A: Animation

The Definition of Animation :

• "Animation" discovered from the Latin name anima,  the vital force inside every living creature.
• A series of still drawings that, when viewed in rapid succession, gives the impression of a moving picture.
• A simulation of movement to display a series of frames/pictures
• The art of processing and preparing animated cartoons.
• The rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. 
• Process of giving the illusion of movement to drawings, models, or inanimate objects.
• The act of making something not alive to come alive.
• To animate means to give life to inanimate (still) object, image or drawing.
• The art of movement expressed with the images that are not taken directly from reality. 
• A sequence of images can be displayed at rates fast enough to fool the eye into interpreting it as continuous imagery.
• The Animation relies on the human eye's persistence of vision.

The human visual system is designed to notice and interpret movements. It is acknowledged that a series of images, when displayed in rapid sequence, are noticed by the observer as a single moving image.

The human Vision Persistence: 

There's a biological phenomenon known as persistence of vision and it's stating that any object seen by the human eye remains chemically mapped on the eye’s retina for a brief time after viewing that object.

Example: 

You can try this idea by staring out an object for half a a minute and then close your eyes. You will possibly see the image of the object due to persistence of vision.

When the eye observes something it detects the image on the retina at the back of the eye. Even when the object is removed it still show up in the mind's eye.

Phi Phenomenon:

Human’s mind need to conceptually complete the perceived action i.e. translating the action. Movies and animations depend on the 'phi' phenomenon, in which a series of still pictures are seen as showing genuine motion. The Phi phenomenon is a result of human instinct. Our brains strive to make meaning from what we perceive. When we see different images close together our brains quickly create a relationship between them.

Toys involving animated images began to appear at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This was the time when several scientists realized that a series of still images can be used to create the effect of a moving image, if the conditions are right.

There are two conditions: 

• The first is that the images must be presented to the eye at the rate of at least 10 per second. 
• The second condition is that a period of blackness must be set between each image, so that the images do not blur into each other, and the lines or gaps between them are not detected.

The reason that the viewer perceives a moving image, is that the brain forms a mental bridge between the two images, giving rise to the idea that the static images are actually moving. This is known as the 'phi phenomenon'.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_phenomenon

http://philofmind.org/innertheater/index.html#video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision

http://animation.about.com/od/glossaryofterms/g/pervision_def.htm

Learning Log 2: Reflections on working collaboratively using Google Docs

Google Docs:

 Google Docs is a free simplified version of word processor that can create and save documents, presentation and spreadsheets online. It enables the Google user or multiple users in different locations to collaborate documents from any computer with Internet access or mobile devices.

If I make any changes to my documents that are already shared between the invited users, they can see the changes in real time, so they can respond and share work to collaborate with projects immediately.
The platform provides editing and files backup that store the documents safely online in Google’s server.

I found it extremely useful at work when publishing employees’ surveys or design feedback to let information accessible through the web between the project team. It’s secured and protects company’s documents and overall, all shared documents are recoverable if it’s deleted accidentally.
It opens most documents formats such as “.doc” , “.txt” and “.pdf” as it displays Youtube videos and Picasa Slidshows without inserting codes or requiring any specific skills.

Sharing my brainstorm notes, documents and slides with the students in the group helped me to contribute and communicate with everyone’s thoughts in one place. As discussing the changes that made on other’s documents, it served the student busy schedule for the busy academic and social life. Sharing ideas more quickly and viewing the documents in any browser can give a flexibility to expand the effectiveness of it. 


In conclusion, I think using Google Docs became an important and easy-to-communicate tool for both professional and educational areas to collaborate from a distance in tasks.