3 Tracks From Inspirational CD

This week I have continued my 'self learning' journey, this time however regarding my musical tastes. Never before did I realise how much 'emo' style music I actually own, although not all of it typical shouting and yelling, it is 'emo' none the less. This has caused quite a deal of difficulty trying to make a 'diverse' CD to inspire me and the rest of the group in college. Saying this however I think the CD track listing I created is relatively diverse, and I kept the amount of heavy metal down to a minimum.


Below is a couple of the tracks I have chosen, and why. The process of choosing 3 songs from the CD was just as difficult as choosing the songs for the CD it's self. In the end I went for 3 at random...


The first track I chose was Showbiz - Muse. There was always going to be a Muse song on my CD, I'm sure it will come as no surprise to most people. In this case however I decided to opt for 2 Muse songs, the second being . I chose these two songs as a contrasting point.


Showbiz is a very old Muse track, from their very first album, Showbiz. It starts of very slow and gradually brings in more instruments, a faster pace, and a much more heavier sound.


Invincible on the other hand is from their newest album, Black Holes & Revelations. It is completely opposite to Showbiz as it starts of very slowly, and continues the pace throughout the song. It also relies a lot less on heavy guitar riffs for a much softer sound.


And the third song is Connections Are More Dangerous Than Lies - The Ataris. This song is a very descriptive song, and creates all sorts of different images in your mind just by listening to the track. As the idea of the CD's is to inspire us, I thought that this was quite a good thing to have on a track, though whether the images it creates are relevant I do not know.

*End Note* Thinking of a descriptive title is actual harder than thinking of a 'clever' title. Especially when I had the perfect one too...

All Your Sheep Belong To Us...

With the mass telling off we received last week regarding our communication skills we were then told we had to conform to the following WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) Guidelines - 1.1, 2.2, 4.2, 13.1, 14.1 and 14.3.

I thought I was hitting most of these guidelines, perhaps 1.1 needed a little work, and 14.1 is a mine field, but on the whole I was relatively happy with my 'learning journal'. I spell check it before posting, have the date and time set up for posts, have added a list to the first years journals, and have meaningful titles.... Or do I?

As Craig mentioned in my previous post my idea of a 'meaningful title' is perhaps different to the user. Using my previous post as an example, my title of "Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking" tells the user nothing about what is to come in the blog, and to the average Joe reading my blog will cause little or no interest in them. Although I know what I was getting at, perhaps no one else really did.

Take the title of this blog for instance, to the average Joe this title will have as much meaning to this post as any of my other titles, yet to me it has a lot less meaning. I guess the point I'm trying to get at is that one of the main aims of our 'learning journals' is to provide evidence for our PDP unit which in turn is to show our understanding of the industry, jobs, etc. This being said, I need to start thinking about the end user a lot more and how everything I do, even minute things such as blog post titles, may affect them.

You know, it's amazing how much you learn when it's meant to be your week off...

"Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking"

Already half way through the first term of the second year and it seems like only yesterday I was struggling to remember every one's names and resorted to 'Dave'. It's hard to believe it's been 7 weeks.

Coming back to the second year I knew it was going to be hard, the work level had increased, the requirements to pass assignments had increased and the tight nit group had dramatically decreased. Sitting back in the classroom for the first time, I was nervous about what to expect. The John started discussing the new assignment. At first I was shocked, perhaps expecting something similar to the first year where we were gently eased into an assignment, then I realised I was being stupid and began to hurriedly take down notes about CSS, web standards, and all the other geeky elements to web design programming brings.

After a day of lectures regarding what to me at the time was pure gibberish I knew Steve was right when he had previously said the second year would be much, much harder. Much harder than I had expected in fact.

My thoughts then turned to the assignment we would be receiving the following day, our team assignment. This assignment perhaps filled me with the most fear as I had absolutely no idea what to expect. It wasn't an assignment that was easily researchable, especially when I had no idea of what role within the team I would be taking on. Almost as soon as these fears came they went however as I realised just how good a team we had, and still do have.

Due to the nature of the assignment we have been given, and the fact I was appointed developer of our team task, most of the work I have had to do has been very programming related. Although I don't mind coding too much, it is one of the areas I have less experience in and so I have had to work very hard to keep up with some other members of the group.

Attempting to learn PHP has been one of my biggest tasks I have had to undertake over the past 2 months and at the same time the most enjoyable. Learning PHP in such a small time was a huge task to undertake, especially with no real tuition or lectures to guide me and for this reason as a group we chose to abandon creating our own CMS for our team project and to use a pre-developed system. When this was first decided I was slightly frustrated, not because I thought all my time and effort had been wasted, but because I didn't want to take the easy way out. After speaking to Steve afterwards however, he too agreed that we had made a good decision in using a pre-developed system which made me feel a bit better.

Learning CSS has also being a enjoyable and difficult task, though as John said at the beginning of the year, it just needs to 'click' and I think for me it has. Although I'll be the first to admit my CSS design for the assignment perhaps wasn't the best in the class, I'm proud with how far I have come from the summer assignment which was very basic and unimaginative.

All in all I think the past 2 months has being the best 2 months of the course so far, despite my initial worries. I'm looking forward to what the next 2 months bring and also the rest of the course. We've still got lots to do, including the completion of a team project for a live client (one of my favourite assignments to date) as well as yet more presentations to practice etc.

My goal for the next set of assignment hand ins is to get a merit (at least) and so it will be interesting to see what comes of them. Now, off to read up on usability testing...

Second Time Lucky

After my abysmal attempt in my first set of interview questions I decided to take a different approach. Instead of sitting and thinking about my answers I decided to think how I would react if I was asked a question I hadn't prepared for and answered from the top of my head.

I think in some ways this worked well, I answered much better than in my previous interview questions but perhaps this was because I had a preset question and answer list in my mind which I answered from. Perhaps by using this preset list it didn't give me a chance to get my personality across which is something that employers are often looking for.

Although I feel that this set of questions was much better than my previous, I don't feel like either is perfect and a lot of work would still have to be done. Of course hopefully my portfolio would be enough to put me through though it would be wrong to rely solely on this.

Second Interview Call Backs

Describe yourself in three words.
Enthusiastic, passionate, creative

How would you measure the effectiveness of your Interactive Media products?
I currently use an analysis tool called 'Google Analytics' to monitor my portfolio and online learning journal sites. It gives me a break down of who is accessing my website, where from, and other vital pieces of information such as browsers used etc.

By using this free tool it shows whether people are looking at my site and if they are coming back, personally I think that if users are repeat visiting my site then it is being effective. It also allows me to set measurable goals which are then recorded on the stats page again showing if it has been 'effective'.

How do you handle criticism?
Upon receiving criticism I first try and take any positives out of it and remember them for later as more often than not when receiving criticism you are giving positive feedback too. I then look at the negatives and try and see why others may think this and if on closer inspection of my work I can too see it. If I can't see the problem I then ask for more specific feedback on the negative points and ask what would make it better so that I can make the current work better and also again remember for a later date.

Explain when you have had a difficult problem and how you solved it.
The most recent problem I have faced is when trying to learn CSS on my course. I have had very little knowledge of it in the past and so could see I was going to struggle to learn it. For this reason I decided to take upon myself to learn CSS in my own time outside of college and as I knew CSS would have to be learnt, try and learn a few of the basics before I had to implement it. I used various sources to learn CSS including books, magazines and websites. I then practiced making a few basic CSS sites so I could get a hang of coding with it instead of just reading example code.1

Describe how you fit into a team.
I think personally I fit in to a team relatively easily. I am able to get on with people easily and have no problems joining a new group of people and begin getting on with them quickly. At the same time however I am able to distance myself from a group environment when the time calls to do individual work and don't have to rely on colleagues.

Are there any questions?
Will there be any opportunities for promotion?

'Don't Call Us....We'll Call You'

After last weeks 'Online Journal Entry' it is clear that if I were ever to apply for a real job I would be turned away almost immediately. Admittedly I did mistake the entry last week to be applying for a job via a letter not interview questions but it still doesn't account for the frankly abysmal answers I gave.

This may seem over critical but in my opinion is a honest response and would not like to hire myself after those answers.

Take my first question response for example. Although I have mentioned the job contains 'skills I have learnt on the course' I do not give examples as to what skills I have learnt and any other skills which I have learnt which may also aid me in the work.

Perhaps my worst answer however is the 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?' question. As Steve quite rightly mentioned in class, I have not shown loyalty to the business, although this was my intention. After hearing this question before I know it is important to show that you want to be with the company in the long run, even if this is not the truth, and by saying I wanted to be lead designer I was hoping to show both loyalty and ambition. However instead of saying 'I would like to be lead designer at your company', instead I said 'with a company', showing no loyalty at all.

If/when we do any more tasks like this, and definitely when I enter a real interview situation, I will think a lot harder about the answers I am giving and the way in which I am phrasing them.

Junior Web Developer

Company - Netstep Corporate Communications Ltd
Salary - £18000
Job Type - Permanent
Location - Yorkshire
Reference - NET14

Contact - Carla Marshall
Address - The Spire, Leeds Road, Lightcliffe, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX3 8NU
Telephone - 01422 200308
Fax - 01422 200306

Found at - CreativeMatch.co.uk

Why Do You Want the Job?
After just completing 2 years on a HND Interactive Media course, I am now ready to begin work in the web design industry. The above job contains aspects of all the skills which I have learnt over the past 2 years and will give my a chance to further improve on my skills.

What's Your Greatest Strength?
In my opinion my greatest strength would be my ability to learn new things quickly. Whilst studying for my HND, I spent a lot of time learning new technologies on my own initiative, some of which were not taught on the course (such as PHP and MySQL).

What's Your Greatest Weakness?
My greatest weakness however would have to be my tendency to want to jump straight in to creating a website before I design it properly. However, in the industry I know that time is money and I would not have much 'design' time and so being able to design 'on the fly' could also be seen as a strength.

What Do You See Yourself Doing In 5 Years Time?
In five years time I hope to of progressed in my career and be, or at least be working my way towards being, a lead designer of a company. I feel that after 2 years of intense study followed by a numerous years of industry experience will provide me with enough advanced skills and knowledge to allow me to do this.

What Current Interactive Media Innovation Excites You The Most?
The current Interactive Media innovation which excites me the most at present is CSS, there is so much that can be done with it and the benefits of it are almost endless. I have only being studying CSS for a year but have made great strides in my ability to implement it in a effective manner and hope that this can only continue to improve.

Who Is Your Hero?
My 'hero' would have to be a graffiti artist called Banksy. Most 'graffiti artists' are just kids with spray cans writing their names on walls, but Banksy moves away from this and creates pieces of art work. His designs are both abstract but appealing at the same time, and a lot of the time he uses his 'art' to great effect when trying to get messages across, be this political, environmental, etc.