Very interesting point brought up by example today in New Media: Consider your audience, test your work in progress, work with others; all brought to light by a showing of our group project in slide show format.
There were four narrative paths plus many hyperlinks in the project which I carefully mapped out. There were plenty of audio .wav files which were readjusted at the last minute to allow for playing off of CD. There was plenty I learned by the viewing today that showed how a certain blindness develops in the developer.
One of the paths was never taken because the piece was difficult to navigate in the format of Powerpoint only because of my lack of knowledge in negotiating an easier way. Whenever I played it through as I worked on it, it was easy and played out properly–because I was familiar with the structure. Even being away from it for a month made me forget that structure–which means that for the first time I viewed it as a first-time user. This was an excellent way of discovering the flaws in the flow. A better way would have been to use a test audience.
What I also learned was that every little piece of information that was gone over in the class had value–no matter how obvious. While the project piece is considered finished, I do intend to work on those shortcomings because it will be a learning process towards future projects. While it is still fresh in my mind, I have listed out the weak points, and their possible solutions. This process is actually as much fun as the putting it together originally. I like problem solving; I just needed to be made more aware of the problems.
As I said before, this class was an eye-opening experience in all facets of media, and life.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology