Over the past couple of weeks, I've been slowly introducing Dad to the wonders of modern computing. We got him a nice Athlon laptop from HP with the basics. He's really enjoying it so far, having progressed from surfing some news websites every day to copying digital photos from his new camera, to now ripping MP3s to his personal music library! It's pretty exciting for him (and me), and it's good for me to watch a neophyte computer user master new concepts.
Computers are still pretty darn confusing and difficult to use.
Double-click to launch of program? Single click for buttons? It's only through long experience, I realize, that I know what to click at all.
The Windows Media Player 9 interface is a horror to behold. It has a surface attractiveness (shiny!), but learnability and usability are sub-par. Media Player 10 is not much better. For my Dad, the Media Player interface looks like a collection of tiny buttons scattered all over the screen...it's terrible. It's hard to tell what's a primary button, what's a control, and what you need to click on to get anything useful done. It's an awful user interface...it might as well be a command-line interface.
Dad was introduced to the concept of multi-tasking today also. He was impressed by how you could move windows around, and each one could do a different thing. I think he looked at computers as being able to do one thing at a time, which isn't a bad model to have actually.
There's a terrible traffic jam on the desktop as dozens of marginally useful programs clamor for attention to "update" or "associate themselves with convenient functionality". i spent several hours squashing them dead so they wouldn't bother Dad.
It struck me that there really should be a better help product that not only introduces the computer in terms of useful things to do, but hides a lot of the desktop / shell functionality away. Sort of like the Launcher for MacOS 9. Maybe this is what the Google Desktop and AOL are trying to do... make a task-oriented GUI for both the Internet and the Desktop.
There's a lot I take for granted these days with interactive design. The sheer ubiquity of interactive design online has been helped by the surge in talent availability. On the flip side, it's led to the commoditization of the market, which has pushed rates lower; my own random client polling suggests that they're expecting to pay no more than $20/hour for contract "flash work". Because of this, I've been angling myself more toward pure programming / original content creation.
There's probably still room for an information architect / interactive designer who knows the ins and outs of digital media production. Here's two must-have skills:
the gift of true understanding - Some people try to "get" what you're trying to do, others just shove your stuff into the most convenient box that's on hand. You'll appreciate someone who takes the time to try to understand what you're doing and provide useful structuring principles...especially if you're trying to figure it all out yourself.
the gift of narrative - Understanding is great, but if you can't express it clearly you're still up the creek. An expert interactive designer / animator knows how to pace things out so they make sense.
Then there's the bits that a good animator knows:
the gift of timing & sequencing - A good animation has rhythm, bounce, and the uncanny power of keeping you in the moment. Too slow, and the audience can see the gags coming through stifled yawns. Too fast, and they'll be left wondering what's going on and uninterested.
the gift of motion - Sensitivity to how things move and through that contributes to the emotional and dramatic tone of the animation is a rare and wonderful thing. Being able to command it is rarer still. It's closely related to timing.
And finally there's all the 2D design skills that go into making a great screen:
- the gift of typograpy - how to lay out a block of type so it sings
- the gift of 2d composition - how to control contrast, position, tone, color in support of what you want to communicate
- the gift of 3d composition - how to control layers of overlapping information
- the gift of cheese - that bag of tricks that gets your screen design through to the end
- the gift of color harmony - the ability to taste and smell color, and bend it to your will
And technical things one ought to know:
- the gift of programming - being able to program without totally relying on code snippets you've snipped from FlashKit
- the gift of sound & music - being able to layer, process, and edit audio streams for use in interactives, construct interactive soundscapes, and time things out to music certainly helps the animator
- the eye - the ability to see what works, what doesn't, and why...instantaneously
- the user model - knowing how a user will perceive and react to the presentation of information on a screen.
- the history of the medium - knowing what's been done, what's worked and what's failed in interactive media.
So there's a lot of stuff here to know, and I haven't even touched upon storyboarding, project management, script writing, and the rest of the skills that go into making a good concept in the first place.
Emily and Robert are visiting and haven't see Dad's rental cello, so Dad put on a performance for us. Here are some action shots!
I recently got to watch longtime buddy Don McIntosh in his professional element as a director/cameraman for a recent project. He's been a hero of mine for years just because he's so into the cool stuff and the whole freelance creative thing. His family, in fact, is a model for awesomeness in my mind; because of them, I now know that forming a family unit doesn't have to be lame. They have the coolest house.
Anyway, I'd never been on a video shoot before, so it was neat to watch a seasoned professional team get things done. I was particularly struck by how there were specialists for each role: Don as the director/cameraman, another guy to move the camera (and Don) on the dolly, another guy who knew everything about light, a stylist who kept the talent looking fresh, and a couple general helpers that moved lights, trucked gear, and maintained a steady supply of snacks and beverages to the crew. They all knew what was needed from each other, so they interacted with each other with a minimum of verbiage and eye contact. Everyone kept their eyes on the shot, making adjustments here and there to lighting and positioning that ordinary mortals would not have noticed. It was quite inspiring to see how everything meshed together to create something that looked great.
On a side note, the camera was a near-HD quality rental... I heard it was worth US$150K.
The creative review process as I've experienced it tends to be somewhat chaotic, encumbered as it is with myriad notes, emails, and documents scattered across half a dozen people and computers. When describing a complex change or nuance, sometimes it's just easier to draw. But how to integrate that into the Digital Age, and not end up with tons more files or papers to shuffle?
This article on Millimeter describes Pixar's Review Sketch Tool, which was developed in-house for The Incredibles director Brad Bird by Pixar staff to leverage his preferred way of communicating changes and ideas to people. Fitting tools to existing strength to create a new workflow is the way I like things myself. Kind of a light article, but worth scanning. Via Slashdot.
The past couple of nights over dinner--which Dad has been cooking, he's been opening my eyes to some simple but tasty dishes--I've asked Dad what he's been up to while I'm out:
Dad's reading a book by Lee Teng Hui, a former president of Taiwan, which addresses issues about the Japanese spirit. It's in Japanese, and intended for a Japanese audience apparently.
It's interesting to note that Lee is about ten years older than Dad, but is of the same generation of Taiwanese who grew up under Japanese colonial rule and were, for all intents and purposes, considered part of Japan and Japanese. So Dad's generation is familiar with issues of cultural identity that I, as an Asian-American, have been going through as well. And he's also gone through the entire post-WWII Chinese imigrant experience on top of that, having choosen to live in American suburbia rather than in an Asian ghetto. That's pretty cool!
He's been practicing his cello, and has been excited about getting a new transcription of Bach's "Six Cello Suites" from Pierre Fournier, which matches a CD he brought with him. He pointed out differences in performance in various passages to me. It's his favorite version.
Dad's been finding interesting ways to make small optimizations in the household. For example, the jar of "Planter's Honey Roasted Peanuts" I had contained a lot of sugar/salt mix floating in the bottom, making it difficult to extract peanuts without getting a mouthful of powder. I've always just lived with it, but Dad took the time to remove the peanuts from the jar, extract the powder, then replace the peanuts. He then used the powder to make a variation of sweet and sour pork for dinner tonight. Genius!
Another tip: Dad suggested that I soak the bamboo rice paddle (used for digging rice out of the rice cooker) in sesame oil. This will impregnate the fibers of the paddle and make it more non-stick. I had noticed that rice paddles in Taiwan seemed greasy, but never knew that it was done on purpose to make them nonstick...I just thought they were old.
We talked about but about Dad's past experiences in adminsitrating the Taiwan Theological College, how his experiences in the U.S. from 1957 to 1977 shaped some of his outlook as far as executive procedure went.
Dad clarified a long-standing question I had about Christianity and how it was really different from other forms of humanist, spiritual belief systems that believe in a higher ideal, gods, or God. The way I understand it now is that it's not so much what is believed to be the higher authority, but how that authority is revealed. In other words, it really is about the Bible and how you interpret it that differentiates a Christian (and various denominations) from other people. I think I tended to have more of an absolutist view toward what Christianity actually meant.
Last night we went to Border's, and picked up the entire Frank Herbert Dune series for him to take home with him. Dad has found the story to liberate him from his traditional sources for theological musings. He also mentioned that the last book in the Ender's Game trilogy (Children of the Mind) had interesting theological discussion, which is probably not surprising given OSC's background. It's cool how Dad is open to various forms of literature for ideas.
I asked Dad what he does to keep busy at home. It goes something like this:
* Practice Cello, which gives him a lot of joy.
* Raise Orchids. There was a time when he thought of raising very expensive orchids, but the weather conditions and environment in Taichung tended to kill them. So he now, rather pragmatically, focuses on raising very hardy orchids. I may ask him to set up some kind of OrchidStation&tm; here.
* Study Languages. He's been practicing his Thai, and can now go to the market and buy things when he visits his colleagues. Dad has a zeal for languages, apparently, as he's also interested in picking up Korean ("pronunciation similar to Taiwanese, grammar same as Japanese, same characters in Chinese"), Vietnamese, and maybe relearning German or Spanish. He's not so much into travel, but the study of languages keeps him from "becoming stupid" he says :-)
* Read news on the Internet
This past Thanksgiving, I once again cooked the traditional dinner for Dad, Emily & Robert. I was kind of jammed for time and was losing track of what I needed to do, so I drew a big picture of what I wanted the meal to have in it.
It was somewhat comforting, and even though I didn't end up making everything on the diagram, it was a good way to get my head in the right place.
For some reason, people think it's funny.
Having to work over vacation kind of sucks, but when I had my cousin Leng's house to myself I got to do a little exploring. Leng had an interesting collection of small carved sculptures on the mantle behind her desk.
Yesterday I set up Dad's new computer with a special Internet Home Page that lists his favorite news sites. I also added links to the various family member blogs. To my surprise, he read them! Hi Dad!
Today's tidbits about Dad:
Dad is interested in Cuban classical guitar music. He doesn't like Rock, but he likes the latin rhythm. He has a couple of CDs he wants to get.
At home, he owns no less than 5 guitars! 4 of them are made in Taiwan, the other one he got in Mexico (not sure if he actually was there and picked it up). I thought about showing him that bit from Desperado when Antonio Banderas's character is teaching the street kid how to play "like this", but I suppose it wasn't that great a scene. Plus, Dad doesn't like guns.
Dad commented on some interesting flaws in the rental cello, reconstructing its history in fine Holmesian form. "At one point, this cello was probably left in the sun.", he noted, one finger critically tracing the repaired wood. "As you can see, the wood here is wrinkled, and some repairs had to be made with clamps to fix it. The clamps were not well fitted, as you can see the clamp marks here."
This is the same as prosciutto, but I didn't know it. As Epicurious says:
The true PROSCIUTTO, this superior Italian ham hails from northern Italy's province of Parma, the same area famous for Parmesan cheese. The special diet of chestnuts and WHEY (from the cheese-making process) that Parma pigs enjoy results in an excellent quality of meat.
That's some pig! Read more about it. I like to use prosciutto in a creamy chinese cabbage soup dish because it adds hammy goodness without a lot of additional fat, and I don't happen to have a chunk of either chinese or excellent substitute Smithfield ham on hand.
