Camera: Digital or Film?

A variety of digital cameras

In our earlier write up on "headache printing digital photos" we highlighted three simple steps to getting better prints for your digital photos: 1. Printer settings 2. Resolution of image and 3. Paper quality. Today is about digital cameras over film, and both pros and cons of digital cameras. Digital cameras offer many conveniences that you cannot get with film. Digicamguides.com affirms digital cameras offer more flexibility than film cameras, but require some computer savvy to use. Here is how:

Pros of Digital Cameras
Instant Feedback: Right after you take a photograph with a digital camera, you can see the photo you just took displayed. No more worrying if you got the shot or not, no more portraits of people with their eyes closed. Take the shot and see. If you don't like what you see, take another.

No Film: Digital cameras store photographs digitally, using removable cards. You can purchase a single photo storage card that will allow you to take about 360 photographs. That's 15 rolls of film, if a roll is 24 photos! Most of these cards are about the size of a postage stamp or a stick of gum. What would you rather carry with you on your next vacation? A stick of gum, or 15 rolls of film?

No Prints: Store all the photos you take on your computer and only print the ones you really like. You'll never have to bay for badly exposed photos again.

Volume: With digital cameras this is not a problem. You can take as many shots as you want as well as deleting them.

Portability: Many digital cameras are designed to be extremely portable. Since they don't need space to accommodate film, they can be very compact and lightweight. 

Easy Sharing: Digital cameras are a great way to share photographs with friends and family who do not live nearby.

Drawbacks to Digital Cameras
Complexity: Digital cameras are small computers that take photographs. Even the fairly simple ones come with many buttons, menus, options and settings. Camera manufacturers like to boast that their camera has more features than their competitor's. More features means controls that you will have to learn.

Home Computer: The idea behind digital photography is that you can take thousands of photographs, review them on your computer first and then decide what you want to print.

Computing Power: Photographs created by digital cameras create large computer files. If you have a small hard drive, you will fill it up in an instant. A slow computer can make the process of viewing photos frustrating.

Fast Internet Connection: The easiest way to share your photos with others is to upload them to the Internet. Uploading digital photos can be a slow and time-consuming process.

Cost: Digital cameras store photographs on small removable cards. You still have to pay the initial card cost.

Battery Life: If you own a film camera now, you may have had to change the batteries once in 5 years. Digital camera batteries will be drained in a week if you take lots of photos. Rechargeable batteries are a necessity.

Today professional photographers are switching from their older film-fed cameras to newer, higher quality and better working digital SLR cameras. Such digital SLR cameras are actually changing the way the world of photography works forever, and in a good way. 

Great Photography Tips

Interested in learning photography techniques? Read on. Whether its fashion photography, sports photography, wedding photography, travel photography, stock photography, studio lighting, or even digital darkroom, these insight from Kodak.com covers the basics of photography you might want to learn about. 

1. Look your subject in the eye 

Direct eye contact can be as engaging in a picture as it is in real life. When taking a picture of someone, hold the camera at the person's eye level to unleash the power of those magnetic gazes and mesmerizing smiles. For children, that means stooping to their level. And your subject need not always stare at the camera. All by itself that eye level angle will create a personal and inviting feeling that pulls you into the picture.

2. Use a plain background
A plain background shows off the subject you are photographing. When you look through the camera viewfinder, force yourself to study the area surrounding your subject. Make sure no poles grow from the head of your favorite niece and that no cars seem to dangle from her ears.

3. Use flash outdoors
Bright sun can create unattractive deep facial shadows. Eliminate the shadows by using your flash to lighten the face. When taking people pictures on sunny days, turn your flash on. You may have a choice of fill-flash mode or full-flash mode. If the person is within five feet, use the fill-flash mode; beyond five feet, the full-power mode may be required. With a digital camera, use the picture display panel to review the results. On cloudy days, use the camera's fill-flash mode if it has one. The flash will brighten up people's faces and make them stand out. Also take a picture without the flash, because the soft light of overcast days sometimes gives quite pleasing results by itself.

4. Move in close
If your subject is smaller than a car, take a step or two closer before taking the picture and zoom in on your subject. Your goal is to fill the picture area with the subject you are photographing. Up close you can reveal telling details, like a sprinkle of freckles or an arched eyebrow. But don't get too close or your pictures will be blurry. The closest focusing distance for most cameras is about three feet, or about one step away from your camera. If you get closer than the closest focusing distance of your camera (see your manual to be sure), your pictures will be blurry.

5. Move it from the middle
Center-stage is a great place for a performer to be. However, the middle of your picture is not the best place for your subject. Bring your picture to life by simply moving your subject away from the middle of your picture. Start by playing tick-tack-toe with subject position. Imagine a tick-tack-toe grid in your viewfinder. Now place your important subject at one of the intersections of lines. You'll need to lock the focus if you have an auto-focus camera because most of them focus on whatever is in the center of the viewfinder.

6. Lock the focus
If your subject is not in the center of the picture, you need to lock the focus to create a sharp picture. Most auto-focus cameras focus on whatever is in the center of the picture. But to improve pictures, you will often want to move the subject away from the center of the picture. If you don't want a blurred picture, you'll need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle and then recompose the picture so the subject is away from the middle. Usually you can lock the focus in three steps. First, center the subject and press and hold the shutter button halfway down. Second, reposition your camera (while still holding the shutter button) so the subject is away from the center. And third, finish by pressing the shutter button all the way down to take the picture.

7. Know your flash's range
The number one flash mistake is taking pictures beyond the flash's range. Why is this a mistake? Because pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be too dark. For many cameras, the maximum flash range is less than fifteen feet—about five steps away. What is your camera's flash range? Look it up in your camera manual. Can't find it? Then don't take a chance. Position yourself so subjects are no farther than ten feet away. Film users can extend the flash range by using Kodak Max versatility or versatility plus film.

8. Watch the light 

Next to the subject, the most important part of every picture is the light. It affects the appearance of everything you photograph. On a great-grandmother, bright sunlight from the side can enhance wrinkles. But the soft light of a cloudy day can subdue those same wrinkles. Don't like the light on your subject? Then move yourself or your subject. For landscapes, try to take pictures early or late in the day when the light is orangish and rakes across the land

9. Take some vertical pictures 

Is your camera vertically challenged? It is if you never turn it sideways to take a vertical picture. All sorts of things look better in a vertical picture. From a lighthouse near a cliff to the Eiffel Tower to your four-year-old niece jumping in a puddle. So next time out, make a conscious effort to turn your camera sideways and take some vertical pictures.

10. Be a picture director 

Take control of your picture-taking and watch your pictures dramatically improve. Become a picture director, not just a passive picture-taker. A picture director takes charge. A picture director picks the location. A picture director adds props. A picture director arranges people.

Take charge of your pictures and win your own best picture awards.

Source http://www.kodak.com; http://www.digitalslrcameras360.com/

Panoramic Photography

Panoramic photos were the realm of the professional with the time and funds to create gorgeous super wide angle shots. In the digital age, it’s not only simple to create panoramic images on your home computer, it has become increasingly easier thanks to advances in software. 

Beautiful Tokyo at night

This is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as wide format photography. The term has also been applied to a photograph that is cropped to a relatively wide aspect ratio. While there is no formal division between "wide-angle" and "panoramic" photography, "wide angle" normally refers to a type of lens, but this lens type does not necessarily image a panorama. An image made with an ultra wide angle fisheye lens covering the normal film frame of 1:1.33 is not automatically considered to be a panorama.

Taking panaromas can be fun. Find yourself a nice scene, and work along the bits you want , in rows or columns. Most software wants about 20% overlap at each side. The software should help fix exposure variations for you, but it will help a lot to avoid wide variations in brightness. Take care to hold the camera still and level - a tripod will help greatly, but a steady hand can work just fine. If you do have a digital camera, review the images before leaving the scene!  

Panoramic Tokyo by night

Try and avoid things being very close to the camera - this will make any camera movement between shots VERY obvious, and ruin the results. Remember to rotate around the camera position, not just turn in a circle holding the camera. Unless you have a VERY good flash, avoid this when taking panoramas - any unevenness will be VERY obvious in the blended images. Windy days can cause problems, as trees, flags, and other things bend in the wind and change position. I was pleasantly surprised that ripples on water do not seem to have this problem - both the packages I have used can make effective joins on water, without obvious blurring or other soft image effect.

It's a shame to spoil a sequence of 24 images because your finger was over the lens for 1 of them! If you really want that photo, try taking two complete sets of images - perhaps with different overlap areas. This is particularly recommended if circumstances are difficult, e.g. bad light, long exposures, many moving people. Experience it.

Headache Printing Digital Photos?

Tana River at dawn. Tana is the longest river in Kenya.

 

 

There are three simple steps to getting better prints for your digital photos: 1. Printer settings 2. Resolution of image and 3. Paper quality. Done.

1. Printer Settings 

Printer setting is also important factor in image result, but these setting almost same with the all printers, for example Paper size, printing mode (EconoMode for save toner), printing quality (Best Quality, Faster Printing and Custom) and color management.

2. Resolution of Image

The important factor to get a quality print, the DPI of the an image. DPI stand for numbers of dots of ink per inch that will appear on the page in both directions (Vertically and horizontally), for example 600X700 dpi. If you are going to print simple text or image then 300 dpi is best and for higher quality text or image your choice for image resolution should be 600 dpi. But if you are working with professional image quality then set dpi up to 2400.

3. Paper Quality 

Paper quality playing a vital role in printing an images. Specially printer manufactures designed paper to be used with the ink in your printer. You should consider some qualities in paper like page size, paper color and its weight.

Stereoscopic 3D

Three-dimensional (3D) viewing means that you perceive depth, and distance, but the cues are abundant in 2D images, especially the moving ones. People use ‘3D’ as shorthand for ‘stereoscopic’, which means different images delivered to the left and right eyes.

Japan does not like the 3D technology
as much as the rest of the world

Nikkei, a Japan company conducted a survey where over 8957 Japanese consumers were asked about the new 3D technology. Remarkably, 70% of those asked stated that they have no plans of buying a new 3DTV.

Tomsguide.com enlightens us that 3D television is not what we think it is and that there is no magic trick when it comes to how 3D technology actually works. 3D’s goal is to trick your binocular-based brain into thinking that the 2D images you are viewing actually contain depth. Today, there are a growing number of techniques to produce and display 3D television. But now that the secret is out, the most common 3D technology used today is stereoscopic.
Erez Ben-Ari, a journalist and technology guru who has worked in the high-tech industry for over a decade says “our brain is programmed to automatically diagnose this slight difference, and unconsciously judge the distance the object is based on the amount of shift it notices.”

Mitsubishi's new Blu-ray players can make any 2D movie 3D

3D glasses produce
stereoscopic or 3-D imaging

Our ability to feel the world around us in three dimensions is based on the fact that we have two eyes, and they are placed next to each other. This distance causes the images captured by the eyes to have a vertical shift relative to each other. This is easy to notice if you look at something, and alternate closing one your eyes. The closer an object is, the bigger the horizontal shift will be.

With 3D movies and photos, the photographer uses two cameras that are placed adjacent to each other, similar to how our eyes are. Its the same concept in taken from 3D glasses Mitsubishi Company is now making High-definition video much more realistic by making it 3D.

3D imagery has been around for ages. The current incarnation of digital-quality 3D photography, combined with high-quality and distortion free viewing technologies, is finally mature enough to warrant an industry-wide technology and mindset switch.

Generation Y or is it Why?

Today Generation Y is catapulting the world ahead.

Generation Y according to Wikipedia, is also known as the Millennial Generation, Generation Next or Net Generation. It describes the demographic cohort following. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers. This generation generally represents an increase in births from the 1980s and 90s, not because of a significant increase in birthrates, but because the large cohort of baby boomers began to have children. The world has really changed!

The members of this generation are a direct reflection on the numerous and profound changes in daily life within the past couple decades. Its the first to grow up with computers at home and school, they have also been introduced to reality television and cell phones.

Please read why recruiting and retaining Generation Y will become more and more important over the next few years. As the first generation with easy access to the Internet, members of Generation Y have grown up in a socially and politically turbulent era full of media bombardment leading to an intelligent and technologically savvy generation with many ideas and more opportunities than previous age groups.

In an almost unanimous response from students, technology is what has most affected Generation Y. This generation has grown up surrounded by technology in a digitally-driven world. 

 

Generation Y is even more questioning, causing it to be referred to as Generation Why? For instance when a manager goes to them and says, 'Do this,' they'll ask, 'Why?' If they're not used to it, they may take it as insubordination and cockiness. Unbelievable.

Read how Generation Y heavily dependent on technology, promotes laziness - Features

Its an interesting read.

Interns Deserve a Great Time.

Oh Yes. Interns deserve a great time with you.

Most interns have a hard time coping and managing themselves with their new place of work. We all know that internships are most effective if the experience begins with an orientation to the work site.

When interns come on board, it’s crucial to have them tour the office with you. Introduce fellow workers, colleagues, upper-level management, or to anyone who you interact with daily. Explain your department goals, functions, services, and procedures.

It is necessary to clarify and be upfront about the expectations and role of the intern. Discuss of learning goals and specific projects for both your department and organization. Determine the intern’s work schedule so that they are well acquainted with the expectations you have. Pinpoint times where the student may need to focus on exams.

Establish this relationship with these young professionals whether they come from outside or inside the organization. Effective on boarding of new team members is one of the most important contributions any hiring manager or professional can make to long-term success. If this done right it drives the young professional's productivity, accelerates results, and significantly improves talent retention. Yet few organizations manage interns well.

I got news for you, interns deserve a great time with you. You never know!

The Tower and The Cloud

This is a New EDUCAUSE e-Book. The emergence of the networked information economy is unleashing two powerful forces. On one hand, easy access to high-speed networks is empowering individuals. People can now discover and consume information resources and services globally from their homes. Further, new social computing approaches are inviting people to share in the creation and edification of information on the Internet.

Empowerment of the individual—or consumerization—is reducing the individual's reliance on traditional brick-and-mortar institutions in favor of new and emerging virtual ones. Second, ubiquitous access to high-speed networks along with network standards, open standards and content, and techniques for virtualizing hardware, software, and services is making it possible to leverage scale economies in unprecedented ways. What appears to be emerging is industrial-scale computing—a standardized infrastructure for delivering computing power, network bandwidth, data storage and protection, and services.

Consumerization and industrialization beg the question "Is this the end of the middle?"; that is, what will be the role of "enterprise" IT in the future? Indeed, the bigger question is what will become of all of our intermediating institutions? This volume examines the impact of IT on higher education and on the IT organization in higher education. 

Enjoy the read.

Life in 2050

What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse or the same as now? What do you hope about the future?

Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology.

First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a 'menu' and a computer will send the programme directly to the television.

Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.

Then, 'Holographic Feedback TV' will have arrived. Holograms are pictures that have height, width and depth kind of 3d.

Simple holograms exist today and 'virtual reality' games are already popular. By 2050, we will be able to see, smell and touch the things that we see on television.

In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. In many places, agriculture is changing and they are growing fruit and vegetables to export. This uses a lot of water. Demand for water will increase ten times between now and 2050 and there could be serious shortages. Some futurologists predict that water could be the cause of war if we don't act now.

In transport, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car and there won't be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. On the other hand, space planes will take people halfway around the world in two hours. Nowadays, the United States Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angels to Tokyo in just two hours.

In the domain of technology, robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots because they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.

Last but not least, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are electronic devices that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again. Scientists have discovered how to control genes. They have already produced clones of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have. Scientists will be able to do these things - but should they?

How will life in 2050 be like? This article is written by Cristina Nuta for FamousWhy.com. The image is on the Future Life Experience Museum in China.

What’s Web 2.0?

The term "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the internet. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website's content, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.

Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, and blogs among many other forms.

Are you really taking full advantage of the Web 2.0? We all know that no matter what image a a company, you or your splendid profiles tries to project, it's made up of ordinary people with personalities, insecurities and lives. But because the marketing and public relations, teams work so hard to polish, control and package a company's image, the public ordinarily sees none of that human side.

On the flipside when a firm or your impressive profiles embraces the possibilities of Web 2.0, it makes contact with its public in a more casual, less sanitized way that, as a result, is accepted with much less cynicism. Web 2.0 offers a direct, more trusted line of communications than anything that came before it. 

Today Web 2.0 companies make the user enjoy blogging, download, email the RSS feeds, and so on. Such benefits give an excitement quotient to the online experience. Many companies claim to provide web 2.0 applications that have better interactivity, easy usability, and adjust better to changing trends. You can also get many 2.0 websites links to your website. It has been seen that web 2.0 sites get higher rankings in search engines, especially in Google. Web 2.0 gives long term business advantages to its user, whether it's a traditional business or a new business process.

The success of web 2.0 is highly dependent on how efficient the site is in picking the newer forms of business models, new online communities, and joint processes.

The Web 2.0 benefits according to http://ezinearticles.com/ Web 2.0 provides a web platform that is highly functional in obtaining and implementing sales strategies. Web 2.0 development also enables better use of the core enterprise application.

You can make use of semantic tagging technology that can raise the navigation of internal and external web pages, thereby leading to increased sales of products/services. For greater employee satisfaction and collaboration within the organization web 2.0 can be utilized to its best, creating waves of networking achievement stories.

EzineArticles emphasize that it effectively targets the marketing resources, hastens the product development life cycle, and gives apt feedback of the new products.

Web 2.0 uses its users and bloggers for establishing a positive image and creating positive publicity among the masses. It makes the Internet marketing a compulsory process so that your marketing budget is used to its best.  

Web 2.0 tremendously improves the quality of social interaction for anyone across the globe. Here, views, experiences, recipes, thoughts, comments, etc are easily exchanged. Another cool advantage is you can post photos, guest books, albums, how-to guides, maps for planning traveling that are interactive in nature, etcetera!

Mastering New Media

Jason Van Orden says mastering new media is the GetPAID Business Model for making money through the internet. He also emphasis that the best business plans can be written on a napkin.

 

He uses a very simple plan and model but it pays a great deal:  (P) – Pinpoint your market (A) – Attract a loyal community (I) – Identify what they want most (D) – Deliver the solution as premium content.
 

Lets explore what new media.
 

New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and impartial and all us today are in one way or the other very much involved. Its what I prefer to call online content.


What you need today is New Media for that success you have been longing for.
 

New Media provides many benefits to end-users. It has a High impact with a potentially sensual and compelling interactive experience through the use of spoken word, animation, graphics and video.
 

There is Freedom of choice through interactivity. Users like to feel in control and not be forced down a particular route. We like to browse. Usefulness because users value quality information delivered in a properly organised and easily understood fashion.
 

New Media provides Instant availability from the desktop PC, or increasingly, the laptop, or even WAP phone or Pocket PC. It also provides many benefits for those who commission them.

 
There is provisions for Effectiveness, which is doubled by using sight and sound, compared to sight or sound alone, as in old media. Appropriateness through the ability to deliver as much or as little information as the user requires in order to be convinced. The capability to sustain long term relationships with customers, without the need to visit them.

 
Expandability as needs develop or change. New parts can be added, or old areas amended with reasonable ease.


What do you think? Indulge now by mastering the New Media and GetPAID. I am!

Instructional Design and E-learning

Simply stated, Instructional System Design process provides a means for sound decision making to determine the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a learning program.

The concept of a system approach is based on obtaining an overall view of the learning process. It is characterized by an orderly process for gathering and analyzing collective and individual performance requirements, and by the ability to respond to identified training needs.

The application of a system's approach insures that learning programs and the required support materials are continually developed in an effective and efficient manner to match the variety of needs in a rapidly changing environment.

E-learning is learning which is supported or facilitated by the use of technology. It can include putting teaching materials and activities online, online assessment, communication tools, audio and video recordings, and classroom technologies such as personal response systems and interactive whiteboards. Its where as a professional you can learn web design, graphic design, or all other softwares and technologies that are necessary for branching out into other fields.

On the same page, e-learning is naturally suited for distance learning and flexible learning, but can also be used in conjunction with face-to-face teaching, in that case the term Blended learning is commonly used. E-Learning pioneer Bernard Luskin argues that the "E" must be understood to have broad meaning if e-Learning is to be effective. Luskin says that the "e" should be interpreted to mean exciting, energetic, enthusiastic, emotional, extended, excellent, and educational in addition to "electronic" that is a traditional national interpretation. This broader interpretation allows for 21st century applications and brings learning and media psychology into the equation.

Note that ISD is sometimes referred to as SAT (System Approach to Training) or ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implement, Evaluate). Although there are minor differences among the various ISD models, most learning design models follow an approaches similar to the ADDIE model:
Analyze the performance environment in order to understand it and then describe the goals needed in order to correct any performance deficiencies (identify training requirements).
Design a process to achieve your goals, that is, correct the performance deficiencies.
Develop your initial discoveries and process into a product that will assist the learners into becoming performers (in training, this product is often called courseware).
Implement by delivering the courseware to the learners.
Evaluate the performers, courseware, and audit-trail throughout the four phases and in the working environment to ensure it is achieving the desired results. In the Media Technology for Education and Communication (MTEC) Experts, ISD is mainly for learning material development.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEM PROCESS
According to Training Complex Cognitive Skills: A Four-Component Instructional Design Model for Technical Training, a book by Jeroen J. G. Van Merrienboer, there are keys processes that can lead achieving effetive instructional process based on the ADDIE model.

1. Analyze
- Determine business outcome or linkage for example.
- Analyze system (department, job, etc.) to gain an understanding of it.
- Compile a task inventory of all tasks associated with each job (if needed).
- Select tasks that people need to learn to become performers (needs analysis).
- Build performance measures for the tasks to be learned.

- Choose instructional setting for the tasks to be learned, e.g. classroom, elearning, on-the-job, self study, blended, etc.
- Estimate cost and compare to benefits gained.

2.Design
- Develop the learning objectives, to include both terminal and enabling objectives.
- Identify and list the learning steps required to perform the task.
- Develop performance tests to show mastery of the tasks.
- List the entry behaviors that the learner must demonstrate prior to entering the learning program.
- Sequence and structure the learning objectives.

3. Develop
- List activities that will help the students learn the task.
- Select the delivery methods (media).
- Review existing material so that you do not reinvent the wheel.
- Develop the instructional courseware.
- Synthesize the courseware into a viable learning program.
- Validate the instruction to ensure it accomplishes all goals and objectives.

4. Implement
- Create a plan for conducting the training.
- Conduct the training.

5. Evaluate
- Review and evaluate each phase (analyze, design, develop, implement) to ensure it is accomplishing what it is supposed to.
- Perform external evaluations, e.g. observe that the tasks that were trained can actually be performed by the learners in their working environment.
- Revise training system to make it better and to meet future challenges.

For more information on how effective ISD and Addie model can be on e-learning, read more on this article Introduction to Instructional Design and the ADDIE Model by Kevin Kruse.

With these kind of serene opportunities we have golden chances to develop other skills that would not only make us valuable employees and students, but also ensure a better rate of getting hired. With e-learning, we can learn at our own pace anywhere provided there is a good internet connection.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS- Transactional Analysis

The transactional analysis is on the extension wire of the communications skill. In other words, the transactional analysis is one of the flows of communication such as negotiation, assertiveness and self-disclosure etc, and also it is a theory of a systematic psychotherapy in growth and changing both the character and the individual. Transactional Analysis in COMMUNICATION SKILLS has support in improving your relationships and personal effectiveness (behaviour) as well as in creating a happier working environment in home and office.

You can apply the transactional analysis technique for the field of communication, counseling, consulting, management and education. Additionally, it is being used by various groups.

Analyzing Your Communication
Each human being has three ego stages; as a parent, an adult, or/and as a child. In any given day you will probably spend some time in each ego stage, and each will affect how we behave.

Our communication styles will vary markedly depending on whether we are functioning from the parent, adult, or child position (PAC).

P (Parent)
People imitate parents'(or, one that becomes parents' taking the place) behavior patterns of unconsciousness, it acts, it feels, and it thinks about this. For instance, it is enumerated that the person might also shout at the person from frustration if it learns when it is young when the powerful person is seen to be shouting, and it is effective.

The skills of transactional analysis are learning to identify whether you are talking from your parents, adult, or child. If you are talking from a hurt, angry place while your son is having a tantrum, it probably means that your child is involved too.

A (Adult)
"Now. This. Here" People act what has occurred, it feels, and it thinks calmly. Under such a condition, the human experience and knowledge as the adult who has lived for years help, and the person is made to act. In the state of the ego, of this A(Adult), oneself is seen as a target of the objective evaluation that can be actually put.

C (Child)
This acts, feels, and thinks how the person behaved in childhood. For instance, the person to whom it is angry will be likely to look down on the superior like having gone in childhood, and to remember disgrace and anger from the superior.

I strongly recommend that we keep our communication clean by applying Transactional Analysis rules for effective communication. We must know the ego state from which we are communicating. We must know the ego state to which you are sending your message. We ought to be sensitive to the child in others, protect that child, and recognize the “non-okey” burden that it must carry. We should protect the child in us.

What am i Saying
We should keep it safely tucked away when others are angry and attacking. Do not use your punitive parent to communicate. No one wants to hear it, and people are likely to react by trying to hook your child with not-okay attacks. When appropriate, use your supportive parent, or rely on your adult style of communicating.

DIGITAL STREAMING: Why Stream?

The goal is to provide industry professionals and corporations utilizing digital media technology with global real-time news, resources and information to help foster the adoption of streaming media technology and applications.


Streaming media technology enables the real time or on demand distribution of audio, video and multimedia on the Internet. Streaming media is the simultaneous transfer of digital media so that it is received as a continuous real-time stream; i.e. video, voice and data. Streamed data is transmitted by a server application and received and displayed in real-time by client applications. These applications can start displaying video or playing back audio as soon as enough data has been received and stored in the receiving station’s buffer.

All stream recorders (streaming video recorders, stream rippers) (freeware, shareware,...) [windows, linux, mac os] Recommended software is shown in bold. Protocols (separately for Windows Media, Real Video/Audio, QuickTime and Flash video streams). There are easy yet powerful softwares to use for recording and streaming audio and video. For best freeware or shareware stream recorder click here.

Here are major streaming media FORMATs:

1. Flash video streams (Adobe Flash Player): .FLV, .MP4, .F4V
2. Windows Media streams (Windows Media Player): .WMA, .WMV, .ASF, .ASX, .WAX, .WMX, .WVX, .SMIL
3. Real Media, Real Video and Real Audio streams (RealPlayer, RealOne Player, Real Player Alternative): .RM, .RMJ, .RAM, .RA, .RMVB, .SMI, .SMIL, and .RPM
4. QuickTime video streams (QuickTime Player, QuickTime Alternative): .MOV, .MP4, .SDP, .SMIL
5. IceCast audio streams (SHOUTcast compatible): .MP3, .OGG, .AAC, .PLS
6. Nullsoft audio and Nullsoft video (Winamp): .NSA, .NSV
7. MoveNetworks MoveMedia video
   
8. Silverlight
   

And these are popular streaming media PROTOCOLS:

1. Flash audio and video: HTTP, RTMP,RTMPE
2. Windows Media audio and video: HTTP, RTSP, MMS
3. RealMedia audio and video: HTTP, RTSP, PNM
4. QuickTime Video streams: HTTP, RTSP
5. IceCast/ShoutCast audio streams: HTTP (ICY)
6. Nullsoft audio and video: HTTP (UNSV)

Creative Profiles

OBED MULE is a Creative Producer & Designer, all in one creative package: writer, online producer, multimedia content coaching, multimedia graphic designer and web designer. Contact me!

I suppose Ariston made the best advert.

Cycling can tremendously improve your life

Getting on your bike regularly not only gets you where you want to go faster than a car, it protects you against a wide range of ill health, and also makes you feel better.
Cycling is good for your heart and health

Everyday cycling, where the exercise leaves you breathing heavily but not being out of breath, is an effective and enjoyable form of aerobic exercise. This is the type of exercise that is most effective at promoting good health. For example, cycling reduces the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and the most common form of diabetes.

One rough calculation suggests that new cyclists covering short distances can reduce their risk of death (mainly due to the reduction of heart disease) by as much as 22 per cent.


Cycling will help with weight management

Cycling can be part of a programme to lose weight because it burns the energy supplied by a chocolate bar or a couple of alcoholic drinks in an hour (about 300 calories). A 15-minute bike ride to and from work five times a week burns off the equivalent of 11 pounds of fat in a year.

Cycling can improve your mood

Cycling can have positive effects on how we feel too. Moderate exercise has been found to reduce levels of depression and stress, improve mood and raise self-esteem, and has also been found to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.

Cycling can help to maintain strength and coordination

There can also be indirect benefits in terms of reducing injuries from falls, which can be seriously disabling, especially in older people. The strength and co-ordination that regular cycling brings make them less likely. Physically active older people have much reduced rates of hip fracture.

Cycling improves fitness

A study carried out for the Department of Transport found that 'even a small amount of cycling can lead to significant gains in fitness'. The study found that aerobic fitness was boosted by 11 per cent after just six weeks of cycling 'short distances' four times a week. If cycling the equivalent of four miles to and from work in total a day the aerobic benefit increased to 17 per cent.

According to the Department of Transport study people who do not exercise who start cycling move from the third of the population who are the least fit, to the fittest half of the population in just a few months.

Leg strength also improved in the cyclists in the study. This is more important than it seems because leg strength improves other mobility by allowing people to get out of chairs more easily, and helps older people especially avoid falls and the broken bones and other injuries associated with them.

Cycling, the researchers behind the study concluded, is 'one of the few physical activities which can be undertaken by the majority of the population as part of a daily routine'.

Cyclists breathe in less fumes than car drivers

If you are worried about traffic fumes, there may be no need. Cyclists and pedestrians actually absorb lower levels of pollutants from traffic fumes than car drivers.

Need a Professional?

Multimedia developers like me create and manipulate graphic images, animations, sound, text and video into outstanding programs with instructional and graphic strategies. You can use these programs for promotion and awareness, advertising, information kiosks, multimedia presentations, websites, and in edutainment products. Depending on the level of responsibility and the particular job role involved, my duties may and role profiles may differ in the task you would love handle for you.

For a matter of fact I have specialised as computer-based graphic designer, instructional designer, multimedia programmers, project manager, digital video and sound editor and animation, or a combination of these skills depending on the task at hand.

OBED MULE is a Creative Producer & Designer, all in one creative package: writer, on-line producer, multimedia content author, multimedia graphic designer and web designer. Be heard. Be seen! If you need a great job well done, HIRE ME NOW!

Here are some:

WAY TO SUCCESS

Everybody knows that in this day and age, it's not always about what you know, it's who you know. During trying economic times like these, the key to landing your dream job is to stand out from the competition by showcasing both your talent and personality.

1. A handshake can make or break a first impression, so practice, practice, practice! Demonstrate your self-confidence and genuine interest by executing a firm shake.

2. Don't be shy! Attend events related to the industry that you're interested in and mingle. Whether you're waiting in line at the coat check or sitting up at the bar, you just never know who you might meet.

3. While chatting it up with people you've just met, be sure to talk about topics other than the industry you're trying to break into. Listen and ask questions. It's important to showcase your personality, and who knows, maybe you'll find out that you share common interests!

4. Don't be too pushy. When meeting someone new, don't simply shove your resume at them. Everyone knows you're talented, so establish a friendship first. After all, no one likes to feel as though they're being used.

5. When attending events, don't forget to ask for a person's business card or contact information at the end of a conversation. People love to know that others are interested in what they do, so chances are, they would love to continue talking with you, even if it's just via email.

6. That being said, be ready to hand out a business card of your own! Some may think that business cards are outdated, but it's a lot easier to remember to contact someone with a concrete reminder sitting in a coat pocket.

7. Stop apologizing. Too often, inexperienced networkers tend to apologize to those they're reaching out to. If you don't think you're worth their time, why would they? And more importantly, networking doesn't have to be a burden...just think of it as building new relationships!

8. People receive tons of emails each day, so it's easy to miss one. To make a more lasting (and tangible!) impression, send a handwritten note when saying "thank you." Even if it's a coffee date with a friend of a friend, a handwritten note adds a personal touch as you thank someone for their time.


9. Follow up. Again, potential employers meet new people every day, so it's important to stay on their radar by sending an email or making a call every few months. Just started a new internship? Finished an awesome class project? Let them know! It shows them you're gaining experience and reminds them that you're out there.

10. And finally, take a risk. Many people fear networking because they're afraid they'll be rejected. Such a fear will prevent you from meeting interesting (and interested!) people.

FLYING PHOBIA: a culprit of my own imagination!

I found this article from Pegasus NLP Mind-Body Health Site very interesting because (i am one of the few or to be frank many people) it affects me as a person in one or two, not too many cases during flying. I even become more tired than driving a 24 wheeled truck from border to border. How can one overcome this powerful imagination and have a pleasant flight everytime we board an aircraft; doesn't matter if its a helicopter, husky, or the commercial passenger planes. Please include your comments hereafter, i will be dying to read from you your experiences.

In order to deal with fear of flying effectively you acknowledge to yourself that it is not just a matter of your 'nerves', of developing determination or will-power, or of 'pulling yourself together'.

Fear of flying is a phobia. It may be a quite mild phobia or a severe one. But it is a phobia.
A phobia is an irrational fear. To be precise, it is a mainly irrational fear. Because most phobias do have a degree of realism.

And fear of flying is a partly rational and partly irrational fear. Yes, planes do crash and the one you’re on, or thinking of travelling on, could conceivably crash. But the likelihood is very small indeed. If you have a fear of flying you probably know this already. And you know that, statistically, it is more dangerous to walk around any town or city. Or travel by car.

You know these facts but this does not stop you dreading flying. Because a phobia is not a rational process. So facts and statistics do little to calm your fears. Neither does information about how safely planes are engineered. Or how well the staff are trained.

A phobia is a mainly irrational fear and is not the result of weighing up the pros and the cons and coming to a reasoned conclusion. It is a learned emotional response in which your imagination causes a powerful surge of fear.

The culprit: your own imagination
A flying phobia is a ‘gut reaction’ of anxiety that is triggered in by being in a plane or, in some cases, by even thinking about flying. Once triggered the phobic response is fuelled by runaway imaginings that occur very quickly and can be very intense.

These produce anxiety symptoms that can range from mildly uncomfortable to almost overwhelming. These symptoms further intensify the fearful imaginings leading to an powerful desire to be somewhere, anywhere, else.

The key issue is that, although the situation triggers this train of events, it is our imagination that fuels it, maintains it, and makes us dread the next time. And if we do avoid travelling again this, in turn, intensifies the phobia of flying.

In a nutshell: all phobias are the result of not knowing how to manage our own imagination. And to successfully overcome phobias we need methods to successfully manage our own thoughts so that they do not produce the phobic feelings.

I know it’s silly but… most nervous flyers try to avoid flying. Some do fly because of work or family pressure. They all find the condition distressing, inconvenient, and embarrassing.
But, for everyone, the real cost of having a flying phobia is the loss of self respect and self esteem through not being in control of one's own responses – through knowing it’s irrational but not knowing what to do about it.

The Phobia Dilemma
Avoidance strengthens the phobia. Each time you avoid flying it adds to the intensity of the phobia. Yet using your will-power to force yourself to ‘face your fear’ and get on a plane usually strengthens the phobia!

That’s the dilemma that someone with a phobia of air travel constantly struggles with. Fear of flying is a ‘complex’ phobia.

Simple phobias involve one fear – such as wasps, lifts, etc. Complex, such as fear of flying, involve a number of fears such as fear of being in a confined place, fear involving the safety of the plane, fear of falling, and fear of panicking and losing self control, not being in control of the plane, etc.

OBED MULE is a freelance Creative Producer & Designer