Online Presence

My online presence has undergone a huge transformation over the course of this module, going from a tacky black style with very little relevant information, to the current stage, with a stylish red white and black motif applied to all of my websites with short and concise information relevant to the course and the subject in question.

Transition from old to new

As can be seen in these images, the new website is a lot less over powering and dark, and instead is simple and light, with more relevant information.

while my website is still mainly a fairly simple and informal style, I think it still maintains a professional look, and is a nice easy to navigate site, whereas the original site was slow to work and was generally unprofessional looking, due to the cartoon style buttons and bad quality banner.

Banner and logo Development

These images show the growth of my banner and online logo throughout the course of this module, starting with the original banners, going onto my Yo-yo logo with a blue background, then white background, then changing logos to the red hooded top, with text, and finally, getting rid of the text completely and making the hooded top the only element in the banner.

I chose to get rid of the first design for the same reason for getting rid of the rest of the site, because it looked awful and didn't give a professional vibe, and I didn't like it enough to make it a logo for my "brand"

the yoyo was the first real logo, which I chose because of my obsession for Yo-yo. Had this logo been a little bit stronger in terms of design, it may have stayed as a logo for much longer, however, I didn't take enough time over it as I should have done, and so when I thought of the new logo, I was happy to get rid of the Yo-yo in place of the hooded top, which I chose due to the fact that I often wear one, and I feel it is a good logo for a student.

I like the logo so much that it also became my twitter background and my YouTube background, which gave my online presence a good house style which stayed consistent throughout all of the websites I use.

What next?

Now the the module is drawing to a close, I feel I have created a good online presence for myself, and I feel that it is something which can last me a long time, and while I will no doubt improve my website further, even within the coming weeks and months, I still feel like my brand and presence for the moment are perfect for me and the message I want to give.

The next step for me will most likely be to perhaps go back over the assignments of this year, and improve them, so that they can go onto my website portfolio and show my skills to anybody who sees them, and then keep improving things as my skill improves with different programs, to show how I am advancing throughout the course, and to improve my presence.

Dat 102: Processing

The target of this assignment is to create a data visualization using a program called processing.

the data will be from from an XML feed from university of Plymouth, which has several different types of information, ranging from C02 levels, to outside wind speed.

my initial idea was to have some form of animation based on a tree, whereby each time a piece of data changes, a new branch is added.

this is a quick doodle of how i see this looking

this idea is similar to something i have seen on the processing website, which has a snowflake which slowly adds parts to its points to create an intricate pattern, although it doesn't use an XML feed to influence the speed or location of the added parts.

-------------------------------------------------------

since the previous idea, i have tried to make the tree sprout branches, without using the data, just as an animation on its own, and i have so far been unable to make it work properly, as branches do not go in the right place, or do not stay on the stage, and instead flash up once and disappear.

this has lead me to another idea, still with the tree idea, but instead have lots of trees growing to make a forest, this could be done using the data from the C02 levels, as i think that is a very appropriate idea, seeing as trees use C02 to live and grow.

-------------------------------------------------------

This idea is also not a very good one it seems, for two separate reasons, one of which is that all i can get to happen is that i have a tree jitterbugging around the screen, and no matter what i do, i cannot get it to create a new tree every time the data changes, thus the forest effect is null and void.

The second reason why i will not be using this idea is that i have discovered that another student is also using trees for their visualization, and i don't want my visualization to be too similar.

-------------------------------------------------------

third time is a charm they always say, so hopefully this idea will work.

my third idea is to have a simple circle pattern, much like waves in a lake spreading out from a splash, but using the XML data to determine the size of the splash, so that in the end it will have a large number of circles in many different sizes.

this is some like what i would like it to end up looking like.

---------------------------------------------------------

oh joy, yet again, i have encountered the same problem which i have had with both of the previous visualizations, where simply get one image on the screen at once, so all i can see is a circle fluctuating wildly around.

processing truly is a tough cookie to crack

-------------------------------------------------------

my fourth idea is to use the fluctuation to my advantage, and incorporate my love of music and sound environments, and create a speaker, so that it draws in data all the time, and makes sound based on the numbers it receives, i.e the higher the number, the higher the frequency, with an animation of a speaker-box with the speakers vibrating to the sound.
i dont think i will try to choose any specific part of the data, as the speaker should have a somewhat realistic look in terms of behavior, and i want the sounds to vary quite a bit, so drawing from all feeds is the best way in my opinion, due to the fact that if i use a single feed, the numbers will not vary greatly, whereas using all the feeds i will get a constantly changing frequency.
plus i have been struggling to get processing to use a single feed, and overall this will be easier to make it work.

------------------------------------------------------

finally, it works, after four ideas, i have a functioning visualization, while it is simple, it is still a visualization regardless, and it works for what i want it to do, sadly the data doesnt change by any large amount, so the sound coming out doesnt vary a large amount, but it still varies, and thats the main thing.

here is a screen shot, its hard to see the way the speaker fluctuates in size in these images, but then the visualization runs it is much more noticable

so there is is, while its not the most exciting or pretty, it does work for what i wanted to do, and i like it's simplicity.

Dat 102: Flash game

So, here it is, the flash game.

Preliminary research
My First idea is to create a game similar to the popular "copter" game, something with a single level that is very simple, but addictive.

something side scrolling seems to be the most obvious choice, as that means i can stick to a single level game, and not have to worry about making any sort of level progression.
as for outside influence, i would love to do something either with a sound player, or with a webcam input, perhaps the player can take a picture of their face to become the character they play as, or have some sort of equaliser based on the music the player is listening to and then make a level based on the type of music they are listening to.
these seem to be very unrealistic goals however, i would much prefer to have a simple game that works well, and keeps the user entertained, long enough to play it for a while, and i feel that trying to do these things will be too complicated for what is only a laid back casual game.

a Side scrolling shooter however would be a bit more simple to make, and if made well, could be quite fun, especially if it is in a similar style to old school side scrollers like R-Type, or old mobile phone game Space Impact.












R-Type, the coolest of cool.

however, one problem with this is that its been done before, and i would prefer to have a slightly less obvious choice for my game, something that is imaginative but still easy to play and simple.

Update-Jan 12th

New Ideas-
Some sort of blockbreaker / arkanoid style game, only without the blocks and more balls, if that makes sense, so the challenge is to keep all the balls in the air.
my first thought was to base it on final fantasy, purely because it would add an amount of novelty to the game, and also would give it a bit of an overall motif, and means that the designing aspect is easier.
the general idea for the game is that you use a paddle (or whatever) to bounce a ball back up to the top of the screen, and once you have hit it so many times (for example ten) another slightly faster ball is added, and so on until there are six balls on the screen at one time, making for some manic and quick paced gaming, with the player losing a life whenever a ball hits the bottom of the stage.
another possibility is to have a timer, which counts up, and every 30 seconds another ball is added, and the challenge is to last as long as possible.
to make it less frustrating, i will add lives for the player to use up, instead of just getting a game over whenever they make one mistake, as this would be rather frustrating, so perhaps 3 lives for the player to use up before they lose the game.

Update-Jan 18th
the graphics are all finished, but it seems that having 6 balls may make for rather complicated gaming, so perhaps it is best to stick to 3 or 4 balls tops.
i have made the "paddle" into a sword, in keeping with the final fantasy style, however, this does make it look a bit lopsided, as it is not symetrical, it also only hints at it being related to final fantasy. but as it is it looks good overall.
And i have decided that the game will have scoring system, not a timer, as a scoring system will be easier to follow than a timer.

Update-Jan 22nd
The final fantasy idea has been scrapped, but some of the graphics have been kept, as they are fairly nice to look at and are not explicitly related to final fantasy, so unless the player knew that that had been the original idea for the game, it would not be obvious to them.
The ball number has been reduced to 4, to make for an easier game, and they now all release at the same time, as it doesnt seem to be very easy to make another release once a certain score is reached, and the first attempt at doing this lead to the second ball either only moving a few pixels then stopping, or going at an over the top speed, making the entire game useless, however, now that all the balls release at the same time, it is a lot easier to make them work.

in problem is the outside input for the game, as mine is fairly simple, and i dont think there is anything that can be done via outside influence, so i think the best way to include this is to simply add the time and date (when they started playing) at the top of the screen, which will allow them to see how long they lasted , and also provide a little extra distraction to make the game a bit more difficult.

Update-Jan 29th
The game is finished, and plays fairly well, however, the main problem which i have yet to overcome is how to create some sort of play button so that the player can start the game in their own time, as on my website it will be difficult to scroll down and start the game without losing a life, so i shall have to come up with some way of making it work.
but as of now, these are the screenshots of the game











































Hopefully by the deadline i will be able to add a play button so that the game does not start instantly, but when the player is ready, this will make it a lot more user friendly and overall a better game.

Dat 101 Manefesto

Everyone should play a musical instrument

In this manefesto, i present to you the idea that everyone yin britain should play a musical instrument, i shall provide and argument for and against this point, and add my personal opinions

I feel that every british person should have the chance to play a musical instrument, be it guitar, bass, drums, or anything that could be considered a musical instrument, why do i think this?
My passion in life is music, which to me takes a priority over many things, with the exception of friends and family, and obvious things like food and shelter, My love for music is very strong, so i feel that everyone should have the chance to play an instrument, and be able to express themselves in a way which many would not consider possible, and describe their emotions and feelings through music, i personally feel that many people would benifit from music, particularly on an emotional level, as i feel that playing music should be considered a therapy, as it allows people to do something their way and exactly how they want, and then share it with others should they so wish.
playing music is like painting a picture, but where as many people do not have the skill or ability to make physical art, everyone has the potential to create sonic art through an instrument, and whether they are skilled to a high level or just starting, whatever they create will be theirs, and can be made in a short amount of time and in many cases, without a lot of skill needed.
However, it can certainly be argued that many people do not have the time or money to pick up an instrument, but to this i ask nay sayers to look at government funding, and in recent years, it seems that the arts have been widely disregarded, and now it has come to light that MPs have been claiming expenses on things which aren't in anyway essential, so i say that instead of MPs who already earn good salerys being allowed to claim everything as an expense, the government use the money to provide funding for musical instrument schemes, suh as school purchase schemes, thus allowing children to access instruments at a young age and have the chance to do something that may stay with them for life and enrich their life.
of course, there is the factor of the credit crunch, well i feel that if instruments are funded then many businesses will benefit, think of all the businesses involved in providing musical instruments, from building them, shipping, designing, making components and selling, many businesses will benefit from this. No, it wont solve the credit crunch, but with everyone being able to express themselves in a way they may not have been able to before, i feel that this may open up carreer oppurtunities for many people, and there are many examples of people who have been stuck in dead end jobs who took up a musical instrument, and then became stars, so its not impossible at all!
Overall i feel that while this may be very idealistic, i believe that if everyone played an instrument then the culture of britian would be much richer and varied that it is today, in a country where our culture is made up of aspects of others, music would set us apart from anyone else, and everyone in britain would be better off even if they only experience it once.



New Manefesto

Video games and films are not to blame!

In this manefesto i shall argue my point that murders such as the murder of James Bulger, (allegedly inspired by the film childsplay) do not mean that video games and films should be banned or censored.
Video games do not affect the majority of the audience whom they are distributed to and while these killings and crimes are very tragic, it is only a very small amount of people who commit them..
The very idea thaat children and even adults are exclusively impressionable and affected by the images shown in films and video games, admittedly there is an amount of evidence that some people do become influenmced by media such as video games and movies to an extent that they may perform some act of violence based on the events portrayed in that media, however, the amount of people who have not acted upon these things far outweigh the amount that have, and many of the people who do have eventually, under tests, been digagnosed as mentally ill, so it is no surprise that they are affected.
And then, there is is the argument that if these people are so highly affected, then surely thing such as bbc news should be banned, when they show scenes of suicide bombing and war zones, are these not worse than virtual scenes? the scene that is reality surely has much more effect than a scene that is fake? if we go to such a length to try to outlaw virtual reality, then surely we should attemp to outlaw reality which is much more horrifying due to the fatc that these things are actually happening??? the very idea of attemping to ban something intended to be entertainment is idiotic, they are meant for enjoyment, when these games and films are in production, it is not the plan to inspire mentally unstable people to go out and kill, the objective is purely to entertain, and for the very large majority, they are simply entertained, and nothing more, they do not act upon things which they are shown within this media, they simply view it and that is all. So please, i ask you, do not blame video games and Films of inspiring murders when they simply dont, the murders are down to the murderers and people who commit acts of violence, not a virtual relity world intended to entertain.

DAT101 Subjective writing & Rhetoric, argument and persuasion

These are some of the other things we have covered in the DAT101, during lectures.


Subjective writing

Define yourself in 3 words
Irresponsible, loud, friendly

Define you position in 3 words if china were to declare war on britian
Scared, angry, wimpy

5 lies i tell about myself

1. my feet are size 14, they arent, they're size 13, i just dont like the number 13
2. i can swim, No i cant, not at all, i just say that to avoid questions
3. i wake up at 7 am every day, massive lie there, only when i get woken up by somebody else is that the case
4. i can play drums. No i really cant not in any way i just like saying i can
5. I love hot food, im not brilliant with it, and i've never really had proper hot food, i just think it sounds impressive

----------------------------------------------------------

Rhetoric, argument and persuasion

Rhetoric
one of the 3 original liberal arts in western culture, alongside grammar and logic

Grammar is correct language use

logic is testing and inventing new knowledge through question and answer

Rehtoric is the proper presentation of ideas, it was taught by the ancient greeks and romans in the medieval and renaissance eras
now in modern times it is coming back into poularity

Important in public speaking and politics

Notable Rhetoricians

aristotle
Ethos, Pathos and Logos


Ethos: The way the personality and credibility of the person speaking may affect the audience to make them believeable
Pathos: emotional appeals to audiences judgement
Logos: use of reasoning to construct an argument

Although we wouldnt name these things the same way aristotle did, i think they are very much still in use today, and a particular example of this is with reality TV, whereby members of the public become attatched to partiipants in television shows, and then will either vote for them to stay on television for a longer amount of time, or to get rid of them, and all of this is based on how the participant presents themselves, and trying to appeal to the nation with a background story usually describing a upssetting upbringing or similar, so that the audience may feel emotionally inclined to support them.

Quintilian

5 canons how to make an argument
Invention: the process leading to an argument being made and perfected.
Arrangement: organised to have the greatest effect.
Style and presentation
Memory: the speaker recalling particular part of an argument in his speech
Delivery: the way it is delivered to engage the audience to the greatest level


Techniques of rhetoric

Contrasting points.
Lists of three: short and consise, but with enough information to give a good overview.
Combination of these two.
repetition: pressing a point to an audience more than once to keep in in their minds.
Alliteration.
Anthropamorphism.
Antithesis: words that may be contradicting, to create a balanced effect to the argument.
Climax: build up matters ending with the most important.
Hyperbole: Exaggerating a point to make it obvious that it is important.
Innuendo.
Irony.
Metaphore: Saying something is something else to add effect to the description, e.g. "Islands are jewels in the ocean", they are obviously not, but it references the beauty and perfection of a jewel and gives the island the same beauty.
Parallism.
Rhyme: appealing to the audience and a light hearted and catchy way of presenting something.
Oxymoron: two contradicting things combined e.g. "little big".
Simile: similar to metaphore, but rather than saying something IS, saying something is LIKE, e.g. "That house is like a palace".
Symbol.
Advocacy: short and consise points.

Dat 101 Mind map

Very late updating, but never mind, this is my mind map



























This mind map basically describes me in a way that i feel is simple but informative. I chose to keep the content simple as i think that it described me better this way that if i had decided to go into detail about every little thing, and so i kept it to what i personally feel are the keypoints.

A rough run though of some of the points.

Music
I only put a few, but in reality if i had listed all of the music i like then the entire page would just be a list of music, so i kept it as short yet descriptive as possible

Hobbies & interests
I kept these organised by splitting them up into different sections with lots of offshoots, so that they were tidier and it werent just lots of random sections in one

Influences
This one was the most diffiult setion for me to do as i didnt really know who inspired me in life, so i put the obvious ones, like parents, and then added other less obvious ones later when i had thought about them, I.E the philosphy branch and the Chi Cheng branch, i put the philosophy segement as i studied it during A Levels, and it had a big effect on the way i looked at life.
The Chi cheng segment almost didnt get put in, but since his life has had an influence on me, i think it was good that i put him in there.

Dislikes
I deided that i should put Fears in dislikes, as i reckon that they can describe people in a very personal and honest way, such as the fact that i am afraid of very odd things, and i think this is a good way for people to know me, because i am telling people something very personal to myself.

Overall
I dont think that this was the most detailed or best mind map that i saw, but i feel that it was good for what i wanted to do, which was to show myself in the simplest way possible, which i think is showing a lot of points, with a small amount of detail to each rather than a few very detailed points. and i think this way people learn more varied stuff about me than just learning about one part of me.

Dat 101

Personal Development Plan


Goal

1. Academic: improve my team working skills by involving myself more within a discussion or presentation.
2. Academic: have a basic understanding of the key areas of the computing modules, particularly Dat102, and in particular, improve my knowledge of coding languages, such as HTML and JavaScript,so that i can produce better projects, and so that i can work more efficiently.
3. Academic: Contribute more to my blog and keep it up to date by blogging new developments in my modules when they happen so that i have as much information as possible.
4. Career: Have a job that i can use all of my skills in, not just academic skills, but personal and social skills also, and if possible, have a career involved in stage/production lighting.
   

Action

1. Take part more within lessons and lectures, ask questions instead of guessing something, work with and help others to overcome problems, socialize outside of lessons.
2. use reading material to extend my knowledge, ask questions about things i am unsure about or want to know about, keep attending lectures, work outside of university by studying and going over lesson notes and lecture presentations again, also regularly attempt extra exercises, such as building websites, so that i gain experience.
3. take more notes in class, blog at the end of different sessions so that i don't have to do it at a later date, add any information to the blog no matter how small, and keep the content interesting by updating on previous parts of the blog
4. Focus on the course as much as possible, so i can achieve higher grades, and also understand more from the course, but as well as focusing on the course, also make sure that i perhaps get a job before going on to my ideal career that is in a similar area, then advance to a full career within that area of work.

Evidence of Achievement

1. i will be able to work well with groups of people, and be able to take the initiative straight away even if i do not know the people i am working with, and also listen to other peoples ideas as well a putting my own forward, and be able to present these ideas well in a concise manner
2. when i am able to create a website fully with my own knowledge and not have to check anything on the internet, and not have to refer to previous exercises for help with making a page, and pretty much be able to do it all myself quickly and well.
3. my blog looks professional and informative, with several updates which are posted often.
4. I will be in a Sector of work that i enjoy and will be working to the best of my ability producing good work