Link: Where Digital Signage Software is Going - interesting thoughts about DOOH from Dave Haynes of Sixteen:Nine

WHERE DIGITAL SIGNAGE SOFTWARE IS GOING
David Haynes, Sixteen:Nine




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Close Encounter with "Best Buy On": Example of a multi-channel marketing approach using in-store digital media that includes an on-line magazine.

Over the next 9 months or so,  I'll be in the market for a computer, an iPad or something similar, a Kinect, and maybe a mid-size Internet-enabled HDTV.  As a consequence,  I turned in to  a Best Buy on my way home from work Friday to see what I could find.  I didn't want to spend much time at the store, since I'm the type of shopper who goes in, finds the desired item(s), and leaves.  


During this trip to Best Buy, my shopping habits were broken, at least temporarily.  I found myself wandering around, looking at the numerous displays of all sizes located about the store.  The displays distracted me from my intended mission.  Below is a slideshow of the pictures I snapped as I wandered about Best Buy:

As a result of the displays,  I spend more time in the store than I'd planned. I left the store empty-handed.  But that is OK, since I think that this strategy, in the long run, will have the power to entice me back to the store and leave knowing that I've made an informed purchase.


According to Gail Chiasson in her Daily DOOH post,"Best Buy's New In-Store Network", Best Buy established an internal advertising and editorial team in 2009, and officially launched a multichannel network called Best Buy On, which extends the in-store network of displays, to the online magazine, also called Best Buy On .   Best Buy On focuses on different theme each month. This month's theme featured all of the cool things that were unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. 


The bottom line with in-store DOOH is that customers are provided with with enhanced information about various products in each department, and this information is coordinated with the enhanced information they can access on-line.  Put together, this might lead to better sales,  and happier repeat customers in the long run.  


As I went about Best Buy,  I thought that it would be better if the in-store network of displays was less disjointed.  I also was puzzled by the somewhat inconvenient placement of some of the displays.  People who stand in the middle of an aisle to look at a screen block the view of the screen and the other items on display, and also block the paths of other shoppers!


Although I didn't spend a lot of time scrutinizing the content on all of the screens I encountered, what I did look at gave me the impression that there is need for improvement.  Pretty multimedia content might be attractive to the eye, but if it doesn't  meet the needs of customers in specific departments, it might not be effective.  


Here is a personal scenario:
My 80-year-old mother needs a new laptop and would also like to find an eReader that is suitable for someone her age.  She needs a new printer and is thinking about getting a digital camera.  She has some money to spend, but from what I can tell, she'd be a little confused by all of the flashing screens!  


I'm not sure what my mother would make of the displays, especially those that run animated comments about products from Facebook fans!


(Note:  I plan to go with my mom to Best Buy soon, and I'll share this experience on this blog in the future.)


Although there is room for improvement, the Best Buy On approach is a start.   I would like to see more touch-enabled displays as part the in-store network, given the fact that Best Buy sells touch-screen gadgets, tablets, and all-in-one PCs.   The large-screen touch-enabled displays could provide customers with an Amazon- like advisory feature.  This is something that would be very helpful to my mom and other non-geeks.


Best Buy also needs to get the Kinect demo up and running!


RELATED

FAR OUT 1/9/11 (Best Buy On video about products at CES)

What is Best Buy On?  (Description of on-line magazine)
Best Buy Addresses High-Tech Obsolescence
Shirley Brady, Brand Channel, 1/18/11
Buy Back Program from Best Buy Helps "Future-Proof" Today's CE Purchases
Jeremy Baier, Best Buy, 1/10/11
"Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn describes the consumer electronics retailer's just-launched Buy Back program as "a game-changer." The goal: to help customers embrace new technology with greater confidence."

Quick Link: InteractiveTV Today website -lots of interesting things are happening in this converging field!

 http://itvt.com

From the "about us" section of the itvt.com website:

"Founded in 1998 by Tracy Swedlow and co-owned by Richard Washbourne, InteractiveTV Today [itvt] is the most widely read and trusted news source on the rapidly emerging medium of multiplatform, broadband interactive television (ITV).

We provide concise, original coverage of industry developments, technologies, content projects, and the people building the business to our readership, which is made up of hundreds of thousands of executives from around the world..."

Resources about Interactive TV and Media: The Interactive Television Dictionary and Business Index

Here is the link:


The Interactive Television Dictionary & Business Index

More information to come!

The Slide in the Subway, The Rocket Elevator, and the Skateboard- Propelled Shopping Cart Videos - Volkswagen's Fast Lane: True Use Experience (just in case you missed it all)

Via Pixelsumo -Just in case you missed this:


Here's a few others you'll enjoy.  The true meaning of user experience, out and about!

The Elevator


The Shopping Cart- I love the ending with the guy skateboard-propelling his shopping cart out to the parking lot!

The Social and Technological Innovations in Social Media: Video of recent panel presentations moderated by Henry Jenkins at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism

Times are changing faster than we can change the buzzwords that convey this change. Social Media. Spreadibility. Immersive Journalism.

Henry Jenkins, the Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, recently moderated a panel on the topic of social and technological innovations in social media.  If you are in the mood for reflection, the videos below of the panel presentations are worth a look.  Topics covered include on-line social networks, 3D virtual worlds, immersive journalism, social computing research, "stickiness moving to spreadable", and more.

If you are in a rush, the following article provides an overview of the panel discussions, along with key quotes from the various participants:

Annenberg panels explore "Social Media:  Platform or Provocation for Innovation?
Lara Levin, Student Writer,  USC Annenberg News   11/16/09


Session 1- Video    Social Media:  Platform or Provocation for Innovation?


Session 2 - Implicatons of Social Media for Business, Learning and Institutional Development


Description from the USC Annenberg YouTube Channel:
Nov. 5, 2009: "Implications of Social Media for Business, Learning and Institutional Development"


"As part of the week-long visit by and dialogue with Annenberg Innovator in Residence Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Dean Ernest J. Wilson III hosts a half-day conference titled "Social Media: Platform or Provocation for Innovation?" In this panel, "Implications of Social Media for Business, Learning and Institutional Development" experts from USC Annenberg and IBM will explore recent innovations and future trends in the social media space as well as industry responses to these developments. The rate of innovation in social media has been staggering in recent years. The result is a substantially different media landscape than one confronted by media organizations even five years ago. The conversation will focus on both the demands of the new media marketplace and the barriers that organizations are likely to face in attempting to meet these demands. In addition to Wladawsky-Berger, panelists include USC Annenberg faculty members Henry Jenkins, Jonathan Taplin, Dmitri Williams, Marc Cooper, executive in residence David Westphal and research fellow Nonny de la Peña. They will be joined by IBMs Steve Canepa, general manager for media and entertainment and Julia Grace, software engineer and Melissa Cefkin, ethnographer and research scientist."

Tangible User Interfaces Part I: Siftables

In 1997, the vision of tangible user interfaces, also known as TUI's, was outlined by Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer of the Tangible Media Group at MIT, in their paper, "Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits, and Atoms

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"(pdf). According to this vision, "the goal of Tangible Bits is to bridge the gaps between both cyberspace and the physical environment, as well as the foreground and background of human activities." This article is is a must-read for anyone interested in "new" interactive technologies.

The pictures in the article of the metaDesk, transBoard, activeLENS, and ambientRoom, along with the references, are worth taking at least a glance of this seminal work.

Another must-read is Hiroshi Ishii's 2008 article, Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels (pdf). In this article, Ishii provides a good overview of TUI concepts as well as the contributions of his lab to the field since the first paper was written.

Related tothe Tangible User Interface research is the work of the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT. The Fluid Interfaces Group was formerly known as the Ambient Intelligence Group, and many of the group's projects incorporate concepts related to TUI and ambient intelligence. According to the Fluid Interfaces website, the goal of this research group is to "radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. By designing interfaces that are more immersive, more intelligent, and more interactive we are changing the human-machine relationship and creating systems that are more responsive to people's needs and actions, and that become true "accessories" for expanding our minds."

The Siftables project is an example of how TUI and fluid interface (FI) interaction can be combined.
Siftables is the work of David Merrill and Pattie Maes, in collaboration with Jeevan Kalanithi, and was brought to popular attention through David Merrill's recent TED talk:

David Merrill's TED Talk: Siftables - Making the digital physical -Grasp Information Physically

"Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives. As an interaction platform, Siftables applies technology and methodology from wireless sensor networks to tangible user interfaces. Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media. Siftables can be used to implement any number of gestural interaction languages and HCI applications....Siftables can sense their neighbors, allowing applications to utilize topological arrangement..No special sensing surface or cameras are needed."



Siftables Music Sequencer from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.

More about Siftables:

Rethinking display technology (Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, 7/27/08)
TED: Siftable Computing Makes Data Physical
Siftables: Toward Sensor Network User Interfaces (pdf)

It seems that people really like the Siftable concept, or they don't see the point. I found the following humerous critique of Siftables on YouTube:

"Imagine if all the little programs you had on your iphone were little separate chicklets in your pocket.
You'd lose em.
Your cat would eat em.
You'd vacuum them up.
They'd fall down in the sofa.
They'd be all over the car floor.
You'd throw them away by mistake..."

In my opinion, it is exciting to learn that perhaps some of this technology has the potential of becoming main-stream.

About Touch Enabled Displays: YouTube Clip- One Guy's Dream of a Touch Screen iMac

My dream? I want an affordable, thin touch-screen WiFi/Bluetooth/RFID - enabled display, embedded in an adjustable drafting table.

This set-up would provide users with multiple options, depending on the nature of the task or leisure pursuit. If you are a parent or teacher, you easily imagine the possibilities for your kids.

In the meantime, here is one guy's dream about a touch screen iMac:



I need to create a video of my drafting-table version!

Wired article: YouTube Does Science

John Geirland posted an article in Wired about the use of video by scientists to demonstrate a wide variety of science concepts and experiments. The article, "YouTube Does Science, From Fruit-Fly Fight Clubs to Stem Cell Extractions", gives video examples of some of the "must-see" experiments.

The videos are from JOVE, the "Journal of Visualized Experiments", where you can find videos of experiments in neuroscience, developmental biology, cellular biology, microbiology, and plant biology. This looks like a great resource for science educators and students.

The videos from JOVE could be put to use in a variety of ways. Science educators could use them to illustrate concepts and demonstrate lab procedures and techniques. Students could watch assigned videos for homework. Home-schooled teens and students enrolled in distance-education programs would benefit from these videos.

At the end of the Wired article are some links to similar science video resources on the internet, such as DNAtube and bioscreencast

Although JOVE does not target the K-12 population, a similar on-line journal for this age group would be a great resource, especially for visual learners. It might get more young people engaged in science!

(Warning: Some of the videos are not for the squeamish. Parents and teachers should review the videos carefully before sharing them with a child. For example, in the video about culturing mouse neural stem cell precursors, a mouse embryo is decapitated. Since the embryo is a mammal, it looks like a human embryo.)

The Importance of Media Literacy - Link to Quotes

This is a link to quotes from a variety of people about media literacy.

The quotes were posted on the Media Literacy Clearinghouse Website. If that link does not work, try this one. The Media Literacy Clearninghouse has a variety of resources for K-12 educators.

Visual Literacy and Multimedia Literacy Quotes - Odds and Ends PART ONE

While gathering resources and reviewing literature over the past few years, I've come across a wide range of people who have an interest in visual and multimedia literacy. I thought I'd share some odds and ends that I found helpful to me as I went along my journey.

One book that has reinforced my thinking is "In the Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People with Dyslexia and Other Learning Difficulties, Computer Images, and the Ironies of Creativity", by Thomas G. West. The following quote is from a book review:

"Dr. West argues that major advances in computer information visualization technologies promise to transform education and the workplace— and to increase greatly the value in that transformed world of “visual thinkers with verbal and memory problems who have had to develop methods to sift, sample, and select” in order to understand patterns in complex systems in business, the sciences and other fields." - James Cullin

The following quote is from an article written by Gary Bertoline, the director of Purdue's Envision Center for Data Perceptualization:

“Communicating visually is becoming the norm rather than the exception in technological societies… This renaissance in graphics is coupled with the emerging re-thinking of the role of visualization in basic human intelligence. Converging technologies, a renaissance in graphics, and better understanding of the role of visualization in human cognition are the catalyst for an emerging discipline called visual science.” -Gary R. Bertoline, 1998. Visual Science: An Emerging Discipline Journal for Geometry and Graphics, V 2. 181-187 Purdue University

David Staley, the author of Computers, Visualization, and History: How New Technology Will Transform Our Understanding of the Past, also argues about the importance of visual communication, particularly in his field of history, which has traditionally been taught through reading and discussion:

“…the best visualizations are images that allow one to see, think about and understand multidimensional levels of information that would not have been apparent had it not been so spatially organized.” –Stayley, D. (2002) "Visualization-ism: An art history" Interface: The journal for education, community and values.

Robert E. Mayer is a psychologist who has spent over the past decade studying multimedia learning. This is a quote from his book, “Multimedia Learning”, written in 2001:

“For hundreds of years, verbal messages – such as lectures and printed lessons – have been the primarily means of explaining ideas to learners….Recent advances in graphics technology have prompted new efforts to understand the potential of multimedia as a means of promoting human understanding – a potential that I call the promise of multimedia learning. “ -Mayer, R.E. 2001. Multimedia Learning New York: Cambridge University Press

As educators, how do we encourage all kinds of learners, especially those who have minds that aren’t considered to be within the mainstream in our mostly word dominant, traditional schools?

Temple Grandin, with much support and personal effort, overcame many barriers related to her symptoms of autism to earn a Ph.D. in animal science. She is known for her books and presentations related to her field of study as well as to autism. In her book, "Thinking in Picture and Other Reports from my Life with Autism", written in 1995, Grandin wrote,

“I think in pictures. Words are like a second language to me. I translate both spoken and written words into full-color movies, complete with sound, which run like a VCR tape in my head” She discussed how difficult it was for other people to understand her way of thinking"

Grandin, T. 1995. Thinking in pictures and other reports from my life with autism. New York, Doubleday p. 19

NOTE:

In the decade or so since Grandin wrote this book, there has been a significant increase in the number of students diagnosed as autism spectrum disorders. These young people often require a variety of specialized instructional strategies and support for skill development in areas such as communication and social skills.

We know that the majority of people with autism spectrum disorders are visual learners. We also know that many people who struggle in school are likely to be visual learners/thinkers. Because they learn differently, they are often viewed as having a potential learning disability or attention disorder. The emphasis on "reading to learn" in many classrooms often means that many students are not provided the opportunity to learn subject matter content through other means while they are at school.

Mel Levine, a physician who works with young people with learning and attention difficulties, addresses this issue in his book, written 2002, , "A Mind at a Time" , with a companion website:

“Too many kids struggle and fail needlessly simply because the way in which they learn is incompatible with the way they’re being taught. Schools are filled with kids who give up on themselves, are convinced they’re "losers," and conclude they’re just dumb. It’s painful—for the student, teacher, and parent who may be unaware that the "wiring" of that child’s brain simply is not in synch with the demands and expectations of the situations at hand.” -Mel Levine

“What takes place when a teacher’s ways of teaching clash with a learner’s way of learning? Chaos, discord, accusation, and anger often ensue…In facing these conflicts, should we be trying to rewire the child or instead should we modify the environment and alter our expectations? Or should we do both?” -Levine, M. 2002. A mind at a time. Simon & Schuster, pp.260

If you are a parent of a student who is considered "difficult to teach", you probably have a good understanding of what this post is about.

Some of the content of this post is from a transcript of a podcast that I started for one of my class assignments. A few of the following quotes and comments are from my notes for a paper I wrote in 2004 - "Thinking, Learning, and Communicating through Multimedia: Views from a School Psychologist", which can be found in A sense of place: The global and the local in mobile communication Nyiri, K. (ed.) (2005). Vienna: Passagen Verlag. If you look at the book's table of contents, you'll note that the various authors come from fields ranging from physics to philosophy. Technology has impacted many fields of study in significant ways!

-Lynn