For my final Project I would like to revisit an idea that I have previously explored. This is due to fact that my previous attempt to create an interactive graphic colage fell quite short of my expectations. I believe that this was due to my inexperience with the flash software. (at the time of my previous attempt I had very little experience with flash and action scripting)
The project consists of a broad collection of images (previously i worked with a collection of my drawings) which are broken into multiple sections. These sections are then reasembled one on top of another in flash.
The interaction of the user with this image (be it rolling over, rolling out, clicking, dragging etc.) toggles the visibility of each section of the top image revealing portions of the images below making the same types of interactions possible with the newly exposed sections of image. These interactions create a "seemingly" infinate number of possible compositions creating an environment that promotes user interactivity and exploration.

The Development Process:
1. I must compile a collection of images, either my own or from others (this could make an interesting gallery format) and divide the images into sections.
(It is important that each image not be divided into sections eaqual to the image to be placed above as this is to predictable and, atleast I feel, destroys the experience to a certain degree)

2. These images must then be reassembled in the flash environment.

3. Action scripting must be applied to each image section to control the ways that the enduser will interact with them.

4. Presentation on the web will require posting the completed project to a web-server as to allow it's viewing. Prior to which however I would like to construct a site that will not only display the interactive flash file but also a gallery/images used section through which I would like to show each image used in the interactive colage in it's entirety as a way of citing the creators of the images (asuming they are not my own) and providing users with some insight into the production process of such a work.

I will repost my previous attempt to produce such a work on my own webserver as soon as i get a chance, however my laptop has recently died so it may take a few days to get my backup's sorted out. I will however be sure to post a link to the site as soon as it is up.
-Geoff Inwood

Lynda's Proposal

For my final project I would like to use flash to make this garden type of interface. There would be things like different types of plants, or flowers and bugs that you would find in a garden. This would be part of a website that I will create by the end of the term.
I would like the veiwer to be involed in the choosing the different plants, flowers and bugs and such, that a person can find or put into a garden. In a way it is like a mini game where the person is a gardener and they are trying to make this garden grow so that they can harvest crops or flowers, depending on what they chose to plant.
The different types of information that will be shown are text, used to tell what flower it is and maybe some other facts about the plants, and images will be of the flowers or what they will look like when they grow, the bugs and such, and flash animations used in this web page.
The target viewers of this web page would be females or gardeners in general. There might be two different versions one versions that is all flowery and pretty. The other version would be for the boys with lots of bugs and some other things that boys would find interesting. The just depends on how much time I have with all the assignments that are due.
I would research the different types of plants and such that a person might find in a garden. For example, tomatoes, onions, and flowers like tupils and some other plants and such. There will be a small blurb about each flower or the bugs describing what type it is and where you can find it and such.
Basically it is scheduled so that the first few weeks research is done to make sure I know what to put where and a small description of the plant and images. The rest of the time will hopefully be done doing sketches and working with flash to get it worked out to get all the kinks out so that it is working properly.

Elia Morrison Proposal

My website will be a sort of online-real-world game of hide and seek, as well as a guide through the city, maybe like a scavenger hunt. Accessed mainly by cellular phones that have both a camera and a connection to the internet, people will use the Semacode (http://semacode.org) application to capture “Sematags” and interpret them to get access to pages of my site that will be built specifically for mobile phones, palm pilots, and other such things.
The pages will consist of a small and vague map, a photo of a Sematag on some building, tree, or other object, and a nearby major intersection. Using these three items the viewer will then be able to seek out and continue the hunt for more tags around the city.
In addition to the hunting section of the “game” people will also be able to create and upload to the site their own pages and new locations, so the game can grow and be user controlled in a way. The hunt will be user directed and my web interface will mostly serve as a facilitation for the project to grow.
To control the user submitted pages I will hopefully be creating system that checks against a pre-defined template and allows the user to create a map of their chosen location using Google maps.

PLAN!
Week 1-2
Researching Semacode/Tag implementation
Researching web hosting
Researching WML and WAP
Google maps for map creation and php for user submission

Week 3-4
Creating site, interfaces, Sematags, researching locations.
Purchase hosting.

Week 5-?
Implementation.
Deploying Sematags, Getting attention to the project.

A7's Blog Extensions Project

What is it?
My project is about creating blog extensions. Briefly, a blog extension is a way of moving standard blog functions (posts, comments, updates) beyond the computer, into "real world" devices such as cell phones, iPods, and ambient devices.

Cell phone integrations could allow users to post to a blog via sms messaging. Perhaps users could receive text messages each time a comments is added to their posts. Or even using gps tracking on a cell phone to map your current location and display your whereabouts on the blog.

iPod integration could include automatic podcasting of all audio and video uploads within the posting interface. Files could be converted to iPod format on the server, and the proper podcast feed details updated on the fly for every file upload.

Ambient devices, such as the Nabaztag, will be integrated into the blog in a variety of ways. Post moods will be reflected in the ambient device automatically, comments can be read out loud by the device, and visual notifications can tell you if your blog has been updated. It will also act as a communication device, as people will be able to send message directly to the device from the blog.

Who is it for?
The initial site I will be creating is my own personal website. The target audience will be my friends and family, as well as others interested in my art, videos, or essays. Once the site is finished, the code will be portable in that it can be deployed in other environments for other people, so the extended audience is potentially anyone interested in blogging or ambient devices.

More Details?
Administrators (me) will have full access to post to the main blog, edit posts, delete posts, and manage users. All other users (with free automated account signup) can post to the Free4All blog, comment on all posts, and interact with the ambient device. They will also be able to upload files, such as images, videos, and more.

The site is accessed via web browser, but since it is integrated into external devices, some limited information is also available via cell phone or ambient device.

Timeline?
- The initial site redesign is in progress right now. Most of the design is complete.
- February 1-15th will be the integration of new features, such as private posts, user groups, email notification, and more.
- February 15th to 28th will be the integration of the ambient device into the site.
- March will be full deployment and testing of the site, as well as additional features and bug fixes.




































A7

Project Outline and Work Plan.

-szaft

Project Outline
So I am scrapping the old idea and am working on a new one.
So far here is a new project work plan.

assignment 1

Lindsay Kesler

I want to explore the parallels between a window in website space in relation to a window in a real space such as a home; both have public and private elements.
I am interested in how people represent themselves on the internet through sites such as myspace, in much the same way as they decorate a personal space such as a home. The most evident in passing by a home is what can be seen through the window. How a homeowner decorates their window projects their identity out in to the street for others to see their beliefs, preferences etc. The internet is used in much the same way as the site designer chooses what images, thoughts will be seen as an outward representation of themselves. Through using internet "explorer" or "navigator" we tour around this imaginary cyber space. In much the same way the language used to describe how the internet is used can be linked to voyeurism and tourism through its ability to show 'windows' into other peoples lives.

I want to create an interactive site which will contain voyeuristic portraits of windows and other ways to view other peoples lives. Each window photographed will show the beliefs chosen to be outwardly displayed by their owners and will act as a kind of gallery of photos and possibly sounds meant to give a glimpse into the lives of the various residents.

The site will be for artists and/or internet users in general from home/school as a kind of sound art/photography/interactive site.
Week by week
Jan 29-feb 26
I plan on walking around the city photographing and gathering sounds from interesting houses and areas of the city. I'm sure mor ideas will come out of this process of walking and gathering images which may be incorporated into the final webpage concept.
Feb 14-March 05
Upload/organize photos/sounds on computer set up basic design using Photoshop. Make alpha channels.
March 12-April ?
put all photos and images on flash and work on interactive components.
apparently html doesnt work on this so heres a link to a very rough Paint sketch of one of my ideas for the main page layout so far.

Antonella's Assignment 1 – Proposal

It has always been an interest of mine to form a connection between architectural structures and the humanistic characters they appear to suggest within a city landscape. What may seem like a familiar building holds unique characteristics that often go unnoticed but are worthy of acknowledgment. This is a challenge for any artist!

To understand and recognize the beauty and structure of a city landscape, one must carefully analyze it by separating it into parts and consider how each form is just as important as any other, such as the windows and doors. My intent for this project is to allow the user to explore the many unique facets of such buildings through means of web exploration and interactivity, while every process (clicks) creates and changes these structures of familiarity into something new and engaging.

I will be working with various media to create this project. I will use my collection of digital images I have recently taken of random city shop fronts that have interesting geometric shapes and patterns. I will create an inventive street by arranging and meshing the shop front images together in a consecutive manner, like a panoramic image. I will then experiment with different software programs to recreate and manipulate the structures for different effects: Photoshop to change the appearance such as colours transformations, saturation, and contrasts; After Effects or Flash to animate forms and colours; HTML, CSS, or Flash to build the site so to allow the user to interact with the environment online. Also possibly add sound to help immerse the visitor into the environment. The manipulations will vary depending on what I will learn throughout the semester through program tutorials and how I can make use of it for this project.

This virtual image will become like an artwork in some way, allowing the artist, in this case the user, to choose and recreate (invent) something new and engaging that speaks to them.

The street will become an interactive environment for anyone to explore and discover it’s various characteristics. Thus my target viewer will be for anyone, at any time or place, especially those who are interested in web art.

Week 1: Collect all the images needed, and merge them together effectively into a panoramic image. Prepare site to place (not yet interactive) image on page.
Week 2: Devising what I want to manipulate by separating each structures forms into parts. List ideas of transformations for each form.
Week 3: Through programming, manipulate the images through colour transformations, saturation, contrasts, etc. (while saving each change into parts and adding to site)
Week 4: Through programming, manipulate the images through animations and other intricate effects. (while saving each change into parts and adding to site)
Week 5: Overview of site to see that parts are working effectively. Continue adding manipulations so users can interact with the environment.

(Week-by-week plan may fluctuate)

Communification.org

Currently I own the domain names for my long-term-project-in-the-making COMMUNIFICATION CO-OP:

communification.com will be the commerical component of COMMUNIFICATION, selling goods (VERY goods!), like merchandise and art to raise money that enables the larger activities of the organization (possibility of eventually facilitating "fair trade" worker co-ops in developing countries to manufacture garments, art objects, etc.)

communification.org will be an online information hub for an open-audience that networks to existing websites and has no commercial content, only community-related things, mostly focused on festival-related promotions and creative collaborations.

To start with, I want to sort of create an information hub for "community arts festivals". As far as this class project goes, it will just be an informative, interactive site, showing only North American events, so I can just stick with English for now. Later, I'd like to include Europe, and eventually global events perhaps, which would probably lead me to segment the site off by language and geographic location (which is complicated, so forget that).

I want to create a network, that isn't inherently logical or intended, but a connection that I see between a lot of the grassroots festivals that spring up from independent organizers, with an eclectic range of activities and entertainment mediums including music performances, but not exclusively... as opposed to those that are heavily sponsored and have line-ups of bands picked from a certain genre of pop-music. There's definitely lots of fesitvals that ride the line though.

Examples of festivals: , Symbiosis (Northern California), Burning Man Fesitval (Nevada), World Electronic Music Festival (travelling), Harvest Festival (GTA), Evolve Festival (Nova Scotia), Northtek (Northern Ontario), Earthdance International (multi-location), Eclipse Summer Trance Festival (Central Ontario), Hillside Festival (Southern Ontario), Shambhala (Northern BC), etc.

Obviously I mainly know of the ones in our general area, but there's many more. Actually, it has taken three years to actually discover these ones, which is why I think there is a need for this type of thing. I'm personally interested to find out what all is out there.

A common scheme of some of these festivals is the "you build it", "mandatory participation" approach, so that instead of centralized unit of people being responsible for producing the entirety of the event materials, there is an open field for people to contribute in their own way, and for the festival to grow proportional to the efforts of the people that want it to.

THE FLASH SITE (www.communifcation.org) :

An interactive map of North America that highlights festivals by location.

I'm thinking of starting with a stylized 3-D earth animation (monochrome, wireframe, with land masses), with COMMUNIFICATION orbiting it, and some visual effects (5 seconds)... then it zooms into North America which will be a base layout for the site in general. For each event, there is a marker, that users can scroll over to reveal basic information, festival location, date, brief description. There will be links to the festivals that will open up in new windows.

A sidebar will list other areas of the website (that I will develop after the map) perhaps including - "how to's" like "how to build a dome", links to useful gear and products valuable festival-goers, information resources for festival organizers, links to collectives and organizations involved in festival activities, and a forum for creative collaborations (the second major component of the site, that might be a DRUPAL-developed site on its own.)

Problem: some festivals have not yet announced their locations, and still others deliberately intend not to release their specific location until the week leading up to the event (presumably to avoid nearby residents from filing complaints and possibly jeopardizing the festival.)

WEEK-BY-WEEK

week 4:
-research

week5:
-Flash tutorials

week 6:
- produce layout and place-holder graphics (draft quality) with basic animations
- research events in North America

week 7:

week 8:

background:

This website will give me some interface and familiarity with existing festivals, and will serve their needs as much as my own. I personally hope to become involved in sculpturally designing "sound villages" at these festivals, and have shifted the focus of my artwork to cater to this application. Sculptural decor, lighting, projections, promo materials, performance art, that kind of stuff. I also would like to acquire some power-generators (solar most likely) and bring those along to festivals, as they are almost all off-grid and require portable power (pending involvement from festival organizers). As the scope of the endeavour becomes larger more people can be involved, and we can make appearances at more festivals. A eco-fuelled bus for touring around in would be necessary at some point.

The interesting thing about these festivals is that, for a short time, they exist as self-sufficient, ecological, mini communities shaped by willing participants and often exemplify ideals that are difficult to cultivate in existing habitations. They have a strong sense of unity and positivity, as they are intentional gatherings... temporary get-aways with a focus on partying, fun and learning. Yet, in their own small way, I think they are models for what adaptive, responsive and aware people are capable of when they co-operatively build a community.

Augmented Experiences

One of the ways to augment an experience is simply to change its context. How can the use of spaces and technologies like Cellspace, Bluetooth, and physical sensors be used to create salient experiences of the 'everyday' or be used to construct new experiential environments? What are is a person willing to do/visit if they have sufficient support?

Research through links, paper sources, and interviews will be used to construct an awareness interesting places people visit within the city and in their imagination. Then, using podcasts, bloothtooth (with GPS?), or simple written instructions, I would like to guide people into these spaces. My hope is that this work will be accessed through handheld devices as its main component ideas are mobility and maneuverability.

Documentary Media:
-A webpage will host the media (Flash)
-Photography and video of sites used in tours
-Interviews, video streaming--imagined and visited spaces



WEEK 5: Interviews: imagined and visited spaces; imagined experiences
Research: my own interesting spaces
WEEK 6: Interviews: imagined and visited spaces; imagined experiences
Photograph: document spaces of interest
WEEK 7: Present: interviews and photographs with ideas of usage
WEEK 8: Create: walking tours of spaces
Construct: begin to fabricate salient environments
WEEK 9: Record: instructions to walking tours of spaces in city
Construct: fabricate salient environments
WEEK 10: Create: webpage to host photos, video, podcasts, and other research materials
Construct: complete environments; document
WEEK 11: Create: webpage; continue recording results of tours
WEEK 12: Create: webpage; continue recording results of tours
WEEK 13: Present



Ben Prus

Jamin's Ass-1 Outline

I plan on experimenting with Flash animations for my final project. A lot of my classes this semester involve working with Flash, so maybe I can build a web site as a collection of animations/work. Users would be able to navigate through the site and interact with various animations that will guide users along the way. This work will include writing, images, music/sounds, movie clips, flash animations, etc.

The target audience will be anyone with internet access and a browser capable of playing flash animations. Why? Why not? There is no specific use for this work. It will be art that exists for whoever wants to acknowledge its existence. The specific content for this work (like aesthetic details) hasn't quite come to me yet. I'm thinking it will end up being some kind of 'interactive surrealist cartoon'...??? Something like that. Most of the images and sounds will come to me throughout the creative process. I had an idea for an animation of a hand on a table playing that 'knife between the fingers' game. All the animations would just be crazy random stuff like that...maybe some flowers too, who knows? (The project will find a clearer focus as I work on it.)

Perhaps I will find something I want to say, but for now I'm going to just experiment with animation and see what kind of messages come out of the evolution of the work. Letting the work evolve on its own doesn't leave me much of a 'week-by-week' workplan...All I know is that I'll be working in flash creating some kind of surreal/poetic series of animations, but I have
yet to establish exactly what kind of special message they will express. Again, all this is discovered through actually creating the work (...from the subconscious?). This also leaves me with no real preconceived diagram of the web site either...I guess it will turn out looking like a chain of events in animations (i.e. the user clicks a button, the animation takes them further, presenting more buttons and new animations to explore, they click more buttons, more animations, etc).

Any feedback or technical instruction I will need will most likely be concerning certain elements of action scripting I'm having trouble with in Flash.

Peace out, and NEVER question Chuck Norris.

WELCOME - this is your blog so please use it

Welcome to the Publications : Digital blog. This Ontario College of Art and Design course looks at net art, e-zines and the issues and history of web-specific and digital publications. The blog will be a forum for conversation, input and skills exchange. Your participation is what makes it work, so please check the blog frequently and contribute often.