Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When it came to creating my music magazine and evaluating it, I used a variety of free, online software including:

Blogger- I used Blogger to present all my coursework in a tidy, easily accessible way and although I already have some experience of it because I read blogs anyway, I did learn a couple of things. One of these was how to link videos and power-points into the blog post so they show up using the HTML code. I had no idea of what they were or what they are used for until constructing my blog.
 

Survey Monkey - I used Survey Monkey to create questionnaires to collect information about my target audience. I haven't learnt anything specifically from it apart from how to navigate the site and that if a computer has already been used once to complete the survey, you can't reuse it which is helpful when trying to make sure different people take the survey but annoying when somebody tries to use the same computer as the other people who have filled it in.

Photoshop has allowed me to tie all my media photos, text, knowledge and everything else together. I was able to make my front cover, my double page spread and my contents page all on photoshop, the advantages of using photoshop are, being able to correct errors or problems on pictures, which i learnt you can use various tools like, healing brush, clone stamp and quick selection/magic wand tool. But i also had problems with layers. As when you’re creating a massive product like a music front cover, double page and contents, you end up with a lot of layers that overlap, and it gets really confusing. For example when using marquee tools, they can attach themselves to previous layers, and then you can end up having to start again.


The only other two programs I used during this project were Microsoft Powerpoint and Word, which I used in my planning and preparation. Powerpoint was a useful programme for making moodboards to display my initial ideas and I used Word to write up my magazine article before putting it onto the final design.

 


There are pros and cons to using free software on the internet.

Pros;

·         Its more interesting to have different websites linking in to the main blog than just pages of writing
·         Its quick as long as your connections good
·         It’s easy to access from anywhere
·         Gathering information in simple
·         There’s lots of variety and choice of which software to use depending on personal choice
·         Its free
Cons;
 ·         Technical issues could occur, for example being blocked or if the website crashes
 ·         People can access and plagiarise your work
 ·         Software doesn’t always work correctly and can be temperamental
 ·         Free software has its limitations because the companies aren’t earning a profit so they charge for a more improved version of the software
 ·         Security breaches could occur and you could lose control of the site