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Principles of Interactive Media Authoring PDF
Principles of Interactive Media Authoring PDF
Media Authoring
U N I T 6 0 & 1 - H A R RY L I S T E R
Authoring
Definition
Web authoring is a category of software that allows the user to develop a website in a desktop publishing format. The
software will generate the required HTML coding for the layout of the web pages based on what the user designs.
Typically, the user can toggle back and forth between the graphical design and the HTML code and make changes to the
web page in either the design of the accompanying code.
Web authoring can be done either online or offline depending on what applications you use. Some online applications
include sites like weebly.com, squarespace.com, and wix.com. Some of the offline authoring applications that are
available are applications like Dreamweaver, and Director.
Virtual reality
A virtual reality programme presents you with multi-sensory information and 3D effects in real-time. When you interact with a virtual
reality program you have a sense of being completely immersed in it. Many museums and institutions now offer virtual tours of their
buildings on their websites and these give you the impression of walking through the actual museums, making your own decisions about
where to go.
Virtual reality can be used to simulate real events, such as flying an aeroplane. The main advantage of this is that pilots can be presented
with what look like dangerous situations, and learn how to deal with them, but their lives are not at risk.
Education
There are many applications that are made with full purpose of education. Apps like Gojimo use
facts and question to help teenagers revise for specific GCSE exams and keeps a score on how
many questions they have got correct so that it can motivate them to do more questions. Usually
in multimedia product nowadays programs are user-drive(the user can control what they do in
the program)and they will not have any time restrictions giving them as much time as they need
to learn. Through out the existents of educational applications it has been proven that
multimedia teaching resources have helped many student to understand the subjects they are
studying better. It has also been proven that the students that use the applications remember a
lot of the information as well.
Computer-based Training
Computer based training is an interactive method of learning that will provide the learner with a series of self paced,
hands-on, web-based courses. Computer-based training offers a range of skill which are:
Technology
Managerial
Supervisory curricula
Technology curricula contain courses for people like IT beginners and IT professionals. Technology courses include
training in Microsoft office software, macromedia, adobe, security, internet basics, how to create a web page etc.
Managerial and supervisory curricula contain courses that offer business skills, human resources and workplace
compliance. Some of the courses that are offered include
Communication
Diversity
Leadership
Team building
Assessment
There are many types of assessment types that can be done whether that’s physical or mental
assessment. A good example is a driving assessment. Students when learning to drive are required to
undertake physical assessment when they are actually behind the wheel or mental assessment when
they are online and completing questions about what they should do in situations and what to look
for. Assessments are a good way to analyse and test a persons ability when doing something. There are
many more examples of assessment are:
Educational assessment
Health assessment
Nursing assessment
Risk assessment
Tax assessment
Etc.
Format
Website
Websites are used worldwide by millions of people everyday. Lots of businesses use websites as they are so popular with
the public and easily accessible. Websites can be used for everything from education, leisure and shopping. A website is
hosted on a web server like Google and Bing. Theses are accessible via a network such as the internet or a private local
area network through an internet address known as a uniform resources locator.
A website can give the user access to:
Information
Graphics
Video
Audio
Web links
Purchase produce etc.
Example of Topman.co.uk and MyMaths.co.uk.
Information Kiosks
An information kiosk is a computer terminal that provides access to information and applications for
communication, commerce, entertainment and education. Early information kiosks sometimes resembled a
telephone booth but can also be used while sitting on a bench or chair. Information kiosks are typically
placed in very busy places such as hotels lobbies, airports and large shopping centres.
An example of this is the Trafford centre uses information kiosks to help customers locate the shops that
they want to go in.
Information kiosks are very useful because they can be used to give information of any kind to the recipients
that wants it.
Images are pictures that have been taken by a camera. I will be using
lots of images on each page of my product to make the product
aesthetically pleasing.
Interactivity and Control
Buttons
In my product I used buttons to allow the user to locate and navigate their way around my
product. Buttons will allow the user to move around the product easily and quickly. To make
sure that my product looks professional enough and to ensure that the user enjoys the
aesthetics of the product I need to make sure that I design the buttons so that they look nice
and fit in with the overall design of the product and also I will need to place the buttons in a
place so that the user can clearly see them and where the buttons will take them.
Within my product I have used both an array of premade buttons and buttons that I created
myself using Photoshop. I made sure to create the buttons so that they don’t look to bold and
take up too much of the page so that it look aesthetically pleasing to the user.
Events
An event is a certain thing that happens within the product that allows the user to do things that
animations don’t e.g. using the “hide from cursor” behaviour.
Within my product I didn’t use any events as I didn’t feel they made the product look any better
and they were not in the client’s brief.
Hotspots
An image map is a graphic that has many hotspots or transparent hyperlinks to other objects or
websites. For example in a photograph showing a variety of different items. When you click on the
specific item it will take you a page separate for that specific product that you many want to view.
Hotspots are a very effective means of concealing the links between
each of the pages.
Advantages
Hotspots are very useful so that you have no visible buttons.
Sometimes buttons can make a page look less aesthetically pleasing
therefore getting rid of the buttons will mean that it looks better.
Disadvantages
the user may not be able to locate the way of accessing if you don’t
include a indication of how they will be able to access the information
that they will want to know.
Scripting
I have used scripting all the way through my product. Scripting is when you
programme certain things within the product to do different things. E.g.
Programming a close button to close down the whole product. I will be scripting
my whole product so that it runs smoothly without any errors. I will programme
each pages with a “go to the Frame” code which will make the product stop on
that page until the next button Is pressed.
Timelines
During the creation of my product I used a timeline to make sure that all of my
assets were in the right places and had all of the correct effects and times on
them. A timeline within Director is made up of things called sprites, sprites are
basically each different objects you have placed onto the stage in a bar form and
it shows you when that asset is due to leave the stage by how the bar is placed
on the screen.
Example of a
cluster of sprites
with the red line.
Slideshows
A slide show is a presentation of a series of still images on a projection screen or
electronic display device, typically in a prearranged sequence. Each image is
usually displayed for at least a few seconds, and sometimes for several minutes,
before it is replaced by the next image. The changes may be automatic and at
regular intervals or they may be manually controlled by a presenter. The current
software I am using to create this slideshow is Microsoft PowerPoint.
Effects
There are many different effects and transitions hat can be added to my product
to make a sprite look better e.g. the way it enters onto the stage or exits off it.
Effects make the product look even more professional and some can even make
the product interactive like a rollover member change which changes the picture
your mouse is hovered over to a different picture.
Limitations
Size and Download Time
Size is how big a file is. The size of a file is very important during the making of
my product because if a file is too large it could make the whole product crash,
videos are the files that can mainly take up a lot of space as they are usually the
bigger files. I will need to use Premier to edit the videos I download to a shorter
length so they have a smaller file size.
Download time is the amount of time taken for you to download the product,
the larger the product size the longer it will take to download.
Type of Content
When using English I have constantly been using it because it is what makes up everything but
the main places I concentrated more on English was when using the spell checking software on
the computer to check my spelling and punctuation. Proof-reading is where you re-read
something and make any changes to things like; spelling, grammar, punctuation etc. I used peer
reviews when finishing a piece of work to get someone else's input on things like my use of
English and any other problems with the task so that I could change it.
ICT and Communication
ICT is a very big part of any unit as it is the main part of creative media. I concentrated my ICT skills on
task like planning and designs during assignment 2, planning and designs were usually done on
software like Photoshop or PowerPoint when creating mood boards and graphics. File management is
where I placed all relevant files into folders to group them together to be able to find a certain file a
lot easier. After each assignment we gave each other some peer feedback on our assignments, after
this we read the feedback and make any relevant changes to our assignment and this usually consists
of the use of ICT skills.
Communication skills consist of things like research completed, and designs. Designs are storyboards
and dope-sheets, both of these help with the designs of the product as they allow you to sketch up
whatever you want to see what it would look like on screen and you can make any changes onto the
storyboards until you like it so that it saves time on the actual creation of product. PowerPoints are
used to make things like mood boards or reports like this one. A pitch is a presentation you give to
someone e.g. the client where you explain all aspects of your research into things like budget and
competitor research, we didn’t do a pitch for this unit but we have on unit 3.
Punctuality and Work-Placement
To extend my punctuality skills and make sure I kept to the time limit I made things like
timelines, Gantt charts and a ILP. A timeline is where you write up every task that needs to be
done and by what date. A Gantt chart is a chart made within Excel to help set out how long each
task will take to complete. An ILP (Independent Learning Plan) set out what each task is and
which lesson I need to start and complete them by. By attending lessons I will be punctual and
have more chance of meeting deadlines. A client meeting is where you speak with the client and
find all the small details of the task they want you to complete, by doing this it allows you to
finish a task more smoothly as you should know everything you need to do.
If I get relevant work placement for what I would like to do in the future it will be very good work
experience and should teach me many things I would need to know for the future. I should learn
a lot of new skills as I haven’t worked before so I may learn things like how to deal with
problems within the workplace and customer service and attitude. Work placement will help me
with personal development as well as it help me to learn new things.
Legal and Ethical
To make sure that the picture I have used were not copyrighted by anyone so
that I don’t get into trouble for using them within my product. Ethical
considerations I had to stick to were things like making sure that I try to include
many different nationalities and disabilities within my product as if I didn’t
people may feel like I'm being prejudice. I had to make sure I represented all
different types of people in a good light so that no one could get offended.
Conclusion
From all of the skills stated above I feel that these make me highly employable
as I have a new wide range of skills which employers would be looking for. After
this course I will also have my qualification which would help a lot more in
finding a job along with my work experience.