Sleep Walking Dog on CNN
This video is hilarious, but I can’t believe that it was picked up by CNN.
Archived entries for video
Everything is amazing…
Check out the video below for a reality check: “everything is amazing, nobody is happy…”
Get smarter with “Academic Earth”
Get smarter, thousands of video lectures from the world’s top scholars at academicearth.org.
Designing for Services?
Designing for Services in Science and Technology-Based Enterprises was an interdisciplinary research project (2006-2007) initiated by Saïd Business School (SBS) at the University of Oxford.
The study explored how academics, service designers, and science and technology entrepreneurs understand the designing of services in science and technology-based enterprises, and featured three case study projects in which service designers helped early stage science and technology enterprises (re)design their services.
The companies involved were:
- IDEO (consultancy) and Prosonix (science enterprise – particle engineering)
- Radarstation (consultancy) and Oxford Gene Technology (science enterprise – mico-arrays for research)
- live|work (consultancy) and g-Nostics (science enterprise – personalised medicine).
The project website has just been updated with some valuable downloads:
a short film following the service design and innovation consultancy live|work working with personalised medicine company g-Nostics.
The film follows the designers as they go through some of their process, and finds that service designers do three things that distinguish their work from that of others. Firstly, the designers looked at the human experience as a whole and in detail. Secondly, they made the service tangible and visible. Finally, they created service concepts.
a publication bringing together insights from a range of disciplinary perspectives;
Particular focus is on the practices of an emerging discipline of service design grounded in the arts and humanities. Three case studies in which service design companies worked with science and technology-based enterprises are discussed.
(via Lucy Kimbell)
Encoding Video for the Web with QuickTime Pro
Motionographer has a great post about video compression:
1. Always use the highest resolution source files possible
First things first, when encoding your video for the web, preparation is the key. The final output of your video will depend heavily on your source video. So it is in your best interest to encode from the original source content, i.e. high resolution renders from Final Cut, After Effects or AVID.
2. H.264 Basic Settings
All the codecs (Compression Type) out there right now may be tempting to try out, but H.264 still comes out on top. Stick with it, as it will give you the best quality for the file size.
Leave the Frame Rate to Current to make the video flow just as you desired your original audience to view it. Because we’re using the H.264 codec, I recommend sticking with Automatic for Key Frames. And always keep Frame Reordering enabled for web viewing.
For the Data Rate, you want to keep the Restrict to around 1300 Kbits/sec and have the video Optimized for Download (this gives you the best quality). The higher the bitrate, the better the quality—but you get stuck with a bigger file. If you have the time, play around with this setting and see the difference in quality and final size. You can go up to 2000 Kbit/sec, but no more for SD 640 x 480.
You’ll also notice now that the Quality under Compressor is locked to High because you have the video Restricted to xxxx Kbits/sec, which is perfectly fine.
Lastly, the Encoding is kept to Best quality (Multi-pass). It takes longer than the Single pass (obviously), but you’ll get a cleaner product.
3. Use 640×480 minimum for your export dimensions.
Keep the Dimensions at 640 x 480 VGA or higher. There is no reason you should be displaying your work at any lower resolution. Make sure you have enabled Preserve aspect ratio using: Fit within dimensions. This option will fit the video to the longest side, scaling if necessary.
Should you choose a larger size (e.g. 720 x 480 NTSC SD or 1280 x 720HD), please make sure your source video is at least within the same dimensions; it would look ridiculous if you tried to stretch your video bigger than the source.
Also check Deinterlace Source Video, if available.
4. Always enable Fast Start.
Make sure Prepare for Internet Streaming: Fast Start – Compressed Header is checked before clicking OK under Movie Settings.
Not checking this option will cause your viewing audience to wait until the full spot has downloaded before it starts playing. This one checkbox could make the difference between your work being seen or being closed before it even plays.
5. For audio, use AAC at 128 kbps.
For the Sound Settings, keep it simple and use this screenshot as your guide.
This is pretty routine, so no explanation is needed here.
6. Name with care.
Lastly, file naming is highly important when it comes to uploading your file. Here’s a rule of thumb: Always name your file starting with the artist’s name, title of piece and the compression type. Never leave spaces between words. I highly recommend separating words with hyphens and underscores, never periods, which could cause problems in URLs.
Most importantly, make sure your final output has a file extension (e.g. .mov, .mp4, etc). This will enable the browser to know which plug-in to use for playback.
Infographic Animation: Ensuring the Future of Food
An infographical and isometric Sims-like styled video created for the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), which highlights some of the complex issues surrounding the future of food in Japan. Topics include the amount of food imported from other countries, the problem of changing food habits, the aging farming population, and so on.
Watch the YouTube version below, or check out the high-rez version [maff.go.jp].
Getting People to Talk: An Ethnography & Interviewing Primer
This is a great video (about 30 mins) about conducting ethnographic research and interviewing. I meant to post it months ago, but its still a valuable video if you haven’t seen it yet.
Getting People to Talk: An Ethnography & Interviewing Primer from Gabe & Kristy on Vimeo.
Video ethnography | ICON MAGAZINE ONLINE
There is a nice little article over at ICON magazine about the ethical responsibilities of using video ethnographic methods employed by many design researchers. There is an excerpt below, but check out the article at ICON for the full story.
words Rick Poynor
Video ethnography has been called reality TV for the boardroom. The researchers who wield the cameras are masters of the ambivalent art of people watching. Their images reveal secrets of our behaviour we don’t even know about ourselves.The video ethnographers’ findings are gold dust to their clients and video ethnography has become one of the fashionable research techniques that any forward-looking design company now offers. The technology of close-up, real-time observation, using lightweight digital equipment, plays an increasingly significant role in the design process. If you want to find out about the people who will use a product or service, or to explore the potential for creating new products, call in a video ethnographer to film your subjects where they live or work.
…
Despite the new rhetoric of empathy and inclusiveness, of involving the user and understanding people’s needs, the person pointing the camera still occupies a position of authority in relation to the subject. This is no less real just because it is concealed beneath a soft blanket of warm feeling. When the research outcome is sociallybeneficial, as it is in healthcare, few would find any reason to object to the technique. The problem lies in the very 21st-century confusion between understanding people better to help them and understanding them better to manipulate their behaviour as consumers.
American Motels in Photos
We’ve been traveling recently and staying in different places, so I was reminded of some videos and photos that I’ve come across recently. I wanted to share them.
America Is F*cked…….(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.
This is Aaron Draplin telling Jess Gibson a story about a sign. He’s a graphic designer and very passionate about what he does. This clip is an extra from a mini documentary Jess is about to finish with him. Strong language- mostly lots of F words. If you like design stuff you gotta check out his site. draplin.com
I also recently ran across this flickr group called motel hell.
“Motel Hell” flickr group:
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