Embodiment: The Teleology of Interface Design

“‘If the body is the fundamental communication hardware, a simulator for a mind, what is its relationship to media made of steel, plastic, or silicon? Instead of pulsing blood, pulses of electrons and light animate these media. McLuhan long ago pointed out that modern communication interfaces attach themselves to the body. In the words of McLuhan, “media are extensions of the senses.”

The relationship of a human to an interface can be one of a body to an environment, or of one brain to another through a kind of conversation. The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today”‘(Licklider, 1960, p. 4)

I would like to thank for those dedicated to work on incredibly innovation work on Technological devices for human communication. Enjoy the video produced by TED.

Our todays class was on Video Game,historical background, theories .designing, and production. This course is being run by Jesus Fabriccio and he is also game creator look his site and we were talking about the use of game for various descriptions. It could be for historical narration, educational, political, cultural, and so on.

The discussion has also included the theories and functions of Video game in peoples daily lifes. As it’s stated in most sites including wiki, for video game was contemplated in various multidimensional way.

When he present the various game types being produced, we all interrupt Jesus on the violent game types and thinking of their influence on young school children. The disicussion on this issue has continued for some long minutes. More attentively, I was very surprised when Serjio showed me one of the game on how to make ship pirating and negotiating with concerned bodies. I think everybody can guess the most know place/ocean where pirating is usually undertaken, Somalia around gulf of Aden, next to my country. They call the game as Cutthroat Capitalism. Take a look the game. What do you think of this game? If yound people used it what is the consequence? I will be happy to share your ideas

When it comes to practical demonstration, we have seen and made a simple game using the Kodu’s user friendly tools which enable you to build your our game world and use it for any purpose. For beginner video creators, i suggest to start with Kodu as it’s so simple and no need for complicated arthritic coding process. you can just select and drop any action required by your story, also visit the site from here kodu. This is goin to be my practical experiment for the coming days.

Hoping to get your similar ideas.

Tsegay’s First Styled Page

• Interaction
• Imagination
• Thought
• Action

Tsegay’s HTML and CSS Practice Page

Welcome to my practice Page!

I have been practicing the very basics of HTML and CSS, as a basic knowledge for writing in internet pages. i have to know all the sings, spaces, slash and other codes to help to put styles(like font, color, navigationbar,paddibg, boundary, and so on) to our writing material.

There should be more here, but i don’t know what yet. 
For those interested to visit some basic tutorial on HTML/CSS: look hear

I have styles for coloring background, headings, padding, position of links(right, left) and so on as you can see it the above image, but it doesn’t appear in here. I only can see the style change when i browse from my desktop. Can anybody suggest…how? Thanks

I have been reviewing materials related to production of information for Internet as one of my course. Hence, the concept in itself is susceptible to multiple approaches and meaning, for the digital environment is complex and dynamic in its existence , and digital resources that are functional and accessible for various purpose by numerous users on a rate-less times. As it’s clear for all of us, it’s difficult this time to know what exactly the digital information in number or type are. Its digital deepth and breadth environment contains huge, various in type, and difficult to classify amount of information in it. This is to mean the resources continuously have been created by individual, group/community, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, commercial merchandisers, news agents and users themselves in infinite amount per day, week or annual. Therefore, we require a general guidline on how to interact, access and use in this environment. I have point out some collection of ideas in consideration to contemplate production of information in online.

Nevertheless, various Internet resource researchers and educators have tried to study Internet based information production by focusing on the various dimensions of the web, considering the multi dimension nature of the digital world. For instance, some try to see the information in Internet according to the readers usability background, some on the purpose of the content it serves to users( commercial, news, educational and so on), others still prefer to see it in terms of its technological acceptance and accessibility. Therefore, based on what I found in some related literatures, i have indicated points to consider while producing information for Internet.

Please have a look the following points:

1. The nature of your reader/viewers ( sex,age( children, young and old people),disadvantage,minorities,gender, and so on)
2. The purpose of the message ( Why do you want to write on this idea?), information for
3. Producing information for what( commercial, personal,government,education and so on)
4. Accessibility and usability of contents writing mechanism ( fonts, indent, space, color, browser)

• User-friendliness
• Inclusiveness

5. The type/form your information requires ( text, audio,video,animation)
6. Depending on the type of information, make your writing short and long
7. Reliability in relation to safety and privacy issues, including user-generated content and online communication services
8. Copy right issues
9. Reference( source of information)

I will be so glad if others can add or comment to the above points….

Various open educational resource advocates have forwarded their opinion, suggestion and possible solution on how to develop, distribute, and make OER expandable to everywhere under the concept of free educational resource for all. I have also tried to understand the need to raise this issue, the various opportunities that OER creates, and possible challenges and opportunities that movements can bring. For this reasons, I am convinced enough to participate in most movements on Open Educational Resource movements and practices.

The Open education resource movement has worked hard to widely expand the equity, usability and mind sharing among people all over the globe. It does surprise me the diversified types of knowledge area that this movement under its conceptual framework is trying to address, but I am also quiet impressed for the works already done to on awareness creation and material production. As it’s shown in many of the open resource materials, it’s clear that variety free technological( software and hard ware) inputs have been thought of, production capacities and challenges were proposed, distribution and expansion over the web were made openly available. Thanks to the innovation of the web which link educational resource and its end beneficiaries at the same point. Hence, if the availability and accessibility of open educational resources over the web reached to some optimal stage, its effect on creating knowledge society, skilled human personnel, educational literate( particularly in developing countries), and educational literacy would be assured in short time.

However, Stephen has mentioned in his review the threats that he think could hinder this movement and its possible inclusive solutions to make the OER sustainable. As a result, he described the challenges in a question saying that, “ what they are, who creates them, how we pay for this, how we distribute them and how we work with them”(2006). For the sake of explanation, he started by the definition of ‘Open’ in contrary to its commercial value of resources. Therefore, considering the vagueness and variety conceptual understanding amoung various organizations( UNESCO), private agents and individuals, he has stated the various alternative explanations and conceptual understandings on the issue. Moreover, as Ed Walker (2005) cited by Stephen(2006), defines ‘open’ as “convenient, effective, affordable, and sustainable and available to every learner and teacher worldwide.” Or Sir john Daniel, cited by Stephen (2006) who speaks of “The 4 As: accessible, appropriate, accredited, affordable.” In explanation to who creates them Stephen has also proposed possibly workable models of funding for open educational resource production. In a major aim to make distributional process and enabling the end user , he has also forwarded technical models in appreciation to the ones already initiated and made usable. As part of the methods to ease distribution of educational resources he has also encouraged to make our learning objects as reusable for continual applications. He hoped that “the sharable and reusable learning resources would reduce the cost needed to produce them” (2006). Moreover, he has also emphasized the inclusion of community not only as mere users but also as content creators, hence, in his explanation said, “It will be important to think of OERs not in isolation, but with respect to the community that accesses them and uses them “Open Content + Community = Open Course.” Hence, the development of a sustainable open content community is an integral part of the development of a network of OERs” (2006). Therefore, Stephen has intensively commented not only on this issues, but also other issues, the quality of the materials, the contribution of open softwares, re-usability and question of adaptation and modification in relation to copy right and publications.

In a nut shell, I also support this moment under the concept of, these knowledge, skill or attitude generating educational resources has to be given or made accessible to everyone as just a right to any human. They are the means and re-means for sustainable open educational resources usability and developments. As it’s stated free as freedom, not free as free beer.

Reference:

1. Stephen D. 2007. Sustainable Open Educational Resources in Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects. [online] Available at: <http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=>[Accessed 26 October 2011]

It reminds me of when I find myself as more visual learner than auditory, after filling the learning style questionnaire. I understand things more in visual descriptions than aural explanation. In explanation to visualization or information graphics, it’s stated as:

“Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly,[1] such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. With an information graphic, computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians develop and communicate concepts using a single symbol to process information”( wiki, September 2011).

Moreover, I see the work of infographics in the same way as David said, it helps us to ‘compress or condense’ the huge amount flow of information around us. I t will provide us a simple, clear and quick to understand kind of information. It’s true that the information visualization will take you more closer to comprehend than you it with listening, smelling and so on. However, though this and more benefits can be acquired from information graphics data description, selection of the appropriate type and style of infographics for given audience or viewer will not be less worthy. For instance David has used various babbles, matrix, diagrams, bar graphs and so on. This should be determined by the nature of our audience or consumers of the final out put inforgraphics design. Besides, I appreciate the way the different information and data were described and connected across the world, but I also doubt the credibility of the information when I see then all together . For instance, the billion dollar O-Grame, which shows the financial expenditure of the different couturiers in the world for various purpose. It’s true that it makes me to see the information more closer and easily understood, but still my mind has remained with a question of trustfulness.

 Conclusively, I am definitely convinced enough on the versatile and multidimensional data description in infographic. We, as human being we interact, learn and gather information 80% with our eyes, with all the rest of our sense organs is only 20%. Beside this, it’s tiresome to make information analysis on the daily, weekly, monthly or annually flowing of information from all over the world. For this reason, I accept and even appreciate the production and development of information design or visualization of information and data. I would like to finalize my short reflection with the expression of David from the presentation; “I am hungry for knowledge and understanding”, then he reason out the concept of visualization as; “ visualization squeezes the balk of information into few but simple and easy to undersnatd”. Having saying this I also would like to reconsider points like, the openness of information( which was raised from the participants), credibility of source, appropriateness and overloaded structure and style.

Reference:

1. Fundación Telefónica, 2011. Visualization of Information. [online] Available at: <http://mediateca.fundacion.telefonica.com/visor.asp?e7523-a14758> [Accessed 20 October 2011].

2. Wikipedia, 2011. Information graphics: [online] Available at:

   <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infographic> [Accessed 20 October 2011].

By TED.

I really appreciate and thank to initiate and produced such kind of a great academic works which could SUPPORT THE LEARNERS OF THE WORLD TO UNLOCK THEIR UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE. kEEP DOING THE GREAT JOBS.

The Khan Academy has 68,000,000 views from 2,400 videos on YouTube! It is revolutionizing the the world of education.

You can also visit his site: kahnacademy

This is the expression i found on the main webbsite of Stephen Downe.
It explains itself as:
Ed Radio, the home of all things educational and technology. Hosted by Stephen Downes, Ed Radio plays clips from live conferences, interviews, videos and more.
Ed Radio is web radio,meaning you can listen to it over the internet. by Stephen Downes

This is the URL for interested people:http://208.82.115.69:8009/stream. It is full of valuable educational and technology concepts, experience, and so on.

Enjoy!

Artist Kate Hartman uses wearable electronics to explore how we communicate, with ourselves and with the world. In this quirky and thought-provoking talk, she shows the “Talk to Yourself Hat”, the “Inflatable Heart”, the “Glacier Embracing Suit”, and other unexpected devices. Taken from TED (www.TED.com/talks)