EPortfolio Chunk 3

Jakob Nielsen explains that "when something has two or more states, then changes between states will be much easier for users to understand if the transitions are animated instead of being instantaneous"(http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9512.html).  I wish to explore this statement in the context of my classroom.


Recently we undertook an in-depth study of Japan in our grade 3 / 4 class, bringing in guest speakers, reviewing film, and studying various art forms.  One of the projects we embraced was creating origami, inspired by the book "A Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr.  Fortunately resources were plentiful, ranging from origami books from our school library to web-based tutorials to experts.  Personally, I find it extremely challenging to follow a step-by-step instructional manual.  However, I came across a helpful website that not only provides still image steps, but animated ones as well.  These creations involving two or more states seem much more accessible because of the animations provided.


http://en.origami-club.com/easy/index.html


Another example of the use of step-by-step instructions is found in the toy industry.  As a child I struggled to follow Hasbro's Transformers instructions and ended up manipulating the toys until they morphed into something I thought resembled a robot.  Hasbro has uploaded many of their instruction manuals on the web and I have included the link below.  I have been unable to locate an animation-based tutorial to manipulate their toys.


http://www.unicron.com/tfitem/itemimage_db.php?mode=instructions&year=2007&lineName=Movie


While an animation proved difficult to obtain, I was able to find a video describing how to transform the toy, Bumblebee, and have posted this in the blog.  Nielsen argues that "typically, web videos should be less than a minute long"  (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/video.html).  This particular user-created video is nearly five minutes in length.  Could it have been condensed?  Perhaps, but if I was trying to manipulate this toy I might be willing to invest the time to do so.  I believe that if the user is motivated to gather the information, the tolerance for length could be higher.  Nielsen also reminds us, "it's better to use video for things that move or otherwise work better on film than they would as a combination of photos and text."  (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/video.html)  For me, understanding how to manipulate Transformers toys is far easier to understand through this medium.