WEB 2.0

DEFINITION:

Web 2.0 is the term given to the newer, more sophisticated and improved version of the World Wide Web. According to Jutecht in his You Tube video this second phase of the Web is, "a service of Web development conferences that started in October 2004". 

When asked to define Web 2.0 O'Rilley (founder of media company: O'Rilley Media) stated that, "the net work is the platform, the rules for business is different. The cardinal rule is this one: Users add value". For example, databases that grow in the number of uses also become better at the same time. Web 2.0 allows the user to have much greater participation within services than has ever been had before. 

• O'Reilly's Definition of wEB 2.0-YouTube.
  

Web 2.0 is an advanced level of technological interactivity between web sites and services. It is a sociological phenomena originating from regenerated types of online communities and social networks, enabling a space of interactivity/communication inclusive of millions. 

EXAMPLES: 

Web 2.0 includes sites that enable users to interact with each other in an ever changing and growing space within the World Wide Web. Common examples include sites such as: 

• Facebook
• Myspace
• YouTube
• Wikipedia 

The difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is mapped out clearly in the example below:

INTERACTIVE DESIGN

DEFINITION:

A good start in defining this discipline is referring to the most acknowledged in the field Gillian Crampton Smith. Gillian, in the work entitled; What is Interaction Design? - describes Interaction Design as, "Shaping our everyday life through digital artifacts: for work, for play, and for entertainment".

Its the shaping of our lives through interactive technologies such as computers, telecommunications, mobile phones etc. Its designing for usability, utility, satisfaction, communicative qualities, and its designing for sociability and interactivity.

Bill Morggridge in Designing Interactions puts forward that, "When we design a computer -based system of device, we're designing not just what it looks like but how it behaves. We're designing the quality of how we and it interact". This is where the skills of the interactive Designer comes in and the process of creations begins.

Interaction Design includes the work of human-computer interaction professionals, computer scientists, software engineers, cognitive psychologists, sociologists, cultural anthropologists and designers. It is the process of designing something that humans interact with.

A good graphic to provide understanding of where Interactive Design fits into the rest of the design world can be found here: Usability Typepad.

When distinguishing goals for Interactive Design Preece, Rogers and Sharp in Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction express that "The goals of interactive products to be fun, enjoyable, pleasurable, aesthetically pleasing and so on are concerned primarily with the user experience". Here is a diagram explaining the relationship between the usability and the user experience goals. Usability goals are more precise and clear whereas user experience goals are less.

EXAMPLES:

A popular example of Interactive Design is the site facebook. facebook is an ever changing environment where users share photos, chat, become friends, send gifts etc. The space is designed so that the more friends you have the more interesting and exciting the experience is and the higher the level of interactivity. facebook is designed to behave so that a user that signs up and has friends is urged to interact notifying users via email of anything that has happened on their site. Other examples of Interactive Design include sites such as vUWS for the University of Western Sydney, Flicker, Youtube, Google, etc.

INFORMATION/INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

DEFINITION:

Information/Instructional Design is the development of an organised method of communicating complex instructions while ensuring they are easily translated to their audience/user. Its is the process of arranging unorganised information/data into clear and comprehensible communication. It's a way to display information in effective ways in order to make more coherent sense of it enabling for fast interpretation and learning. 

Information/Instructional design is a collaboration of semiotics, graphs, maps, typography and data in one clear piece. As Charles Reigeluth in Instructional-Design Theories and Models shows us, Instructional Design "describes a variety of methods of instruction (different ways of facilitating human learning and development), and when to use and when not to use each of these methods". 

Information Design on the other hand is the display of informative information or statical data.

EXAMPLES:

Here is an example of Instructional and Informative Design documenting the process of an Interactive Design according to a users experience.

A full description of this model can be found here Jesse James Garrett's Elements of User Experience.

The Sydney Rail Map is another example of Information/Instructional Design. Guiding us through the complex entwined path of railway lines and informing us of stations. This is an example of a Navigational Information Graphic.

A statical approach to Information Design would be less navigational and instructional but more a clear display of data. Like shown here in this famous Charles Joseph Minard map documenting Napoleon's Army 1912 crusade.

An Instructional graphic would be one displaying instructions to do something to its audience. For example these hand washing instructions are an Instructional Graphic.

PLANNING TOOLS FOR INTERACTION

Over the past four weeks we have been doing in class exercises to help with our understanding of Interactive Design and its processes.

Each week we were given a brief surrounding the process of making toast. Firstly we had to design a Flowchart then a Storyboard lastly we created a user persona and displayed their characteristics in a Mood Board. My examples are as follows:

FLOWCHART:

Flowcharts are a great way to Illustrate visually a method or procedure of doing something where the result entails solving a problem. It is a tool to assists program designers in fabricating the final program or interactive. Here is an example of a flowchart demonstrating effective toast making.

STORYBOARD:

Storyboards are a series of images displayed in order for the purpose of previsualizing an animations, motion graphics, screen based graphics etc. Here are three of the steps from my instructions on making toast displayed in a storyboard format. Storyboards are a good way to visualize something and distinguish potential problems before they occur. They often include the use of arrows, instructions indicating movement, key points, direction and a sense of shot eg. long, short shot.

Step #3: Plug in toaster

Step #4 Set temperature dial

Step #5 Put bread in toaster

MOOD BOARD:

The Glass Wall Homepage Redesign 2002 explains Mood boards as a, "very basic but highly effective tool. They work as an extension of persona's, creating and immediate, understandable, visual reference for each one".

This Mood Board is representative of the persona Mandy Lang.

Mandy is a 29 year old female flight attendant who loves traveling and meeting new people. She is constantly shopping in different parts of the world which has her well informed of high fashion brands. She also has a love for fine dinning and knows all the trendy bars to go to. When she can she loves to sit back and enjoy a little bit of television; her favorite show is the Simpson's. As she is never in one place at one time Mandy finds it difficult to hold a steady relationship however she is attractive and always has plenty of new friendships arising. Mandy is fairly computer literate however finds little time to use the Internet constantly. She does however keep up to date with her friend life's around the world via facebook. Not to Mandy's liking the airline she works for has stopped paying for Mandy's breakfast. As she has always eaten outside the home, she confronted with the daring task of learning how to make toast.

Good luck Mandy!