Digital Media

Dr. Jim Rowan

ITEC 2110

Open Book Question!

• What is one book that is meant to be read in a non-linear fashion?

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 (and later download)– word files (.doc )– powerpoint files (.ppt)– pdf files (.pdf)– audio files (.au .mpg & others; but not aiff)– video files (.mov & others)– image files (.jpg .png & others)

On the wiki…

• You can display– Text (just type into the edit window)– image files (.jpg .png & others)

• shortFormatHelp– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet

• longerFormatHelp– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page

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

• using Film/Video? – you have moving images and sound... does the

sound emphasize the moving image… – or the other way around?

• 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...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek

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!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_psychology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Norman

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 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 allow corrections immediately 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?

• http://www.archive.org/index.php

• 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 usage to be formed…

• Consider the history of Film...– At first there was no sound– then the sound was performed– then recorded sound was played with the film

• With time… film developed its own unique formsHitchcock told the story visually, long sweeping scenesTarrentino accents the violence with rapid, quick cuts

New Media usage 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

So…What is Multimedia?

• A mix of audio, film, graphics– these each address different senses

• We are just beginning to understand what the possibilities are...

• We are just beginning to understand how to best build 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 hypermedia 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– This is my academic field– Taught here as ITEC 4130

• There are standard ways to interact with computer-based media– buttons– sliders– radio buttons– check boxes– pull-down menus– pop-up menus

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 also 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 email 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

• Providing new uses and new interactions

• This class is about media and how it works

Questions?