A large amount of the interviews I conducted and listened to referred to effectiveness of mobile applications to waste time. Gaming and social networking applications were at the top of the list of popular apps. A report published earlier this year even noted that gaming apps were by far the most downloaded apps, the report also comments that the Facebook app was the most downloaded application for Blackberry owners. The majority of smartphone users that I know use their device (other than call and text) for checking weather, social networking, and gaming.
This does not seem very productive, but one person put it best, "it depends upon the person." A student who is driven to use their smartphone for productivity will more than likely find applications that will attend to their needs. One interview mentioned some educational apps that have helped increase her productivity: Responseware, an app to replace those annoying clickers; UMinfo, offering UM maps, diamondback articles, and the university directory; and ELMS mobile, which offers access to UM students elms accounts. These were good apps, but there have been many complaints on educational/productivity apps. The ELMS mobile app, for instance, only grants access to certain tabs in a class's ELMS page. The page for this class only shows the Announcements, Discussion, Documents, and Grades sections. We cannot even view our assignments. These problems will be fixed within time, but I believe the current state of mobile apps is driven toward gaming and social networking, not productivity.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Random :: Photographic Perceptions
Photography is one of the many art forms that compliment the musical experience, or even enhance the experience with new purpose or emotion to the listener. Perception is key to creating the desired effect. Here I will examine 2 photos that use the rule of thirds, a compositional tool used for visual art, and are then edited to give the desired effect.
This photo was taken in College Park, MD during the summer of 2010. The horizon was set on the bottom third of the photograph. The church and sunrise served as the points of interest and were centered on the right third of the photo. Gimp, a photo editing program, was used to enhance the colors and give contrast to the photo. This creates a dark, mysterious feel that I find intriguing.
The next photo was taken in Silver Spring, MD during the fall of 2010. Walking to the parking garage from a friends apartment, I saw an empty baby stroller leaning against a parked car on the side of the road. It was a gloomy, overcast night and this sight made me stop and take a picture.
When editing this photo I wanted to portray a desolate, deserted scene of a baby stroller no longer in use for a reason one might not want to know.
This photo was taken in College Park, MD during the summer of 2010. The horizon was set on the bottom third of the photograph. The church and sunrise served as the points of interest and were centered on the right third of the photo. Gimp, a photo editing program, was used to enhance the colors and give contrast to the photo. This creates a dark, mysterious feel that I find intriguing.
The next photo was taken in Silver Spring, MD during the fall of 2010. Walking to the parking garage from a friends apartment, I saw an empty baby stroller leaning against a parked car on the side of the road. It was a gloomy, overcast night and this sight made me stop and take a picture.
When editing this photo I wanted to portray a desolate, deserted scene of a baby stroller no longer in use for a reason one might not want to know.
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