Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
I have been thinking A LOT
I have been thinking about what to say on this new thing... MY BLOG. I guess it would have to do with interface designs or the subject of how interface design has made an impression on my life or education. First of all I want to say, my views are probably skewed and the view I have, will read as cynical. As an "old" lady, I find myself sounding like a resident of a Florida retirement home. Hey, I can't help it.
Interface design has effected my life in many ways. When Napster had a peer to peer network, that allowed the college community to exchange songs in the form of WAV's and MP3's. Some genius had the knowledge and the money to invent a way to make the portable radio a thing of the past and portable CD players look prehistoric. So as a former broadcaster in radio, I was interested in the new device. The invention of that device would bring a generation to the newest technology & some of the biggest court cases involving naive fans to the poor house. It would affect my job.
As a music director and program director working with record labels and rep's I found it quick and swift to understand the business of CD sales. When the availability of MP3's came out on the the Internet with your favorite tracks for 99 cents, CD sales fell. Record companies lost money. The record companies would lack in promotional giveaways, the trade magazines would cut the count of spins by market size due to the loss record label support for advertising in those trade magazines. This would hinder my radio station. Less money in, more availability for the general population. Good? Bad? I waiver on bad for my job in radio, good because I was able to see the shit music deflate from the top of the charts and watch the struggling indie music rise in popularity. Bad in a target tempo for my station, good because I didn't get the promotional bribes from record labels that were knowingly giving me crap to program. So my question doesn't really get an answer in this department.
The record companies are going for the throat to recoup the losses while victims of of being a "music lover" are piling up in the courts. For that, greed is the center of this little thing... a little MP3 player, and sharing the music.
Another way I see interface and the use of it... It's in my social setting. I have more friends via text than any other way these days. I wasn't the most social person in high school. I was the dark artist in the art room while pep rallies were going strong and loud. It wasn't until I was 17, I graduated high school, moved to Maine and started working in a credit office. there I would find my very best friend. She was a co-worker...Hilary. The center of my life was meeting her at a coffee shop called Scooters in Old Port, Portland, Maine. We would have a bagel & coffee, we would talk with no cell phones ringing in the restaurant, no text.
In 1987, you could have a conversation. There was no wireless availability so you could chat via Internet or do work and talk at the same time. There was a solid focus on the task at hand, listening to my very first and favorite friend. I wouldn't e-mail or text her my problems, we exchanged words verbally, we exchanged expressions, we consulted one on one over our emotions. We bonded. To this day and forever that solidified my bond with her.
These days, I have more friends. I don't know there phone number by heart, I don't know what exact emotions they are feeling when they text me, I don't know their e-mail by heart. I guess it makes my life easier. But what if I lose my phone? What if my computer gets a virus from the chain e-mails sent.
I would never worry about that in 1987 at Scooters coffee shop. I know I am sounding like I have blue hair and arthritis is setting into my joints. With that I have to say there is nothing more genuine then a person to person conversation. The only people I feel I can say I do that with, is Hilary and my mom. My mom is 66 and text might as well be a foreign language. That's why I call her almost everyday and I call Hilary every two weeks. If I want to get my friends on the phone, I have to practically text them a warning. If I e-mail something, I don't know if I became a part of the shameful "spam" file.
Interface design is a necessary part of comfortable living for my husband... that remote controls every part of his entertainment center (I think he's more attracted to that thing than me). My twelve year old can't walk her dog without charging up her MP3 player first. My 21 year old daughter is addicted to text (1,734 text in the last monthly statement) and she only calls when she is walking to her next class or is at the grocery store asking me what teeth whitening solution is the best in my opinion. My 19 year old son is also attached to the cell phone, claiming the hot babes are beckoning for his company.
I don't know how I will do in this class. I know I have lied awake at night thinking about what to write on this blog when it comes to interface design, sometimes I found myself mad, sometimes I was trying to think in the respect of the devils advocate in the subject matter. But what I can't deny is this, it's not going away, it's not going to help me to fight it... But God how I mourn the thought that my kids won't experience their "Hilary". The life they live will be fragmented with half of their attention on the phone and the other half on the person trying to talk to them. It kind of leads me to think A.D.D. might be a self inflicted condition.
Interface design has effected my life in many ways. When Napster had a peer to peer network, that allowed the college community to exchange songs in the form of WAV's and MP3's. Some genius had the knowledge and the money to invent a way to make the portable radio a thing of the past and portable CD players look prehistoric. So as a former broadcaster in radio, I was interested in the new device. The invention of that device would bring a generation to the newest technology & some of the biggest court cases involving naive fans to the poor house. It would affect my job.
As a music director and program director working with record labels and rep's I found it quick and swift to understand the business of CD sales. When the availability of MP3's came out on the the Internet with your favorite tracks for 99 cents, CD sales fell. Record companies lost money. The record companies would lack in promotional giveaways, the trade magazines would cut the count of spins by market size due to the loss record label support for advertising in those trade magazines. This would hinder my radio station. Less money in, more availability for the general population. Good? Bad? I waiver on bad for my job in radio, good because I was able to see the shit music deflate from the top of the charts and watch the struggling indie music rise in popularity. Bad in a target tempo for my station, good because I didn't get the promotional bribes from record labels that were knowingly giving me crap to program. So my question doesn't really get an answer in this department.
The record companies are going for the throat to recoup the losses while victims of of being a "music lover" are piling up in the courts. For that, greed is the center of this little thing... a little MP3 player, and sharing the music.
Another way I see interface and the use of it... It's in my social setting. I have more friends via text than any other way these days. I wasn't the most social person in high school. I was the dark artist in the art room while pep rallies were going strong and loud. It wasn't until I was 17, I graduated high school, moved to Maine and started working in a credit office. there I would find my very best friend. She was a co-worker...Hilary. The center of my life was meeting her at a coffee shop called Scooters in Old Port, Portland, Maine. We would have a bagel & coffee, we would talk with no cell phones ringing in the restaurant, no text.
In 1987, you could have a conversation. There was no wireless availability so you could chat via Internet or do work and talk at the same time. There was a solid focus on the task at hand, listening to my very first and favorite friend. I wouldn't e-mail or text her my problems, we exchanged words verbally, we exchanged expressions, we consulted one on one over our emotions. We bonded. To this day and forever that solidified my bond with her.
These days, I have more friends. I don't know there phone number by heart, I don't know what exact emotions they are feeling when they text me, I don't know their e-mail by heart. I guess it makes my life easier. But what if I lose my phone? What if my computer gets a virus from the chain e-mails sent.
I would never worry about that in 1987 at Scooters coffee shop. I know I am sounding like I have blue hair and arthritis is setting into my joints. With that I have to say there is nothing more genuine then a person to person conversation. The only people I feel I can say I do that with, is Hilary and my mom. My mom is 66 and text might as well be a foreign language. That's why I call her almost everyday and I call Hilary every two weeks. If I want to get my friends on the phone, I have to practically text them a warning. If I e-mail something, I don't know if I became a part of the shameful "spam" file.
Interface design is a necessary part of comfortable living for my husband... that remote controls every part of his entertainment center (I think he's more attracted to that thing than me). My twelve year old can't walk her dog without charging up her MP3 player first. My 21 year old daughter is addicted to text (1,734 text in the last monthly statement) and she only calls when she is walking to her next class or is at the grocery store asking me what teeth whitening solution is the best in my opinion. My 19 year old son is also attached to the cell phone, claiming the hot babes are beckoning for his company.
I don't know how I will do in this class. I know I have lied awake at night thinking about what to write on this blog when it comes to interface design, sometimes I found myself mad, sometimes I was trying to think in the respect of the devils advocate in the subject matter. But what I can't deny is this, it's not going away, it's not going to help me to fight it... But God how I mourn the thought that my kids won't experience their "Hilary". The life they live will be fragmented with half of their attention on the phone and the other half on the person trying to talk to them. It kind of leads me to think A.D.D. might be a self inflicted condition.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
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