The effects of visual information

Since a number of years, research has been done on the effects of visual information. During these studies the focus was on cognitive processes when text and images are combined.

In the past there has never investigated the influence of graphical design. The western culture is focussed on the design of visual information and proffesor Annemarie Quispel is currently doing research with the focus on the users of visual information. One of the reasons why she is focusing on the users is that there are differences between people in their visual abilities. Their are two groups of people who look otherwise to visual information. The first group may well remember objects in patterns and the second group is focussed on the relation between parts, such as different parts in pictures and is more analytical. Another study suggested that the first group mainly consists of the design- and art people and the second group consists of engineers. At the moment, Annemarie is focusing at these two groups and she is developing an experiment with routes on a map which the groups must perform. The prediction is that the design- en art people more look at the shapes of the routes and the engineers describe the routes from A to B. The important question is whether the prediction will come true? 

Queensday in the Netherlands

It is only two days before queensday starts at the Netherlands. Queensday is always a huge happening in the largest cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven. Most of the people celebrate queensdag in Amsterdam with a considerable number of acts by famous artists and various DJ's at the Museumplein. 

The queen visits each year a different city in the Netherlands and this year she visits 'the white city Thorn' and the city Weert in the province Limburg. The first city is known for its white houses and culture and Weert is one of the largest cities in Limburg. The royal family will take a walk through the cities and during this walk there are different activities performed by the inhabitants.

Specifically for this major event is a website (http://www.koninginnedag2011.nl/) developed with all the information about Thorn & Weert, the activities, day program etcetra. The developers of the website did not forget the social media. They linked Twitter, Facebook, Hyves and Flickr with information about Queensday @ Thorn and Weert to the above website. Since more and more people make use of social media is this a perfect tool to alert people on changes in the city, preparations, communications and information about the program. Hopefully, there is enough communicated about these social media so everyone is well aware on this day.

For everyone a great Queensday and for people who want to visit Thorn or/and Weert, check the social media!

Dating sites

During the last lecture of social aspects of new media there was talked about romantic relations online. Most of these romantic relations arise through a dating site.There are general dating sites where people can create a profile with information about their age, gender, length, posture, interests etcetera and these dating sites are accessible for everyone.  Furthermore, there are also dating sites which are focused on a specific group or with the same interests. In the Netherlands are not many of these sites but other countries have the most diverse dating sites. Have you ever heard about Jewish singles, sugardaddie or wealthy men? These dating sites are examples for specific interests or groups. Do you think that it is important that people from the Netherlands also can use these sites to meet other people in this country?

Infobatical

Everyone is busy with work or/and school, social life and other activities such as Twitter, Hyves, Facebook, checking e-mail, texting and WhatsApp. In the year 2011 is the digital age so extensive that most of the people make use of it. However, people also need rest and should be able to disconnect all electronics. 


Infobatical implies that in the current age people need to have a moment of calmness, without the Internet and a mobile phone and this ensures peace of mind; a Infobatical. The need for a Infobactial comes from the "disease" of 2010. The Smartphone led to an addiction off information and communication. A large number of people has the idea that without mobile phone and Internet they have no live and miss important things. An opportunity to keep a Infobatical is an ' Leech-blok'. This is an simple extension of Firefox which can block a website that you often look, so you are always derived. Students often need Infobatical in the period when they have to study for exams and they have deadlines for important projects. These Infobeticals influence their study- of work performance positive. 


The most common ways to keep a Infobatical are mainly make use of the silent modus on your mobile phone and Wifi off so you have no access to the Internet. 


Do you also make use of Infobatical?

Rstat.us

According to ReadWriteWeb, some Twitter developers were dissatisfied because of the reason that Twitter changed their terms of service and they had no interest to build new Twitter clients. The Twitter developers decided to develop an alternative microblog named rstat.us. Rstat.us also has a service that exchange data with status.net which is an open source Twitter like service with an enterprise focus.

The simple microblog has a number of functions. People can follow other people, place comments, post an update and read others update. It is also integrated with Facebook and Twitter, so it is possible to log in with either of those accounts. Furthermore, there are two things that make rstat.us special: simplicity and openness. The interface is simple and easy to understand and for anyone is the programming code that makes up rstat.us available to download free of charge.

The problem of rstat.us is that Twitter has a considerable number of visitors & members and strong network effects whereby it is difficult to rise above Twitter.

Do you think that rstat.us has a change of success?

Online platform Whoopaa

Three young entrepeneurs have developed something brilliant. It is now possible to separate private and business communication on an online platform. Through this website, people can manage and integrate all the social networks on the Internet and make distinguish between friends and work. Furthermore, you can register for a business and private account and then Whoopaa helps the user to link existing social network sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Through the online platform, you can manage all your updates for your social- en business network site.  

The entrepeneurs have received an amount of more than €500.000,- to invest in Whoopaa. They expect that at the end of the year 2011 are more then 100.000 users who have register at the website.

In the real world try the most people also to separate work and private. A large number of people do not want that the employer knows what sort activities they have in the weekend, such as going out, shopping, dates etc. In addition, a considerable number of employers look at different netwerk sites to screen job applicants and that is what several people absolutely do not want. With Whoopaa, people can keep everything separated and enjoy their social network sites.

Employers screen job candidates

When you have an employment interview at a company, be careful! More and more companies screen their job applicants at the Internet through business network sites and social network sites. They want to know how job candidates present themselves at the Internet. Through network sites, they try to get a first impression about a person. Furthermore, they search for more information such as a curriculum vitae, the qualities of a person and connections with other companies and people. This information, they try to figure out through business network sites like LinkedIn. If you have pictures on the internet when you are going out, are drunk or kiss with people, delete this pictures as soon as possible! Employers looking at social network sites for pictures, personal information and interests. The most visited websites for this information are Hyves and Facebook. The main characteristics of a person are reliable, enthusiastic, critical and sympathetic . These characteristics try employers to find out via the Internet when they are screening people. If the candidates’ online behavior is undesirable, they are often rejected by one company.  

When you have an employment interview in the future, think about the above information.

Testosterone and women

During the course of cognitive sciene, teachers talked in a lecture about testosterone and finger lenght. There are man with 'female finger patterns' and man with 'male finger patterns'. Furthermore, there are also women with 'male finger patterns'. The patterns are associated with certain characteristics. Another point is that women are better with verbal tasks and more emotional. Men are better with visuo - spatial tasks.


When I was reading the newspaper 'De Pers', I saw an article about testosterone and women. Scientists from Utrecht and Cambridge gave 15 female experimental subjects a testostorone pill. The results were shocking! The ability of women to read the mind of other persons decreased significantly. Hereby, the gift to read the mind of other persons decreased to the level of man. Apparently, the hormone testosteron has an impact on the functioning of the brain and women's ability to guess what other persons think about something. However, the effects of the testerone pill differed from woman to woman and were related to another measurement: the relationship between the forefinger and ring finger. Mostly, the forefinger is longer than the ring finger while these two fingers by men are the same lenght. These differences between women and men are caused through a difference of exposure to testosterone. The experiment shows that women with a relatively long ring finger (typical for men) had more problems with the testosterone pill than the more 'female women'. According to the author of this article, his opinion is that testosterone makes women as stupid as men. What do you think about this opinion?

The Apps4Sustainability challenge

We received the task to develop an interface ‘which makes life more fun’,  for the course User Interface Design. We came up with the idea to develop an application for mobiles phones, aimed particular at foreign students. The details for this application are strictly confidential.

The website http://www.ourmobilegeneration.org/ invented a great concept. The website organized the challenge Apps4Sustainability, a challenge to develop the best mobile application which can be off help in the field of sustainability. People from all over the world who have an idea for the design or purpose of such an application can elaborate this idea or can add ideas to existing applications.

The jury for this challenge who will select the winning conept, consists of members from the companies Vodafone, Iphoneclub.nl, Enviu.

Our Mobile Generation is an idea of the organization Enviu, the Dutch Government and the Foundation Vodafone Netherlands. Enviu is a innovator in the field of sustainability.

The winning concept will receive a sustainability-award, with a accompanying amount of 30.00 Euro for the further development of their concept. Everybody is interested in winning such an amount to develop your idea, aren’t you? This is maybe the opportunity to introduce our idea and to amaze the World with our new application = )

Cold reading

Last week, the second semester started. This means 5 new courses and interesting assignments. The assignment of  Business Information Technology is to write a blog about something you learned during the courses at the University in Tilburg. During the next 10 weeks, I will write every week about a new topic.

During the course of cognitive science, teachers talked about decision making. People all over the world, make new decisions every day. There are also famous people who have to make decisions. One of these famous people is Char Margolis. Char is an American psychic medium who is using the method of cold reading during her shows.

Cold reading is a method to determine or express details about another person to convince that the reader knows a considerable number of details about the person than he actually does. Without prior knowledge of a person, a cold reader with experience can get enough information about a specific subject by analyzing the person. They also make guesses about the subject and ask the person whether they are in the right direction or not. After that, the reader emphasize that he recognizes the answer to a question.

During a cold reading session, a medium can use the following methods, which in combination can lead to interesting results:

• Analyze the person's gender, body language, age, clothes, hairstyle, level of education etc.
• Use of general statements.
• Show a considerable number of options without a refer to a specific subject.
• Observe the person during the session.
• Allows the person to speak enough during the reading session.
• Use ambigous questions.
• Flatter the person and say what he wants to hear.

If you want to know how a proffesional makes use of cold reading, check this movie :)