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DTC476 - Writer/Designer Journal

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Touchpoint A touchpoint is anywhere in a process where a user has to interact with or make a decision concerning using a product or process. Touchpoints should be considered carefully, because each touchpoint complicates a system and potentially makes it more difficult and frustrating for the user. Reducing choice and complexity and focusing on intuitiveness can make a system easier to use. Examples of touchpoints are the steps necessary to created an MS Office document. First, the user must turn on the computer, then login with username and password. Next, they must open the application by clicking on the icon, or by opening the Windows menu and typing in the name of the application. Finally, they must click on File, then New, then select a blank document or a template. Linguistic Linguistic mode is the use of language, either written or spoken (13). Linguistic mode can be used to generate complex ideas, but it can also be limiting, in that some level of fluency is necessary. Sometime...
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Test

test and again .
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Never Alone

 Area 1: The opening screen is beautiful and peaceful, but there is a threat there. The howl of the the wind and the drifting snow remind us that this is a harsh, deadly environment.  Right away, it's clear that the cultural insights are an important part of the story. They are a parallel dialogue, in well-produced, short videos, that tell us about the people, about their interconnectedness with each other and their environment. The first insight reminds us that the Inupiat are a living people, not a historical museum piece. The first scene of the story is animated in the style of a scrimshaw carving, and it captures a mythical feeling right away. The next scene puts you right into gameplay, and it's an urgent situation - escaping from a polar bear. The fox that rescues the girl has a faint glow, as if it might be magic. Playing the fox in co-op makes the game more interesting and helps you realized the interdependence the cultural insights mentioned.  In the trapping tra...
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Diversity Scorecard

Diversity Scorecard Score each question as follows: Completely         Somewhat          Neither                Somewhat            Completely                 Not Disagree              Disagree              Agree or               Agree                    Agree                    Applicable 1 ...
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Social Media Surveillance and Law Enforcement (MATEESCU)

 Area 1: The amount of intelligence being collected from social media is increasing every year, but users of social media may not realize that. Some may not know who can access their information and may have default views set to public on Facebook, for example, which makes all their posts visible to anyone.  Even when one has restricted posts to friends, one must be aware than any of one's friends can be acting as an agent of the police or actually an undercover officer illegally posing as that person. Most police departments have no policy or training on how social media surveillance can be conducted, and there is no case law to guide these efforts. Since many youth (13-17) are very active on social media, the risk of overcriminalization of youth, especially youth of color, is very real.  DHS has used social media to monitor protests, and this practice brings a harsh light to their respect for the First Amendment. Area 2:  I have seen demos of these types of tools, ...
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Collateral Damage from Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O’Neil

 Area 1: We all know that the credit score is used to make decisions about people's reliability. But it's not cut and dried; the credit score is just a proxy. It may be unreliable as a proxy, and it may simply contain incorrect or outdated information. Even if they may be unreliable, people with money have the resources to keep from getting a bad credit score. And if a person knows their credit info is wrong, they can move to have it corrected, although that sometimes takes a lot of time and sometimes legal action. The e-score is similarly used to make financial decisions about people, and it is even less 'scientific,' but it is also unregulated. It can use race or ZIP code to decide what interest rate someone gets, and they have no recourse to fix it, because they often won't even know it was used against them. Everyone likely has an e-score that is used to make decisions about them, and they have no idea what the score is or that it even exists at all. Internet tr...
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Midterm Reflection

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There are several themes that run through the material we have reviewed in this course, and they intertwine and relate to each other. Many factors tie into the digital divide, but two that stand out to me are the geopolitics of the physical internet and digital colonialism. The digital divide can be widely described, but it is typically understood to mean poor (or no) access to the internet and/or no device (computer or smartphone) to access it. Reasons can vary, but there is strong correlation to poverty and location. Rural locations typically have limited connectivity options and speeds. Even when folks have connectivity and a device, they may lack the skill set, the digital literacy to make the most of those resources. The geopolitics of the physical internet , at a 30,000 level, are controlled largely by nation states, but local access to those connections are controlled by companies that provide the backbone service. This typically precludes access fo...
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