Contextual Studies DTP

Entry 5 – Digital Invention – Flick

flicksblog — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:57:54 +0000

Where did the need for email come from?

In the 1940s large companies and government agencies in the United States began installing massive computers in multiple sites. Advances through to the 1960′s led to scientists experimenting with connecting these computers together creating the first networks, then joining these networks together. These were used by programs to share tasks by talking to each other at a very basic level. Before long networks we’re linked together over larger distances using phone networks and the programmers and operators discovered that communicating with each other was becoming difficult.

Who invented email?

In the late 1960′s computer researchers found ways of sending messages to each other by making text appear on a remote screen or printer, but this was effectively just printing to a remote printer. In 1972 Ray Tomlinson decided to develop a system where messages could be sent, stored, and retrieved just like the postal service, and addressed using user_name@computer_name

Where was email first popularized

Soon after, ARPANET, the predecessor of the internet was created and adopted by the US military. By 1974 the US Military and Government had hundreds of users and military communication was revolutionized. By 1976 Arpanet had become the internet and email was adopted by commercial companies, and began expanding internationally. Email had become the single largest application on the fledgling internet, accounting for 75% of network traffic even then.

Entry 4 – Viewing Art – Eilidh

farigq — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:26:37 +0000

Visting an art gallery to view art may not be exactly how the artist intended it to be view but it would be significantly better that looking at it online or in a book. Being able to see the art works in person gives you a much better because you can see it in actual size, the colours are perfect and you will probably be able to get up close to view texture and much more minute details. Having art online and in books clearly has its advantages too, because so many works or art are not up for viewing for a multitude of reasons, maybe it’s too valuable to public viewing or it could be in a private collection, so having access to it in a book or on the internet just about everyone can see it. It is also good for those who don’t have the opportunity to fly across the world to see all the magnificent art available.

Entry 2 Helvertica-Sherrie

vatbsh — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:06:47 +0000

I found a Microsoft logo that had Helvetica type. I stumbled across this example when i was at my computer. I chose this example because it’s an everyday thing that we look at. I thought that this was a good example of Helvertica because it is bold and striking and it stands out it also represents MIcrosoft well.

Entry 4 Viewing Art- Sherrie

vatbsh — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:39:17 +0000

Viewing Art in a gallery is spectacular you get this great feeling of suspense as you are walking towards the art work then when you finally get to see it the feeling of amazement fills your body. When seeing a piece of artwork in a gallery you get the true visual effect you get drawn into the artwork, you see it in detail, you even get the chance to take a closer look or further away look. You also get to see the original piece this makes it that much more rewarding not many get to say they have seen a origional piece of artwork. Viewing artwork on a screen or in a book is ok you still get to see the artwork but the magic of then you see it originally is not there. The artwork looks dull and out of balance because it’s either too small so you cannot see it or to big so it gets distorted.

Entry 5 – Digital Invention – Gareth

ivmidable — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:44:59 +0000

The Digital Camera: It has changed the world of photography forever. During the days when film-cameras were still around, you had to be careful when taking a photo. If you made a mistake when shooting a special moment, that’s just too bad. Developing would take over a week to complete & one could only hope that their photos would come out just how they wanted them. But with digital cameras you can take as many photos as you want & should you make a mistake, you can check the image within most camera’s built-in LCD screens. Thus you can re-shoot almost any moment instantly or multiple times & attempt to get that perfect shot without having to wait weeks for your long-anticipated photos to arrive. To make things even better for today’s public, digital photos can be instantly shared with anyone via email, be uploaded to portable storage devices for others to view & can be copied to other people’s computers within a few minutes without having to worry about the image quality decreasing. Also there is no more need for development. Nowadays you can print your photos from your own home within seconds via your own printer or take them to be be printed professionally for a price. In conclusion, I must say I enjoy manual photography very much & am always up for a challenge of creating striking images. But when you can get even more striking images via digital, it’s very hard to say “no”.

Entry 4 – Viewing Art – Gareth

ivmidable — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:18:28 +0000

Visiting an art gallery can be a very rewarding experience compared to merely seeing the artwork on a screen or the page of a book. When you see an a piece of artwork in the flesh, you can closely observe the technique the artist has used. If it’s a painting, you can clearly see how they use their brushed by looking at all the different strokes. You can also see how the layers are built up to create depth within the painting. Whereas viewing an artwork via a computer screen or in a book, you cannot pick up all these details & see the hard work & effort that’s gone in to producing the work. Also image compression can dilute the quality of image of an artwork which further decreases the detail you can observe as opposed to a gallery.

Entry One – Timelines – Bidoor

bidoor — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:36:02 +0000

Jordan : I found Jordan’s timeline really nice he used very simple layout with some colours and that make it easy to read and follow. He also used the negative and positive spacing well .

Eilidh : Eilidh’s timeline was clear and simple because it has a nice and simple design of the background image with two or three colour . The use of different colour in the writing and the use of red dots make it easy to follow .

Gareth : I thought that Gareth’s timeline sectioned well . It’s clear and simple , not much colour and easy to read .

Sherrie : I thought that Sherrie’s timeline really simple it is look like a guide or catalog for the history because it has only the head lines of the important history events and that make the reader want to read and found out more about the history.

Entry 5 – Digital Invention – Jordan

serendipiddy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:32:29 +0000

The digital invention I am writing about is the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). We are very familiar with it, it almost controls the modern world. So who made it? Why is it used? And what exactly is an LCD?
I looked around wikipedia for some general info, then made a stop at howstuffworks.com as it has lots of articles on how things work, and then did a google search to get some broader information on this LCD, where I found about.com’s invention section.

What is an LCD?
According to wikipedia.org LCD is “A thin, flat panel used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures.” It uses crystals which are sandwiched between two sheets of polarizing material which, when properly aligned, allow or block the passage of light.
In a monochrome LCD the solid blocks formed by areas of liquid crystal block light from passing through (when voltage is applied) and are what make them usable as a visual display. In a colour liquid crystal display there are three colour filters (red, green and blue), which are illuminated by altering the amount of light that reaches them. The amount of light that reaches the colour filter is controlled by the opacity of the liquid crystal between the filter and the light source. Similar to a dimmer switch. By these methods a single LCD pixel is created.

Who invented it?
In 1888 Austrain scientist Friedrich Reinitzer, a botanist, extracted cholesterol from carrots and discovered liquid crystals, but it wasn’t until 1962 a voltage was applied, by Richard Willliams, and striped patterns were formed.
It is George H. Heilmeier who is credited with the invention of the first LCD though. During 1964 he was studying the effects of voltage on the liquid crystal. He found he could turn the liquid crystal opaque from clear state. Later in the 60′s a team at the UK’s Royal Radar Establishment discovered a type of liquid crystal which had an ideal temperature range for a usuable LCD display.
In 1969 James Fergason improved on the technology, and used the more efficient ’twisted nematic field effect of liquid crystals’ to create a liquid crystal display.

Why is LCD used?
It is much more practical at large sizes than a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screen due to LCD’s light weight, higher level of detail and significantly lower power consumption. It is also much more convenient for smaller and portable displays, and a lot more dynamic than just simple LED.
In a comparison between LCD and Plasma displays (link to video), they come out roughly the same, however because plasma uses gases it isn’t as suited to smaller displays like cellphones and Mp3 players.

In Summary
I’ve learned alot about LCD screens, where they’ve come from and how they work. It’s amazing that a technology discovered late in the 19th century is still used and so valuable to today’s modern world. It’s even more fascinating that it was discovered by a botanist studying carrots.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm

http://inventors.about.com/od/lstartinventions/a/LCD.htm

Entry 4 – Viewing Art – Jordan

serendipiddy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:23:41 +0000

In a gallery the art is visible to you, where you can see the textures and colours used. This way a painting or collage can be seen and experienced as it was intended. Neither size nor quality is altered by a print or digital compression.
On the Internet photos and scans are almost always altered by compression and quality loss. I they are not they still suffer from devalued colours and the textures cannot be experienced properly. Similarly, a print in a book also suffers from slight colour change and the textures cannot be experienced.

Probably the most noticeable difference that I’ve noticed was the magnitude and details visible. There is no way I could have appreciated the work at the dots exhibition without seeing the size and fine details the changed depending on your distance from the artwork itself. Also being able to view all the painting in a gallery you can see the link between work without flicking between pages or scrolling up and down a web page.

Entry 3 – Typography Words – Jordan

serendipiddy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:59:12 +0000

Old Style

Also known as Humanist typefaces, it is a subcategory of the serif font typefaces. They are defined by having the thinnest part of the letters at an angle to rather than at the top or bottom of the letter, small differences between thick and thin sections (called a low line contrast), and being very readable. They are based upon the handwritten works of scribes in the 1400s, looking somewhat like pen and ink.

Examples of this include Palatino and Garamond.

Grotesque

Also known as Gothic, it is a sub-classification of sans-serif typefaces. The name was created by the William Caslon IV who designed the first sans-serif typeface in 1832, called 2 Line English Egyptian.
Originally grotesque typefaces featured complete circles for rounded characters (a’s and o’s) and constant widths of the strokes, but with Neo-Grotesque they become more elegant and varied in shape and stroke width.

Sans Serif

Describes a typeface that has no serifs (Decorative tails on the end of a stroke of a letter). These fonts are less ideal for mass text (eg, books etc), and used more for small groups of text (eg, poster text bodies and headings).
They have become acceptable for use on computer screens due to the serifs displaying incorrectly on interlaced screens.
Early on they were used to create emphasis within a body of serif text. Nowdays they are generally used in signs and other times when continuous reading isn’t required.
Includes Helvetica and Verdana fonts.

Display typeface

Large, generally decorative, fonts that are used for posters and big headings. Generally falshy or unusual display typefaces can also feature illustrations within the lettering. Display fonts are not to be confused with ornamental fonts, which contain symbols and no real letters. Display typefaces are most effective when used at large sizes and not suitable for large bodies of text.
Historically it can also refer to the form of a typefaces which was designed to be used at a large point size, not necessarily a decorative typeface.

Sourced from:
Wikipedia and http://www.bruceclay.com/design/type.htm