Digital Media Project

In my first blog post "initial idea" I highlighted I would like to look into Augmented Reality (AR) software and technology for the project. In order to increase social engagement from the feedback from my prototype I decided to create my own Codability filter which is available on the social media platforms. For this, I found and experimented with Spark AR Studio which states  "expand your digital creative skills. Learn the ins and outs of building augmented reality effects with step-by-step guides and video tutorials" (Spark AR Studio, 2020).  Augmented reality is an interface experience where objects that exist in the real world are enhanced by technology. "AR represents the cutting edge of modern society's social technological development" (Yuen et al., 2011, p.123). Ludwig and Reimann (2005) discuss in this article the potential AR applications fall into three main categories: (a) presentation and visualisation, (b) industry, and ...

JavaScript & jQuery: Interactive front-end web development by John Duckett (2014) is a key piece of literature I have been using throughout the project. The book teaches how to "make websites more interactive, engaging and useable" (Duckett, 2014), it does this by combining programming theory with examples on popular sites showing how JavaScript and Jquery have been used.  The book is very visual and teaches the basics in a structured and simple way that is easy to follow. It covers everything from syntax, loops, arrays, forums there is a wide range and lots to learn. By breaking down the areas into section and manageable amounts of code it is easy to take in the information given. My Cordova application is JavaScript-based therefore the content in this book has helped guide me through my coding and informed my project through this literature.  I would recommend this book to anyone new to learning JavaScript and programming, it is a key resource for code...

The online presence is the process of drawing and presenting users towards a certain brand. Dunn states that " there is an expectation of online presence of institutions by the community, consumers expect information to be available online" (2010). Codability utilises its social media to present information, engagement, and new on the Codability App. Also, it expands to other content beyond just the application. This is presented through the formats of posts and short animation videos. Codability targets it users through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and is supported by Women In Tech UK.  Codability's followers grow by the day, interacting with potential users of the application before it is launched. This has been very successful so far, the marketing has allowed for Codability to tease the application and raise awareness. This links back to the risk assessment of the users potentially not  up-taking the application, this step was i...

The history of girls coming into tech is very relevant for my project as this is something that is still ongoing. In the book "Girls coming to tech!", it shows the gendered history and until relatively recently prevented women from finding a comfortable position in a male technical world. Throughout the 19th and most of the 20th centuries, technology was seen and treated as mens' territory. By the 1950s, "women still made up less than 1% of students in the U.S college and university engineering programs" (Bix, 2013, p1). And over 60 years later, "women earned 18.4% of engineering bachelors degrees and the female faculty members held 13.8% in engineering departments" (Bix, 2013, p.1). There has been a shift from technology being seen as male territory but as shown in my survey over half (52.5%) are not even aware of the gender gap of what it is which was really surprising. The book continues to highlight tensions as women are seen as the others/group ...

Now I am well into the development stage of the project, I thought it would be useful to note the key software I am using in order to help achieve the project.  Cordova  Cordova is an open-source mobile development framework. "It allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platforms' native development language" (Cordova Apache, 2020). The app is executed in a wrapper with specifically is targeted to each platform and rely on an API to bind access to the device's. The is suitable for my skillset as I have comfortable with building websites but I have never build an app so using Cordova allows me to use my existing skill and programmer languages I know. Also, I challenged myself to build an app as I have never built an app before using new technologies and new languages of using PHP with jQuery/AJAX.  Cordova also enables you to use ...

An Application Programme Interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. It allows for two applications to talk to one another, the API is the messenger is this process that delivers a request and delivers the response back to you.  The Codability App will be using API's to collect data from external websites to populate my content. I will then adapt and change to suite the style of my brand and fit the purpose. For example, the events search of the app allows users to search and filter events in their area however I only want to display coding events in the area. I chose this method as it is dynamic and has the most current information which is automatically updated.  One issue I had to tackle was a Content Security Policy (CSP) error that was appearing in the console and restricting features from working. Content Security Policy is an added layer of security that helps to detect code injections attacks and mitigate malicious ...

Feminism is the belief in the equality of the sexes and the advocacy of women's rights. They believe in ideologies such as equal pay, reducing the gender gap in tech, have the same rights and opportunities as men.  The Feminist Movement The Feminist Movement refers to political campaigns and movements among nations and communities which fight for women's suffrage, sexual harassment, reproductive rights, maternity leave, and equal pay. Feminism in the Western World has undergone three waves.  The first wave occurred in the 19th and early 20th century, it promoted equal rights to vote and the property rights for women and the granted of women's voting rights.  The second wave occurred in the 1960s-1980s and focused on issues on equality, power, and discrimination.  The third wave occurred in the 1990s and continues to build upon the work and continue the fight. "This wave is about acceptance and a true understanding...

Godwin-Jones (2011) discusses different possibilities of creating apps, the first is a native app which is an app developed for a certain mobile device that can be downloaded from the app stores. This can be good as you can learn specific code languages if you know you only want to create an IOS application. " However, for language learning purposes, native app development may not be the best choice. Not only are the programming environments different, each also involves knowing or learning a programming language" (Godwin-Jones, 2011, p.5). This is why I have chosen not to make a native app for Codability.  A strong supporter of open software is Lawrence Lessig founder of ‘Creative Commons’ he stated, “four hundred thousand have said, we believe in a kind of freedom associated with our content that is not the extreme” (Lessig, 2004, p.11). With many free tools and resources available online it would be useful to utilise the open-source software and code. Th...

It is important to look into the theoretical issues and debates as my project decisions should be informed by research and contextualised by relevant debates and issues. Therefore, I began researching into these issues and debates for my project.  Gender inequality  Gender inequality acknowledges that men and women are not equal, and that gender affects a person's living experience. Following on from the previous blog post of my earlier research on the gender gap it is evident that there is gender inequality in the workplace. "Men and women must receive equal treatment. This includes equal pay and benefits, equal consideration of needs and equal opportunities for progress and promotion" (Bright HR, 2019). This could be a factor of why there are so few women in tech. Furthermore, there are laws that protect gender equality in the UK the primary one being the  Equality Act 2010 (section 13). Gender equality laws in the UK also include the Sex Discrimination A...

Gantt Chart  A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that was developed by Henry Gantt in the 1910s that illustrates a project schedule.  “Gantt charts have seen a revival in their popularity. They provide a quick and easily understood means for describing project activities and this attraction has stimulated their use in microcomputer-based project management packages” (Wilson, 2003, p.435).   Gantt charts allow to track the progress of your project and are flexible and responsive tot eh changes in your project. Also, they can produce reports such as budgets and prevent conflicts that are easy to overlook. On the other hand, they are time-consuming to create and can become overly complex. They require constant updating and the software may not be appealing to creatives. For my project, I am going to use ProjectLibre which is a free and open-source project management software system that intends to be a standalone replacement for Microsoft Project.  ...

Generating the best idea for a project can sometimes be challenging. A person could have too many ideas that are broad and need to be more focused. They could be fixed on one idea and therefore afraid to try new ideas and develop the complexity. This can restrict creativity therefore I took to some further reading and research of idea-generating methods. I then applied this to my research project. The Kickstart Catalogue and Osborn's Checklist  Have a clear goal in sight – always remind yourself or your team of the goal. One question at a time and exhaust the question and pitch ideas to yourself/a group.  The morphological matrix is a technique for organised thinking - this will be useful when designing the logo for my project.  This Kickstart Catalogue and Osborn’s checklist (Pricken and Whittall, 2008) is something I have learnt through my time at university that I refer back to whenever at the idea generation stage for a project.  ...

An organisation called "Women in Tech" surveyed over 1,000 women in September 2019 who work in the technology sector about their opinions and thoughts on the gender gap, "82% believe there are more males in tech than females" (Women in Tech, 2019). For me personally, starting out as a Junior Develop this summer I felt this too. I attended an assessment centre with 8 candidates 6 were boys and there was only 1 other girl besides myself.  "Innovation is about seeing the world not as it is, but as it could be" (Design Innovation, 2018) this quote is something I took away from the lecture in week one. We need to see an increase of women in the tech industry and girls coding from a younger age as it is shouldn't just be seen as a boys club. To initiate my project analysis, I found a website called "Women in Tech" which is a site dedicated to women who are already in or looking to join the tech sector. The site provides career advice, jobs, a lis...