P1: Describe 3 interactive media products
P1: Describe 3 interactive media products
Just Dance 2022
Purpose, platforms
Just Dance is a dance video game series that releases a new game every year based on the new, popular songs of the year. I will be focusing on Just Dance 2022. The purpose of the game is to entertain the audience with new dances and their favourite songs. The game is distributed using the Nintendo eShop and in stores using a cartridge that you would place in the Nintendo Switch. You can also buy the game as a disk for Xbox 1 and Xbox series S/X, PS4, PS5, Google Stadia and on their online stores as an app.
Design and components
The layout of the navigation menu is very plain and boring compared to other Just Dance games. The plain white is basic and there is no personality to the menus, you start to dislike the menu. The text however is clear and easy to read. You can tell what the headings are and the sans serif font is modern. The colour contrast is strong to aid readbility and accessibility.The images such as the song icons are very colourful and illustrated wonderfully, they give a fun vibe and draw the users attention to click them. The sound is top quality. The generic menu music however does get a bit annoying and repetitive. When you are switching between song icons, the bleep sound effect signifies this and has a futuristic feel to it. The songs transition very well when you switch between them. The video animations can be seen for most of the dances. They have done an amazing job at 2D animating/rotoscoping dance routines and the stop motion animation for the "Mr Blue Sky" song.
Interactive features and controls
The navigation system and menu selection could be so much better. If you want to change game modes from Just Dance to quick play or kids for example, you have to go all the way back to the main menu and click on quick play or kids mode which is bad UI and it frustrates players, too many actions are involved here. Furthermore, those who don't subscribe to their Just Dance unlimited subscription and aren't planning to, have to skip a video and menu trying to persuade them to buy it which is annoying when you are just trying to play the base game. In addition, the world mode takes ages to load and it goes through lots of screens before you can even play.
On the flip side, finding the songs is easier since you don't have to go through the songs one by one like you did in some previous games from the Just Dance game series. They are in a grid format instead, this makes it easier to navigate songs but from the user experience perspective it looks boring. Plus, there are options in which you can filter songs into different categories at the top if you would like to. There isn't an option for users to comment in this game.
I believe that this can be seen as a positive and negative thing. Having no comments means it can achieve the E for everyone PEGI rating since people can write bad things and personal information in comments. However, I believe having a little chat option where only limited phrases are allowed would be good for the world mode since this would help you have a little rivalry or fun with other players online and it could also motivate players to dance longer and get 1st on the leaderboard. There isn't necessarily any scripting in the game since it is based around dancing to songs and their lyrics but you can find information through the next menu in the game instead. When you click onto the songs, a graphic of the animated character shows up and you can click play so you can play the game. This is annoying since some players might want to skip this screen and not have to do as many actions. The controllers used for the Just Dance will vary depending on what console you are playing on. For the Xbox you would need a Xbox Kinect, for PlayStation you would need a PlayStation camera. Some players might not want to pay extra for these extensions just to play Just Dance 2022. However, you can get the game on the Nintendo switch which has detachable joycons and attachable straps that come with the console. Since this is a dancing game, they have to include a warning that users must have lots of space in their surroundings. The controls could be improved since the game doesn't detect some dance moves properly and you need to make sure you don't hit anything around you.
Benefits
If you are wanting to play Just Dance on an Xbox or PS, you won't be able to take this anywhere with you since these consoles are not portable. However if you use a Nintendo Switch you can take Just Dance 2022 anywhere with you, the strap attachments are small and easily portable along with the Switch so you can play Just Dance whenever you like on the Nintendo Switch Screen. This is a benefit since you can play Just Dance with your friends out and about too. The interactivity is unique and Just Dance 2022 makes dancing easy and fun. The interactivity is good for those who have disabilities and are in wheelchairs; if you shake the controller it registers the dance movies so this can be great for them. Those who are death can also play Just Dance 2022; there are pictograms in the game that they can follow for the dance moves and the controllers vibrate to the beat of the song to help them. However, blind people would not be able to play just dance as there are not any voiceovers in the game that could tell them what to do and they couldn't see the navigation system and the pictograms to show them how to dance. The game is rated E for everyone by PEGI. To cater to all ages of their target audience, they include a kids mode for children and the main game is for teenagers and adults. However, some songs in the main Just Dance section of the game include questionable words such as "skinny dipping" and "minibar" in Katy Perry's TGIF song. Swear words are muted but these words aren't which shows how their censoring of words isn't amazing and some songs are not so suitable for children. The children's dances contain fun themes that children would enjoy such as pirates, robots, dragons and so on.
Limitations
Just Dance 2022 can be bought on a CD (for Xbox and PlayStation) or on a Nintendo Switch cartridge. This means that the main game will be stored on the external hardware so it won't take up much space. However, you can also buy this on the Microsoft store for Xbox, the PlayStation store and the Nintendo eShop as a downloadable software game. However, the game will take up 19.36GB on the Xbox (although if this was on cloud gaming it wouldn't take any space), a 6778.00 MB instillation size for the Nintendo Switch and you cannot find information about the storage space it takes up for PS4 and PS5. This isn't great if you don't have any space on your devices.
For the Nintendo Switch, you will not need any additional plugins or hardware to play Just Dance 2022. The Switch comes with two straps that you can attach to your joycons (the removable controllers at the side of the switch screen) and it is ready to play when you are ready. This is the great thing about the Nintendo Switch; the setup is relatively easy, it is portable which makes it easier to find place and to have six players enjoy the game. The screen size for the Nintendo Switch depends on weather you would like to play the game in portable handheld mode (which means the screen would be much smaller and it would be harder to play) or in docked mode. In my opinion this is the best console to use to play Just Dance 2022 as you can play on the small screen with a friend when out and about or you can take the dock and put it on a big screen for lots of people. However, Xbox and PlayStations require TV screens to be used which limits the game so people can only play the game if they are at home or near a computer. This limits the usage of the game; Just Dance 2022 would be great to play with friends when you are outside for example or somewhere else. In addition, you can play with your phones which makes it even easier to play with friends who don't have a controller. If you want to play with controllers on the Xboxes or PlayStations, you would need to have the Xbox Kinect or the PS move hardware to play. This might frustrate some players who don't want to use their phones in case they drop it and it gets damaged. Download times would vary from console to console. Although not the Switch version, the PC version is 15Gb in size (source: https://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=38171&game=Just%20Dance%202022#:~:text=System%20memory%20required%20for%20
Just,for%20min%20is%204%20GB.), this would take 28 minutes over a 70Mbs connection.
Effectiveness
Legal and Ethical
PEGI (Pan European Games Information) is the regulatory body that regulates games and makes sure they are suitable for each age range. Just Dance is rated 3 from PEGI. This is because Just Dance doesn't contain violence, gambling, drugs, swearing, sex and so on. The game mutes swearing and most bad words (as I mentioned above there are some words I think still need muting). The game doesn't show drugs and gambling or influence the target audience to use it. The game is based around dancing to your favorite songs from the year and the characters look friendly. The game does however expect you to be aware of your surroundings and wear a strap for the controller which some younger children might struggle with.
PRS for music gives royalties (money) to singers/artists when their songs are used, distributed, streamed or played. All the Just Dance games (including 2022) uses copyrighted music from different artists. This means the Ubisoft will have had to buy the rights to use their music in the game or the Just Dance games wouldn't be allowed to be distributed and Ubisoft would have to pay a large fine.
Copyright is also another law they must consider. Other dance games such will be copyrighted so the games have to be different enough to be classed as their own product. It's not just the Just Dance games they have to consider for copyright, but the Just Dance logo and the brand design for the game franchise. Copyright is a law that protects an artist's work from being used or copied without their permission. If this law was broken, Ubisoft would have to withdraw their game, pay a large fine or even go to jail.
Ethical issues are issues that are set by society. Examples would be swearing, violence, body image, trolling etc. Just dance games including 2022 are rated E for everyone. this means that the game would need to be ethically moral for children. Once thing I realise about Just dance 2022 is the characters are not ethnically diverse. This game doesn't represent different ethnic minorities which might upset some players; our society is pushing for ethnic representation. Some of the songs in JD 2022 contain language that is inappropriate for kids and they also contain swearing. although they do cut the swearing, some of the slightly inappropriate lines are in the song. An example of JD 2022 changing a song full of swearing for its E for everyone age rating is the song Boss Bitch by Doja Cat that they changed to Boss Witch for its target audience.
Snapchat
Purpose, platforms
Snapchat is a popular social media networking platform created in 2011 that you can access through the Snapchat app. The purpose is to social network with friends and family. Snapchat also has a website, however the social media platform can only be accessed through the app. The Snapchat app is available on the google play Store and Apple store to be used on phones or tablets. The app isn't available through the Microsoft store which limits the use of the app on Microsoft laptops and computers. This is a fall of the social media product as other social media platforms (WhatsApp, Instagram...) have this feature.
Design and Components
Layout: Snapchat has a great navigation layout that is easy to pick up. the menus are located together at the bottom of the screen with icons and text that tells you what the options are if you don't understand the icons. The camera is the first option you see when you open Snapchat. This is useful since Snapchat is known as a photo sharing platform (their USP) between two snap friends and this is the purpose of the social media. When chatting to friends, you can send snaps; they are photos that you take with filters using AR You can also type a message that you can set it to delete after it is seen, in 24 hours or never. This shows how Snapchat is a social media for the there and now. You can also replay snaps that others have sent you, listen to voice messages, send emojis based on your snapchat avatar (another USP) and play mini games with someone. You can also create group chats, but the chat will not disappear. Maps is a feature that, using your phone's location, lets you see your friend's locations and they can see yours. Stories and Spotlight are videos that you can watch by Snapchat creators. The layout consists of the colours white for the background, black for the menu bar at the bottom, white for unselected icons and blue for a selected icon. Stories have a blue circle around them if you have not viewed them. The layout is nice and simple, but the bitmoji's make the layout look more interesting as there is a sense of personalisation here.
You can create your own images using the camera feature in the app and the filters it comes with, or you can import images you have from your camera roll and send them to a friend. This helps the users share experiences with others and since Snapchat's USP are their snaps (photos) the users can play with snapchat filters for their photos and videos. Snapchat doesn't have any sound effects, but some of the games you can play with friends have music or sound effects. Snapchat does however allow you to record voice messages and the videos you share can contain sound. The app does contain animation through their bitmoji feature and through snap filters. With some filters, you can have your bitmoji dancing in the environment you are in with the AR camera feature; the filters are also animated and you can place animated stickers on your snaps. This is another USP of the social media; they do this better than other social platforms since Snapchat revolves around photos, videos, animations between friends (and a few messages if you do want to message) compared to Facebook for example which is more text based in comparison. You can send a variety of videos on Snapchat. You can post your photos and videos for friends to see on your story/spotlight and you can see stories and spotlights that other Snapchat users have created (these features are in the bottom menu). In addition, using snapmaps you can see other people's stories based on location; these can be photos or videos. Snapchat allows JPEG and PNG images to be shared as well as MP4, .MOV and H.264 videos. These are all file types Snapchat support. Snapchat do expect users to take photos and videos on their phone though so it fits their photo and video ratios. Streaks are when you take a photo everyday and send it to your friend and you try to keep your streak for as long as possible. You can call and video chat your friends in a group or individually.
Interactive features and controls
Navigation menu- Social media platforms such as Snapchat are specifically designed for interactivity; users talk, play games, share, buy, sell and stream things to others through these platforms. Snapchat's app is highly interactive since it lets us communicate with others. The app is a service for users to comment/send messages to each other since this is the purpose of a social platform. They can do this through snaps, videos, audio messages, written messages... In relation to the app itself, users can rate and comment their thoughts on the Snapchat app through the Google Play and Apple app stores. This app is used for communication so it doesn't contain any scripting like a game app would. However, the app does help you with a mini tutorial just telling you what things are. Snapchat doesn't have any events for the app. However, if it is someone's birthday they will have a birthday icon next to their name and you can wish them a Happy Birthday. You can use stories, live stories, highlights and reels to show any events you are at. The controls are super easy since Snapchat can be used on smart phones and tablets. The app is touch screen interactive; you can walk around and use the location permission and your friends can see your location and you can see theirs. You can also take photos and videos using your device's camera; the controls are very simple and straight forward.
Benefits
Limitations
Download time- Although download time is dependent on internet speed and connection, Snapchat will download quickly on your device since it is an app with only around 391MB (this is what it is with my Samsung phone and I have just downloaded it from the Google Play app store) however this will increase as you use the app to send and receive content from friends. You can also download Snapchat on the Apple app store. As a social media app, we the users create the content; we are prosumers. Snapchat gives us the tools to make our own photos, videos and messages with their filters and their service. The app is addictive since we can create whatever content we want. Snapchat doesn't require any plugins or additional hardware. However if you do want extra features you can buy Snapchat Premium for £3.99/month or £38.99 for a year. These extra features include new badges, icons, pins and backgrounds. As well as a ghost trail which shows where someone has been on the snapmap. You can however use the social media app for free without any important contact from being withheld from the user behind the paywall. We can get Snapchat on our phones and tablets. The screen size depends on the phone or tablet model the person uses since Snapchat will be optimised for the platform. A limitation of Snapchat compared to other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is you can't create or join in with fandoms (I am relating this to the active audience theory by Henry Jenkins, 2012) and you can't talk to other people who like the same things than you. Because Snapchat is based around communicating with close friends, you can't really create new friends unless you add someone in your suggested friends list. We can only just access Snapchat on the web but it is so recent that there will be bugs and only certain browsers are compatible. Therefore, I still wouldn't count Snapchat as being completely compatible with laptops, computers or anything with browsers. Snapchat is far behind other social medias in this aspect which is a limitation of the social platform.
Effectiveness
The purpose of Snapchat is to help users socialise and share fun things happening in the present moment to their close friends. The audience need a tool to help them share videos, photos, call and message others. They also want an effortless navigation system with efficient tools and they want their snaps/messages to be send quickly to their friends. The audience needs to connect with their friends and family. The information flow of Snapchat is smooth. The app doesn't make you do extra unnecessary taps to get to a certain feature. It is quick and easy to use. The navigation bar is located at the bottom of the screen which is easy to reach and you can navigate to the features/different areas of the app with no trouble. Snapchat offers a variety of features to its users; I have gone over some of these already, but I will go more in depth here. First you can use the camera option. This option lets you take photos, videos and animated videos. You can also use music for your photos/videos, write text, draw and place stickers. This allows users to be creative; they can send the edited snaps/videos to their friends and family. There are some funny filters that reaches the teenage/young adult target audience and it makes Snapchat's reputation as a lighthearted and fun brand. When you click the chat option, you can see your friends and some quick add suggestions which is useful since you can find friends easier. When chatting with a friend, you can type and send messages, you can send audio messages, emojis, bitmoji GIFS and normal GIFS. You can also call or video call someone and play a game with them. One of Snapchat's well known features (a USP) is the setting where you can adjust when messages disappear. When looking at your profile, you can create your own bitmoji, choose a background behind it, choose a stance for your avatar and choose which facial expression your bitmoji will have when your friends see it in their friends menu. This is another USP of Snapchat that Facebook is now trying to copy. You can also use cameos which is where you take a photo of your face and you can use it for funny animated messages. Stories and spotlights let you show snaps or videos to all of your friends unless you create a private story to share them to just a few selected friends. You can also create group chats, although messages do not disappear in group chats. Depending on what people do the most, you can earn achievements with group chats. For example you will earn an achievement if you send the most snaps. You can view public stories and spotlights using the menu icons with the same name. There are lots of benefits of using Snapchat. First of all, you won't feel lonely (especially if you live far from friends and family) since you can communicate with close friends and relatives with the app and have fun with it. Snapchat allows you to express yourself more than other social media platofrms since they have fun minigames, stickers, filters, bitmojis etc. Snapchat give you lots of customisation options. As mentioned before, Snapchat allows it's users to create content, they don't really make much content themselves. They do however create stories sometimes to celebrate holidays like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, birthdays etc. Users can share their content with their friends (stories, reels, spotlights) but they can also share story videos and spotlight videos with the public for other Snapchat users to see. Users can also create filters for others to use.
Legal and Ethical
Snapchat has a lot of laws to follow. Because this app collects information on it's users, they will have to follow the DPA law. The Dats Protection Act tells a company how they are allowed to use the information they collect on their users, how they have to store it and how long for. We as users are also allowed to request data a company has on us and ask for it to be deleted too. Snapchat collects the birthday, location, name, username, email address, phone number and possibly more information on their customers. Their duty is to protect this personal information; data breaches or releasing personal information to others is unsafe for their users and it is also illegal. Snapchat could be in for a large fine if they break this law which would be a great loss of profit for the company.
Just like Just Dance 2022, copyright is a law that every product, service or company have to be aware of so they don't get fined or copy someone else's work.
A legal and ethical issue is the maps option where you can share and see your friends' locations. This is very dangerous and it is a safety hazard since this could cause stalking, bullying or even more serious crimes to happen since anyone on a person's friend list can see their exact location. Although this does connect people more, it can cause some very serious issues and people might start to feel unsafe. Luckily, you can choose weather to have snapmaps on, but what if someone doesn't realise they have accepted it? Personally, I think it would be much safer if snapchat removed this feature. Furthermore Snapchat allows the public to see your location which can cause even people you don't know from harming you in some way. This article explains what I am trying to say in more detail: Snapchat's new map feature raises fears of stalking and bullying | Snapchat | The Guardian
Furthermore, because Snapchat is a social media platform, their is a safety risk of users talking to people they don't know. Users can also send unsolicited photos or sent hurtful comments and cyberbully. This is a risk with all social media platforms so it is up to the user really to keep themselves safe. So Snapchat could cause some laws to be broken. On the flip side, Snapchat is safer than other social media platforms because you can't interact as much with lots of people you don't know like Facebook.
Doncaster Free Press
Purpose, Platforms
Doncaster Free Press is a journalism company that creates articles based around events in Doncaster for those who live in Doncaster. Journalism is when the media creates articles about things happening right now. You can access their articles online on their website at https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/. This means that you can access their website with any device that has the internet and a web browser: phones, tablets, laptops, computers, smart TV, Xboxes etc.
Design and components
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The layout of the Doncaster Free Press website is pretty simple. You have the navigation bars at the top and side, the headlines are bundled together at the top of the website (the logo is on the top left of the advert) with articles placed in rows and columns. Adverts are all over the website which ruins the design of it. Seeing this many adverts is annoying and it shows how desperate Doncaster Free Press are to make money. In the navigation bars, the drop down menus let you choose the different types of articles you want to read. They also have a sign in, search (which is an extremely useful component) and subscribe buttons in the top right.
There is a lot of text since this website is based on articles. The text is sans serif because it is modern and easy to read. The text is bold when it comes to headline articles to persuade readers to click on the bold text hyperlink so they read the whole article. The hyperlinks work very well and the home page is filled with hyperlinks to whatever news article you would like to read.
There are lots of images and a few videos on the website. The photos make the fromt web page look much better and more aesthetically pleasing compared to just having text. The videos in the articles do however have advertisements which is frustrating when you just want your daily news. The only sound comes from the videos o there isn't really anything to say in regards to sound. The website doesn't contain any animation whatsoever.
Since this is a website, Doncaster Free Press can use JPEG, GIF and PNG photo formats. JPEG is the most likely image format they use. The file size is lossy compression, the file size is small but this reduces the quality of the image. This is acceptable for web usage because JPEG image formats lets the website and images load quicker. For video, MP4 is the most likely file type they use; it is also lossy like JPEG so it is a great option for websites.
Interactive features and controls
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The website has two navigation bars; a hamburger menu at the side and a horizontal menu at the top of the website. These navigation bars create a dropdown menu so the user can choose a subcategory they want to read. This is very interactive and it makes it is efficient for the users to navigate the website which is what they want.
Doncaster Free Press doesn't allow commenting on their articles. This is different from some other news journalism websites such as The Mirror since they allow commenting and users can also reply to each other's comments. This stops readers from backlashing against them in the comments. Users can however share the article on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, you can also share these articles through email. This lets readers share important news and talk about it through social media instead. The social media sharing is a great interactive feature for their audience; it also gives their articles more publicity and this gives them more money.
These news articles are written so technically the article is scripted except for any quotes used in them. Because they are a professional company, their articles are written well.
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The actions/events are what the Doncaster Free Press website is promoting. For example, they created articles about our late Queen Elizabeth II's death, the Ukraine war and much more. They are a trusted source of news; they are expected to keep their news content up to date with what is going on right now.
The website is very simple since you can access it through a lot of devices. The controls depend on what device you use as some devices are touch screen, some use a controller and soome use a mouse/touch pad.
Benefits
Unless Doncaster Free Press took down their website temporarily or permanently (or it got hacked for some reason), it is always visible if you have a device with internet access and a browser. So the actually website is vey easy to access and can be accessed anywhere. It really depends what device you are using since phones, tablets and laptops can be portable whereas Xboxes and computers are not portable devices.
The website is interactive, but it isn't as much as other interactive media products. The users can click on each article and any navigation bar links, but there isn't much to interact with.
The accessibility of the Doncaster Free Press website could be better. They don't have an accessibility option, but their logo is colour blind friendly (red and blue colours). Because this is a website, it is up to the user to change their accessibility settings on their browser on whatever device they are on. For example on a laptop using the normal browser settings, the text and icons are smaller compared to a smart phone where they are larger.
Doncaster Free Press targets those who live locally to Doncaster for a geographical target audience, possably aimed at middle aged adults who do use the internet but not pensioners who would prefer their physical newspapers (although they have a newspaper subscription, the website would probably be difficult, especially if they are of the resigned psychometric category).
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