Final Blog - Goodbye From Air Sok!

As my control technology class is nearing its end, this will be my final blog to my readers.
This last blog will consist of three parts I will do during the week which evaluates all the sections of work I did this semester. Thank you for reading.

EVALUATION OF SUGAR Q&A
ALL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON BLOG

PART ONE: WHAT WE DID

1) Rate each of the following out of 5:
Guest speaker: Rosemary about Timor Leste 5/5
Guest speak: Joel about the xo 5/5
Physics 3/5
SVG icon and Linux command line 4/5
Turtle Art 3/5
Other activity evaluation 4/5
Etoys 4/5
Scratch 4/5

2) Now write about
Three things that you learnt:
1- I learnt that there are many organisations in the world supporting and assisting the one laptop per child goal and I hope that someday I will be able to assist as well.

2- By talking to Joel I was able to learn what courses and skills I need to become an engineer in the future. I have been able to take his advice and adapt it in to my course selection for Year 11.

3- Linux is a great alternative to the common Windows operating system because it is an open source operating system which is completely free and offers free software as good as its proprietry competitors.

Three things that you enjoyed:
1- I really enjoyed using the Turtle Art activity because it offered challenging tasks that took me awhile to think of a solution. The patterns I created were very cool and I liked making them.

2- I enjoyed using the linux command line to change icons in Sugar because I am fond of using the terminal/command prompt in operating systems as it seems more efficient then the GUI method of doing things.

3- I also enjoyed listening to the guest speakers as I am pleased to hear that people are helping others in the world by introducing undefunded people to the world of technology and computing. Computers are a great tool in the world and I believe that everyone should be able to use one.

Three things that you didn’t like:

I generally did not like any of the things that we did during the semester. I did get bored of some tasks that took very long to do but I found them all fun to do.

3) State which was the following with reasons:
Best - The best thing we did this semester was probably using Turtle Art because I found it very fun to make the interesting patterns.
Worst - The worst thing we did this semester in my opinion was using Scratch because I found it a bit too basic compared to the other scripting programs we used.
Most interesting - The most interesting thing we did this semester was listening to the guest speakers because I learn alot about organisations and how much they help underdeveloped countries.
Most difficult - The most difficult thing I did this was do hard tasks in eToys. I found this the most difficult due to the complicated layout which delayed the time I was able to find commands to script my activity

4) XO
Is the xo or olpc a good idea for the children of the developing world? State your opinion and give reasons

I think the XO is an excellent idea because I believe every child deserves the benefit of technology and it is a great resource to teach children who attend underfunded schools. The inexpensiveness of the XO and the range of activities it offers is fantastic for countries such as Timor Leste as I can see they would benefit a lot from the XO.

PART TWO: USER INTERFACE
Complete a variety of labelled screenshots which illustrate the differences between these user interfaces

*CLICK IMAGE TO SEE FULL SIZE*

Windows (WIMP – windows, icons, menus, pointers – as in MSOffice 2003)

Windows (ribbons, contextual tabs, galleries – as in MSOffice 2007)



Sugar (Frame replaces menubar, Journal replaces file system hierarchy, Community – didn’t work for us,)

Linux command line (similar to DOS)

Which user interface do you prefer. Rate them in order. Give reasons.

My preference of user interfaces from most liked to least :
1 - Linux command line (similar to DOS)
2 - Windows (WIMP – windows, icons, menus, pointers – as in MSOffice 2003)
3 - Windows (ribbons, contextual tabs, galleries – as in MSOffice 2007)
4 - Sugar (Frame replaces menubar, Journal replaces file system hierarchy, Community – didn’t work for us,)

The reason that I like the Linux command line the best is because you can type exactly what you need straight away. Unlike GUI's which make you search for the thing you want, the Linux command line does exactly you want it to because you are in complete control.

I chose the WIMP layout as second preference because I find it very easy to use and the layout is very simple for any one to use.

I chose the Ribbon layout as third preference because it is very similar to the WIMP interface but I find it a bit confusing in term of how it is organised and displayed. This could just be because of the fact that i'm not used to this interface but for now I still prefer the WIMP interface just that bit more.

The reason I chose the Sugar OS Frame interface as my last preference is because I dont like to put my cursor on the edge of the screen everytime I need to change to something else. I like to have menu bars on the screen at all times because I find it a lot more efficient when you are working fast then using the frame interface.

PART THREE: THE FUTURE
Have a look at this site which talks about the future of UI: http://nooface.net/
3D
immersive cave
small screen (iphone)
ZUI zooming user interface
multi touch
digital media you can wear

What will the UI look like when you are 30 years old?
DRAW AN ANNOTATED DIAGRAM USING YOUR IMAGINATION AND KNOWLEDGE

I believe that in 15 years we will be using multiple monitors to display information and a massive multitouch desk that will allow us to use our icons and applications through the use of holograms. Keyboards and mice will not be existant anymore because we will be using multitouch and voice recognition to control everything.

This is now the end of my final blog. Thank you to everyone that has helped me out during this semester of Control Technology and thank you to all my fellow bloggers and readers.

Fairwell from Air Sok!