COMM 1213 H1 COMP 4923 X1

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COMM 1213 H1COMP 4923 X1

• Introduction
• and
• Course Overview

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• There is a lot of bad communication on the web
  especially for humans
• Do you know a web page that sucks?
• http//www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
• http//www.cedarcreekwoodshop.com/
• In this course, well focus on developing
  communication that does not suck

EG
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Outline

• Who we are / Who you are
• Overview of course
• Things you will need to have/get/do
• Technologies that we will cover
• Communications issues we will cover
• Human communication vs. Human Computer
  Interaction (HCI)
• Knowledge versus Information

EG
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Who we are Emile Gould

• BA (Rochester), MS (Rensselaer), PhD (Rensselaer)
  
• Experience
• 10 years History Museums
• Curator/Consultant - Kings Landing Historical
  Settlement, etc.
• 10 years IBM
• Human Factors Engineer
• 1 year MapInfo
• Human Factors Engineer
• 8 years Adjunct Teaching Dalhousie, School of
  Business
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Empire State
  College, State University of NY at Albany
• 2 years Acadia
• 6 years Private Consulting w/ Aaron Marcus
  Associates

EG
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Who we are Danny Silver

• BSc (Acadia), MSc (UWO), PhD (UWO)
• Experience
• 2 years Nova Scotia Provincial Government
• Systems Programmer
• 9 years MTT (now Aliant)
• Programmer - Project Manager/Advisor
• 3 years SHL System House
• Technical Architect, Project Manager, Branch
  Management
• 3 years Dalhousie, School of Business
• Teaching, Research, Business Informatics
• 7 years Acadia
• 9 years CogNova Technologies (Private Consulting)

DS
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Who you are

• Introduce yourself to your neighbour tell
  him/her
• Your name
• Three interesting things about you, but not what
  residence you are living in

DS
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Who you are

• Introduce yourself to your neighbour tell
  him/her
• Your name
• Three interesting things about you, but not what
  residence you are living in
• Now introduce your neighbour to the class

DS
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Overview of Course

• Lets review the
• course webpage

DS/EG
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Things you need to have/get/do

• Advantage laptop, course text books
• Digital photo of yourself
• Agreement to publish your name, resume, photo on
  the web
• Attendance at next weeks team-building session
• Ability to link to ACME
• Ability to occasionally meet in the evening
• Readings for next two classes

DS/EG
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Technologies that we will cover in the course

• Basic Web components
• Internet, Web, Browsers, Servers, HTTP, SSL
• Data types (text, image, video, audio)
• HTML
• Fundamentals of programming
• JavaScript

DS
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Communications issues that we will cover in the
course

• Introduction to human communication and
  Human-Computer interaction (HCI)
• Rhetorical model
• Sender-Receiver model of communication
• Parasocial interaction
• Visual communication
• Usability
• Knowledge versus information

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Rhetorical Model (Aristotle)

• People are persuaded by texts (arguments) on
  the basis of
• Logos (logical nature of the argument reason)
• Ethos (character of the speaker ethics)
• Pathos (emotion created in the listener)
• A skillful writer knows what type of arguments to
  create based on knowledge of the audience and the
  rhetorical situation

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Sender-Receiver Model

• Shannon-Weaver model (1949)

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Parasocial Interaction (Horton Wohl, 1956)

• Media equation (Reeves Nass, 1996)
• Both theories note that people treat mass media
  like real people and places
• Develop relationships with websites
• Make the same kinds of judgments about
  attractiveness, credibility, trustworthiness
• Social psychology experiments rerun with
  computers found the same results

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Visual Communication

• Perceptual limits
• Aesthetics
• Visual rhetorics (Kress van Leeuwen)
• Perspective (realistic vs. subjective image)
• Vertical angle (power)
• Horizontal angle (involvement)
• Size of frame (social distance)
• Gaze (direct vs. indirect social address)

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Usability

• Derived from experimental psychology
• Cognitive limits (5 /- 2)
• Dexterity
• Sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies
• Needs of people who work in groups
• Development of social and cultural norms and
  preferences

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Next class

• Attach to ACME gt Notes
• Personal introduction and goals for the course
• Any concerns you have with the syllabus
• Attach to ACME gt Discuss
• What is plagiarism?
• Readings Ch. 1 2 of Knuckles for Thursday