What Digital Media is

The word digital media is interesting. By definition the word means to characterize by computerized
 technology. The word dig is in digital media. This is interesting to me because, one definition for dig is to work hard. Also it can mean to understand, appreciate or admire. I feel these sentiments express how I now feel.
 There are many fields and areas which digital media applies. These areas cover news and advertisement as well as anything that we use  electronic devices for. I find myself critiquing web designs as well as commercials on the television. I even find myself explaining to my wife and kids how the spacing on certain products can effect the products overall success. To say the least this class has made me very aware of my surroundings.
 Like for instance an interactive kiosk. These kiosk can be some what robotic but they still dispense very important information. Understanding digital media is almost like entering another dimension because its always moving and growing. Another area of understanding digital media is that their are so many ways to tackle any given project. In short there is not a science to it because its always adapting.
My appreciation has grown in ways I didn't think existed. Its an sobering thought to think how digital media effects the entire world. Even  elections for public office are majorly influenced by digital media. I recently purchase a phone and the interface played a part in me buying it, because it would make social media easier.
I really admire digital media and have an immense respect for it. I'm in awe of the whole field. This no doubt will make it difficult to pick a field to focus in on.- Russell Johnson

  

Digital Media Flooding Entrepreneurial Marketplace

The internet has made it easier than ever for entrepreneurs to create and promote a new business. Many prospective business owners have used digital media in order to make their business dreams a reality.  One big problem though..... Anyone can do it!  There are so many different businesses out there now that entrepreneurs almost always have some sort of competition. 

It is extremely hard to compete in today's marketplace when it comes to opening a new business.  Even if you come up with a great concept that has never been seen before, it can easily be copied or duplicated. There is a steady movement of spin-off companies chasing the coast tails of already successful businesses.  Everyone is attracted to the dollar signs produced by emerging business plans that have shown success.

The ability to quickly/easily open a new business with the use of digital media has caused many great failures. Just because something is easy to start up, doesn't mean that it'll be a breeze to maintain or strengthen.  A lot of planning needs to go into the start of a new endeavor.  The more knowledge and preparation you have under your belt, the better off you will be and the more likely your business choices will pan out.  Sadly, many entrepreneurs do not plan for the common obstacles of running your own business.

Technology is an ever-changing thing.  Everyone has access to it and in order to be the best, you'll have to stay current.  There are so many success stories out there involving making money with the use of digital media. Never forget that there are even more failures.  Prepare yourself before jumping in head first.  Make sure you're ready for the challenges ahead.  I'd encourage anyone to chase their dreams.... Just make sure you'll be ready once you've reached your pinnacle.

Chris Ouimette
Digital Media 2000
Fall 2014

Not Every Drum Kit Sounds The Same

  If you are like me you love music and as a drummer I live to play music. Most people don't take into consideration that the type of instrument has a huge impact on what the song is going to sound like. For example, an entry level drum kit isn't going to sound like a DW kit. This doesn't just apply to drum kits, it goes for guitars, basses, pianos, etc. But in this blog we are just going to talk about drums and what different variables effect the sound of the kit.

    So like I said not every instrument sounds the same and this definitely applies to drum kits. Some popular drum brands are DW, Gretsch, Ludwig, PDP, and Pearl. Now that's just a select few of different types of drum kits. In my opinion they all sound great, I myself own a PDP drum kit.

    Some main variables that impact the way the drums sound would be the type of wood that is being used, how thick the wood is, the size of the drum, and the types of drum heads that you can choose from.
Lets start out with the types of wood, there are three main types of wood that most drum kits use and they are Maple, Birch, and Mahogany.

Maple- Slightly boosted lows with smooth mid and high frequencies for all around purpose.
Birch- Boosted high frequencies, slightly reduced mids, and a good low end punch.
Mahogany- Extremely rich low end frequencies, with sweet smooth mids and a slight roll-off in the higher  frequencies.

     Now lets talk about the thickness of the drum. Basically, the thicker the shell, the higher it will sound. The thinner the shell, the lower it will sound. The thickness is measured in plies, which is just a layering of sheets of wood. For example a drum that was labeled 6ply would have 6 layers of wood. There are thin, medium, and thick shells.

Thin- (4 ply, 5mm) enable relatively easy energy transfer from the heads to the shells causing the shells to vibrate. This vibration causes a very rich "wood" tone to the overall sound. .
Medium- (6 ply, 7.5mm) stiff and resist energy transference from the heads. Has less shell vibration then the thin shells. Drums made to this thickness are ideal for general-purpose applications.
Thick- (8 ply, 10mm and 10 ply, 12.5mm) designed to allow most of the player's energy to be focused to an audience. These drums are ideal for stadium venues and other events requiring high sound pressure levels.

     The bigger the diameter of a drum, the deeper it will sound. For example: a 16 inch floor tom will sound much lower than a 12 inch tom. The depth of the shell also effects the tone. The deeper the shell, the lower the sound and vice versa. A deeper drum will also be louder and therefore project more. A shallow drum won't project as well, but it will have better resonance and a create a more pure tone.

     So there you have it, a basic guide on what effects the sound of the your drum kit. Keep in mind these are just a few variables to take into consideration before you buy a drum kit. 

-Rhys Chartier GCSC Digital Media

Film Vs Digital

        In my last blog, I talked about how certain people prefer listening to vinyl records over digital music. I started to think the same would be true in photography, in the use of film versus digital photos. Apparently so have numerous other people, evident by the number of articles and blogs already covering the topic. So what it comes down to for me is a matter of preference; and this time I tend to prefer digital photographs for several reasons:

The first reason is longevity; this could be the same reason why some people prefer film as well. A digital photograph will look the same in 10 years as the day you took it. Film, on the other hand, will succumb to the elements and show signs of age over time, possibly even completely deteriorating. However; the grainy aging of film is a characteristic that some photographers seem to desire. Again, this effect is something that could be easily duplicated on a digital photo too.

This brings me to the second reason, of why I prefer digital photographs over film. Editing, there are far too many programs and apps out there that allow you to easily edit a digital image. The possibilities are endless when it comes to fixing a photo or manipulating it to an extreme. These programs can be seen as methods that detract from the “realness” of the image. This is a point I do agree with, mainly because of the extremes people have gone to improve their images. In some ways the skill has changed from an ability to capture a priceless image to the ability to create a priceless image, through software, from a standard image. I still believe these programs are still invaluable enhancement tools, when used for the right reasons.

The last reason I personally prefer digital photos over film is: Time. The time it takes to capture a moment and be able to share that moment with whomever I want to, makes digital images that much more valuable. Photos are instantly available, without even having to shake anything in the air.

-Chris Moses, GCSC Student

A Digital Society

  Imagine the world around us 10-15 years ago. Cell phones were just phones with no internet connection, computers were home and office based technologies only, if one were to have one at all, and people were social butterflies going out into the world for face to face interactions. Now, cell phones are mini computers, laptops can be taken anywhere and everyone of us
owns some kind of digital technology, which, has led to and is leading more into a world of virtual hermit crabs. People no longer have to step outside their house unless they want to. We can shop at home, go to school at home, go to work at home, and even socialize at home. Although, we are able to connect to people all over the world in a matter of one finger click; sitting alone in front of a computer is isolating us. We are becoming less physically active and are losing more and more face time with other people. I can imagine the world 10-15 years from now where no one steps foot outside. It's a ghost town all over the universe while everyone is inside their homes on a computer.

This is what more and more families are starting to do instead of sitting at the dinner table talking about their days.

 

 

  I am a victim of this. My family and I get home, eat dinner on the couch and all get on our phones interacting with the entire world except ourselves. We are all losing touch with one another. We cannot, of course, get rid of technology or its advancements, but as a society we can put forth the effort in actually calling someone instead of sending an email or text. We can go out to lunch, have coffee or drinks instead of staying in to play video games on the computer. We, as a society, have to put forth the effort to not allow technology to isolate us.

 Social isolation refers to a complete or near-complete lack of contact with people and society. There's a real disorder for this and it's called social anxiety. Social anxiety affects 36% of society in America alone. Imagine how this percentage is growing higher and higher as people start to isolate themselves.

 Many don't think anything of technology and its effects because it's convenient and right there in our hands, but there is a very real problem arising with growing technology nowadays and I don't look forward to seeing how it will look in the future.

~Megan Burleson

Computer Based Training vs. Instructor Based Training in the Workplace - by: Ann Wester

I work for a large state facility that employs over 1600 people and among the many jobs that I have held at this facility over the last 25 years, being an instructor was the most curious.  On average, 15-20 new employees come to work here every two weeks.  As an instructor, it was our job to orient and teach new employees about the facility and the various responsibilities that they would be responsible for as well as the policies, procedures and laws for which they would need to abide, as well as provide continuous and updated training and instruction for all other employees.  Unfortunately, there are merely four instructors assigned to this large facility, so we relied heavily on computer based training for new and existing employees.  The advantages of computer based trainings are clear; you can access a larger number of employees at one time, it’s self-paced, and the information given is consistent across the facility.   I found that most employees, especially those that have been with the facility for a few years, preferred computer based training.  When asked why they preferred this training style compared to instructor based the answers were the same across the board:  ‘I can complete it on my own time, in intervals if I want, and I finish quicker because I’m not waiting on someone who asks a lot of questions’.  Great, right?  Or so it seemed, a questionnaire given to current employees (who have been with the facility 2 years or more and receive training yearly) touching on priority job responsibilities found that nearly 45% of employees were unable to answer a majority of the questions correctly.

The same survey given to new employees (who have been with the facility 6 months to a year and at this point only have had one training period) touching on the same priority job responsibilities had 15% rating of those unable to answer the majority of the questions correctly.  So what is the difference?  New employees receive more face to face training with instructors than the current employees.   New employees stated that they connected the material to real situations given by instructors, had the opportunity to ask questions if they were unsure and knew that they had someone to go to face to face and ask for assistance.  With the advancement of technology we can become more efficient and provide endless information to large populations of people, but at what cost?  Learning doesn’t end when we enter the workforce, it is constant throughout our lives.  Shouldn’t we have the best possible teaching practices in order to provide the best possible services to our customers?  I believe there is a greater learning possibility with a mixture of instructor based and computer based training when it comes to our workforce. 

www.eadulteducation.org

www.brighthub.com

Ann Wester - dig2000

 

Can I see your watch?

As technology advances, these companies invent new ways for us to use our technology. The new tech around is wearable technology. What does this mean? Well, the most recent form of wearable tech are watches, not just any old watch, but a watch that connects to our mobile devices and helps us do our everyday duties with touch or a flick. There are a bunch of tech watches out there like: Moto 360, LG G Watch, Sony SmartWatch, Samsung Gear, Pebble, and many others. There is something that is very peculiar about the list of wearable tech/Smart Watches, the list is missing an Apple product. Apple has always been on the ball when it comes to innovative technology but why is there not a Apple product on that list. Well, the simple answer to that question is that, Apple was not ready for it yet.

 

The Apple Event that happened a few months back saw the announcement of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus but they also announced near the end of the event the Apple Watch, the Smart Watch that will compete with the rest in the name of Apple. Apple showed off some of the features that the Apple Watch will be capable of performing.

 

The first thing I would like to talk about is the customization options for the Apple Watch. Apple stressed the fact that you can make the Apple Watch your own personal watch that no one else can have. The customization starts with the size of the screen at 38mm or 42mm. This then leads into the type of alloy that you can get it in, the alloy goes from stainless steel to 18-karat gold. Next is the type of band that goes around the wrist, you can have a more professional looking band or a sports band for whatever you need from the watch. And last is the face of the watch itself, it can be customized to your liking.

 

Other features include: feeling the notifications like messages and being able to respond from the watch itself, you can check e-mails on the watch, you can make calls from the watch, track anything fitness related, you can pay using Apple Pay using your watch, and you can use a vast array of other apps on the watch.

 

The Apple Watch is stated to be released in the early part of 2015 for different prices depending on the version of the watch you decided to purchase. Will this be the best Smart Watch on the market or just a bust waiting to happen?

http://www.apple.com/watch/
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/world-of-tech/best-smart-watches-what-s-the-best-wearable-tech-for-you--1154074#articleContent

- Angelo Walker
  Digital Media 2000
  Fall