Assignment for Class 4, Use of Flash in Website

Website: http://www.krystal.com/

The Krystal burgers website utilizes a great deal of flash for an interactive experience. I found this website because the Krystal square-off is one of the major competitions on the competitive eating schedule which I am a part of. The site seems simple when you first arrive, but as you scroll around and start to click, you quickly see the depth of the website with the use of flash you feel as though you are in a restaurant, a theatre, and an arcade all at once.

I really like the front page, as I mentioned you are immediately thrown in to an interactive experience with "Krystal," your virtual host who gives you a quick video introduction about what is available in the site. I also am very impressed by the quickness of the flash operation. When you scroll from left to right on the front page, the sounds change when you scroll over the 'lounge', the 'restaurant', and the 'square-off', to make you feel like you are there.

There are some things that can be improved. When you start to dig deeper, especially in the lounge section and the square-off section, there are some problems with the links. in the lounge section in the theatre there are items that seem like you should be able to click on but there is not link available. In the Square-Off section, the one I am most interested in, the links are really incomplete and everything seems to move a bit slow. The most important thing to me is that if you are going to have things on the screen, you should make sure the links work and that everything has a purpose otherwise all the work that was put in to creating the site is wasted by poor management.

The purpose and message that the flash and the website provide is that Krystals is an upbeat, edgy and fun place to eat and visit. I think the utilization of flash and the interactive video within the website is very effective for communicating the Krystal brand. I think that maybe they should just manage the upkeep of the website so that it is more professional and so it doesn't distract from the message.

My computer is a Boeing issued Dell Latitude - 2GB hard drive.

Ah-ha From Reading Class 3

Well, I finally got my book so I don't have to scroll down my computer screen to read the chapters. Anyway, the chapter on digital image formats seemed packed full of technical jargon (not unlike the rest of the book). I had to read many sections 3 to 4 times before i could really grasp the concept of the imaging and display examples. I am still not quite sure about how all of these things are important and relate. When Wootton starts describing the use of Pythagoras theories and DPI conversion ratios my brain really starts to hurt. I am sure the information provided and especially the tables would be more lucid and helpful if I was actually experimenting with the examples and experiencing the results of the different image display formats.

In the beginning of chapter 6 (6.3) it is mentioned that computer video displays were originally implemented by plugging in domestic TV monitors. It goes on to describe how computer monitors evolved and became more specialized; i wonder why TV monitors did not follow the same path?

Overall, I think the most coherent and possibly useful information stated in the chapter (atleast for my current experience) is to not rely on pre-set defintions of screen size, to verify the x and y values to help avoid confussion with compression software.

Novel Use of Streaming Media in Politics

I am particularly interested in the use of stremaing media in politics. In the past four years politicians have been utilizing the powerful communication tools of the Internet to convey their messages. But as a whole politicians have been behind the curve as far as unlocking the full potential of reaching potential voters through the interactive advantages of the Internet. Many politicians now keep up blogs and a rising number of politicians are beginning to utilize streaming media to broadcast and publish live and past speeches.

In the last presidential election, both Kerry and Bush had an online campaign and online campaign managers. Zack Exley, who was the director of online communication organization for the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign admitted that the online efforts for 2004 fell short, in part because they failed to embrace some traditional democratic values. Bush's campaign focused on grassroots building and campaign fundraising was more effective and could have played a large role in the eventual outcome. This Harvard Gazette article goes in deeper detail about the issue.

Anyway, back to streaming media and politics. In the upcoming 2008 election, I believe stremaing media will provide candidates with yet another powerful tool to reach potential voters and let their message resonate. I chose one of my favorite Democratic senators from Illinois and particularly well spoken and potential candidate for 2008, Barrack OBama's website. Barrack has a well constructed website with a catalog of podcasts with the subtitle of 'Audio reports on issues affecting Illinois, the nation and the U.S. Senate.' His voice and message is clear in these speeches which cover a varietly of topics. I Look for Obama and other candidates to continue to utilize stremaing media to have a large impact on future campaigns.

Ah-Ha for Class 2 Readings

The description of how audio is coded and synchronized was very intriguing. I guess I have taken for granted how sound waves are converted by the human ear and coded to create a three dimensional feel. In actuality we receive sound through two one-dimensional signals, our ears, and then the waves are interpreted based on the phasing and time they arrived (I still don't understand exactly what this means) makes the sound seem dynamic.

When the concept of binaural audio recording was described, I could picture things more clearly in my head of how the sound that I hear comes to my brain and why there is so much variance in the way things are recorded. I also found it very interesting that the best way to listen to the playback of a recording would be through a pair of headphones but when considering how the human ear translates the waveforms, it really makes sense. I also gained a little deaper appreciation for the recent Pearl Jam album, titled Binaural after discovering the significance of this type of recording.

Week 1 Assignment - 950 KJR

The website I am reviewing is Seattle #1 sports radio station 950 KJR . I visit this site quite frequently to listen to the live streaming radio broadcasts and occasionally listen to the podcasts that are loaded on the website. This site has been providing live streaming broadcasts for at least three years, which is a long time considering the streaming technology is fairly new.

As far as the live broadcasts go, i really have a hard time finding anything I would like improved; the streaming braodcast loads very quick on my laptop, it takes one click to listen anywhere in the world. There is no requirement to sign up for membership to the 950 KJR sportsclub in order to listen to the live broadcast. As far as the quality of the sound, the compression is relatively low or atleast it is difficult to detect. There is a slight hollow feeling to the sound of the broadcast, meaning that the highs and lows are dampenened a bit but the clarity is very crisp. It is a bit difficult to listen during the commercials, many of the commercials are blocked likely due to contractual reasons, therefore there is just this repetitive music playing and a voice callout every two minutes or so.

The podcast feature on the website is much newer, it has probably only been available for the past six months. The quality of the podcasts are considerably lower, with the compression much higher. I actually have been on the show with the Groz three times in the past few weeks discussing my competitive eating career and two of the interviews are up on the web (filed under Audio, Groz OnDemand, 'Erick "Red" Denmark' w/Groz 6-2 and 6-5 (they misspell my name)). Anyway, although the quality of the interview sound is not the highest, the podcast feature is very convenient for sharing and archiving especially for me because I can load these broadcasts on my website. I think the podcasts need to be more consistent; some things get loaded, some things don't, but for the most part this is a great feature and once again it is free and very easy to access.