Tool for Visualization Methods

I came across this tool from visual-literacy.org that outlines in a table different visualization methods, organized by the type of information to be communicated. While it may contain more types of graphs, charts, and other visual aids than I ever thought possible, it is interesting to see the variety of ways that content can be presented.

Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

It can be a good catalyst for designers looking for a new or different way to pitch an idea, and a great reminder to all of us on the importance of visuals in presentations.

Storyboarding

Part of my role in our project is to develop storyboards, and I was curious as to how they are done in a corporate setting. My experience so far has been the hand-drawn sheets from 770, so I wanted to try a different model. Erica was able to share a template from her work that we used as a group. It was interesting to use this storyboarding model (example below) and to get a sense of one of the versions that are used in corporate settings.



It seems like storyboarding is a particular task at each company, and that there is not a standard template that can be taught. It has been useful, though, to try to use a model for our project.

Tools of the Trade

For our project, we explored several different applications as possible tools for our delivery system. We compared Moodle, Drupal, and Wordpress. One of the byproducts of the web 2.0 movement is the availability of many user-friendly open-source products. But while in this class, and in others, students are using new tools for instruction, companies seem to be slower to come around.

I recently began interviewing for internships, and the two applications that seem to be a necessity are Dreamweaver and Captivate. Initially, I was surprised that more tools weren't being used or explored, but after some of the technical challenges I have encountered this semester (in 865) as a result of using newer tools, I can understand why companies are slower to adapt new technologies. In 865, we designed an e-learning project to be built in Rapid Intake, and found later that there were a number of problems with the tool. We have the luxury as students to be able to explore and try new things, but in a corporate setting that wouldn't work.

I wonder, then, who the early adapters are for new technologies, especially rapid e-learning development tools like Rapid Intake and Udutu.com.

Getting Web 2.0 With It

After a night off from class, a group meeting, and margaritas, it seems like our group project is well underway. But while it is exciting to have identified roles and deliverables, a lot of challenges still remain.

One of the big advantages of the web 2.0 wave is that a lot of tools and templates exist that can really cut development time. The challenge with using these templates is gauging how well they can be customized to meet your client's needs. Our client would like a multi-user blog that can be password protected. He is also looking for other features, such as a home page that shows the latest posts.

Right now, we are trying to compare a few applications to see which would best meet the organization's needs. We are looking at Moodle, Drupal, and Wordpress's Multi-user blog template. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. If we were building a tool from scratch, we would design it to meet the client's needs - but it would take a lot longer than six weeks to build! By using a template, we can meet most of his needs in a relatively short time, but we sacrifice some control over the final product. It's an interesting consideration for designers in the Web 2.0 era.

Empathy

Web 2.0 Presentation - Second Life

For my web 2.0 technology presentation, I wanted to explore the much talked about world of Second Life. While everything with my first life is going alright, I was curious about this virtual world in which people can do pretty much anything they can do in everyday life.

Since I am not a gamer and frankly had some trouble getting off orientation island (though I finally succeeded!), my presentation may be less than I was expecting. I thought perhaps I'd have a house on an island that I could show you, but instead I still can't even pick a hair color I like. So I thought I'd share some links to resources so you all can explore on your own.

Second Life - Come here to create an avatar, learn how to chat & move objects, and start your second life!
http://secondlife.com/

Second Life Education Wiki - Resources for educators in Second Life, including other schools, universities, & programs that use SL
http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki

Sloodle - a project that integrates Second Life with Moodle courses (like iLearn!)
http://sloodle.com/

Visuals and Learning

During last week's exercise in class about telling a story visually, it was interesting to hear all the different stories people wrote from the same images. It raised questions for me about how much we bring to our learning based on our own experiences. Given that, the readings for this week were useful - to have a vocabulary for discussing graphics and a beginning understanding of how to best use them in instruction.

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Week 5: "A Whole New Mind"

In class I shared that I was a bit skeptical of Pink's predictions of how values will change in society, especially given how slow some of our biggest and most influential institutions change. However, I think that his categories of "right-brain directed" thinking (design, story, etc) and activities to develop these skills are valuable to instructional designers. Because these elements do really affect people, they are great to integrate into instructional design because they can provide context and meaning for many lessons. Creativity, empathy, and big-picture thinking are essential qualities for designers and educators to nurture.

When Things Go Wrong

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Originally uploaded by kriskeimig.

Something is about to happen to that man's poor "whole mind" (oh, this is totally fake. in case you were concerned.)

Week 4: Design Disaster

Meet my toaster. It seems innocent enough, useful even, given the quantity of English muffins that I eat. But there is a major design flaw - the top (see right) is made of a material that conducts heat. The way I imagine that people learn this is either by a) touching it and getting burned (ouch!), or b) leaving the package of English muffins on top of the toaster and having the plastic bag melt to the top (also, see right).

Week 3: History of Instructional Design

The presentations in class of the history of instructional design were a helpful review of a lot of the theories we learned in 800 and how they relate to modern instructional systems design. It was particularly useful to go over the various intructional theories, such as Bruner's and Gagne's, to see the relationships between their cognitive studies and the applications or practices that developed out of them.

The relationship between cognitive understanding and good design is also reinforced in The Design of Everyday Things. It is notable that the author does not have a background in design, but rather in cognitive psychology. It raises questions for me about why designers and prodcut developers don't receive more training in human cognition and usability!

Week 2: Web 2.0 - Am I Over It?

The presentation in class was interesting and informative for me and provided some information beyond the basics that I am familiar with regarding the technologies discussed.

More broadly, I am starting to develop mixed feelings on the web 2.0 movement, particularly given the breadth of start ups that are getting venture capital to launch web 2.0 sites.

On the one hand, it is exciting for users to be so engaged in the content of a tool. Web 2.0 technologies allow opportunities for users to connect to one another and to create. It is possible for someone to write a radio show, create it in garageband, and post it on itunes for anyone to hear, all before cocktails on a Saturday afternoon. The creative possibilities of user-generated content are exciting.

On the other hand, do I really need to sign up for another network of "friends" in order to try out a tool that I may or may not ever use? And where are the SMEs? These are the two main questions that have been coming up for me a lot lately. For example, I have accounts with friendster, orkut, classmates, linkedin, geni, and myspace. I only use the myspace account, and simply because of the sheer numbers of people that are on it, otherwise I don't really care for it. The social network aspect of web 2.0 is getting a bit tired. Every new tool seems to require you to create a whole new profile and new community, which is annoying unless perhaps you have multiple personalities. It's really just a way for the Web 2.0 company to get you to create their user base. Can't they somehow form partnerships or something?

And in regards to quality and SMEs, the prevalence of user-generated content raises the question of how good the stuff is that we're actually consuming. For example, YouTube is a great application theoretically, and is certainly upsetting mainstream media in some ways. However, look at the top 100 videos. What is valuable or thought-provoking about nearly-nude adolescent girls lip-synching or drunk people falling over or monkeys sniffing their butts? It reminds of the book "Hello, I'm Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity" by Niedzviecki. He suggests that in a culture in which one can get tattooed and pierced in the local mall and reality TV has taken over and everyone really does have their 15 minutes of fame, individuality and creativity are becoming extinct. (Like the culture the book analyzes, the book is totally average - I wouldn't recommend it). I just think it's worth asking if Web 2.0 technologies are creating more quantity than they ever could quality. And maybe it doesn't matter, except that just as tv networks make tons in advertising for reality shows that are cheap and easy to produce, Web 2.0 companies are making a profit by exploiting people's drives to be creative and special and famous.

Week 1 - Thoughts turned-around

The visual exercise that we did in class illustrated for me some of the complexity of interface design. The thing that stood out the most is the role that connotation, for lack of a better term, played in our interpretation of a visual clue. For example, in the "turnaround" drawings, our group seemed to get the action that was being communicated, but because one of the drawings was of a dancer (or more accurately, a stick figure with skirt - my drawing skills are not the best), the action was interpreted to be twirling instead.

This shows how we bring a lot of perceptions to how we understand images, and those perceptions can have personal, familial, cultural, or national origins. For example, had someone in our group had a background in ballet, they might have identified the image as "pirhouette". Anticipating these perceptions is a major challenge for designers. Implicit in this idea is that designers, too, have perceptions that they bring to their designs. Another challenge in design is identifying your own biases in order to create something more universally understandable.