Virtual Worlds and Gaming

              When sitting down and trying to think about a concept that I would find interesting to research that has to do with New Media I was considering all my options. I started to think about things that make a difference in my life and things that I tend to be passionate about. Among those topics I chose to do my research on the violent media and gaming aspect of evolution of new media. Video games and the like have made evolutionary steps to provide a media experience that captures its audience. As the time progressed so did the graphical nature and the capabilities of the games/consoles themselves. They can be associated with learning; they can be stress relievers and/or just fun in general. One thing that people need to accept that in this world of evolutionary technology is the video games (or type of) are starting to play a major part in child/teenagers up to self sufficient adults lives.

             One thing that really stood out to me when wanting to do a research project on this is the primary fact that violent media and video games get accused of corrupting the human mind and deterring them onto a path of violence. I want to show that violent media is not responsible for the mass violence that is done by these teenagers that cause such trauma around the world. Restricting the use or placing bans on this type of media is not a solution but an excuse to avoid the real problem here.

Evolution of Video Game Consoles up to 1977

Home consoles up to Nintendo's first consoles!

This is a timeline on how the home video game consoles changed or didn't change up to when Nintendo first emerged into the market.

On a side note, I tried to embed it but it failed miserably ha! 

What is Being Human in the Digital Era?

What is being human in the digital era? 

That is an easy question to answer! We have skin and need water to survive and digital media does not. 

Man drinking water to re-hydrate.

Media device not taking in water.

Well if only it was that simple. Marshall McLuhan said "...Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without the knowledge of the way media work as environments. All media are extensions of some human faculty - psychic or physical." This is something that he was quoted in 1967. Is this still relative to the nature of today's media boom? In a way yes it is; it is very relevant. First we need to understand the psychological nature of media and how it affects us on a chemical level. Does this even happen? To an extent it does affect us. However, with that being said it doesn't physically change us. We, as a human being, are influence by things which are around us. The media itself is always around us. Whether the physical media such as a news report give us bad news about a company that we looked up was stealing our money or a tablet we use to find out that information is still the same in theory. Hearing bad news affects us on a chemical level as it changes our chemical balance of neurons to induce sadness. In this case absolutely it does affect us on a psychic level. McLuhan was correct then as much as he is now. The situation that we come across will determine how we are affected by it.

McLuhan says, "The medium is the message" by which he means it is how information is presented as opposed to what the message actually is. Keeping this relevant to today's digital age; we as humans are affected by all that we see and hear in this current world. We experience all of this via a plethora of mediums but at the same time we have gained a certain technological intelligence in which we choose how we display this message. By choosing how we get the message across we can affect the overall population on a much greater scale. What does this mean in regards to being human in a digital age? Since we are a part of this technological boom we ARE affected at physical level by all of this.  We help contribute to this advance in technology so much so that we are walking a fine line between staying a physical form to being a digital self. What I mean by this is that the more we "dial in" or "plug in" we start to lose our concept on what is common to reality because all we know is media. Being human in this age doesn't necessarily have to be like that. If we can maintain that break between those two versions of ourselves we can progress to a level that is unrivaled. We are all subject to the media around us but the trick is to know when to cut the cord to keep that distinction.

I found this very intriguing. You may as well.

Bill Buxton, Being human in a digital world.

http://dmcc.acm.org/pres/?query=/dmcc///confdata/chi2008/plenary/2008-04-10_16h53

Critique of a Public Space - Crossgates Mall

This is a picture of the front Crossgates mall

Crossgates mall is one of the biggest malls in the Capital Region of NY and very popular for the area. There is other malls in the Area such as Latham Square, Colonie Center and Clifton Park Center but Crossgates seems to the centralized being that it is in Albany. 

http://www.shopcrossgates.com/index.php?page=directory-map

The above link can actually tell you what the reference codes are on the floor plan above

Crossgates' basic setup is simple yet elegant. It is design to be open to allow for visual stimulation when looking around to decide where to shop or just take the guided tour that besets you. Like all malls there are a plethora of shops to navigate to. The mall itself has 2 floors and is setup in an east to west type fashion.  The top of the 2 images above is located near the movie theater. The graphic design that particular wing is  to allow for gazing over the railing and seeing what is playing in the movies along with the times also to help draw focus to the tiling on the floor. The area above the ticket booths is very large and open to allow all of that to happen. 

The above image is displays an escalator which is located in 3 spots within the mall, east wing, west wing and middle of the mall near the food court. There are also steps in between each of the escalators to help with quicker travel instead of walking to a escalator to get up. In the middle near the middle escalator there is also an elevator for "lazy people" ;-) and handicapped individuals. Though escalators can be consider just as lazy, I suppose it would be a case to case basis. 

Located throughout the mall located with the busy walking areas are directories that can provider an information map for people that need to find out where they need to go. It also can create a mental map for individuals that are familiar with the mall itself. very helpful

Lastly, throughout the mall are advertisements posted on the back of the above directories, hanging in the middle area suspended for everyone including both floors. The signage is big enough to catch the eye of anyone scanning the area for pleasantries. The store signage is all flashy and eye catching but still sticks to the orientation of the brand label of that particular store IE Old Navy as seen in this picture. There are signs throughout the whole mall indicating where to go if you are lost, have issues, need to report something stolen, etc. In most cases the mall itself has almost everything covered. As far as what could be done differently design wise is the middle booths on the bottom floor. Sometimes there are multiples of the same booth throughout the mall and can be a bit obnoxious when passing them. There can be so many center booths that it can almost make the customers feel overwhelmed and feel pressed to buy something. When a customer goes to the mall they are there for an experience whether it's just to walk about and take in the surroundings or just to get to a store and get out. They do not need to be overwhelm with all the information available. The point of information design is to make it very plausible for a customer to enjoy their experience at Crossgates mall.

Secondary Design Tool

In information we need to utilize many tools to be successful and maintain the interest of the party we are doing the project for. These tools can vary from something very simple like the SQVID tool that I previously talked about to some version of a concept map. Concept maps in whole can allow someone to help generate ideas, easily manipulate complex structures such as in-depth websites, help combine older ideas with newer ones, as well as help walk someone through the understanding of the main concept and whats stems from it.

Above is an example of a negotiation concept and its inner workings. The map allows you to see things clearly without losing the key point behind each stem or leaf. Something like this is similar to a stem and leaf plot from Math. The only issue that I see with something like this is that you do not want the information as a whole to overpower the main thought by having or expressing too much information. The whole purpose of information design is to make it presentable and understandable to the client. Concepts are a great tool to help to do that.

As far as using this in a blog/my blog, it's implication is actually built in to the design tool. You as the user choose how to setup the blog and rearrange it according to how you like it and how you think people will like it. This in turn in a concept map at it's very base level. This kind of design tool is very helpful. Anyone remember when stuff like this didn't even exist? Have fun explaining that information to someone without it ;-)

Ref.
http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/activities/conceptmap_a.htm

Graphic Tools and Dan Roam

http://vimeo.com/38273833

The above link is a narration of seeing with our eyes closed by Dan Roam. In this presentation he talks about the SQVID tool in a matter of practical application. For example, he uses a scenario of being on a beach on a tropical island and running into a local with a local fruit in their hand. You try the fruit and then you want to thank the local but have no common language. So, he wants to share his favorite fruit (apple) with the local. So using the tool, he goes about describing this apple to the local.

This in turn is a great way to elaborate an idea with someone that is unfamiliar with it or for instance you are doing a presentation and want to define your idea using this tool. Now applying this to my blog in theory would be a little more difficult but as long as the presentation is within the parameters of the tool it will work. I am not fluent with blogging as it is not my forte but I am always willing to try to make things easier to understand and the layout more applicable.

Design Process

Are there any steps you would add to the process? 

For a project to be successful you need to start somewhere and that somewhere is ground zero. There is a basic set of steps that need to be assessed before you can start. As the workbook states, you need to outline what the process is, what kind of team members you will need for the project, project leads aka point people, and a timeline for when the project needs to be completed. Aside from those aspects, for Information design I personally do not believe you would need to add anything as you have covered your primary bases. You will need to account for setbacks maybe such as a recovery team to help chip in when something goes south or is lagging behind. This can be accounted for within the timeline. 

How do you think the process can be improved?  

This is not so much as an improvement as much as an addition. As the project being discussed, costs and manpower will also need to be accounted for. For instance, if someone is sick one day can someone else pick up that designers slack which is mentioned under planning for the long run within the design workbook. Constant updates need to be well available to all members of the team. If one team is ahead of schedule can we reassign them to a different portion of the project? Will they need training before hand? This also needs to be accounted for.

What do you believe to be the most important step of the process?

I believe that the most important part of any project is the timeline and accounting for fluctuations in the proposed schedule. The timeline will always fluctuate depends on circumstances and this always needs and should be updated and available to team members. Testing out the project  whether through a database, a well constructed blueprint, or some type of funnel design such as the one for "It's all good" within the Information Design Workbook (p. 72.) is also essential as we need to know if the project can function in the real world. As long as everyone is working at the same pace everything can go by smoothly.

What this really comes down to what the client wants, what the client feels needs to be added or changed, and if they are happy. No matter how good you might think the project may be, if the client doesn't like it, it may as well be garbage. They are the ones buying the product (when I say product I mean the completed Design Project). A lot of what goes into play as far as my particular interest in this field would be a Graphic designer. So ensuring the graphical portion of this information display i.e. fonts, signs, mapping, etc. would be my primary concern.