App-O-Da-Week #3

In a galaxy, far, far away, there was this blog. And on this blog, there was this weekly post. And in this post, there was a review of an app that can be used in education.

(cue scrolling text).....

This week in our APP-O-DA-WEEK segment, we are going to discuss and review an app that will make even Trekkies jealous, its STAR WALK.

When I went to school, one of the best parts about learning science was astromnomy. For most kids today, that is still one of the best parts. Learning about planets, moon landings, stars, and places they have never heard of, let alone will ever visit or see.

With Star Walk, the Milky Way gets a little bit closer and more personal than ever before.

What Star Walk does is it allows the user to open up the app and point the device towards the sky. With some really intuitive engineering and real time GPS functionality, it can pinpoint where you are and transpose the nights sky onto your device. 

It will allow you to see everything that is up there (besides UFOs), Constellations; Solar System, Deep Space; Stars; and Satellites.

For $2.99 - (I know, two paid apps in a row? What are you doing to our wallets?!?), it is a steal and a great addition to the classroom for students who want to gaze at the stars during school. The best part? No internet or wifi is required. Star Walk shows visually appealing maps of the heavens (in the direction you're pointing your iPhone when Star Spotter is enabled), and has social media integration, image galleries, and more. 

Here is the official app description: 

Star Walk is enhanced for the new iPad

Star Walk is an award-winning Education app that allows users to easily locate and identify 20,000+ objects in the night sky. The 360-degree, touch control star map displays constellations, stars, planets, satellites, and galaxies currently overhead from anywhere on Earth. Highly praised and the winner of a 2010 Apple Design Award, the latest update allows users to enjoy unprecedented eye candy and interactivity of the star map, achieved with the new camera and high resolution of the new device. *No Internet connection required*

Come hang out with Star Walk fans on Facebook

Latest additions:

The new version includes comprehensive stargazing calendar that shows all visible celestial events for your area, explains their nature and sets a reminder in iCal for ones you chose to see. Other additions include comet tracking and iridium flares.

Augmented Reality allows users to point-and-display the sky as on any device with digital compass and camera. The same mechanism helps calibrate iPhone 4 compass to eliminate error margin completely.

Main Features:

• Stargazing Community - Twitter integration for iOS 5.1
• Augmented Reality
• Satellites Tracking - find out where exactly the ISS is right now! (8000+ satellites)
• Calendar of Celestial events
• TELRAD: advanced feature to help you measure angular distance between nearby stars. Can be turned on/off in Settings menu.

Until we can get interplanetary space travel down, use this app! Heres some tunes to get you in the mood while you download it!

The power of Persuasion: Media Critique

So, for our first blog entry in this course, we are to choose a commercial and critically think about what the video is all about, the perspective of both the viewer as well as the creator. 


To take us back in history, which I will do from time to time (hey, I am a history teacher - we are people too!), persuasion and mass media outlets have gone hand in hand, well, since the start. There has always been someone, some group, or some agenda that is being pushed throughout time and the media and its outlets are fundamentally sound ways of getting that message out to large groups of people. Some of the ways that the message makers have used over the years are television, advertising, billboards, radio, the internet, newspaper, magazines, books, etc...

The use of persuasion is especially true during times of need. The kinds of persuasion used are often more overt. During times of war, companies were employed by the United States government to create, produce, and persuade millions of war time Americans into joining the army, buying war bonds, or rationing their food. And while we aren't in an official war time right now, persuasion is still being used but it is more subtle. There are messages there within but these messages aren't always as straight forward as "buy this" or "get that." In fact, many messages have been diluted with political, racial, or gender messages reinforcing the status quo or trying to buck those trends. 


For example, modern companies, even Starbucks coffee, are trying to send persuasive messages home. 
Here is the video I choose: 




To help understand what that "bubbly" video was all about (sorry, couldn't help it!), let's break it down into four categories. 


1) Analysis. What is the purpose of this video? What version of reality is it selling? 


The commercial for Starbucks iced coffee is trying to sell their product. Which by the way, if anyone has ever had it, is quite delicious and I'm pretty sure they didn't need this video to sell it in the first place. The video starts off with a girl going to get a drink from a fridge and when she does, all of the men in the video turn into Michael Buble. So, what they are trying to sell its consumers is an alternate reality! They are trying to say that if you drink their products, life will get better, days will seem sunnier, and all of your worries will go away. Plus, people will notice you and great songs will be sung in th the background.


2) Audience. Who is the intended audience of this video? Through whose eyes or 
perspective is information conveyed? Why? 


The audience for its video is clearly coffee drinkers and for those who want refreshment. To break it down even further, it seems they are trying to go after women who work in particular. You can see this through the fact that the video is about a working women in an office building. I know that Michael Buble is in the background taking the face of all of the male characters in the video, including a co-worker, a flower delivery guy, and two window cleaners but he is not the audience. He is the end to the means of the product. 


3) Representation. How are the people/figures in this video portrayed? Why do you 
believe they have been singled out? Whose voices are not being represented in this 
text? 


The working women is clearly happy with her work, both before and after the drink. When she takes a sip of the drink her spirits are lifted though. She has been singled out because Starbucks wants to be seen as a gender friendly company. They want to infringe on the female consumer and have them buy their iced drinks, which they may believe to be have feminine qualities. The males in the video all turn into singing people with the same face. This could be a slight against males in the workplace but I don't think it was meant to be. 


Also, who were those flowers truly for!? She just stole one!


4) Design. From the perspective of a video producer, discuss what you think are some of 
the most important design decisions used in creating this ad. Why do you think this 
specific medium was used to market this product? 


The obvious one is the use of Michael Buble. He is the video. If you just had his song in the video, it would not be as successful. His persona and his reputation are good for Starbucks, he is seen as a good person and someone who is a great reputation as well. Women also love him! There is a wonderful correlation between him and the drink - they want women to love to the drink. The medium was used to market the product because they believe working class women will buy it and hence, continue to be cheery and successful. 

For fun, here is the other video I was going to choose but I didn't want to break it down because I love it too much. That was totally me as a kid!