedule with final project -- complete one "node".

blip learning

2008-08-04T20:07:00.003-04:00

I find blip.tv to be a great place to post media (especially video).

And I just discovered this nicely organized learning center -- check it out!

Also -- check out Creative Commons.

Field trip?

2008-08-04T17:54:00.002-04:00

I'm pondering a field trip for all of us next week (08/11).

One possibility is to go over to meet with some of the folks at Harmonix, makers of the game phenom Rock Band.

But I'm open to other suggestions in the area. Usually I like taking classes over to the List at MIT, but they don't seem to have a show up right now.

Group B — Real Time

2008-08-04T17:13:00.007-04:00

Target Audience: Business Professionals and Students

We are creating a plug-in for individual software packages and suites. For example we are going to create one for Adobe products. There would be a separate one for Microsoft and also for Audio programs.

Once the user installed the plug-in they would create a username and password. The plug-in would be housed on a server. In order to access the file they would have to be logged in, inside of the program of choice. There will be a separate drop down menu once the plug in was installed displaying different options. The user would have to grant access to other users in order to file share and work in the real time environment. One option would be to display a window of all users that were logged into the real time server that were part of your group. The user would be able to send an invitation to be able to collaborate on the file. Another window would be history of changes to the file. The user can also have the option of audio and/or video chat.

Group C Wireframe - Virtual Training

2008-08-04T16:29:00.004-04:00

Below are two images for a wireframe simulating a landing page and an actual "video page" where the user would run along with the video simulation.

Here also is a sketch of the experience / interface with a treadmil from Robert.

Campus Technology 2008

2008-07-31T15:40:00.009-04:00

I have been at a conference all this week .. Campus Technology 2008
Here are a few different sites I found pretty cool that I thought I would share!

Jing

Kind of like the "Print Screen" option on a PC

The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere. You can capture the image and then send the link, etc.

Awesome Highlighter

Awesome Highligher lets you highlight text on web pages and then gives you a small link to the highlighted page. Show others the important part of an article, reduce confusion about a sent link, save time for the reader, and save the parts of the pages you find interesting.

Last is Tek Treks.. This lists a bunch of different sites..

http://tektrekker.pbwiki.com/Tools-List

Group C concepts

2008-07-28T17:58:00.007-04:00

Virtual training

So...we create a website of videos and blogs that house a library of
real actual videos of certain running/training clips. (i.e. the 12 mile
loop around the charles river, Acadia national park in Maine, Santa
Monica/Venie Beach boardwalk).

The videos would be shot from the first person perspective and could be
played at fullscreen and viewed while someone runs on a treadmill at
home or at a gym. Shooting from the first person would be a great way
to simulate the actual body movement while running/walking.

Additionally, we could set up a blog feature that allows usees to rate
or comment on the videos/training sessions and potentially upload their
own.

Travel Guide

The content can be sorted by age range (college kids, seniors), price range/budget, time of the year, group/individual trips, etc .

A system to estimate the cost of a trip based on location and duration of the trip

Interactive map
They recommend/rate hotels, locations/hot spots to visit...
Blog about experiences

Members take picture of places they've travelled to.
Can be linked to Flickr with pics taken during trips
The website can also provide links for travel deals, group trips, etc

Group A Ideas

2008-07-28T17:52:00.003-04:00

Idea #1: User-Created Fantasy World

My idea is for a constantly growing (fantasy or other) world created by user-submitted artwork and stories. It

will essentially be a database of art and stories all related and cross-linking with one another and taking place in the same fictional world.

Inspirations: Wikipedia.com, Elfwood.com, DeviantArt.com, Google Maps, the rise of user-submitted artwork and stories online and the popularity of social networking sites

Here are some of the main functions that can be performed on the site and a description of how they might work:

View the World Map

Users can view a world map and click on specific locations to go to a page with artwork and descriptions of that specific location. Here there are also links to short stories which take place in that area or refer to it. Also the page for each specific region will include lists of characters, landmarks, creatures and other things located within that area. All of these things will be linkable and have their own pages also with artwork and descriptions. The page for each region will also have links to connecting regions or allow you to go back to the world map view.

Artwork Submissions
Users can submit artwork for any character, landmark, creature, item or other thing that already exists in the world. This can be a drawing, painting, photo manipulation, 3-d rendering or other original artwork in an image format. Nothing Copyrighted will be accepted.

Story Submissions
Users can write short stories and upload them and then create links within their stories to already existing regions, creatures, items, and characters.

Adding to the World
In order to keep the world constantly growing, but for already existing characters and regions to have more depth, artwork and lore. New users cannot create new regions, characters, creatures or other things existing in the world until they have already submitted a certain amount of artwork or stories. The number of submissions a user has, how popular their submissions are, and how other users rated their submissions determines the amount of “points” they earn. Depending on the number of points they have, the user can then create a certain number of new regions, characters and creatures. The idea is that after contributing to the already existing world, users will be able to continue expanding the world and then newer users will add artwork and stories further adding to those. The point restrictions for adding new content will be fairly lenient to allow for lots of user creativity.

Adding a New Region to the Map
When a user has earned enough points he can then add a new region to the map. When creating a new region he can then name the region, select what color it will appear on the map and give a description of the vegetation, climate, inhabitants and more.

Ongoing Story
There will also be an ongoing main story that users will be able to continue on to. Possibly only users that already have positive-rated story submissions can contribute to this. There should also be a restriction to how long each addition to the story has to be. The ongoing story will also take place in the user-created world and link to related stories, places and things that already exist in the world.

Idea #2: Pass the Peace

Concept Name
Pass the Peace (or Pass the Piece, something cheesy like that)

Background
The inspiration for this idea comes from a TV commercial for a laptop where it showed a series of clips of a person, in a unique location, passing a laptop from the left of the screen to the right. It was edited in such a way to give the appearance that the laptop was being passed from person to person as if there were no physical or time boundaries. The process for this idea draws from the growing popularity of user-generated content, in this case, videos such as on Youtube and other public video-sharing sites. The tools to manipulate these pieces of user-generated video can be online video editors such as JumpCut.

Database of Action-Oriented Videos
In order to allow users to generate their own videos, and edit meaningful sequences of clips to convey a desired message, Pass the Piece will ask users with ideas to make a public call for submissions based on their requirements. For example, if we wanted to create a video of people passing a peace sign around the world (to produce the aforementioned illusion), we would then use Pass the Piece to articulate our requirements for how long clips should be, what the actors should do, and any other relevant instructions. Once the call is made public (and it could also be a private call to a closed group), other users can follow the instructions to replicate their own version or interpretation. There would also be a tagging or alert mechanism to flag these videos to this specific call for submissions.

In addition to making public calls for content submission, the videos themselves can also be public and be available for any other user to sequence into their own version (or vision) of the original message. This can also be a method for "crowdsourcing" creativity in generating the best video sequence among all the available clips.

Capacity for Social Networking
Creating these videos can also be a means for connecting with others who share similar values to you. For example, if a family wants to portray an important tradition they have passed from generation to generation, Pass the Piece allows you to share the activity with relatives who also engage in the same traditions. There does not necessarily have to be an "ending" to these videos but rather a continuous sequence of videos as time goes on. You can also discover and share traditions, beliefs, and causes, both new and old, with others not related to you.

Project Briefs

2008-07-28T17:17:00.003-04:00

Here are Group B's project briefs:

Real Time

The plug in that I have come up with is called "Real Time." This would allow two or more people to work on the same project at the same time. The changes would be made on all of the users files instantly. This would eliminate the hassles of having to send the files back and forth or dealing with the confusion of which file is the "newest." The users could purchase this plugin for whichever graphics, desktop publishing , or audio program they wished to use it for. Once installed the user could access it by going to there settings or from the drop down menu. Also the plugin has an audio and video chat feature. If the user had a camera and/or mic on there computer they could use this feature by changing there settings. They always have access to a chat window where they can communicate with each other.

Example 1: Two producers collaborate on a track. One lives in Portugal the other in Boston. They could work together on Real Time with out sending the files back and forth. Changes would be made instantly to both of there projects.

Example 2: A woman lives in New York and is working on a 400 page catalog with someone in California. They could work together on different parts of the same document at once in Real Time.

RealAdvising
A 3D Virtual Academic Advising World

Introduction

Academic advising within higher education has traditionally consisted of face-to-face meetings between students and advisors. Many advising philosophies still subscribe to face-to-face interaction as a way to establish a relationship with students and thereby assist in their success. What happens when in-person interactions are no longer possible? Not only are on-line academic programs abundant today, but universities have even outsourced some of their academic advising. The advisor and student may not even be on the same campus anymore or even in the same country for that matter.

With the advent of technology, email quickly became a predominant communication method between advisors and students. However, email does not offer enough to allow for an effective relationship between advisor and student. A “personal,” real-time environment is required.

Description

Website will function as an academic advising center. Students will be able to access information and resources related to academic advising. Students will also visit the website if they want to meet with their advisor or if they are requested to attend a group meeting. Advisors and students will be able to interact in a 3D virtual environment on an individual and/or group basis. Students will be able to “enter” an Advisor’s office for an individual meeting. For group meetings, an amphitheatre-like setting is provided.

Content for class

2008-07-28T12:41:00.003-04:00

Since the birth of our daughter Lucy, my wife and I have blogged about her development and her interaction with the world.

We really like keeping a blog about her so that friends and family who do not see us on a regular basis can still feel connected.

The site is called "Quick, before she sours" This is in reference to her ability to go from perfectly happy to completely miserable in 2 seconds flat.

Event: Can Creativity Be Crowdsourced?

2008-07-25T13:44:00.003-04:00

Berkman Center for Internet and Society is hosting a luncheon and live webcast (Can Creativity Be Crowdsourced?) on Tuesday to explore two new social networks: The Pool and ThoughtMesh, "designed to help collaborators and critics find and evaluate each other. Unlike existing publishing systems such as blogs and wikis, these networks aim to give ordinary users a 'big picture' as well, and include graphical and lexical tools that can help answer such questions as how networked creativity is enhanced or hurt by licensing choices, the number of contributors, and project lifespan."

Source and event details: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2008/07/ippolito

I won't be able to attend, but if anyone else in the class does, please share any thoughts or takeaways on this post!

Notes on final project

2008-07-21T20:32:00.001-04:00

Group C:
Matt
Isioma
Robert

Group B:
Susan
Christine
Manussawee

Group A:
David
Karen
Jeremy

August 25 -- Present Projects
August 18 -- Production. (user-testing).
August 11 -- Deliverable milestone -- one "node".
August 4 -- Finalize proof of concept. Honing concept; demographic research. Technical considerations. Production timetable.
July 28 -- Present at least 2 concepts (on blog); in class.
Storyboards and "brief". Brainstorm/research.
July 21 -- Establish Groups

Assignment for 07/28/08

2008-07-21T20:30:00.001-04:00

1. Shoot some video to bring into class (a minute or so).

2. Read Scoble post on Social Media.

3. Prep final project concepts for presentation.

Project planning tools

2008-07-21T19:27:00.002-04:00

Some of the tools mentioned in class as means of facilitating work on your group project:

-- Base Camp
-- Drop Box
-- Google Groups
-- Google Sites

Any others? Leave in comments (with links) please!

Scoble on Social Media

2008-07-21T12:16:00.004-04:00

I thought this post by Robert Scoble presents a good framework for considering Social Media vs. "Old Media". What do you think? What new developments have occurred since this was posted over a year ago?

Twitter and the Election

2008-07-21T11:52:00.002-04:00

Along the lines of what we talked about last year, an article in the NYTimes about the impact of Twitter (and like technologies) on politics.

A curious obsession with chips

2008-07-14T19:19:00.008-04:00

I didn't have much time to think of a topic, but I've been obsessed with Doritos all day. The company came up with a way to involve the consumer in their advertising which is kind of cool. I just think it's part of a continuing trend which shows greater costumer involvement in product design/marketing. I'll try to find other recent examples later.
It's my first attempt at blogging :) Be merciful...

Doritos (as almost everyone knows) is a brand of flavored tortilla chips. The brand has existed for over 40 yrs and they have gone through a variety of marketing/brand campaigns over the years. Their marketing campaigns have included celebrities and icons. However, my favorite campaign mode centered around the Superbowl. The Superbowl is a marvelous advertising opportunity and companies pay millions to run a 30 second ad because they know it will be viewed by the millions of fans watching the Superbowl. Doritos took it one step further by having its ad created by the fans themselves.

Doritos started the Crash the Super Bowl competition in 2006, allowing internet users to submit their own Doritos commercial to the Crash the Super Bowl website where a winner was chosen by judges and internet voters. Crash the Super Bowl 2 in 2007 allowed unknown musical artists to submit their music to the contest website where it was voted upon in a series of voting rounds until a winner was chosen. The winner's music was featured in a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl and received a recording contract.

I reckon most of the world will have part-time jobs in advertising in the future...

Manussawee

2008-07-14T18:57:00.000-04:00

Smartphone

A phone is basically a thing that is uesd for calling, but that is not the only thing a phone can be nowaday. Here are some examples.

Nokia Nseries

Nokia Nseries is a product family consisting of multimedia smartphones. These are convergence mobile devices supporting digital multimedia services such as music playback, video capture, photograhy, mobile gaming and Internet services. All Nseries devices support at least one high-speed wireless technology, such as 3G, HSDPA, or Wireless LAN.

The Nokia Nseries is aimed at users looking to pack as many features as possible into one device. The better-than-average cameras often found on Nseries devices are one such example, as are the video and music playback and photo viewing capabilities of these devices, which resemble those of standalone portable media devices. From recent devices launched, GPS feature, MP3 player and WLAN functionality also have being in all devices.

This is an example of the latest Nokia Nseries. Nokia N96

There are also internet services from Nokia that allow you to share photos with friends, download music, maps, videos, widgets and games safely to your phone and access third-party services like Yahoo's Flickr photo site called Ovi and MOSH

I have an article from New York Times that shows another form of ability that smartphone can do. It is used for finding a parking spot in San Francisco.

Hulu.com

2008-07-14T16:10:00.012-04:00

This site is a conglomerate from entertainment groups such as NBC, Fox, MGM, and News Corp. Here you can watch thousands of videos (past and present), edit the videos to certain segments within the video if you so choose, and send to a friend with a unique URL.

Hulu has combined Movies, Televison, and other video all into one location that shifts and alters the original content. These networks have brilliantly re-purposed their content and created a new experience and resource online

Here is an example where you can send an edited link of the video to anyone you wish.
http://www.hulu.com/embed/XenPg5P4frdUaqr6cF5KaA/427/566

or.... embed the edited video into a web page or blog like this.

Here is a screen grab of the editing tool from Hulu's site where I edited an episode of "The Simpsons" from Twentieth Century Fox.

In comparison, I'd like to acknowledge that other sites such as RedLasso and YouTube offer online editing of video clips and vasts amounts of user generated content that you can share or embed into web pages respectively, but these companies have been or are still involved with serious legal and copyright issues. (RedLasso on reuters and the YouTube/Viacom battle which can be seen all over the place.)

Both of these sites still are in the process of figuring out a business model involving issues such as advertising, rightfully compensating artists/creators, and copyright. In fact, Hulu was created in response to Viacom accusing YouTube of a “brazen disregard” for the law (digital millenium copyright I believe).

I think these topics are quite relevant and will always be on close watch. As public creators we must keep these topics in mind when dealing with new technologies, intellectual properties, and privacy rights.

Nine Inch Nails: fan remix site

2008-07-14T13:49:00.003-04:00

Nine Inch Nails (band) has always released albums, followed by remix albums that are remixed by other famous artists. For the last two records, they have come up with a different concept. They let their fans download the the multitrack audio files in RAW format, so they can make their own remixes in Garageband, Ableton Live, or any other audio editor.

Through the remix.nin.com site, you can upload the remixes, and listen to other people's remixes, and get rated by other fans. Some remixes were hand picked by the band to be on their official remix album.

Also, they recently released an instrumental album called Ghosts, which they are encouraging fans make their own music videos for and upload to youtube for an online filmfest of sorts.

One last thing that is kinda cool. Their last album the released for completely free through their website. They have a interesting way to show how many downloads came from what parts of the world via google earth.

What are you doing?

2008-07-14T13:36:00.003-04:00

Twitter.com is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows you to stay connected with your friends and family via phone, IM, their twitter page, the twitter mobile site and more. Twitter believes that their service will help people stay up-to-date with each other's day-to-day lives by answering the question, "what are you doing?" using 140 characters or less (called a "tweet"). Your answer may be as simple as "I'm doing my homework right now," and you wouldn't normally send someone an email just to let them know that. However, "real life happens between blog posts and emails," and twitter thinks that sharing all of those little things that happen will help keep people feeling connected and like a part of each other's lives.

Threadless.com, have your users do all the work

2008-07-14T12:20:00.004-04:00

Threadless.com sells cool t-shirts. Where it gets interesting is how they do it.

The company enlists users (they call it their community) to submit shirt designs online. Designers upload their designs to the website, where visitors and members of the community vote on them. Usually, the top 10 vote-getters are printed and sold online.

A winning design receives $2,000 in cash, as well as an additional $500 for every reprint.

This is a great example of "crowd-sourcing." By creating its community, Threadless.com has achieved a passionate fan-base, that also doubles as its customer base.

VIDEO JOURNALISM

2008-07-14T11:03:00.002-04:00

NOTIBREVE News Without Borders

This website offers journalist and journalism students the opportunity to share their news works in video form accompanied by written articles. The site is interactive; journalist can get feedback by being rated with stars by members of the site. Notibreve's goal is to create better journalist and great informative content from all over the world. Students have also the opportunity to connect with employers, or get pay for their stories.

Microsoft Surface & Touchscreen Technology

2008-07-13T19:29:00.004-04:00

Touch screen technology continues to become more and more advanced and Microsoft has come up with some very unique ways of utilizing it. It will be very interesting when these tabletop computers begin to arrive in bars and restaurants. Watch the videos at Microsoft Surface's official site to get an idea of some more of the possibilities, it is very exciting!

Microsoft is also incorporating multi-touch technology in with their next operating system, Windows 7. I personally do not see a reason for a touch screen on a home PC that already has a mouse and keyboard. It seems quite interesting and is definitely a cool technology, but other than being "neat," the practical uses for home users does not seem apparent to me. The tabletop/surface version however, certainly shows much more apparent uses. Certainly, touch technology will be a large part of future computing and it will be exciting to watch it continue to emerge and develop.

We Tell Stories

2008-07-09T19:58:00.005-04:00

Here is another example, posted by itself on request. We Tell Stories uses Google maps to map out the plot of stories, in this case, Charles Cummings's The 21 Steps. Along the way, the map also marks points of interest that are referenced in the plot such as a photograph of a statue that the protagonist mentions seeing on his walk. An interesting new and interactive way to read stories!

Christine's Examples of Convergence

2008-07-09T00:16:00.036-04:00

Here are some examples of convergence that I have found on college and university websites.

My first example is Boston College. What I would like to point out in particular is Agora Services. This is similar to Northeastern's Blackboard site. If you notice across the top of this page students, faculty, and staff have access to a few different things. There is access to voicemail and webmail. There is a link to webcams with live video 24 hours a day on certain parts of the campus. There is also a link to Myfiles, which is used to store and share files on a secure server. There is also a log in area if the user has an account. Here online billing, course registration, online course evaluations (just to name a few) can be accessed.

My next example is Rockhurst University which is located in Kansas City, Missouri. Here prospective students and parents can view student and faculty blogs with real stories about the school and day to day life on campus. On this page there are student and faculty pictures with a link to their bio and blog. The also use blogspot!

My last example is Marquette University which is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On the Prospective Undergraduate Students page there is the use of flash across the top of the page. Right below the flash is a section called Choose your Major. Here students can take an online quiz that will help them decide what to major in at the school. Right next to this is Live at Marquette. Students can take a virtual tour of parts of the campus. Next to this is Get Involved. This is a video on how to get involved on campus.

Planning a visit to Marquette? They offer virtual tours, pictorials, and view books. You may even schedule a tour. Marquette also offers something different...Podcasts. There is an option to download tours on an ipod and use as a guided tour on campus at any time desired. http://www.marquette.edu/student/ugrad/onlinetours.shtml

These are just a few examples among many other colleges and universitys that use convergence on there sites.

Karen's examples of convergence

2008-07-08T21:10:00.011-04:00

I have 4.5 examples of convergence I'd like to share in this post. In terms of which one I'll present, I'm willing to take suggestions in the comments area!

Graffiti in public spaces and time-lapse animation. "MUTO" is a short film (watch it on Vimeo) of graffiti creatures growing and crawling around public spaces in Buenos Aires. I don't know the details of how it was created but would image that it is from video stills or many individual snapshots pieced together with added sound effects. It must have taken a lot of time in the physical world with the actual drawing of the graffiti as well as editing.

Phone, speech recognition, voice-to-text transcription, email, text messages and more. Jott (www.jott.com) allows callers to dial into a toll free number and record voice messages that are transcribed into text emails and/or text messages which can then be sent to your own email inbox or passed along to other friends. I have limited experience with using this to capture my "notes to self" but Jott appears to be consistently adding new features such as reminders and to-do lists. Try it out for yourself!

Flickr photos as a database for viewing photos in an interactive and 3D way. One example of this is Tag Galaxy (www.taggalaxy.de) which is a Flash based website that allows you to enter a tag and see other related tags associated with your search. You can then view each tag as a 3D cloud (or "planet" in this case) of photos. My second example is Photosynth (start watching the video at about 2 minutes and 45 seconds) which is a new software from Microsoft Live Labs that also feeds from Flickr photos and creates a virtual 3D map of, well, anything that people from all over the world have taken hundreds and hundreds of photos of. It makes me wonder if the new wave of tourism will be virtual, seeing as this 3D representation captures detail even at a greater detail than if you were to be there in person.

Nintendo Wii, Johnny Lee, open source, and Youtube. While the hacking of the Wii remote itself is very cool (for things like creating an interactive whiteboard or 3D display screen), what is equally awe-inspiring is Johnny Lee's open source approach and use of Youtube to build an audience and empower them to recreate the technology hack themselves.

That's all I can think of for now. Please leave comments on which example you'd like to see and discuss in class. Thanks!

Assignment for July 14

2008-07-08T15:26:00.002-04:00

1. Post an example on the class blog of something that you think demonstrates the convergence of media. Be prepared to present your example to the class (which means getting up, speaking and demo-ing for 5-10 minutes).

07/07/08 notes

2008-07-07T20:13:00.000-04:00

Here are the "raw notes" from today's class:

-------------------------------
What is convergence?
Bringing together two or more kinds of media

Different mediums -- (delivery mechanism)

Why? Fluidity -- allowing more participants

1. Device dependent -- content consumption
2. Back end -- industry -- content distribution
3. Narrative?

"Push" technologies
Subscription model
Competition

Spaces -- Xbox, wii

Gaming

Storytelling?
--------------------------

Invisible Ideas

2008-07-07T19:37:00.000-04:00

Here is a link to the Invisible Ideas PDA project from the 2003 Boston Cyberarts Festival. Crank the subwoofer for Donald Burgy's contributions!

Class blog

2008-07-07T13:44:00.001-04:00

This is the blog for Convergence Creation.