IDAT211 - The Game Design

The game for application will narrative based.  The game itself will be set in a environment that is similar to the real world so that the learners are able to relate to the system.  As well as this the narrative will allow users to make choices as to the elements they learn and so the path they take through the learning process will be self directed even if the user chooses not to chapter select.  This does begin to stray away from behaviourist learning as it is more self driven alike to cognitive learning, but by including certain elements like this it makes the game more interactive and so more engaging to the learner than having the process chosen for them.  The following game design is for a section of the game that focuses on the major scales section of learning for grade 1 music theory.  This sits in the middle of the learning process for music theory and so would also fit in the middle section of the overall game.  Although users will be able to choose certain paths in the game, the game will not be too fluid as otherwise the user may start with something too hard, or come across a subject that is too easy for them at their current stage of learning.  All interaction within the game will be controlled through use of the MIDI keyboard alike to that of the general interface.  To ensure that the MIDI keyboard controls do not conflict between the game and the interface the interface has a pause/continue function which will lock the other interface areas so that only this button will be important to relocate on the keyboard away from the keyboard keys used in the game.  Below is the game flow design, to see any of these images in a larger form simply click on them:

Starting screen

Initial Game Screen

Question 1

Learner answering

Learner answered

Next question

Learner answers wrong

(this would then go back to the screen above this)

Learner then reanswers correctly

After the other scales have been done correctly in the same style as those above the game is completed:

Next section of the environment and narrative

In these designs the character has not been designed as it requires complex imagery, but the basic format of the game is as it would be in the actual application.

IDAT 211 - System Flow and Wireframes

Below is the beginning of the physical designing process for our elearning tool demonstrating the flow of the system and also the basic wireframes for the screens of the tool.  To see a larger version of any of the images below simply select them:

System Flow

Wireframes

Main Menu:

Menu with help etc box:

Game Screen:

Game Screen with help:

Free space screen:

This design for the free space screen is just an idea as we have not fully tied down what will be shown on this screen to make it functional whilst also in a free play situation.

IDAT 211 - Conceptual Development

The Application
The application will be a music theory application aimed at providing users with a more informed understanding of music and music theory.  In order for this to be possible the application will provide learning games by which learners can practice music theory.  The application will be MIDI based and will use the MIDI keyboard as the interface to the application, rather than a keyboard or mouse.  This will make the application more unique and engaging to the user whilst also promoting and developing the users understanding of music. This will ensure we match with the expectations set out in the needs analysis of the users.

Design and Learning
The main feature for learning will be the games which are played in the application related to each element to learn.  The games will follow some form of narrative which allows development through the learning, and this will help to make the games more fun for the learners.  The learner will be given a question based on a topic of music theory, for example reading the staff and notes, which they will then have to answer using the MIDI keyboard as their interface.  If they get the question right the narrative of the game will progress acting as a positive reinforcement for behaviourist learning, whereas if they get it wrong the narrative will not change (a negative reinforcer) and they will be asked the question again.  The use of the MIDI keyboard as the interface for these games means that there will be a greater development in pratical learning as well as theoretical, as the learner will be carrying out both whilst using the program.
By having this interface it also means that the learning tool better caters for the all the main types of learner, visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  Visual learners will be able to learn through the on-screen imagery, hints and help given throughout the tool.  Auditory learners will be able to hear the note or sound they are trying to learn and compare it through the sound of the MIDI keyboard.  Finally the inclusion of the MIDI keyboard will cater for the kinesthetic learners as they will be working practically with the keyboard to use the tool and find the answers.  This demonstrates our design to be a well rounded tool in terms of the way people learn, and also shows that it should be easy to use for any type of learner, another expectation outlined in the needs analysis.

Features
Below is a diagram of the features we plan to include in the product covering persitent features, technological features and variable features (features that are not persistent):

Context in which the tool would be used
The most common use for this application is likely to be alongside some form of music tuition be it individual or curriculum based.   It will therefore be software or an online tool which will be used by schools in the majority to support musical learning and aid development of understanding.  It would be good for the tool to be online based as this is more accessible to any learner whether they are at school or not, but by incorporating the MIDI keyboard element to the software it makes more sense for the application to be software based which can be purchased and installed onto a computer, particularly as part of a school's computing system.
The tool should be used alongside external music tutoring as it can act as supporting material to the external teaching and visa versa.  In this situation it would be expected that the tutor would select elements which the learner would have to go through in the application to support the current learning, and the results of this learning would then be given back to the tutor as feedback so that the progress of the learner could be gauged.  However it would still be possible for the application to be used in a self-tutoring situation if necessary but progress of learning may be slower. 

Feedback
As well as allowing for feedback to be provided to the tutor on a students learning, the learner will also get feedback from the system throughout the tool.  In particular a scores section incorporated into the features of the tool will allow the learner to view how successful they have been on each section and so they will be able to gauge where improvements need to be made in their learning. 

Look, Feel and Related Work
When first looking at the design of the tool we instantly felt that colour should be incorporated to make the learning of muscic theory more interesting.  The first kind of aesthetic we therefore considered was a weather based aesthetic including a rainbow based key colour format.  The aesthetic would then develop to look similar to that chosen by Vimeo shown below:

Other cartoonistic approaches similar to this are used for games aimed at the target audience we have chosen such as BBC Bitesize:

and Zoombinis:

Both bitesize and Zoombinis are very successful e-learning tools and so it could be suggested that the similar look and feel of these games played a part in their success.  It would therefore be good to design our tool to have a similar look and feel to these. In particular it seems that these tool rely on a character type that can act as the learners guide to the tool.  In bitesize the character is the fish, whilst in Zoombinis the character is the Zoombini.  It may be particularly important therefore to consider incorporating a guiding character into our tool to make it more consistent and to allow the learners to relate to the tool more easily.

In terms of related music theory learning tools there is elearning music theory as described in this post: http://beckyvidat.blogspot.com/2010/02/idat-211-elearning-music-theory.html.  There is also a whole range of small applications available online varying in quality.  Most however are much more powerpoint based pieces writing out the theory and requiring little or no interaction from the learner let alone making this engaging.  For example musictheory.net is quite similar to Elearning Music Theory.  It has very basic interactive training tools (shown right) and a lot of reading based learning elements that require no interaction at all.  Although this site does provide a large range of different theory based tools and information it has a very poor quality of engagement and has no end target or encouragement. In testing this tool I became instantly bored with it and so this would definitely not be successful for teaching younger audiences.  This overview is very much similar for all the other music theory pages I have come across. Athough there are a few music theory games out there to teach music theory in a more fun way these seem quite outdated or are not particularly engaging.  For example there are a whole range of music theory games on http://www.musictechteacher.com/ but these are inconsistent in theme and varying in engagement.  I therefore feel that there is a definite space for a tool such as ours which takes a new and more dynamic approach to learning music theory.

Related Literature
To come soon...

IDAT 211 - Needs Analysis

The first stage in designing a learning tool is to define the needs analysis of the learners to identify the knowledge already held and the knowledge to be gained by the tool, as well as defining the specific audience for the tool and how the tool will be approach this audience.

Audience and Skills
The subject for our learning tool is music theory, and in particular the basics of music theory that are learnt at the beginning of any musical learning.  By producing a tool for this stage of learning we will be providing a supporting factor to standard music learning that will aim to develop understanding more efficiently.  Firstly we must define the target audience of the learning tool based on the type of knowledge we wish to provide.  The majority of people who would be learning the basics of music theory are children at school who are either learning an instrument or have music lessons as part of their curriculum.  In particular this covers students aged 11-14 especially those in the transition between primary and secondary school in years 6 and 7.  In this age range learners should have a basic knowledge of instruments and will also have taken part in musical pieces, often as singers, but will not have looked particularly closely at musical theory.  It is also common at this age for students to decide to individually learn a musical instrument and so the tool will act as a support for these students in their first years of learning theory. Therefore most of this audience have very little knowledge of music theory and so this tool will aim to improve this.

Expectations and Goals
In using the tool students will aim to increase their knowledge of music theory beyond that which they already have.  In completing the learning provided by the tool the students should have achieved a complete understanding of grade 1-2 music theory and should be able to apply this to various problems.  In participating in the use of this tool users will have a number of expectations for the product which are listed below:

• Easy to use
• Engaging
• Explain a range of theory
• Be useful
• Be fun
• To improve their knowledge

As well as the users themselves there is also the question of the expectations of the possible tutors who will be involved in getting the students to use the software, such as setting particular tasks and applying relevant supporting material.  The expectations of these users are below:

• Improve students knowledge
• Give some method of rating understanding
• Support current practical work
• Provide challenges
• Provide help
• Engage the student in the learning

Our tool therefore has to match all of these expectations for it to be a success. 

Need and Demand
In order to do a needs analysis you also have to look at the need and demand of a product.  Our tool does not have a particularly high need value, but in providing a tool such as this it allows for a better balance in knowledge throughout students of a certain age.  This makes the level of understanding more measurable and so the development of this knowledge later on is likely to be more fair and successful for all students.  In terms of demand this is likely to be quite high if accepted as a viable learning tool as most schools teach music and musical tuition is also very common.

Delivery Format
Being that this is a e-learning design project the method for which the tool must be delivered needs to initially be digital in some form.  However there are still a number of options as to how the material is presented digitally.  These include virtual reality, augmented reality, screen based, projected and dome projected.  We feel that out of these delivery formats the most appropriate for the tool is screen based i.e via a computer monitor.  This is because the tasks and learning will be based on the individual and so this method is the most accessible and usable for this.  Although VR or AR could be used individually we felt that these would be too complicated for learners to get involved with and would also be less accessible.  In particular learning could begin much more quickly with a recognised and familiar environment i.e a screen based interface, and so the tool would be more efficient. 

To summarise our tool will be a screen-based music theory learning tool which targets students between the ages of 8 and 14 who are studying music.  The aim of the tool is to increase the learners understanding of music theory up to grade 1-2 standard and should meet all the expectations both of the learners and the music tutors involved.  Ultimately the tool should be able to allow for a more standardised understand of music theory throughout students making further development of this easier and more efficient for all concerned.

IDAT 211 - Types of learning

In order to design a successful learning tool we must understand what kind of learning technique we wish to use.  In the last lecture we had for this module the three main concepts of pscyhology for learning were covered.  These were:

• Behaviourist Theory
• Cognitivist Theory
• Constructivist Theory

In order to follow the brief and make a successful design that would be effective in teaching a student, we must decide on a specific one of these theories to draw upon when designing the teaching method we intend to use.

Firstly there is behaviourism which is based on a structured reinforced learning method involving both positive and sometimes negative reinforcement of behaviour. Experiments into behaviourism were initially conducted by psychologists such as Pavlov and Skinner who experimented with conditioning animals to behave in particular ways using reinforcement.  In terms of designing a learning tool which adhere to behaviourist methods the tool must also be well structured and monitored involving drill procedures that teaches the student a topic by rewarding for correct answers and continually working at the topic until the students behaviour i.e their answers are continuously correct. 
The behaviourist method very much fits the topic of music theory as along with practical music learning it is a very drill based topic that requires repeated practice before the knowledge is permanantly stored.  Similarly it is unlikely that someone would choose to be learning music theory without having some other monitoring by a tutor, although this could be possible if attempting self tuition.  Music theory is also a very structured practice as it has been taught for many years and can become complicated.  By structuring the theory carefully from start to finish this ensures the learner has the necessary understanding for the next section and so the structured approach of behaviourism is also suited to music theory.

The second type of learning is cognitive.  Cognitivist theory is based on the idea that we hold a model of the world inside our heads and use this to understand the world around us, classified as symbolic processing.  The theory focuses around cognitive processes such as memory and the way in which we structure the information in our heads through classification and modelling to gain an understanding.  Therefore a design for learning based on the cognitive model would need to be based on classifications, and also focus on getting the user to know what they have learnt and how to use it (metaknowledge). 
This method of design for learning may partially fit the topic of music theory as uses should be able to apply the knowledge they have gained to various situations.  However the content of music theory is not very heirarchical and so would not fit the classification structure. Music theory is also not bery comparable to anything else and so the use of comparison in cognitive learning would not be of any use.

The final type of learning is constructivist. Constructivism suggests that learning is a building process based on interpretation and in which the teaching is indirect.  People learn through interaction with the world picking up knowledge as they go, and is a learner led method of learning.  To design for constructivist principles a tool would have to be very interactive based on the interpretations made by a user.  Examples of constructivist tools include interactive videos and role play which are user-centric allowing the learner to guide their own learning through the tool. 
Constructivism may be suited to the topic of music theory as long as the learning was interactive and developed according to the learners choices.  However this is not how music theory is best structured as it is a complex subject and needs to be carefully laid out so that the user has the knowledge required to move to the next step.  Also music theory is most likely supported by an external tutor and so the constructivist focus on indirect teaching does not fit all that well.

Ultimately our tool for music theory ought to use the behavioural model of learning as it is the learning method that is most expected by the users, mainly because it is the most effective method according to the type of information that needs to be transferred to the learner.

IDAT 211 - Types of Theory

In order to create a functional elearning tool we need to narrow the type of theory we wish to teach down to a small amount so that it can be focussed on in good detail.  The most obvious option for this is to choose a grade to focus on and cover all the necessary sections within the one grade.  If we were to do this it would probably be best to focus on grade 1 as this would associate well with a students initial learning of an instrument which we could use to our advantage.  However there are also other options, such as focusing on musical foreign terms, and covering all the terms available separated into the seperate grades and difficulties.  This is a nice idea as it is quite different to other music theory elearning tools, but may not be as useful as the whole grade tool, as what would be taught is not as necessary when learning music as understanding time and notations. The same approach could be taken however with these kind of topics, focusing on a single section of theory rather than a single grade and covering a number of grades of that topic.  The following is a list of areas that could be dealt with in a focused way:

• grade 1
• foreign terms
• scales/key signatures
• time signatures
• intervals
• chords

I will need to discuss these with Karla and see what content we are thinking of so we can then start looking at how we intend to design the implementation of the elearning tool

IDAT 211 - Elearning Music Theory

The topic that me and Karla have decided on for our elearning application is music theory.  This is because we are both quite musical and both agree that music theory could be made more interesting through an elearning application, as it tends to be quite a dry and uninspiring topic that is difficult to learn because it is not engaging.  Previous methods for learning music theory tend to be book based with support from music teachers, and can include a lot of text and technical diagrams that is difficult to understand.  The purpose of our application therefore is to change this through using modern day technology.

Although music theory has been tackled by elearning facilities before, they are most often still quite a formal tool, which can make the process of learning less engaging. An example of this is emusictheory, an online and software based tool that requires payment for full access.  (http://www.emusictheory.com/)  EMusicTheory provides an entire range of theory drills that cover the majority of theory grades.  It also provides access to both students and teachers to enable teacher support and acts as an assignment tool, where teachers can set students particular drills to do and then find out their marks once completed.  The drills involved in this elearning tool however are still quite plain and are just more interactive versions of the original book format of learning used in most cases.  This tool is also purely screen and application based and does not use other more dynamic technologies to run the program.

In order for our elearning tool to be successful it would be better to narrow the type of music theory we plan to teach down to a minimum so that the functionality can be more focused and effective.  We must therefore decide what part of music theory we wish to cover in our elearning idea. Also it would be good to include ways in which we could overcome the problems had by such applications as EMusicTheory as we are not limited in our brief as it is only a design and so can easily incorporate many different technologies and elements if they are deemed useful.

IDAT 211 - Elearning Brainstorm

In order to start thinking about an elearning application I need to define different aspects of elearning and look through various topics that could be learnt.  I decided the best way to do this is to create a brainstorm of important information that is relevant to elearning.  The brainstorm I created is shown below, to see a bigger version simply click on the image:

Having this laid out makes it easier to consider all the options there are for this project as well as helping to develop ideas.  Once I had created this brainstorm it occurred to me that it would be good to choose a topic that was relevant to me and Karla and that we both had previous knowledge of.  I therefore suggested that we work on a music based project which we both agreed on and then started to work on the details.

IDAT211 - E-Learning

For our next project for the IDAT211 module we are required to design an E-Learning application to teach a skill of our choice. We do no have to create a final version of the product, but instead have to produce an in depth design of what we could create with the correct resources and abilities. We have chosen to work in a group of two for this project and so I am working with Karla Anker. In order for us to begin thinking about what to create for this project we must first understand what is meant by e-learning.
E-Learning is basically learning through the use of technology, such as relying on software to provide instruction rather than an actual person.  There are many examples of e-learning, and can be presented through a number of means.  Firstly there is software e-learning in which installed software is used to provide an interface for learners to educate themselves in various disciplines such as touch typing and second languages.  There is also the use of online elearning facilities such as You tube videos and online education companies such as the Open University.   Other examples of this include many school orientated websites such as GCSE Bitesize and textual tutorials.

The challenge with e-learning is how to create an e-learning application that successfully teaches the student without having an understanding of the users learning methods, abilities, or their responses to the teaching provided.  For example in a real teacher/student environment the teacher is able to watch and listen to a student to see if they are understanding what they are being taught, or in the case of physical learning, are able to see whether the actions carried out by the student are correct.  However a computer and the technology involved in elearning is not able to physically read a students responses to what they are being taught.  Therefore the elearning tool has to use different methods such as testing and questioning more often in order to get a better impression of the current status of the students learning.
This means that designers of elearning tools have to think this over carefully when creating their products.

IDAT 211 - Fluidic Forms

My final perception video is called Fluidic Forms.  This is because it uses fluid to create forms that enable the viewer to discover an object before it is actually visible.  The final video is shown below but is in the dome corrected format so will look slightly warped unless viewed using a fish eye projector.  The sound for this video is also in 5.1 surround sound.  Again this will only be properly noticable if played in a 5.1 surround sound format.

IDAT 211 - References of Resources

Although the references for my resources I have used to make the video are included in the video I thought I should also put them here on the blog so that they are easy to access and view.  The following is a list of all the websites I have obtained resources from and the details for my video:

http://e2-productions.com/repository/index.php - umbrella
http://www.diatonis.com/ - ambient background music
http://feeblemind.tuxfamily.org/dotclear/index.php/2004/12/24/4-blender-faire-pleuvoir---making-rain - rain particles
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=137038 - rubber ducky
http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html - rain sound, water running sound,
http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/watersounds.shtml - splash sound
http://www.blender.org/ - software + Python

In terms of software I also used Adobe After Effects for video composition and Adobe Premiere Pro for the 5.1 sound arrangement and final composition.

IDAT 211 - A change to the plot

Due to the length of the other scenes in my video and also the lack of success in creating an effective look to the scene I have decided to remove the middle scene of my storyboard from the video.  This includes the rising water section and the floating object section.  I tried to create these scenes a number of different times but the results I obtained were not very effective.  I did not like the aesthetic of the rising water scene shown in the test renders below, due to the way it was created, and attempts at the floating object scene did not work like I had hoped when using the dome camera to make the dome correction.  The other scenes in my video also took more video time than first anticipated so that they were more coherent and cohesive.  I therefore removed the middle scene to ensure that the video worked well and fitted with the specification.
This change should not have too much of an effect on the overall effectiveness of the video, and although it limits the amount of scenes included that were intended to relate to perception, hopefully the other two main scenes will get the concept across appropriately.  The storyboard for my video in writing therefore now looks like this:

• Title
• Raining scene
• Rubber duck scene
• Credits

This may seem like quite a short video, but being that this is in the space of a minute, I think it will work quite well. The title and credits are also related to my concept, particularly the credits, so these will hopefully add to the overall perceptive content of the video.

IDAT 211 - Test Renders

Below are some test renders of each of the scenes I have done for my video.  These will be tested and changed if necessary before being render at 100% and put together into my final dome video.  The videos show below have been dome corrected and so they will look warped due to the fish eye lense unless viewed through a fish eye projector.

IDAT 211 - Concept overview

For this perception video project we were asked to create a video for the IVT that explores an aspect of perception and representation.  The concept I have chosen for my video as shown in my storyboarding below is related to the idea that our perception is based on our experiences and knowledge of things and that we apply this to what we see in order to find some kind of meaning.  I therefore decided to explore this by providing the viewer of my video with a chance to test how much information is needed to trigger their recognition of objects.  It occurred to me that fluids such as water, due to their fluidic properties, can mould around objects and give an idea of the shape underneath, without the shape necessarily being visible.  My concept therefore relies on a hidden-revealed narrative where shapes are originally only visible in how the water reacts. This allows viewers to see if their perception can find meaning in the scene before the reveal. The object is then revealed to the viewer either confirming or falsifying their perception.

My video uses this as its main concept, focusing on water and how it can be used to provide a suggestion of a shape.  The environments in which I set my scenes are also important for the viewers perception.  Although the main environment of the scene is basic, the events and objects in the scene link with each other to enable the viewer to more easily gain recognition of what they are seeing before the object itself is revealed.  This is as follows:

• The invisible umbrella is located in a scene where it is raining.  Umbrellas are closely linked with rain due to their usage and so the rain should narrow the viewers perception to a limited set of possible objects to find the meaning of the scene.
• The invisible rubber ducky is placed under an inflow system like a tap.  Rubber ducks are used in baths - baths use running taps to fill them, and so again the type of water situation used helps to narrow the viewers perception and hopefully make the object easier to recognise.

As well as making the visual scene more representative of the object the sound I have chosen for the scenes helps to support the different environments I am trying to portray. This gives a more realistic feeling to the scenes making it easier to find meaning.

IDAT211 - Storyboarding

In order to come up with some kind of context for my perception based video using fluids I decided that I should create a storyboard of how the video would run in the 60 seconds available. I therefore used my ideas for fluid perception and tried to piece them together in a logical way.  I decided the main context of my video would be that it is hosted in a world of water.  This would fit with the concept that water is the only method of perception.  From this idea of a world of water, along with the ideas I had had previously I produced the following storyboard pages.  To see them in more detail click on them:

A number of the objects I chose to use for this storyboard I chose because they were somehow related to the medium of water.  I decided to do this as it would make the relationship between the object and environment stronger, and also help the viewer to better perceive the objects due to this relationship.  I then decided to create an animatic of these scenes to better understand whether I would be able to fit it into the 60 seconds available to me.  This is shown below:

However even though this animatic does fit into the 60 seconds I feel it is probably a bit rushed and will still find that I may need to edit out some element of the storyboard when making my video in order for it to flow more freely and easily. 

IDAT211 - Point of Perception

For my dome video I intend to investigate the leading element of perception, the point at which our knowledge and understanding enables us to find meaning in what we see.  I initially intended to do this through the morphing of objects from one shape to another so that the point of realisation for each object could be discovered.  This would demonstrate what we look for in the object to define it as something specific.
However I did not know where to take this and after working with fluids in Blender decided that I would try to use water to shape an object and develop this idea in a different way.  For example when water is run over an object the shape of the object is made with the water and so even without the object, you can to a point, work out what object it is disturbing the water.  After thinking about this for a while I found a number of different ways this could be done.   Firstly the objects that are perceived need to be invisible in order for the viewer to only base their perception of the shape made by the water and not the object that is already there.  The object can be immersed in water, have water poured over it or can be filled with water to demonstrate the shape of the object.  I therefore decided to test these ideas with fluids in Blender.



Some of these attempts worked better than others, but the liquid mainly has the desired effect. Once I had proved that this concept worked I then had to develop this into a more contextual video.

IDAT211 - Perception project

For this first term we have to create a 60 second film demonstrating a small area of our perception in the Immersive Vision Theatre(IVT), a dome projection building in the university that enables better immersion.  Today we looked at a range of different videos that have been created for the dome to gain some idea of the different possibilities that can be used in the dome.  In particular I found vection quite interesting, where the viewer percieves themselves, or the area they are in, to be moving when actually they are not.  The immersive quality of the dome allows for vection to occur very easily, and it is in many ways the most unusual potential the dome has to offer.  The concept of vection does not occur very often in normal perception although it does happen, and very rarely on any other visual viewing platform e.g cinema, TV etc. which means this project would be a great opportunity to work with a element of perception that is rarely dealt with.  However working with vection does require some control as too much can have adverse effects on the viewers e.g dizziness and sickness. However as long as vection is used wisely within the dome in a balanced way, it is definitely key to using the domes full potential. Vection is in itself an optical illusion and I intend to use it as best as possible to enhance my project.
In terms of the rest of the content there are a number of things I would like to consider.  Perception is a very wide topic and has many different elements that could be encorporated into the video, as well as being misrepresented to create illusions. The perception of size, alongside depth, for example is commonly used to form visual illusions.  The Persil advert below shows a great demonstration of this:



This advert uses size and distance perception to create an illusion which symbolises the main point of the advert enhancing the viewers understanding and the effectiveness of the imagery.  This also shows there are a lot of different possibilities in using these particular elements of perception, although this will not necessarily work all that well with vection.
Perception is based on the way in which we obtain meaning from the images we recieve around us.  A lot of this is therefore knowledge based and so would be quite easy to include.  For example I could use morphing elements to change between shapes in a way that emphasises the points at which a person's perception of an object becomes clear, and therefore would demonstrate what characteristics the perception is based upon.

IDAT 211 - Visual Perception

Visual perception outlines the ways in which we use visual cues to create meaning in the world.  These include paralax, focus, binocular, and monocular cues.  However our perception can easily be tricked, by subverting the normal rules assoctiated with how we percieve our world.  It is this, the amount of different ways in which we have challenged our visual perception that intrigues me most.  Usually refered to as optical illusions, these exceptions to the rules of perception occur both intentionally and unintentionally, either by means of creation for entertainment, or by conicidence.  For example many people use their artistic talents and also computing to create a wide range of optical illusions, which can require the viewer to either be active or passive in changing their perception.  This is intentional subversion.  However things such as the Charlie Chaplin mask experiment mentioned in the previous post, although set up for the video, may still occur with a mask in every day life.  This is therefore (mainly) an unintentional subversion.  Intentional subversion of our perception is much more common, due to the continuous creation of illusions for entertainment.  Below are a few examples of different types of illusion, both passive and active:

 Julian Beever street art shown from the correct and incorrect viewpoints (passive perception as long as you are in the right place)(http://blog.brains4all.com/brainblog/archives/globe.jpg)

(http://snapshotsofgod.com/images/magiceye.gif)A magic eye picture in which the viewer has to physically change the angle of their eyes to a parallel position in order to view the image (active).  This is both related to perception and to the way in which we physically see. Click on the image for a larger version, can you see the heart?

Traditional optical illusion the composition of the image causes your eyes to see black dots where the white gaps are (passive)

(http://www.collegeboredom.com/images/opticalillusions/opticalillusions01_img_1.gif)

Young woman - old man optical illusion.  This requires the viewer to actually turn the image upside down to see the illusion occur (active) (http://www.yugzone.ru/optical_illusions/img/catPics_perevert.gif)

This therefore demonstrates the wide range of different illusions that exist and how they can be passive or active depending on their content.  All of these images work in some way due to the ways in which our perception functions along a set of rules which we have learnt from birth.  By knowing these rules and developing things that go against them we are able to test our own perception and find out more about the way we find meaning in objects.

IDAT211 - Channel 4, an example

#bdat Whilst considering the concept of perception and cognition and the way in which our perception can be utilised, I began to try and think of examples that demonstrated these concepts other than those shown to us in the lecture.  It occured to me that the Channel 4 idents are very much relevant to this as they are designed to utilise our perception in order to give the channel an identity.  An example of the idents is shown below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGsKP7lJUdQ

This is similar to the Charlie Chaplin mask optical illusion shown here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbKw0_v2clo

At a very specific point in time the 4 is seen in the image and then instantly disappears because of the angle that viewer sees the image from.  This demonstrates the discovery and loss of meaning in the image.  This and the other channel 4 adverts have been built specifically to have this effect in which the ident is not understood until a certain point and then the meaning is lost again.  By doing this the ident keeps the viewers attention and ensures other information such as that of the voiceover is also recieved.

IDAT 211 - Cognition and Perception

The first project that we have to do as part of our IDAT211 module is all to do with cognition and perception.  The brief is to create a 60 second video that deals in some way with this topic.  The video will be screened in the Immersive Theatre in Plymouth University, a dome like building that uses a fish eye lens to create an immersive experience for its viewers.  This section of my IDAT blog will act as my workbook for this module encorporating different designs, ideas and theory that will be part of creating the final film.
Perception and cognition are very important to us as human beings as it allows us to understand the world around us.  However not all parts of this are perfect and this allows for our perception in a number of cases to be tricked into seeing something beyond what is really there.  These optical illusions come in a range of different forms and play a major part in a project such as this, in which perception is explored.  This ability to see beyond images and objects and define meaning fom them can be utilised to our own advantage, and this is where most optical illusions originate; they are created to utilise this ability.  Being able to utilise it in this way will also be vital in creating an effective video for this module.