Communication Models- last hybrid assignment

2a.)

Sender- is responsible for releasing the message to the receiver.

Receiver- is the target of the message or the person receiving the message.

Encoding- process of transforming information from one format to another. Example: converting sound into electrical impulses, transmitted by wires.

Decoding- takes the encoded message and converts it to a form the receiver understands.

Channel- is the way the medium is used to convey information from the sender to the receiver ex.

Noise- measure of information not related to the message.

2b.)

Utility Engineering Office

Sender- Project Manager

Encoding- computer

Channel-email- message

Decoding- computer

Receiver- Engineer

Noise- pop up advertisements

2c.) In the Engineering process Designers which are the senders, use computers which are encoders to channel a message using AutoCAD drawings. Then the printer decodes the drawing and the drawings are then given to technicians in the field who are the receivers in the communication model. Noise is errors and complications in the process.

2d.) The Shannon-Weaver Mathematical Model  seems to best fit the communication model above.

Washington State has to play the add-value card, not low-cost-leader ace-Response

 I believe that the “Washington State has to play the add-value card, not low-cost-leader ace” article is very thought provoking.  I Agree with John Talton when he says that Washington is “stuck in the slowing growth of middle-class incomes, declining benefits and, through most of the 2000s, stagnant wages.” It seems that the Puget Sound area has been great with large companies here such as Boeing and Microsoft but it is very hard to compete with other cities or countries out there that will work for cheaper. I completely agree that “Boeing is a wakeup call” and that the “Puget Sound can’t win against pure cheap. It must create and add value.” Now that Boeing is creating a new plant in South Carolina and we know how much that will affect Washington State we need to do something before other large companies start to move out of this area.  I feel that in a time like this we really can’t start cutting education funding for universities and educational programs because those are what we need for future in Washington State. We don’t want graduates from Washington moving out of this area. I feel that in times like this we really need to draw people to the Seattle area. At the same time it is very hard with these disruptive changes going on because many people are out of jobs and the Seattle area does have a pretty high cost of living expense. I believe that if we continue promoting education and create a great place to live then economy in Seattle will start growing.

1st Amendment Interviews

My first interview for the 1^st amendment questions was my sister and her boyfriend who are both around 18 years of age. I also interviewed my mother and aunt who are about 50 years of age. My grandmother who is about 75 years old and, a 25 year old friend of mine who is in the US Army, were also interviewed.

After conducting my interview I noticed some major similarities and major differences. The major similarities were that the younger interviewees agreed that freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right of the people to protest, and petition of the government should be approved. The only one they felt was excessive or provided too much freedom was the freedom of press. They believe that with the freedom of press, things that are not meant to be said may be leaked out. For example a murder case under investigation. They also believed that if there were no laws on the press the paparazzi and other groups would be stalk through to the private lives of people. My mother, aunt, grandmother and friend all agreed that freedom of press and freedom of speech were some things that need to be more controlled. My mother said that the media is always putting new things out there you never know if it is true or not. My aunt believed that in the media field reporters are always trying to get their stories out first so lots of the information is false or not entirely true. Everyone agreed that freedom of speech was ok as long as there was no racism or racist discrimination because being from another country it can be frustrating dealing with racist slurs. The biggest differences I found in the interview was that being younger and born in the United States, my sister and her boyfriend did not realize that these freedoms were the 1^st amendment. I find this weird because they have went to school and learned these amendment issues before. The interesting part is that my mother, aunt and grandmother realized that these were freedoms of the 1^st amendment. They said that they realized this because they came from a communist country that did not allow any of these freedoms. Having lived in the United States for the past 30 years they all agreed that freedom of press is excessive but is the 1^st amendment is why America is such a good place to live.

I feel that the younger people that I interviewed didn’t realize that these freedoms were the 1^st amendment. The older did realize but I don’t think that it was because they were older. I think that the reason they realized it was because they didn’t have those freedoms before growing up in Cambodia.

It is funny how they all agreed that the freedom of the press was the most excessive. They all believed that without control the press could put false information out there and wouldn’t know how to act. They all Freedom of speech and religion were peoples individual choice and that it was their opinions on what they believed in. Most thought that this was ok as long as people didn’t enforce their religions or look down on others for having different beliefs. Everyone also agreed that as long as no laws were broken petition of the government and protest of the people was ok because it was the people way of getting what they wanted to say across to other groups.

My personal reaction to the 1^st amendment interviews was what most people believed was very true. I personally think that many people in America take these freedoms for granted. For example people have the right  to protest but nowadays protesting leads to riots and rebellions where people are breaking the laws by  violent behavior.

 

The Makings of a Design Thinker vs. Forget Design Thinking and Try Hybrid Thinking

Both articles make very good arguments. When I started reading The Making of a Design Thinker by Tim Brown the first sentence really caught my attention when he said that “it took me a long time before I realized the difference between being a designer and thinking like one.” I really agreed with this quote because I had this same feeling when I graduated from school. I didn’t have any real world experience yet but I was considered a designer. Once I started working in the field I soon realized I have the tools to be a designer and now I need to start thinking like one. To think like a designer you have to have experience and knowledge of what you are designing. I really like how this article explains how design has moved to the next level and that now design doesn’t just refer to structural objects but a more broad approach that everything can be designed. This shows how important design really is in the everyday life. I feel that today we have embraced this idea of design thinking so much that now every day designers are exploring new possibilities and new exciting innovations for the future.

In the article Forget Design Thinking and Try Hybrid Thinking also makes a very good point that people can do what she did by “immersing herself in design thinking and then merging it with her experiences in account thinking, market thinking and several more.” I feel that merging your experiences and design thinking into one will help make innovations come out easier. I believe that this is very important because many people are designers but they also have other likes, dislikes and different experiences in life than other individuals who will make a diverse design them. “Learning new ways to think isn’t very helpful if you forget what you already know” is a powerful quote that expresses how important past experience is to design.

Both these articles are different in explaining a way to achieve design thinking. The first article explains more about how design thinking can be achieved by thinking and doing but the second article explains how with design thinking past experiences can help evolve design to a new level. I feel that both articles are important to realize the highest thinking level of design.

Intellectual Property-Jayson Blair

Intellectual property is the product of individual creativeness that comes from the mind that is copyrighted, trademarked, patented or has legal property rights

Six years ago, 27 year old Jayson Blair, ex newspaper reporter is known for the “greatest newspaper scandal in history.” Jayson Blair was a reporter for The New York Times that plagiarized from other articles reported false statements and fabricated personal quotations from significant events that occurred from 1999 to 2003. Fabrications have been found in over 600 of Jayson Blair’s articles. Blair completely violated many journalism rules by stealing material from other newspapers, and using false pictures to create the sense that he was at the location reporting live. Many of his mistakes were seen but not taken into account that he had committed fraud. He has significantly damaged The New York Times’ 152 year old reputation of putting out reliable sources to inform the public.

Blair’s reporting has been nothing but scandals which have hurt the hearts of many people. One of the major stories he was caught in plagiarizing were the sniper attacks in suburban Washington which caused a great deal of controversy. The first article discussed the arrest of John Muhammad one suspects in the sniper shootings. Interviews showed the article has many errors and inaccuracies. US attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio and a senior FBI official denied details and specifics in Blair’s article. Instead of being questioned or double checking Blair’s source superior editors promoted Blair to leading the coverage for the sniper prosecution. Then once again in another article Robert Horan Jr. an attorney in Fairfax County, Va. had also denied information in one of Blair’s articles. Jayson was caught in many ways of how he used lies and deceit to write his articles. Many people have contested his work and proven the lies in his work. By using other intellectual property Blair has plagiarized many articles written for The New York Times.

I feel that what Jayson Blair has committed is morally wrong. Not only did he betray his peers and superiors but most importantly he betrayed the trust of the public audience. Blair’s unprofessionalism has severely damaged the reputation of The New York Times because he has written so many deceitful articles for over 4 years. It is ridiculous that he has been able to produce many articles without getting caught.  Although there were many suspicions to his work there were never any earlier investigations. Blair’s deceitfulness has proven that media is biased and that the media does not check their sources as thoroughly as they should.  Media and press are very easily to believe anything they hear and are always jumping to the slightest conclusions. Blair’s actions have shown how workings in the media can be false; he uses his lies to get ahead in journalism and continued doing so since it was helping him get promoted. Blair’s use of reporter’s journalistic work is an example of stealing intellectual property.

An issue in the engineering design field related to intellectual property is mostly notable in the industrial design industry. In industrial design many inventors come across similar ideas because of the demand for user friendly items. This is where intellectual property plays a role because with so many new and innovative products being developed it is hard to determine what designs have already been copyrighted or trademarked. I believe that a main reason for this is because many companies want to perfect their products before they put it out there, and many consumers are fearful of using products that have just been released to the market. Advertisements in mass media can portray different views on products but it is word of mouth that consumers trust. This is the reason why companies trademark their items so that their ideas don’t get stolen.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120157094

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.html?pagewanted=all

 



Book Review- THE LAWS OF SIMPLICITY

The Laws of Simplicity is an incredible, persuasive and breathtaking novel that discusses the striving desire for simplicity. John Maeda theorizes that almost everything can be simplified and that simplicity is desired in many aspects of life. By following a simple set of rules Maeda sets out to show us the desire that we all want things to be more streamlined, from running our lives more efficiently to conducting our business to offer better products to our customers. Maeda clearly has excellent understanding and perception of what it takes to achieve simplicity and proves it by writing his 100 page novel carefully and thoughtfully according to his ten laws. Throughout each chapter Maeda uses is diverse background and gives real world examples of how simplicity can be used to achieve greater success.

Maeda has developed an outstanding strategy in obtaining simplicity through thoughtful reduction, organization, saving time, knowledge, differences between simplicity and complexity, context, emotion, trust, failure and most importantly subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful. In the first law, Maeda expresses how people “want a product or service to be easy to use; on the other hand want it to do everything that a person might want it to do.” In his analysis, he gives clear cut examples of companies like Apple that have started to “simplify technology.” Maeda’s example in the evolution of the I Pod demonstrates how a small change in simplicity can result in a huge change in product success. The I Pod is a perfect example of what Maeda calls “shrinking, hiding, and embodying (SHE)” because it is small, hides its buttons to one touch dial and embodies cleanliness and value. Another excellent example Maeda uses is Google. He explains how Google has simplicity locked down. Google has one text input box for you to enter your search but through this search it also gives you thousands of websites you may be looking for. The simplicity of Google’s search engine is one of the reasons that the company has prospered so greatly.

This novel also enlightens the reader by showing us simplicity is not always necessarily destined to be achieved. His ninth law recognizes that “some things can never be made simple which he explains “isn’t always a bad thing because “complexity and simplicity are two symbiotic qualities” which need each other. Without complexity “how would you know what is truly simple”?

Not only is he a graphic designer, a visual artist and a computer scientist, John Maeda has also been a student and teacher at MIT. He has seen complexity and simplicity of designs and technology from many different perspectives. Designers and business professionals should take note of John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity because all will truly appreciate his approach to simplicity. John Maeda has stated that his ten laws are not the end of his thoughts to simplicity and that he continues his mission in the search to simplicity. In our world simplicity is desired everywhere, the more we strive for simplicity in life the more complexity grows as well. Maeda’s finial thought are mesmerizing when he leaves us with his finial thought of “when your entire life is reduced to a single shelf of curios, what memories might you enshrine?”

10 heuristics evaluation

The product I will be evaluating against the 10 heuristics is Philips Sonicare tooth brush.

Visibility of system status

The tooth brush is a very simple product there is only two buttons. One is to turn it on, and the other is to switch the style of cleaning that you would like.  The visibly of what you are selecting is very clear because the style that you choose is clearly lit.

Match between system and real world

The set up is very simple there is one button that controls the styles is pressed like a remote and jumps to the next style one after another.

User Control and freedom

This product has great user control because the tooth brush has different styles of use for example, the choices are clean, gum care, refresh, sensitive, and massage. The user can clearly choose whatever cleaning method they would like to use.

Consistency and standards

The consistency of the words used for the method of cleaning can be a little confusing because, the user may be confused on what they mean when they say “refresh” or “gum care”.  But on the other hand the head piece for this model tooth brush should have different sizes but they all fit on one base.

Error Prevention

I have been using this tooth brush for the past 4 months and I have not had any problems with this product. It works great and lets me know when the battery is low because there is a battery bar on the bottom which clearly states the level the battery is in.

Recognition rather than recall

This system is very clear on how it works you push the on button and select the cleaning method that you like. It does have a user recognition in a way because after your using it and the next time then the next time you use it, it remembers that last cleaning method you have used which is a pretty nice feature.

Flexibility

I believe that a beginning user and an experienced user with both have they are pretty even and that the product is so simple to use that the user would become a so called “expert” in no time. Anyone can use this product.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Everything the Sonicare tooth brush is needed there is no extra information on the product. When the product is off there is no clear visibility of any text. This product once again is very simple to use.

Helps users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

I have never faced any errors using this product. Low battery bar may help diagnose a low battery.

Help and documentation

The manual is very clear in step to step usage. They even have images in each step to clearly illustrate what to do. They also have instructions in 3 different languages, English, Spanish, and French.

Internet and Wireless Media Scavenger Hunt

• Ray Tomlinson and the invention of email

• Electronic mail also known as Email was invented in 1971 by computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson

• Ray Tomlinson invented email not because of need but, “Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea.”

• Ray Tomlinson worked for Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN)- same company also developed the first internet in 1968

• The first email message sent was “QWERTYUIOP” ( Top letter row on the keyboard)

• The first email was sent between two computers that were in reality sitting beside each other. The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was used as the connection between the two

• Used a transfer procedure called CYPNET to adapt the SNDMSG software so it could send electronic messages to any computer on the ARPANET network.

• Email essentially transformed human society by changing the way people communicated with each other

• The @ symbol was chosen by Ray Tomlinson to tell which user was “at” what computer or network.

Mary Bellis. History of Email & Ray Tomlinson. (2009). Retrieved October 25, 2009, from About.com: inventors website: http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm

New Media

The biggest take-aways from the book The Medium and Memory was  when the used Microsoft’s example that  new media is “at your finger tips” the reason this quote made me think was because for all new media we have laptops, mini notebooks, and cell phones that can easily access all these different types of new media. With “traditional media” there is usually a process for example in photography, you would take the picture and have to wait for the film to develop. With books you would have to obtain actually physical copy of it, whereas on the internet you may be able to find the book on e-books. This new media affects the engineering design field because when a designer needs a copy of how something is built but the book is all the way on the other side of the world it would be hard to obtain. With E-mail, we could just e-mail the information right there and then instead of sending it in the mail which may take up to a few days. The biggest take away from the KUOW’s pod cast on new media it was when one of the gentlemen mentions that Ashton Kutcher says that Twitter is “it’s the battle about proving one person can have a voice.” When I heard that quote it made me think that any one on the internet can say anything, whether it be true or false people still have the choice to believe it or not. In the engineering design field this type of communication would be bad because information can be interpreted incorrectly. Imagine asking a question to a professional and he replies with a “Tweet”, messages that are important have a greater chance having an error.

Photography and Print have a huge role in the engineering design field. Photography is used  all the time at my company because if designing a main, gas meter set , or regulator station, I may need to go out to a certain place to see exactly what they need to know to design a the system correctly. So i take pictures so that i may bring it back to the office and use it as a reference. Print is also a huge part of the Engineering Design field because once something is completely designed we must keep records of what is out there. For Example, when I design a station there is a blue print, there is also an electronic copy but, we also have a paper copy of the records just in case of an emergency.

New medias such as Internet, Email, and cell phones have greatly impacted field. With internet we are able to search for information that we need to obtain, which is a lot easier and quicker than looking through tons and tons of books. With books there is no search command. Email has saved me so many times working in the engineering design field because there has come times where I have worked on a job with a contractor. During this process we had to email each other many times to complete the project. It there was no email it would be hard because every time there was a job that needed to be checked I would either have to mail it or drive across town just to deliver the job. Cell phones have also played a big role because it is a way a reaching a person anywhere they go as long as they have reception. In times of an emergency this is especially important, for example during my first month working in the engineering design field there was an emergency in the field that needed the attention of one of the senior engineers, and with the use of a cell phone he was able to give detailed instructions on what to do. I think that with new media our lives have been made a lot simpler. With new media developing so rapidly it is hard to stay on top of the latest things but once we learn and adapt to these new things I believe that the use of the technologies will become second nature.

Mass Media and Mass Communication connected to movie 2012

Mass Media and Mass Communication affected by 2012

The many different types of mass media and mass communication connected to the movie 2012 are the movie itself, the Mayan calendar, articles, blogs, and discussion rooms and sites.

There are a few different ways that mass media has been connected to the mass communication of the movie 2012. A few examples are the movie itself, which even by watching the trailer shows that because of the Mayan calendar says that the stars or planets axis will move or tilt a certain way to where the planet will end. The company producing the movie is produced by the Mark Gordon Company. The producers of the movie were Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon, Larry Fanco and the director of the movie was Roland Emmerich. Another form of mass media/mass communication that is connected to the movie 2012 is the Mayan calendar which supposedly says that the world will end on December 21, 2012 from meteor showers, tsunamis and earthquakes. The movie does play a huge role as a form of mass communication because from reading the article “2012 isn’t the end of the world, Mayans insist” young kids have even wrote e-mails to experts, saying that they “are too young to die.”  This article is also a helpful form of mass communication because it proves what real Mayans believe about the Mayan calendar for sees.  Also many other articles have been written in expression to the new movie 2012, many people are either fearful to the end of the world or others don’t believe it to be true. Mass media’s such as blogs and discussion rooms have also been used to discuss findings of the Mayan calendar.

There is somewhat of a controversy associated with the movie 2012 and what the Mayan calendars for sees. Many believe what the Mayan calendar for sees is true and they are afraid that the world will end in the year 2012. This is an impact on lots of people especially younger kids that don’t really understand what is going on. For this a fearful situation just like what the article “2012 isn’t the end of the world, Mayans insist”. Many of us that are older don’t believe this to happen because of many other controversial issues. For example the Y2K was a big controversy that power was going to go out, everything electronic was not going to work. I remember I was still pretty young still in middle school and I wasn’t really sure what was going on or what to believe. I still remember that day and nothing happened, it was still the same. I feel that the whole controversy over the 2012 end of the world is not going to happen. From reading these articles and hearing what true Mayans living today have to say about the situation. They have also said that there is nothing to worry about and that nothing will happen. Even though there are other things like astronomer that say the stars will align to do something that happens only every 25,850 years, I still don’t believe it will happen.

I think that the reason the movie was created was because it has such a great plot. Just by watching the preview or trailers to the new movie you think to yourself what if that were to really happen. The movie puts such a great impact on your mind because of the great graphics and storyline of how people would react to a situation like that. I believe that the movie is the biggest form of mass media to create the mass communication to the Dec 21, 2012 anticipated end of the world. It is amazing how mass media and mass communication is affected by a movie like 2012. It changes our prospective on the future, it gives us fear, but after Dec 12, 2012 we will have more hope than fear. Again we will look back on this day just say that it was another anticipated day for the world to end. I think that in the future another controversy just like this will occur.

Reference

http://angel.lwtc.edu/section/content/Default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=DC7E21D342B74982898D943C649276A0

http://www.fandango.com/2012_114792/movieoverview

http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/

http://www.ancient-world-mysteries.com/mayan-calendar.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm

http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/what-will-happen-in-2012.html