Douglas Adams truly had a way with words and a gifted imagination that came together to create an amazing book that captivated the minds of millions of people around the world. His inventive and imaginative style took the reader on a true adventure from the demolition of Earth to a trip through the cosmos. Along the way Arthur encounters many different species in different worlds and is forced to quickly adapt along the way while utilizing new technology.

This is easily related to the internet in the way that it is a new universe full of different websites which are like the planets and other spaceships Arthur encountered with each one having its own unique community that required learning and adapting. I can also relate this book to our journey through the lessons in this class Multimedia Communications Interactive and Web Design. On day one most of us came to class not knowing what to expect and luckily like Arthur had Ford Prefect to guide him, we had an amazing teacher to guide us along our journey. As we learned new technology and explored the world wide web while creating our own spaceship web page. We quickly adapted and became comfortable with linking our webpages to other webpages and posting content created on other websites.

We are all born into this world dependent on learning what we need to survive from the information that is provided to us. We learn from the environment that we spend time in, and we develop bonds with family and forge new friendships, creating a sense of community.  The knowledge we learn in our community determines if we feel a sense of pride or shame which is why we all must embrace universal good. In a world where we all have access to the internet, we all can reach out and grow our community from our local hometowns to worlds far away without any unbreakable barriers.

 Just like the space crew in the book “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” we can dive into new worlds and communities in the world wide web. We can learn how to use computers and to learn new languages which can take us to new places where we can forge new friendships and learn new ways. As we grow our online community and create new content it is important to use hypertext to show unity within the community by connecting our pages together with links to additional content.

My country of choice that I am building websites pages for is Brazil, a country which shows a rich sense of regional pride. I am fortunate to have been able to experience Brazil’s amazing culture, beautiful cities and landscape. I hope to visit this country again one day.

When I was young, I watched this animation that completely changed how I perceived things around me. It was a bird surrounded by grass, as tall as can be and as the bird flew higher the grass gave way to tall trees in a thick forest with a full canopy. The bird kept flying higher and above the canopy gave way to the open sky. As the bird kept flying higher the once very detailed forest became a background blur.

For me this was a powerful animation that opened my eyes to the world around me and all its possibilities. I always remember this animated video when I am on a plane or on top of mountains. For over 25 years I have not looked at the world without realizing that there is so much more to the world than what we see.

Knowing how animation has affected me also brings the realization of how animation can affect other people as well. Animation can be a very powerful tool that is used for entertainment as well as for influencing the minds of the viewers. When done well, animation can leave the viewers in deep thought and awe. Animation is one of the most powerful tools in a media creator’s tool kit.

To allow a better understanding of the subject matter Its best to define these before talking about them.

Copyright is the exclusive legal right given to the original creator or an assignee to use or modify original created content. It is a form of property law that focuses on protecting art.

Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind which includes copyrights, trademarks, and patents. IP protects art and inventions.

Reproduction Rights ensure that no one else can make copies of original work without permission from the copyright holder.

These terms and definitions are valuable information for content creators to know because they are our way of protecting our property and ensuring that it is used as we intend. They also give us a way to profit from our work, which is rightly deserved. After all, you wouldn’t expect someone to give you a free camera, so why would you give your work away unless for a charitable cause that you believe in. Just as we wish for our creative work to be protected, it is our responsibility to comply with all copyright laws and research to ensure that we have the right to use material.

The best way we can protect ourselves as content creators is to register our best work with the U.S. Copyright Office and maintain digital records to prove authorship. Signing our work also helps us to identify it as well as using apps like Adobe to embed a digital footprint of copyright code in our work. Although, once our work is in tangible form, it is automatically protected by copyright.

H2G2, Chapter 8, and Wikipedia can be compared when we see the world wide web as a galaxy. Wikipedia is our guide to the galaxy and is created by the combined efforts of many people.

The famous apple with a bite taken out of it. Is the logo a reference to the story of Adam and Eve? Or possibly Sir Isaac Newton for the law of gravity after an apple dropped on his head? If so, then the reason would be simple as the apple in the story is the forbidden fruit that holds the power of knowledge and understanding. This story would fit the Apple company well as it represents the pursuit of knowledge while pushing the boundaries to accomplish new goals.

Another possibility for the logo creation is a bit darker. Alan Turing is credited with laying the foundations for the modern-day computer pioneering AI research and unlocking nazi war codes. 10 years after the war he laced an apple with cyanide and took a bite. Apple may have drawn up this logo as a tribute to him.

The truth is that those are just theories that Apple fans have come up with.  The logo design is meant to be simple and the bite taken out of the apple is just there for scale to differentiate the fruit from a cherry.  Overall, the design has worked out well for the company and fits well with many historical stories of fiction and nonfiction.

Star Wars captured the imagination of the world with their innovative techniques that gave way to spectacular visual effects. These special effects were created by George Lucas and his team who had high expectations and found innovative ways to achieve them. This led to the creation of Photoshop and other editing software to give the films their desired effects. Other technology that these movies inspired includes prosthetic limbs, Artificial Intelligence, Holographic displays, GPS, cellphones, Elon Musk’s robots and many more. These inventions were inspired by art which reminds me of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). These fields work together to create truly amazing inventions that benefit humanity.

Both this link 8 Times Flat-Earthers Tried to Challenge Science (and Failed) in 2017 | Live Science and this link To 11 million Brazilians, the Earth is flat are great examples of photoshopped images and their effect. Thankfully only 2% of American adults are firm in their belief that the earth is flat while 7% just are not sure. Surfing the web and social media, it is easy to find plenty of images of photoshopped flat earth. Thankfully many of these images are aimed at disproving, but there are websites and social media groups aimed at proving the world is flat. This goes to show how powerful the images and content that we create are. The world wide web is our uniting factor that brings civilization closer together than ever before and we should utilize it to share knowledge and help each other grow for the benefit of all, especially future generations. Imagine if we used photoshop for benefit of knowledge instead of creating photoshopped planets, animals, products and even people and then trying to convince everyone that they are real. The division created by tricking gullible people is a wall holding humanity back from achieving our full potential.

The world is full of colors that we see all around us and they are universally recognized. Colors can influence emotions, greys, blues, greens and purples can be very calming while reds, yellows and oranges can be very exciting. I wonder if Marvin the robot from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was programmed to see in blues and greys or if its depression was just programmed in with its genuine people personalities (GPP) technology. 

Colors also are universally recognized to convey messages. We all recognize green to go and red to stop. From traffic lights to traffic signs and even the markings on the roads, no matter what country you travel to you will see the same colors used and will know what they are directing you to do even if you cannot read the written language. Colors are also used to Convey information universally in the workplace such as hazardous materials identification system and warning signs.

When creating a universal design website, it is important to realize the importance of these colors we all recognize as they can help the users navigate and impact the users over all experience. The colors we choose to use can support the content we create and help us to effectively convey our message.

Moore’s Law is based on economic trend and states that every 2 years computer chips will have twice as many transistors and computing capability per square inch leading to home computers. Since 1965 this theory has been continually proven to be correct. [Link to Moore’s law for further reading]. Babel Fish from the book “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” are yellow fish that are placed into the ear in order to translate any language. We see this in the book when Ford and Arthur hitch a ride on the Vogon spaceship. [Babel Fish earbuds]. Today that technology actually exists. Not in the form of an actual alien fish, but through Pixel smartphones and Pixel Buds that translate language through an app. Before that the was a free website Yahoo! Babel Fish which was then replaced by Bing Translator [Babel Fish website on Wikipedia]. Although Babelfish.com still translates language, today we have many options for language translation services as well as for learning new languages. With all of these options to communicate with people from all over the world the doors to influence and marketing have really opened up for everyone. As content creators we must be honest and transparent. What we publish online is heard around the world and can influence how people think and act. It is our responsibility to consider the consequences of our content before publishing and use our skills for the common good.

In the book “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams the towel is the most important item they bring along with them in their adventure. In this book, the towel is used for hygiene, comfort and even as a weapon. The towel has both practical value and psychological value. It can be used to make a sail, build beach forts, protect you from the sun, keep you warm, shield you from the sun, can be wetted for use in hand-to-hand combat, and keep you dry.

Quote from the book: “Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odd, win through, and still know where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.” Psychologically the towel was used to convince a strag that the hitchhiker also has other items in his possession which will encourage the strag to lend the hitchhiker other items that he may have lost. The towel made its way into the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy through the author Douglas Adams own personal experience hitchhiking and traveling through Europe during which he kept losing his own towel. His travels are ultimately the inspiration for his book. The towel gives control in life to the hitchhiker and due to its importance in this book May 25th is recognized as Towel Day officially since 2001.