Bibliography
Assignment 3 was to research the topic i discussed in assignment 2 ( Interactive Voting) and advance my understanding of it by finding different resources using the crosssearch tool. It was hard getting used to the crosssearch tool as finding relevant information was difficult. I found a mix of articles, journals and books which i feel were relevant for research and which could help broaden my understanding on interactive voting. Below i have listed 7 different resources i found relevant and which could be useful.
Chayko, M (1993) How you "Act Your Age" When You Watch Tv, Sociological Forum, Vol. 8, No. 4 pp. 573-593: Springer
Mary Chayko talks about the normal factors which have an effect on viewing time. Chakyo discovered that these factors are more suited to the younger youth or young adults rather than the older generation. Researching a General Social Survey revealed that as people age they have different reasons for viewing and to obtain a more accurate result more research including a age appropiate survey would be required to find reasons for viewing across adult life span. This connects to the tv voting as this method of voting is more suited to younger viewers voting and not so suited for older adults.
Fournier, p (2003) Issue Importance And Performance Voting, Political Behavior, Vol. 25, No. 1 pp. 51-67: Springer
In political voting individuals give more attention and thought to issues which they feel are important when making choices. If they feel the issue they are being asked to vote for is important, they are more likely to 'weigh up' the government's performance on that particular issue when choosing. It highlights that in interactive votes for soaps the issues individuals are being asked to vote for have to enthuse and interest them.
Herrnson, PS (2007) Voting Technology: The Not- So- Simple Act Of Casting A Ballot, Washington D.C: Brookings Institution Press
It disscusses in depth different voting systems available and compares them against a criteria eg. speed, accuracy etc. It questions whether electronic voting systems are accurate. Do the voting systems show true votes? Does the electronic voting system experience allow votes to be accuratly cast? This questions whether older adults are able to work the electronic system aswel as the younger generation. Is the majority vote cast by the younger generation? - as the electronic system is not suited for the older generation and so it may not be a realistic vote.
Mares, M (1996) The Role Of Source Confusions In Television's Cultivation Of Social Reality Judgements, Human Communication Research, Volume 23 issue 2, Pages 278 - 297: International Communication Association
Marie - Louise - Mares is discussing that what people watch on tv is confusing peoples perception of reality and has become distorted. Fact and fiction can be similary protrayed in programmes and so adds to viewers confusion. It could question whether electronic viewing in interactive shows is carried out properly. It is important in tv programmes to keep issues real to life.
Vildjiounaite, E (2009) Unobtrusive dynamic modelling of TV programme preferences in a Finnish household, Multimedia Systems 15 (3): 143-157: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
This research was aimed out in Finland. A model for a multi-user environment was used to gather programme choices within any particular family, eliminates the need to collate individual preferences which can be time consuming in a multi-user environment. They found the system used to be accurate against complicated individual user ratings. It would seem a less time consuming method of collating preferences in a multi-user environment - ie a family.
West, D.M (1994) 'Television Advertising In Election Campaigns', Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 109, No. 5 pp. 789-809: The Academy Of Political Science
Darrell M. West talks about spot ads being used for party political broadcasts - there is no research of success in getting the vote. A similiar technique is used for plots and soaps and as it is shown regulary it probably does encourage viewers to watch and vote for particular plots and storylines.
Williams, J.A (2005) " On The Popular Vote", Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4 pp. 637-646: Sage Publications, Inc.
In America voting has become a dramatic element in highly successful reality tv. It talks about how people would rather vote for reality tv than make a political vote. It compares reality tv to political voting. This questions whether voting for reality tv is nothing more than just a peronsal preference creating confusion over fact and fiction. People view voting politically as just a show- and no evaluating has been considered. It could explain the lack of enthusiasm for political voting. If electronic voting systems are too widely used for 'reality' Tv then it takes empasis off the important voting issues eg. Political voting.
For Assignment 3b i picked 5 websites i thought would be useful for keeping up to date in Textiles and then picked another 5 websites useful for up to date news and information outwith Textiles.
5 websites related to textiles
http://www.johannabasford.com/
1. This is a good blog to look at. She is an Interior textile designer who regulary updates her page. Her work is inspiring to look at.
http://www.timorousbeasties.com/
2.A few years ago i heard about Timorous Beasties and found their stuff very interesting. They experiment with interior wallpapers and traditional textiles. They are experimental with hand printing and machine production. They often use naturalistic images of the natural environment as inspiration. I found this of particular interest as i often use nature as an inspirational source.
http://www.vogue.co.uk/default.aspx?zed&gclid=cohnu-_skj4cfuqa4wodxlemoq
3. Vogue is a more commonly known magazine compared to Selvedge. It is similar in that it gives you the latest updates on fashion aswel as style. It writes about trends, fashion and is full of advertisements. Online it gives you a regular update on news in the world of fashion.
http://www.fashiontrendsetter.com/
4. Fashion trendsetter gives all the up to date fashion and colour forcasting news. They have different colour and trend directions for each season. Colour is a big aspect in my work and so this site is particularly good for checking the colour trends out.
http://www.trendstop.com/
5. It is an online fashion trend forcasting service. They bring together different trends of the world and present them as visuals.
5 websites of personal interest outwith textiles
1. http://www.flickr.com/
1Flickr is a photosharing website. I love looking at photography for inspiration and ideas. It can help you think of an idea, and can inspire you to go out and take your own photographs.
http://www.darioendara.com/
2I only just found this webpage the other day. It is very interesting to me as i am very inspired by photography. He regularly updates his website with new photography. Traveling and looking at photography of different places in the world is also something i like looking at and reading about. It quite often has a big influence in my work.
http://www.variant.org.uk/
3. Variant is trying to promote and improve the publics education, providing information on political and cultural issues aswel as art.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
4. This is good for keeping up with whats happening in the world. As designers you have to keep up with the outside world so that you can design for it.
http://www.thetravelmagazine.net/
5. Gives you news and update information on different places in the world. I love reading about different countries and their cultures. The website is full of articles to read.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/planetearth/
I thought i would add this website in as i find it really interesting. A Website on our planet and wildlife. It is full with information on different issues and topics around the world.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Research Imagery
I thought i would photograph some of the research from my sketchbook i have been doing related to my project. I originally focused on the islamic patterns in architecture but found myself experimenting more with fields of colour and mixed media. I will also show you some images which inspired me alot and which had a big influence within my work. The work is mainly by abstract expressionists including chistopher Farr, Mark Rothko and Anthony Frost.
I am now at the stage of developing the research i have been doing the past couple of months. This week i am experimenting with print onto different materials and creating layers. So far i have tried out different dyes on cotton and tried a couple of different techinques including mono printing, stencils and applying dye with a paint brush straight onto the cotton.
The imagery below summerises my inspiration. Abstract imagery and colour are the most important elements within my work. I love playing about with colour and creating exciting compositions with it.
Anthony Frost
Mark Rothko
Inspiration of Christopher Farr from my sketch book
I am now at the stage of developing the research i have been doing the past couple of months. This week i am experimenting with print onto different materials and creating layers. So far i have tried out different dyes on cotton and tried a couple of different techinques including mono printing, stencils and applying dye with a paint brush straight onto the cotton.
The imagery below summerises my inspiration. Abstract imagery and colour are the most important elements within my work. I love playing about with colour and creating exciting compositions with it.
Anthony Frost
Mark Rothko
Inspiration of Christopher Farr from my sketch book
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Making Connections - Assignment 2
Brainstorming 2a
For our second assignment brainstorming was our first task. We had to use "The Tipping Point" and cover all important aspects of the book in detail. It was good working as a group for this particular task as we had all covered a different chapter when creating a mind map in the first assignment. It was an advantage having each person cover a different chapter previously as it made the brainstorming alot easier especially when it was a chapter we needed to refresh on. The brainstorming method was quite successful and we managed to cover each chapter thoroughly or as best we could. Usually one idea would lead to another idea and so on until we thought we had plently. Often we had so many ideas we had to stop and move on to the next chapter because we could have gone on forever just firing different ideas. I found the brainstorming quite entertaining and alot more enjoyable than mind mapping. I think ideas flow alot easier and faster as a brainstorm, as one idea can lead to several other ideas.
The first chapter we looked at was Epidemics which i think we all found easy enough to brainstorm. As Hush puppies is mentioned several times throughout the book that was the first idea that came to our heads and so leading us on to several other trends which became epidemics for example - Poppers, skinny jeans, baggy jeans, crocs and so on...and not forgetting the fashion trends including punk, 60's, 70's and 80's fashion. Other ideas included Crime, addiction and gadgets which all lead onto other ideas.
We then did a brainstorm on The Law Of The Few - where the chapter tells us about connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. We looked at each sterotype individually and came up with ideas corresponding to each one. We first looked at Connectors - someone who knows alot of people and instantly thought of social network sites for example Facebook, Twitter, bebo.. etc. This is an ideal way for people to connect or reconnect with people they want to get intouch with. There are so many different ways to connect with people through- letters, telephone, fax, pager, email and loads more. We then did the same for mavens - people who have alot of knowledge. Looking at different resources - Internet eg. Google, Library - where books are filled with information, Maps, The news and so on. There are hundreds of sources you could use to find out what you need. For salesmen we looked at different ways of selling without there actually being a salesman involved, which is highly successful. For example, online shopping - meaning you dont need to leave your house, everything is available to you online.
The Stickiness Factor was the next chapter we went on to look at. As this was the chapter i had chosen for the first assignment it was alot easier to relate to the book aswel as throwing my own personal ideas into it. Firstly we looked at advertisments and the different ways of displaying them to make them sticky. Some of the most sticky adverts realeased on tv are the Cadburys advert with the gorillia playing the drums. I think this advert is particularly sticky because it reflects the distinct colours of the Milk chocolate bar aswel as adding a fun factor - the gorillia playing the drums! . I think a particularly good one is when tv advertising encourages health and safety. The hedgehog advert which is advertising the green cross code and making people aware of their safety.
Other issues including tv soaps came up - which is the issue i have selected to research. I enjoyed researching tv soaps and trying to find a solution to make them even more stickier.
The Power Of Context was the hardest chapter to brainstorm. We not only had to refresh ourselves with the chapter but also try and understand the concept of it. Once we understood the main concept of the chapter and the relevance it had to design we were able to start relating ideas to design and come up with suggestions. One idea that we came up with that i found interesting was considering the envirnomental factors and how they can have a big contribution to the way you react. One issue raised from this factor is Racism and how it has changed over time.
Brainstorming as a group was alot more enjoyable than creating a mindmap. Ideas were alot more diverse and broad and often one idea would be enough to collaberate other ideas, and all connet at the same time.
Group Discussion 2b
As a group we selected two of the chapters we thought were the most successful from the brainstorm. We selected The Law Of The Few and The Stickiness Factor. For each chapter we pulled out a few ideas and discussed how they could relate to design and then discussed ways of making them better.
The Law Of The Few
We started off looking at The Law Of The Few and picked a couple of ideas which we thought we could move forward. The first idea we selected was Connectors and discussed briefly different ways to improve this.
Social networking is also a good way to connect with lots of people. The good thing with social networking is you can search for specific people and have a continuous conversation. We suggested as ways of improving the social networking system is by mixing the idea of skype with Facebook and so you are able to hear and see the person while speaking to them not just as a written format.
We then took Mavens as our next discussion point. We looked at the idea of maps as they hold alot of information. Problems that were raised from this idea is that they are bulky and hard to handle. Suggestions were made to create a more flexible material for example some sort of fabric.
Salesmen was the next disccusion. We raised issues connected to online shopping and how you could go about solving them. Online shopping has everything available to you but how do you know what it is going to look like when its on? will it fit? We did this with several ideas. It was fun discussing it as a group because we came up with ideas that we probably would not have thought of individually.
The Stickiness Factor
I really enjoyed discussing The Stickiness Factor and ideas we had brainstormed from it. I think it is the chapter i most fully understand and i find it personally interesting to look at the stickiness of something and why it is so effective or non effective.
We discussed three ideas - Advertising, Smoking and Tv Soaps. How could you make them even more stickier?
With advertising we discussed a very popular gadget today - the ipod. What else could we do to make them stickier? Instead of having to physically search through your playlist for a particular song why not create some sort of eye recognition where your eyes move the playlist along automatically.
We then went on to discuss smoking. How could you make people more aware of their health? How could you make this message stickier? Suggestions included raise the prices or get less for more money. Creating a packet which can only hold one cigarette at a time and when you go to the machine you have to pay £2 + per cigarette.
The Tipping Point discusses childrens tv programmes and how they engineered them to make them stickier. I wanted to raise ideas on how to make tv soaps stickier? Is there a way of making them more portable? How can we increase the number of viewers? After raising these questions i decided i wanted to take this idea forward and do some research and find a solution for making them stickier? I will discuss this idea further in the next section.
Poster Design 2c
For this task we had to pick an idea from our discussion, develop it and create a solution to make it better. As i mentioned above i decided to pick The Stickiness Factor and discuss the stickiness of Tv Soaps. How could you make them even more stickier? How do you grasp the attention of more viewers? I decided to look at it from two perspectives, firstly how could you make soaps more portable? My idea being that you could watch the soaps anywhere, in the car, on the train, on the bus? I thought what about having a tv which slides out from the side of your mobile phone? I created a spider diagram with different ideas on how to approach this. For example it could be voice activated and you just say the name of the soap you want to watch and it searches automatically. It could be a multiple choice screen and you just touch the one you want to watch. Having this kind of portable technology would probably make people watch the soaps more if say they are on a bus and have nothing else to do. On a more negative note I then thought that this type of technology would be quite expensive to buy so not many people would buy the accessory.
I decided to elaborate on the idea of allowing the viewers to suggest more reality issues for storylines. They would then send in their brief idea and the producer would have to tackle the different senarios and come up with three storylines. The viewers would then vote which one they would want to watch and the most popular vote would win. Creating more realistic issues in soaps will increase relevance and therefore viewings. The viewers would be able to relate to the issues and will therefore make it more benifical for viewers and soap ratings.
I researched different voting systems which already exist, particulary looking at reality tv shows including x factor and im a celebrity and how their systems work. Also communicating via blogs invites viewers to leave comments.
A simple Interative voting system for "Soaps" viewings.
So i decided to try and make audience participation stickier through creating a new voting system and this would hopefully make the soaps stickier.
My solution was - Viewers would have the chance to participate in a monthly interactive vote, maintaining viewer interest in on going storylines involving characters. A sky handset would be the reciever and the software would be available to download free onto your laptop through soap blogs and then linked to the tv screen via a usb cable. A multiple choice screen would appear on the tv screen at the start of the first broadcast of the month and at the start of each broadcast that month. At the end of the final broadcast of the month, results will appear on screen as a graph. The result would influence future storylines in the soap.
The audience would select by pressing the appropiate coloured button - SIMPLE, FREE AND INSTANT DONE! A range of issues will be included to maintain interest and will include characters, storylines, music and settings. By taking account of viewers opinions producers will be more confident they are producing what the viewers want to watch and therfore making soaps stickier.
For our second assignment brainstorming was our first task. We had to use "The Tipping Point" and cover all important aspects of the book in detail. It was good working as a group for this particular task as we had all covered a different chapter when creating a mind map in the first assignment. It was an advantage having each person cover a different chapter previously as it made the brainstorming alot easier especially when it was a chapter we needed to refresh on. The brainstorming method was quite successful and we managed to cover each chapter thoroughly or as best we could. Usually one idea would lead to another idea and so on until we thought we had plently. Often we had so many ideas we had to stop and move on to the next chapter because we could have gone on forever just firing different ideas. I found the brainstorming quite entertaining and alot more enjoyable than mind mapping. I think ideas flow alot easier and faster as a brainstorm, as one idea can lead to several other ideas.
The first chapter we looked at was Epidemics which i think we all found easy enough to brainstorm. As Hush puppies is mentioned several times throughout the book that was the first idea that came to our heads and so leading us on to several other trends which became epidemics for example - Poppers, skinny jeans, baggy jeans, crocs and so on...and not forgetting the fashion trends including punk, 60's, 70's and 80's fashion. Other ideas included Crime, addiction and gadgets which all lead onto other ideas.
We then did a brainstorm on The Law Of The Few - where the chapter tells us about connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. We looked at each sterotype individually and came up with ideas corresponding to each one. We first looked at Connectors - someone who knows alot of people and instantly thought of social network sites for example Facebook, Twitter, bebo.. etc. This is an ideal way for people to connect or reconnect with people they want to get intouch with. There are so many different ways to connect with people through- letters, telephone, fax, pager, email and loads more. We then did the same for mavens - people who have alot of knowledge. Looking at different resources - Internet eg. Google, Library - where books are filled with information, Maps, The news and so on. There are hundreds of sources you could use to find out what you need. For salesmen we looked at different ways of selling without there actually being a salesman involved, which is highly successful. For example, online shopping - meaning you dont need to leave your house, everything is available to you online.
The Stickiness Factor was the next chapter we went on to look at. As this was the chapter i had chosen for the first assignment it was alot easier to relate to the book aswel as throwing my own personal ideas into it. Firstly we looked at advertisments and the different ways of displaying them to make them sticky. Some of the most sticky adverts realeased on tv are the Cadburys advert with the gorillia playing the drums. I think this advert is particularly sticky because it reflects the distinct colours of the Milk chocolate bar aswel as adding a fun factor - the gorillia playing the drums! . I think a particularly good one is when tv advertising encourages health and safety. The hedgehog advert which is advertising the green cross code and making people aware of their safety.
Other issues including tv soaps came up - which is the issue i have selected to research. I enjoyed researching tv soaps and trying to find a solution to make them even more stickier.
The Power Of Context was the hardest chapter to brainstorm. We not only had to refresh ourselves with the chapter but also try and understand the concept of it. Once we understood the main concept of the chapter and the relevance it had to design we were able to start relating ideas to design and come up with suggestions. One idea that we came up with that i found interesting was considering the envirnomental factors and how they can have a big contribution to the way you react. One issue raised from this factor is Racism and how it has changed over time.
Brainstorming as a group was alot more enjoyable than creating a mindmap. Ideas were alot more diverse and broad and often one idea would be enough to collaberate other ideas, and all connet at the same time.
Group Discussion 2b
As a group we selected two of the chapters we thought were the most successful from the brainstorm. We selected The Law Of The Few and The Stickiness Factor. For each chapter we pulled out a few ideas and discussed how they could relate to design and then discussed ways of making them better.
The Law Of The Few
We started off looking at The Law Of The Few and picked a couple of ideas which we thought we could move forward. The first idea we selected was Connectors and discussed briefly different ways to improve this.
Social networking is also a good way to connect with lots of people. The good thing with social networking is you can search for specific people and have a continuous conversation. We suggested as ways of improving the social networking system is by mixing the idea of skype with Facebook and so you are able to hear and see the person while speaking to them not just as a written format.
We then took Mavens as our next discussion point. We looked at the idea of maps as they hold alot of information. Problems that were raised from this idea is that they are bulky and hard to handle. Suggestions were made to create a more flexible material for example some sort of fabric.
Salesmen was the next disccusion. We raised issues connected to online shopping and how you could go about solving them. Online shopping has everything available to you but how do you know what it is going to look like when its on? will it fit? We did this with several ideas. It was fun discussing it as a group because we came up with ideas that we probably would not have thought of individually.
The Stickiness FactorI really enjoyed discussing The Stickiness Factor and ideas we had brainstormed from it. I think it is the chapter i most fully understand and i find it personally interesting to look at the stickiness of something and why it is so effective or non effective.
We discussed three ideas - Advertising, Smoking and Tv Soaps. How could you make them even more stickier?
With advertising we discussed a very popular gadget today - the ipod. What else could we do to make them stickier? Instead of having to physically search through your playlist for a particular song why not create some sort of eye recognition where your eyes move the playlist along automatically.
We then went on to discuss smoking. How could you make people more aware of their health? How could you make this message stickier? Suggestions included raise the prices or get less for more money. Creating a packet which can only hold one cigarette at a time and when you go to the machine you have to pay £2 + per cigarette.
The Tipping Point discusses childrens tv programmes and how they engineered them to make them stickier. I wanted to raise ideas on how to make tv soaps stickier? Is there a way of making them more portable? How can we increase the number of viewers? After raising these questions i decided i wanted to take this idea forward and do some research and find a solution for making them stickier? I will discuss this idea further in the next section.
Poster Design 2cFor this task we had to pick an idea from our discussion, develop it and create a solution to make it better. As i mentioned above i decided to pick The Stickiness Factor and discuss the stickiness of Tv Soaps. How could you make them even more stickier? How do you grasp the attention of more viewers? I decided to look at it from two perspectives, firstly how could you make soaps more portable? My idea being that you could watch the soaps anywhere, in the car, on the train, on the bus? I thought what about having a tv which slides out from the side of your mobile phone? I created a spider diagram with different ideas on how to approach this. For example it could be voice activated and you just say the name of the soap you want to watch and it searches automatically. It could be a multiple choice screen and you just touch the one you want to watch. Having this kind of portable technology would probably make people watch the soaps more if say they are on a bus and have nothing else to do. On a more negative note I then thought that this type of technology would be quite expensive to buy so not many people would buy the accessory.
I decided to elaborate on the idea of allowing the viewers to suggest more reality issues for storylines. They would then send in their brief idea and the producer would have to tackle the different senarios and come up with three storylines. The viewers would then vote which one they would want to watch and the most popular vote would win. Creating more realistic issues in soaps will increase relevance and therefore viewings. The viewers would be able to relate to the issues and will therefore make it more benifical for viewers and soap ratings.
I researched different voting systems which already exist, particulary looking at reality tv shows including x factor and im a celebrity and how their systems work. Also communicating via blogs invites viewers to leave comments.
A simple Interative voting system for "Soaps" viewings.
So i decided to try and make audience participation stickier through creating a new voting system and this would hopefully make the soaps stickier.
My solution was - Viewers would have the chance to participate in a monthly interactive vote, maintaining viewer interest in on going storylines involving characters. A sky handset would be the reciever and the software would be available to download free onto your laptop through soap blogs and then linked to the tv screen via a usb cable. A multiple choice screen would appear on the tv screen at the start of the first broadcast of the month and at the start of each broadcast that month. At the end of the final broadcast of the month, results will appear on screen as a graph. The result would influence future storylines in the soap.
The audience would select by pressing the appropiate coloured button - SIMPLE, FREE AND INSTANT DONE! A range of issues will be included to maintain interest and will include characters, storylines, music and settings. By taking account of viewers opinions producers will be more confident they are producing what the viewers want to watch and therfore making soaps stickier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)