P L U G G I N G   I N   L I V E   C O N T E N T

Seamlessly pushing live content into a channel is a challenge that belongs primarily to the engineers. Using scripts, strings of data, and predefined parameters, the coders create channels that can present dynamically updated information. The channel designer is then responsible for producing a layout which corresponds to the incoming information, as well as conveying to the user through the experience that this information is live. For the Travelocity channel, there were two areas in which we needed to create a design for dynamic data. Because this data often arrives as delineated text, my task as designer was to identify all of the data types, assign styles to those types, and format coordinates for all elements. The Weather Conditions and Today's Lowest Fares sections of the Travelocity Channel reflect this process. Actually integrating dynamic content is a question of coding; there are no explicit indicators to the user that differentiate certain channel content as dynamically updated, rather than static or permanent. The burden of living proof, as it were, rests with the designer. Information that is moving, headlines with momentum, that are "on the go", these suggest to the reader that this is live, or current information. For the Travelocity channel, we charted a course for news headlines to move and cycle across the screen. Channels like CNNfn convey the idea of live content with scrolling news tickers; c|net employs a similar strategy, swapping in new headlines and images every ten seconds or so.

-> K I N E M A T I C S

1   back then	2   channel design	3   interface	4   live content
	5   kinematics	6   bit budget	7   samples	8   conclusion