Chicago Bears

too much to do

2005-12-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since i last blogged. I've been really bogged down with work in this class and others. I have two papers due next week, three final tests and two other major assignments that are needing to be turned in. I've been gathering more information on the topic of communication and will conmtinue to make the neccessary changes and additions, well thats about it i just wanted to get that out there since i've havent blogged in a while, good luck to everyone on finals and project number deuce.

project 2

2005-12-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

I have posted what i have got done so far on the second project on my webpage http://student.wiu.edu/KG-Kuhs/ It's coming along well but i have to answer a few of the remaining questions and elaborate some more on the ones i've answered. I'm finding it somewhat difficult to answer a few of the questions so im kind of just writing about interesting relationships and concepts found with communication computers and writing i am trying to incorporate other concepts from the course into this project and i think its coming along fairly well.

New media

2005-12-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

I'v been thinking about new media and i began to think about photographs. I know that digital photos would most certainly be considered new media since they fit te criteria layed out by manovich. But i was wondering would a photograph taken by let's say a disposably camera which is then transfered onto a computer throught the use of a scanner considered new media. It isn;t considered new media when it taken through the camera or when it's developed, but is it the case that the second it's transfered to the computer through a scanner it becomes new media. This kind of stunmped me because it's like an old media being transformed into a new media.

Usability

2005-11-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

After class on wensday i decided to try and apply the 5 e's to the usability of my ipod and the software. I first looked at the efficiency of the ipod itelf and saw that it was very easy to find the song i was looking for unless the file name was something other than the title of the song. For example i have a great deal of songs that are titles with the track number first(ex 01-Ween-Mollusks-Dancing in the show tonight) So if i want to find this song i cant just scroll through the songs and look for the title dancing in the show tonight, i have to go through all 01 and listen to them until i find it. This can be time consuming and in turn causes poor efficiency.
The effectivenss of the ipod is good, because once i've found the song i want to listen to it always plays it with no problems.
Engaging, now thats my biggest problem with the ipod, It's difficult to find the song i want if the file starts with a number or the band name, because the screen doesnt allow one to see the whole file name, also the ipod screen is quite dull and there are no images whatsoever making the style of interaction a very simple menu-command system. The software for the Ipod seems to have some flaws, there is no option to just import all the music files on your computer, it claims there is but after i performed the action there were still many songs which weren't in the itunes library, and most of all when i import a folder containing a missing song it makes duplicates of any song thats already in the library. The software should know not to put duplicates of the same file because this just eats up memory on the ipod. (Error tolerant)
The ipod and the software are very easy to learn i set everything up without even looking at the instruction booklet.
I did all of this pretty much because i was aggravated by the inability to find songs with the track number attached to the front of the file name. I could manually correct this however i have so many files that are like this is would be way to time consuming.

Final draft assignment 1

2005-11-16T13:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to my final draft, there is a graphic in it but im not sure if it's allowing it to be viewed, but anyways good luck to all on your projects. http://student.wiu.edu/KG-Kuhs/

usability (5 E's)

2005-11-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

This idea of usability seems like the most important topic for a buisness's website. If someone is accessing a particular website and the buisness hopes for them to buy something or sign up for something, or whatever, it's extremely important for the user to be able to easily navigate through the website to find what the need while encountering as few problems as possible. The Whitney quesenbery site describes the 5 e's that one should look at when dealing with their website. How effective, efficient engaging, error tolerant and easy to learn are the criteria for a website to be usable. I find this to be great as a theory but i have some trouble seeing how its truly useful when a buisness wants to see how actual users feel about these criteria. The article states that the creators need to observe first hand how actual users view the sites usability. But how do they do this. Are they expected to litterally go out and observe people as they use their site? Who are these people using the site and how are they being observed? It seems like a better idea to maybe send out a questionarre of some sort for users to fill out after they have completed their transaction through a site. But even this avenue presents some problems. For instance i know from my personal experience when a questionnare such as this comes up i tend to just check off whatever and move on because as a user i have no interest in these types of surveys. I guess my overall point is this 5 E's idea is good on paper but i wonder how effective it truly is in a real world situations.

Draft assignment 1

2005-11-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out how to put my paper onto my website from home. This is just the draft a detailed outline of what my final paper will look like and the contents it will have, here is the link to my web page http://student.wiu.edu/KG-Kuhs/ the paper is titles literacy.

I didn't come to clas today with the material read. I read the tags for design but that the benjamin essay wasn;t one of them, i went back and looked and the emails and realized that prof dilger told us in one of the e-mails so that was my fault. But from the discussion and what i did read i gathered that benjamin grew up in a rough time and he truly hated fascists9but who wouldn't) Im intersted in how he's really pointing out to be aware of what were doing with this technology we have how when we type something we shouldn't only be thinking "oh im typing this la la la la la." But rather what are the implications of what were doing how is blogging about something or craeting a web page affecting the world around us. Since the advent of the internet it is no longer necessary to travel a great distance to see some historic work of art or to see a one of the wonders of the world, we can simply point and click. And i think benjamins point about the aura(sp?) is truly useful viewing a masterpiece of art from your computer takes away from the true importance and beauty of it you don't get that feeling of doing something that you'll remember forever. You just get a little something extra out of going to view a piece of art first hand rather than downloading an image.

Images

2005-11-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

I first must say that prof. Banash did a great job of explaining the barthes essay in more understandable language. I read this essay twice and still didn't entirely comprehend it, Barthes seems to use lots and lots of technical terms which i don't always know the true meaning behind, and the depth to which he explores these concepts can cause confusion at times. However after reading it twice and hearing Prof Banash give his take on the whole thing i feel i know where Barthes was going with this whole thing.

This essay "Rhetoric of the Image" Gets at the idea that images, pictures in particular have no meaning. They are simple just representations of something that was. We derive meaning out of pictures by using our cultural views and assumptions about the world around(this is the connotative message) us coupled with the use of captions which must be taken with a grain of salt. Once we read a caption and hold it to be the truth about a photograph then our interpretaions of an image begome limited to what the caption tells us. I think that Barthes essay focuses to much on photos alone, what about painting drawings sculptures, these are images aswell that carry meaning and ideas just these are expressed in artistic way rather than in a literal way as we see with photos, however I suppose photos are artistic in a way aswell since a photographer can alter a scene by using different lenses angles distances etc. s in that sense photos are artistic aswell.

I had some trouble agreeing that the michael jordan wing span photo was meant to show that he transcended the limitations of race that Prof. Banash brought up. I believe that the image intends to show a godliness about Jordan(with the christ motif of his arms spread and the way the light in the backround becomes brighter around his head giving a halo-like effect) in the sport of basketball and i dont find the image to have any racial significance. Jordan wasn't the first black player in the NBA nor was he the first Black star in basketball. I see how you could tie the wings and the fact that jordan is black to flying free from the constraints of racism, but i think thats a stretch. I would have to say that the image elicits more the idea of michael being a god like figure in basketball and his ability to "fly" gives him a superman like quality.

Overall this essay really has some interesting and revaltion like qualities, i will definately be thinking about these sorts of things when i look at images(of any sort) really questioning what they mean and why they mean this.

Anti-mac

2005-10-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

I read the anti-mac and it kind of reminded me of the "as we may think" paper by Bush. While they don't make as many predictions about the future of computers and technology as bush did they still offer suggestions and possibilites for the future of computers. I like how they criticize the errors that early mac computers had and explain in a proffesional way why changes must be made;while they constantly reinterated that they weren't bashing the macintosh just pointing out improvments that could be made. They definately made some accurate predictions but a few seemed a little off the mark like computers will have screens the size of desks and the picture will be equal to that of the human eye.( "This trend will continue until displays approach the size of a desk and the practical resolution of the human eye"A More Expressive Interface)

I like how in the article Gentner and Neilsen talk about having a richer representation of objects. They offer the suggestion that when we look at a document on a computer screen we should be able to know more about it than just it's: size,title,modification date and program which created it. It would be nice if i was looking through my old papers for a specific idea or topic, and rather than having to re-read all of them i could just highlight a particular document and get a summary or overview of what it was about, or search for a keyword in all my papers. I'm not sure if there is that technology out there yet but I could definately see how it could be useful.

Interface

2005-10-24T08:40:00.001-07:00

As soon as i began reading the anti-mac article my immediate thoughts were do these things really need to be altered? Why change what works? I understand that modifications need to be made to accomodate the grwoing uses of computers but does there need to be an overhaul of the way interface works? The example was briefly mentioned during class about car interface, there may have been some minore changes made over the years but more or less the interface has remained the same. There is still 4 wheels a steering wheel two or three pedals and a shifter and that will always remain. So i guess when looking at computer interfaces it is useful to make some adaptive changes to the interface but i don't feel any great changes are necessary or even feasible.

Go Whitesox and bears

2005-10-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day to be a chicago sports fan, the whitesox win in a dramatic way in the bottom of the ninth when scott posednik hit a solo home run to deep right center. I haven't seen this much excitment about chicago sports since the bulls won three championships in a row. I have benn following the whitesox all year long and I know they're going to finish off this season with the first worldseries championship since 1918. On another good note the Bears won again giving them first place currently in the NFC north with a 3-3 record. I hope the Bears can have as good of a season as the Whitesox have had.

Liscenses

2005-10-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

In class today it was mentioned that a bar needs to pay a fee or needs to give a percentage of its profits if it wishes to obtain a liscense to show a sporting event. This has never occured to me and suprises me. Why do the bars need to pay money to display nationally televised sporting events. Does tis apply to all buisnesses? If your watching a sporting event and making money at the same time wheter its a direct result of the game or not does that mean your responsible to pay a fee? I just wonder how often buisnesses actually come into these sorts of issues, does the NFL sue alot of private buisnesses for this sort of thing or is it a rare occurence?

Also commenting on this open source software is it actually feasible to make a profit off of these programs that are in the public domain? And in the future will we see an end to privately ran software manufactures? is it possible for programs like word or excel to someday become obsolete due to the advent of similar programs developed by open source software programmers?

revised abstract

2005-10-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

For the first major assignment i will look at the various definitions of literacy, i will look at how the definitions of literacy have changed throughout history and how they will continue to change as technology grows and becomes even more invloved in our daily lives. Literacy is an interesting topic to research and discuss and i will look to many different sources to gather as much knowledge about the topic as i can.

I think this should cover my abstract for the first major assignment, I don't know if Prof. Dilger was planning on grading these or just giving the OK to go ahead with the assignment. So if anyone could let me know that be great thank you.

IP

2005-10-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's interesting to know that as i type these words they are becoming my property and that by just producing this document they will remain mine for quite sometime. I had a question however regarding the difference between actually getting copyrights to a work and just producing it. If i write a paper and i publish it or post it on the internet and someone comes along and uses it as their own and makes a profit off it then would i sue them? And if this is the case and i culd win a court case without having a formal copyright, then whats the purpose of getting a copyright? I

Are these copyright laws useful when dealing with people outside of the United States? It was pointed out during our class period that in other countries such as china copyright laws dont exist and they are pretty mush free to do as they please. So what if a situation arose where someone in china took a script of somesort fromt he internet and produced a movie that profited immensely from it? does this mean that the original writer is shit out of luck? And on an even more likely level what if ebay user in china is selling bootleg copis of a movie or a piece of art or anything for that matter and people in the US are buying them, does that mean they are then violating copyright laws. It's a much different situation then the filesharing issue in the sense that people might be paying for these products not knowing that it's illegal.

Copyright laws seem like a very complex set of laws and regulations, and with the growing internet age these laws will seemingly become even more complex and difficult to interpret

Literacy Abstract

2005-10-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

For the first major assignment I choose to look at the topic of Literacy. I feel that literacy is looked at as such a basic concept that we tend to overlook how much literacy has changed throughout history and how much it's going to change in the near future. If i were to have written a paper on literacy 25 years ago it would be soley centered around ones ability to read and write on paper as a means of communicating ideas and beliefs. Simple tests could have been done to test literacy such as can you read a sentance and can you write a sentance. But as the advent of computers and their undeniable effect on modern communtication grow, I feel that the definition and means for measuring literacy will continue to change and adapt.

Some questions I intend to tackle during this writing assignment will range from very simple ones like: what is the definition of literacy or how has the importance of literacy grown throughout history? to questions like; In the future will literacy include ones ability to create a word document and post it on a server or email it to a freind? A question like this will not have a clear cut answer because acheivement of literacy strongly depends on who is defining it. A researcher in a third world country today will surely not consider ability to use a computer as a criteria for being literate, however a researcher in the US or any other well educated higly enriched population may. Since the definition of literacy has changed over the centuries from being able to read the bible in past civilzations, to being able to read and write to communicate ideas, then is it not the case that we may be facing a new shift in the way we view literacy?

Computers have become such an intracle part of our everyday lives that they must be taken into account when measuring someones literacy. Of course the basic ability to read and write will always be the main factor in determining literacy, but communtication is also a part of this broad topic. The ability to communitcate through written text has taken on a life of it's own in recent years. It's no longer good enough to be able to formulate ideas and concepts and put the onto paper, you must now be able to access a computer, type up you paper and be able to make modifications through the use of the computer. The channels of communication have grown from: newspapers letters and books, to include: websites, blogs, e-mails, powerpoints etc.. And if one hopes to be literate in the modern sense then they must be "computer literate" and be able to communicate through these channels. If an individual is an unbelievable writer but lacks the ability to use a computer they are at a huge disadvantage since a mediocre writer with access to a computer can communticate their work to a much larger population.

So thats the direction I'm heading in my paper i think im on the right track but please leave comments on improvements or different avenues i could explore in this topic.

First major assignment

2005-10-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if anyone could let me know what is being expected for the abstract due on friday is it basically an outline of what we're going to do or a short summary? Also are we limited to basing our paper on the topics up to the standards stuff or are we allowed to write about accessibility and networks? If anyone knows please post back and let me know i will also e-mail proffesor Dilger. Good luck to all, thanks.

Networks are everywhere

2005-10-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

Reading the wikipedia articles about networks really opened my eyes to the extent to which networks play in our lives. I didn't even stop to think that networks exist at the neural level in our bodies. I just automatically began thinking about computer networks and circuit boards. But when i read over the neural netwoks i was reminded of how similar networks are no matter where there founds. In our bodies networks work together to transfer messages or signals to our brain from any part of our body and vice versa, in a computer networks it is very similar. The networks are used to transfer information or signals or whatever from one place to another within that networks.
When your driving down the street your affected by networks more than you'd imagine not only are the very streets your driving down part of a network. But the power lines running alongside the road are also part of a network. The stoplights you pull up to are connected somewhere to a computer through a network allowing the lights to be turned red yellow or green at the correct time in realation to other lights within that network. The water and gad lines under the streets you drive down are part of another networks whos aim is to transport a resource, or a waster to a desired location within that network. the list goes on and on of the many networks that effect us each and everyday. i just found it interesting how much networks play a part in our lives.

Accesibilty

2005-10-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

Accesibility is a vital part of creating a user freindly web page. If you wish to have a purposeful meaningful web site then it is imperative that it is accessible. Accesibility seems like a very broad topic. It can mean something as little as does your browser read the code which a particular website is written and can also refer to something as important as the ability for a blind person to access your site throught the use of a program like jaws. i never reall thought about a blind person and their use of the internet. It really made me think how hard life would be especially as a student if i was'nt able to access the internet. Without programs like jaws accesibility to the internet would be near impossible for a blind person. Accessibility is definately one of the most important aspects of having a website that is useful to thoose who wish to view your website.

Weak showing by the bears

2005-09-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

I am still feeling a little shaky about the Bears. After their showing this past sunday against the bengals I really question not only their true capability on offense but im having second guesses about their defense especially in the secondary. Johnson burned azumah and tillman a couple of times and that is not exceptable. But the worst part about the entire sunday was that Kyle Orton took a step back in his progression as a NFL quarterback. He threw five Interceptions, Five!! that is not acceptable if the bears truly have a chance to go somewhere this year. On the bright side the packers lost again putting them at 0-3 so that makes me a little more happy than i was after wathcing the bears horrific loss.

Wiki Stuff

2005-09-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

Until this past Monday I had never heard of this wiki stuff. I find it quite appealing as a new way of developing group assignments. I like the whole concept of being able to make adiitions or doing assignments through the internet from anywhere. Everyday I'm feeling more and more confident about dealing with these online programs. I still feel im fairly computer illiterate but these concepts are coming to me much more easily everyday i use them. Wiki seems like a great way to share ideas or put your opinions into a group assignment. It will also be a lot easier to present the asignments to the class and for the teacher to have access to your work. Im interested to see where our class goes with this program and also in the future i feel that this way of doing projects can be usefule for other classes. It's definately a new way of doing things for me and i look forward to applying it to other classes when I'm able to.

Major Assignments

2005-09-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

I 've been wondering when we'll be receiving our major assignments we've been doing lots of smaller pieces of work like the powerpoint and weblogging and strating to create web pages. However I'm Curious as to when and what our major assignments will be. I'm Hoping they are more focused around the writing aspect of the course rather than the computer aspect since I'm not very good with computers to be honest. I Think I am able to get the technical stuff to work for me(like writing the code) however I don't really know what it all means. I would like to hear back on what some of your opinions are and how you feel about these issues.

No Longer The Bad News Bears

2005-09-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

wow, what a great game as a bears fan. I haven't seen offensive production like this from the bears since 2000. Kyle Orton looks great hooking up with muhhamed several times including one for a twenty-eight yard touchdown. The Defense of the bears continues to be better than any that i've seen this season. Huge hits big interceptions including one which was returned for a touchdown. The Bears now sit atop the NFC north after destroying the detroit Lions 38-6. The Lions coming off a big win against the packers were slight favorites coming into this game, boy how the bears showed otherwise. It's great to see orton throwing the ball with confidence and not being overly concerned with the pass rush or throwing an interception. I have no complaints whatsoever about the bears this week all i can say is keep it going and we have just a good shot at winning the division as anyone else. So go bears!!!!!

Web Page Development

2005-09-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

After learning just the basics on how to create a simple web page with text and a few pictures i truly appreciate how advanced some websites are out there. i mean this stuff isn't easy. I looked at some of the source code for a few websites and i was astonished at how complex they were. I though just learning the concept of how to create a few paragraphs and put them in the body of a webpage was confusing and then i look at some of the code for a website like ESPN.com and i think it's incredible that people are able to do such amazing things through a computer and the use of code. Well i just though i comment on this as i continue to develop my web page.

Where's the offense

2005-09-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm am thourouly dissapointed in the offensive production, or lack there of, showcased by the bears and Ron Turner (the new offensive coordinator). Only 166 yards of offense will not win many games regardless of the prominence of your defense. Now given it is early in the season, I'm hesitant to go ahead and bash the new offensive coordinator, but i will say this much, with as good an offensive line as we have our rushing yards should excede 150 every game. We have a good experienced runningback in Thomas jones and a future star in cedric benson so getting only 41 yards rushing is unexceptable regardless of the defense your going up against. The only good thing i could say about sundays game versus the Chiefs was that we only lost by 3 points. I hope this is the last time i will say I'm happy because of the small margain we lost by. Big props to the defense as usual wish the same could be said for the offense. Go Bears!!!

Opening day this Sunday!!

2005-09-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Im very excited for the start of the bears 2005-06 season. They will finally be starting off the year against a weaker a opponent in my eyes. The redskins have struggled the past few years and give the bears a good shot at statring the season off with a win. The bears defense should have no trouble with the redskins offense:only the must be aware of the threat the Skins' have in the backfield. Clinton Portis, if playing to his potential, could run allover the bears. However, if the bears shut down this one threat that the redskins have early in the game then the rest should be no problem. I can't wait to see Kyle Orton make his NFL debut in his first year out of college, if he shows some flashes of great potential then this season could actually be a positive. Who knows we may even have a shot at the playoffs.

2005-08-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

its about time!!!!!!!!!!!!