...alleem...

Final Reflective ‘Meta’ Post

Wow I’m finally writing my FINAL blog post… exciting stuff. Basically I’m going to talk a bit about everything it tells us to talk about on the unit outline and maybe a little bit more.

Firstly I’ll talk about my blogs content, which covers a lot of different topics. The topics I talk about in my blog posts are mainly what I found interesting about various lectures and tutes. I wasn’t really writing for a specific audience, I was just reflecting upon what I was learning throughout the semester. I didn’t write one post each week as some weeks I didn’t have inspiration on what to write about, thus I wrote blog posts when inspiration hit me. However all of my posts still cover content from every week of the semester, even if I didn’t post weekly.

Now to move onto my following, which is not very large, as it only consists of one person. My soul follower is also doing this unit, which means they either understood the content of the blog or they were just following other people in the unit… I’m going for the latter. Seeing as I only have one follower I don’t think that there was much overall traffic regarding my blog (although I’m not entirely sure how many page views the blog has).

Even with a lack of traffic from outside sources such as followers my blog still connects with the World Wide Web quite well. Throughout my blog there are images and videos which link back to their original sources. Links in general are also used throughout the blog, and this use of links creates a sense of connectivity. When someone views my blog they will be connected with other sites and blogs through these links. The ‘my favourite blogs’ section in the sidebar is one way for people who view the blog to see what I’m interested in and be connected to other blogs. This sidebar section also allows people to access other blogs that they might be interested in. This in and of itself demonstrates a sense of networked media in the blog as there is a connection with various sites. 

Briefly I’ll talk a bit about the CSS of my blog. My blogs theme is a theme from tumblr which I have altered to suite my needs. Basically all I did to the theme was change the colour scheme and alter the sidebar. I didn’t create my own CSS theme for the site as I didn’t really know what I wanted to create and I’m also not much of a designer so anything I did would have taken me months.

Here are my three nominated blog posts for assessment:
-    Remixablity and copyright…
-    Web 2.0
-    A bit about the lecture ‘carving up the world’…

Geo-narratives and their possible uses…

I finally found the example of a geo narrative I was looking for from the site we tell stories. We looked at this in a tute a couple of weeks before I actually got my idea for the assignment. My geo-narrative was completely different from what is seen in this particular geo-narrative, as mine was more research based whilst this one is a short story. This geo-narrative is what made me choose to do a geo-narrative for my project as I found the way a story could be put to a location to be really interesting. I think that geo-narratives could be used for many things in the future from a educational tool to a way to express creativity to a travel diary.

This type of medium could be perfect in an education perspective as school kids could see locations in countries while learning about them in the blurb. I think that if geo-narratives were used in this way that school could be a lot more interesting and kids could remember the subject a lot better.

Geo-narratives are alreay being used as away of expressing creativity, as the example from we tell stories shows. In the future though if more people actually know what geo-narratives are then they could be used to express creativity a lot more.

Finally I think that geo-narratives make for great travel diaries, as people can mark the location of their travel, write a bit about it and have a photo to represent it. This would make looking at peoples travel photos far more interesting, and this way people can share their travels with more people.

Design Patterns

Design patterns are everywhere whether we realise it or not. Looking at the design patterns page from the delicious links really enforces that there are similar design patterns used everywhere. These design patterns might not look exactly the same on every site but if looked at closely you can see the similarities.

The way that various design patterns used on the web have been grouped on this flickr page allows a person to see just how many design patterns there are. One that I found particuarly amusing and didn’t even realise was a design pattern was the 404 group. I personally never really noticed how the number 404 would always occur whenever a page could not be found, but this group made it seem blindingly obvious (but I have always been pretty oblivious to the obvious so..). Every screen shot of a 404 occurance looks entirely different but when it is looked at closely you will find the number 404 somewhere. Some of the screen shots are very basic and just say very simply something like ‘sorry this page could be found’, or in the case of the last fm picture below ‘whoops, sorry, this, page does not exist’.

However there are also some very interesting and far more creative uses of the 404 design pattern. The picture below is a good example of how a design pattern can be used yet tweaked to be interesting at the same time.

Another pretty obvious design pattern is that of video players, as even the real material versions have design patterns. The design patterns of the material video players in the real world have been passed on those on computers. All video players have a triangle for play, two lines for pause and a square for stop. The fact that this design pattern was passed on to computer video players shows how important design patterns are in society. This particualar design pattern of a triangle, lines and squares was known by everyone, thus it was used when computer video players were created so that people wouldn’t be completely overwhelmed by the new development. Also if this design pattern hadn’t been used then people would not have been able to understand video players on computers which means no one would use them etc. Thus design patterns are very important in society as the majority have been around for decades and people understand these patterns.

A bit about the lecture ‘carving up the world’…

I kind of forgot this lecture existed… not that I found it boring or anything, its just that I wasn’t feeling well that day so I don’t think I was really paying attention. But looking back over the lecture notes I discovered that there was a lot of interesting content to this lecture. I found that this lecture in a way summed up the various concepts that had been covered by week 6. Also the fact that it drawed upon theology and other interesting examples on the web made it all the more interesting.

One thing that I found particuarly interesting about this lecture was how it discussed the way in which the world is divided. The way different cultures have their own ways of cooking and dressing and doing things in general has always been an interesting concept, but when you think about this in terms of the internet and technology it becomes even more interesting. Prior to this unit I had never really paid much attention to the various interfaces that are around, but this lecture made it obvious just how important these differences are. If every interface was the same then every aspect of our lives would be extremely boring and monotonous not to mention fairly unfunctional. Interfaces need to be different to meet different purposes. It’s like how a lift has a completely different mechanical make up to a cash register. They are both used for completely different purposes, thus they have ‘interfaces’ similar to others like them.

When interfaces are thought about like this it makes sense that the internet would have different design patterns for different purposes. Different sites use different design patterns as every site is used for a different purpose. Government sites for example are used to inform so they tend to have links down the side, and information on page. A logo, a main heading and subheadings for different sections are also common in these sites. An example of a government site that uses design patterns similar to those mentioned is Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. On this site there is a large title and logo at the top so that people can instantly understand that it is a government site. The information on the site is presented with an information bar down the side that links viewers to the various pages associated with the site. Paragraphs of information tend to be presented in the center of the page, with headings and sub headings. These design patterns have been used, as it works well for presenting information, which is what government sites need to do.

Then there are social sites like the ones seen above, which use a completely different design pattern. Social sites use design patterns that allow people to interact and most importantly socialise. Thus social sites tend to have ways to leave comments and ways to share information. An example is facebook which has different pages such as profile and friends etc. as a means for people to socialise. This site also has various applications that people can use to allow people to socialise more. Design patterns similar to the ones used in facebook are used in other social sites, but in other social sites these design patterns may appear slightly differently. Different social sites will alter and personalise design patterns to suit the purpose of the site, but the underlying aspects of the design pattern such as the ability to leave comments will remain.

Geo-narrative Rationale

I chose to create a geo-narrative for my second production assignment. My geo-narrative is called A Thousand Paper Cranes and was inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki. I got the idea for this topic by searching creative commons images on Flickr, as originally I had no idea what I was going to do for this assignment. While searching the images I came across an image of several strings of a thousand paper cranes, which made me remember the story of Sadako Sasaki. As I only remembered the basics of this story I then researched the topic, but in doing so I realized the worldwide affect it has had. This initial research on the story of Sadako is what led to the structure of my geo-narrative as I realized it could not only be about Sadako, it needed further information. Thus I researched the history of Hiroshima and the day the A-bomb was dropped, as well as the after affects. This research provided a background to the story of Sadako to allow readers a greater insight of the topic. The further information also made it easier to demonstrate how the story moved throughout the world.

In the narrative I only focused on a few key locations where the story has had an effect, as there are many locations where this has occurred. I chose to discuss New Zealand, Armenia, India, Seattle and Shepparton as examples as they all had interesting stories. By having markers throughout the world a sense of a network occurs, as the same story connects all of these locations. Showing how the story of Sadako has had an effect on the world was my aim in this assignment. I think that this aim has been successfully achieved, as a reader will gain insight into the history of the topic as well as seeing the worldwide affects.

A sense of a network and networked production also occurs through the images and links throughout the narrative. The images used in the narrative are my own or are creative commons works, which have been referenced and linked back to the original source. The use of images on specific markers allows the viewer to either have a visual representation of the area discussed or allows the viewer visual stimulation. Not all of the images used represent the exact location of the marker, as this was not always necessary. Sometimes it was only necessary to provide an image of something discussed in the marker such as paper cranes. The way these images are linked back to the Flickr pages of the creators creates a sense of networked media in the assignment, as a viewer is taken back to a page which the majority of the time contains a lot of other images on the same topic.

Throughout the narrative I have also linked to other sites when necessary. I did this as a form of referencing my work, but it also worked to direct the reader to further information on the topic. The final marker entitled ‘additional information’ also provides useful links about the topic to a reader. Links to areas of the topic that I have not covered are provided such as how to make a paper crane. This particular marker is very useful in terms of networked production as it provides links to sites throughout the world, as well as references to the sources I used.

In the field of geo-narratives in general I think my work fits in quite well. It has all of the basics that a geo-narrative needs such as an interesting narrative, images and most importantly markers on a map. Geo-narratives are used for a variety of purposes from people making a creative fiction story interactive to interactive historical information. It is in this sense that I think my particular geo-narrative fits into this field as it provides people with information in an interesting way.

To access my geo-narrative A Thousand Paper Cranes click here.

My Favourite Blogs…

Ok this blog post is going to mainly be about the reasons why I like the blogs I have on the ‘My Favourite Blogs’ list in the sidebar. Firstly my favourite blogs are Motionographer, Drawn!, BOOOOOOOM! and ASIFA - Hollywood Animation Archive. As you can see I like blogs that have things to do with art and animation…

First up is Motionographer, which I like mainly due to the fact that I am studying Motion Graphics this semester. It is because of this unit that I actually find the content of this blog interesting, as it is all about motion graphics. The blog contains entries on various motion graphics pieces from all over the world, which really gives a sense of networked media. Various people contribute to this blog and write their thoughts on various works. A motion graphics piece I found on this blog that I found really cool was The Beatles: Rockband. Basically the work features The Beatles and whole tone of cool animation.

Next is Drawn! which has some pretty interesting yet random posts on illustration, cartooning and anything drawn. Like Motionographer this blog is made up of posts by several people, but it doesn’t seem to be as professional as Motionographer. I can’t really pinpoint any specific examples of posts that I have found interesting on this site as there are just too many of them. The only possible example I can give is the animation Khoda by Reza Dolatabadi which I discussed in one of my earlier posts.

BOOOOOOOM! is a blog that covers topics such as art, design, film, music, photo, junk and projects. This blog has a variety of content and is also made up of posts by several people. I find the topics such as film and art to be the most interesting on this site as these are areas that interest me most. Below is a stop motion I found on the blog called post-it stop motion. This is a really interesting stop motion that must have taken a very long time to make as all of the stop motion is done with post it stickers.

Finally the blog ASIFA - Hollywood Animation Archive is basically a project of International Animated Film Society: ASIFA Hollywood who are a non-profit educational organisation. This organisation is builidng a museum of animation and cartoons so that there will be a digital archive of this information. This blog is good to just look at and browse through as there is so much information about this topic.

Remixability and copyright…

The Internet contains several aspects which allow people to alter another persons work, this is called remixablitity or remix for short. Creative commons refers to the ability to remix work as someones right to creativity. Creative rights is something that creative commons frequently refer to in several videos and articles. The video below is just one example of an instance where creative commons have referred to the concept of creative rights.

Creative commons is a good way to protect your work through copyright, whilst not completely hindering another persons creativity. With creative commons licences people can choose the attributes they want. For example some one can choose that they’re work be used for non-commercial purposes, but then they can also allow people to alter or ‘remix’ their work.

The Internet is filled with examples of remixed works, but I’ll just talk about a couple of these. A good remixed work that hasn’t used any creative commons licensed work in it, but is still licenced through creative commons is A Fair(y) Use Tale. This work explains the basic laws of copyright in America (which are still relevant here in Australia) through the use of several Disney movie clips. The creator has very intelligently mixed together these Disney clips and stayed within the copyright laws.

They have stayed within the laws of copyright by only using portions of the copyrighted material. I personally found the use of Disney films in this remixed work to be quite amusing as Disney enstill copyright on everything. While other old animations from the early 1900’s are now in the public domain (animations such as Humourous Phases of Funny Faces), Disney’s early animations such as Steamboat Willie cannot be seen due to a prolonged copyright.

Another example of a remixed work is Neave Television, which in hindsight is more like a mashup. This site has mixed together a ton of YouTube videos to create a site with the appearance of a television station. Basically you click on the ‘click me to channel hop’ link and a completely random collection of YouTube videos begins playing. The videos are mixed/mashed together with bad reception lines appearing whenever the video randomly changes to another. This particular use of remixability is very entertaining, and was most likely created for this purpose.

Web 2.0

In the past the web was not anything like the social media it is today. Web 2.0 has brought a lot of changes to what used to be a very plain medium. Less than a decade ago people would only view content on the web, but today they are adding to it’s content through social media sites such as Fanfiction, Flickr and facebook etc. Sites like the ones mentioned are created entirely through user conent, so without the users there would be not site. I find how the Internet is so dependent on the user to be very interesting. Fanfiction.net for example is created entirely by stories fans have written about various books and movies. The users of the site can read and review each others stories, making them active in the sites creation and use. The site has millions of stories for different categories, for example in the books category Harry Potter has 401,632 stories. How many stories that are on this site alone demonstrate how useful a site can become when it has several users.

Today people would not be able to survive without the internet as it is a part of their social network. The internet is also far more useful in this generation in terms of research, as a lot of people have forgotten what books are. The internet now has books that can be read online, such as google books, and Amazon which makes the first chapter of some books available. With this change books are becoming less needed in society and some people believe it will die out altogether, which I personally do not think will happen (books are too cool for that). On the internet there are also interactive stories such as Inanimate Alice, which allows a reader to read the story and play a game to do with the story at the same time. The Inaminate Alice stories also include moving graphical elements and music. The inlcusion of all the different aspects of interaction, image and sound into a story is interesting, as without the changes Web 2.0 has brought to the internet this would not have been possible.

Multiplicity

Multiplicity allows for so many different things to be created. It is what happens when something so complex that it would have been unimaginable without computers is created. Computers allow for pieces of information to be overlapped to create a new piece of work with ‘many’ of one aspect. Works that use the concept of multiplicity are being created all the time and can be found all over the Internet. However, in this blog post I’m going to focus on a couple of multiplicity pieces that I have found interesting.

The multiplicity works I’m going to discuss are the artworks by Peter Funch. This artist spends weeks taking photo’s on various Manhattan street corners, before he composites several photo’s together to create something with a level of multiplicity.  His works vary from having a lot of people carrying flowers to hundreds of planes in the sky above a beach. The way Peter Funch composites different elements form his various photos to create one with a common theme is interesting. The very fact that the same thing happens so many times is in and of itself fascinating, as these photos are of what really happens on the streets of Manhattan. Two of my favourite works by Peter Funch are below.

This photo with all of the various tourists is very interesting and amusing to look at. The way several different tourists have been composited into the same shot is confusing when first seen, as a person tends to automatically presume that all of the people were there at once. When it is looked at more closely it can be seen that the people have been composited onto the same shot, as if they hadn’t been they would have been randomly taking photos of strangers.  The fact that there are so many tourists in the same photo doing the same thing is what makes this photo so interesting, and shows just how compelling multiplicity can be.

This photo is very beautiful to look at, as the smoke trails from the planes leave a very aesthetic image. This photo reminds me somewhat of a data visualisation, as it represents where several planes have moved overtime. This photo is also a good example of how interesting and fascinating the concept of multiplicity can be. There are many other interesting multiplicity works out there, but these works give some insight into the area.

Data Visualisation

The most interesting data visualisation I’ve seen so far is one that Michael showed us in the lecture on Tuesday from Ted.com. The data visualisation was created by Hans Rosling and shows the growth and decline of life expectancy and poverty in all the countries in the world. He draws upon statistics regarding these areas from as far back as the 60’s up unitl the early 2000’s. The data visualisation is set up like a graph with circles representing the various countries of the world. The graph is set up so it moves like an animation and shows how these statistics have changed over the decades.

The way the statistics are shown is very easy to understand, as the information moves so that a viewer can easily see what has changed over time. In this sense this datavisualisation is very successful, as the viewer does not need to look at millions of graphs trying to understand the changes.

This example shows how data visualisation can be very useful in the display of information. Without data visualisation data was often hard to understand. I remember reading graphs in highschool that made absolutely no sense to me for a couple of reasons. One of these reasons was that there was no simple way to see the differences between the graphs. Another reason was that they were not visually appealing at all. It is due to these memories that I realised just how useful data visualisation is.

I find data visualisations that are interactive or in a video form to be far more interesting that images. These types of data visualisations show what has changed very simply and are generally very easy to understand. These reasons enforce why this particular data visualisation is effective, as it conveys data in an understandable manner.

Another data visualisation that I have found particuarly interesting is a bicycle built for two thousand. This data visualisation compiles data in an visually appealing manner to create the song bicycle built for two thousand. The fact that the creators were able to collect all the various voice recordings for the project shows just how important the internet and the idea of networked media is.