Oschi was taking a nap one afternoon,

My Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peachi/sets/72157602790917774/show/
possibly dreaming of fast getaway BMW bike,
or trying a new cuisine,
or his favorite fish,
No, he was dreaming about playing with his brother.


This assignment was frustrating because I was trying not to use my cats' picture to tell a story.
After looking at all my pictures for a week, I realized need to take a picture that tells a story. Most of my pictures are about objects, colors, interest composition, but doesn't tell a story. Well, it will be a new challenge for me in terms of my photography hobby to experiment with new ideas.

With the Flickr site, I start using it when Flickr's link was connected with my cellphone. It's pretty convenient. I take the picture from my cell phone camera, upload it directly to Flickr's link. Only downside is that I can't seem to get rid of watermark. I like my phone, but I am trying to advertise it.

My Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peachi/sets/72157602790917774/show/

Knowledge in the head and in the world

Seems like human brain have a finely tuned balance between precision of task and amount of information to memorize and comprehend. Human brain is efficient in that way. Declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and memory reminded me of learning theories I am learning in ITEC 800. I have noticed that concepts in all the classes I am taking this semester are interrelated and overlaps, which aid my learning process.

Constraints are not always bad. Constraints set by culture or nature are not negative when performing task. It eliminates all the possible ways one can perform a task.

I love animation and penguins.

Do Penguins Fly?

Reino Bad Parking Meter

Don Norman's chapter on “the Psychopathology of Everyday Things” illustrated examples of good and bad designs of everyday things. Norman introduced concepts and tools to critique everyday things in terms of design principle and usability. I had difficult time choosing the “thing” and I reflect on examples that Norman gave in his book. I empathize with Norman's personal experience with Slide projector and telephone. I would have been so frustrated, if I were him, so I picked something that has been frustrating lately. Berkeley/Oakland parking meter has been so frustrating to use, I picked it as a badly designed everyday thing.

Couple years ago, city of Berkeley decided that they were loosing money from parking meters, that they spent millions of dollars installing new parking meters named Reino. Berkley is notorious for lack of parking and giving out parking tickets. You can get multiply parking tickets if you don't move your car or feed the meter. They usually have one to two parking permit dispenser at each block.

Reino has a simple three step procedure visible at the dispenser. It has small monitor that says time limit on that block and information about time of the day. You walk up to this dispenser, first thing you have to decide is method of payment. You can pay in coins or credit card/ debit card. First constraint, if you only have paper currency, and no coins or credit/debit card, then you have to find some nice vendors near the meter to change your money.

Reino inconsistently accepts coins. If you put in one dollar fifty cents in coins, and if any one of those coins does not meet the Reino's standard, it will spit it all out. You have to put the coins all over again. Very time consuming. It has a poor feedback. You are not sure why it wouldn't take your coins. Reino has a small screen that can tell the user what the problem was, but it doesn't say anything.

It gets worst. You put all the change in the machine, and the machine ran out of paper, so it won't print out your receipt. You have to walk over to nearest machine usually on the next block and repeat this process. You have just paid double to park at the meter. If you are really unlucky, if can get a parking ticket, while you walk over to next block to purchse a parking permit. If there no paper in Reino, credit/debit card will have same scenario. You can get a parking ticket and contest the ticket with your credit/debit card statement. However, if Reino's computer screen can says “out of paper” or “out of order” before user put money in, problem can be resolved.

Unforeseen side effect or Reino is lack of bike parking space. There are many bicycle users and when they get rid of old parking meters, they get rid of poles that bicycle riders used to securely lock of their bikes.

World of Warcraft and Neomillennial Learning Styles

Chris Dede claims that Net Generation's learning style has been influenced by technology and media in their formative years. Chris gives examples of MUVE's (Multiuser virtual environments) using avatars, self created digital characters), and the first thing I thought of was an episode of South Park (“Make Love, Not Warcraft") where Cartman and his friends work together in virtual environment to fight the bad guy. However, Chris gives better examples of MUVEs. Using GPS technology and handheld computer simulations, students collect information pertinent to real-world problems.

If Net Generation spent there formative years using blogging, texting, AIMing, and chatting online to communicate socially, I could personally see how the technology can easily translate into classroom setting with careful planning and setting guidelines of curriculum to facilitate learning. Growing up using face to face and voice to voice ,social communication, I have to schedule in blogging time to participate in class discussion. I will be using reverse method and start using blogging socially and incorporate into classroom. I am hoping this will work. But, I am hopefully, since I have already made smooth transition of social emailing to classroom discussion emailing.

I am looking forward to all the technical changes that will appear in learning environment to push MUVE's. Virtual classroom where Hello Kitty leads discussion, maybe...

Can't fake empathy

Daniel Pink's chapter on Empathy in his book A Whole New Mind, he talks about what empathy is why we need it to survive in left brain dominated world. He also makes some suggestions for improving our empathy power. Writing your own cards and taking acting classes were some of creative suggestions for improving empathy. Pink's quote still resonates in my head “you can't fake empathy” There were doctors, teachers, and co-workers that I have interacted with whom I could obviously tell that they were trying to be empathetic. They either read Pink's book or had some sensitivity training about being empathetic, but I could tell that they're not genuine.

Pink also briefly touches on femininely right brain and masculinely left brain and he does not clearly states that men are more detach and less empathetic and women are more attach and more empathetic. It reminded me of plastic pollutants in the environment effecting mammals to be more masculine. However, regardless of gender, everyone in Conceptual Age needs to be able to balance between detachment and attachment.