A reflection on what really was an interesting yet different experience

well as the semester draws to a close so does this hearty blog space. I have to say even though im not the biggest fan of having to contribute to education every single week, i have found the idea of a blog to be both enjoyable and quite interesting.

I was a bit apprehensive at the start of the semester as i didnt usually frequent blogs and certainly hadn't thought about starting my own. The initial research into the variety, information accepted and ease of blogging really did generate some interest from me though.

Throughout the semester i think the blogging really kept me on track. Without the constant reminder that a blog had to be done, i don't think i would have a. gone to lectures or b. bothered to learn about the various techniques, applications, software or historical elements online covered in the course.

i have to say though, that i found the idea of merely replying to the lectures a bit dull, so must weeks i tried to do a bit of research into the subject and go out on a tangent in order to learn a bit more about the topic and the ideas behind it.

All in all i am really satisfied with the knowledge i have gained from completing this particular unit requirement, i have learnt a lot about coding in relation to blogging, the applications that are used in combination with blogging and how blogging is a new platform for online usage.

i was unable to check the visitations of the site as i am informed that blogger does not give access to that sort of information, but i think it is safe to say that given that i only have three followers my page is either not very well publicised, not very interesting or a way for other students to show that they know how to use blogs (i know thats why i did it), regardless this page was used as and will continue to be used as a personal reference point on all things web based.

Please find my three best posts linked to from the nav bar to the right.

regards

ZERational Project B

I initially wanted to do the youtube recreation video for project B. I had convinced myself that a stop motion animation was the way to go.

After getting to class about two weeks ago, still without a decent concept, i was convinced that if i couldn't come up with anything reasonably interesting or practical maybe i should be looking at doing something slightly easier technique wise or maybe even one of the other project topics.

In retrospect, im glad i got this wake up call. I decided to ditch the idea of the video and move onto a different topic and work through a range of fresh concepts. I decided to do the data representation. i din't want to use basic data forms, i wanted t work on something more original and perhaps that i had not tried before.
I have a look throught the information on the class' delicious page and found myself looking at Martin Wattenburg's shape of song on smashing magazine.

The basic idea of Martin Wattenburg's data representation was to find similarities througout a piece of music and then graphically track them. For instance:

Jupiter Symphony / Mozart:

Four Seasons / Autumn / Vivaldi:

I really liked the idea of a. learning to read sheet music in order to do this process and b. the idea that music could be converted into graphical form.
The main issues with this process being, how i would represent a piece of music in a form dissimilar to the above and what piece of music to use.

After trawling the internet for music, i was faced with the decision to either use a piece of relatively obscure music picked up from a copyright free websource or reference a famous well known piece.
Ii found the site musonline.com, This site has various recordings of well-known classical pieces that are not under copyright. I choose moonlight sonata by Beethoven. This piece whilst beautiful also uses heavy repition in order to increase the power of the song, thus perfect for what i was looking for.

I found it difficult coming up with a concept to represent the linkage between notes in the piece of music, so i went on a bit of a tangent and came up with the idea of representing the particular note throughout the piece in different colours.

I set up a cubed template in illustrator and used each individual note from the song as a coloured square in the cube.

I came up with this:

I was still not happy with this form as it was relatively unoriginal, plain and unimaginative. I continued to think about ways that i could represent this new information in a concept that not only was exciting but truely represented the piece of music.

Again, on a further tangent, i thoughtabout kaelidoscopes. Not only would it be a great way to represent the data , but it would suit the magnitude and the style of the song graphically.
I built myself a kaelidoscope, and set up the contents to represent the ratios of the different notes in the block representaion. i used a camera to capture the vision and with quicktime managed to convert the still motion shots into a set of active gifs that are a part of the graphical solution.

I really felt as though the solution accurately suggests the volume of the song, its repetition and the period of the style. However this was a little bit out there and perhaps the idea behind it was a little weak? Regardless i decided to see what else i could come up with. 

During another unit during the semester (motion) we discussed real time animations. I was amazed by some on the stuff that people are doing, not only coders but graphic designers working with basic code. I thought this might be a strong option for a concept if i could make graphics behave in a certain way under the influence of music. 

i searched the net for inspiration and finally came across a technique called sound spectrum display. At http://gotoandlearn.com/play?id=62 i found a basic tutorial on this technique. The ideas is that the code (flash) reads in the varying byte rates for a piece of music and displays this graphically in a number of ways.

The result of this tutorial was a basic wave form. Not quite what i was looking for. 

I search wider of the net looking for ways to advance my design and i came across a piece of unfinished code for a forum (http://www.gotoandlearnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=22746) that i was able to take some elements from to experiment with.

After playing around for a fairly long time i was able to combine elements from a number of sources on the internet into an original solution that mapped the highs and lows of the musical piece in a simple yet, crisp and classy way.

i really enjoyed this project. Not only was a under pressure in the end to come up with some effective concepts but there was so much scope to all of these pieces.

In the end i developed a number of solutions for the problem, that were all quite effective in their own way. I learnt a lot about flash, basic coding and photography as a result of the various techniques i experimented with. In summary i think that i not only developed an excellent solution to the project, i also demonstrated an ability to think outside the square in response to a brief, which i am really happy with. 

I wouldn't change anything that i did during the project, apart from maybe starting a little earlier with stronger concepts.

My site can be viewed at davidisastarr.com/music.html

regards

Musical side of said data

Given the resources available online for data representations i do wonder why i choose to a. Anallise a piece music (which i didn't know how to do) b. break it into repetitious parts and c. try to make something beautiful from something so structured and monsterous.

Oh well it has been a learning curve, and i am still a long way away from having the graphic finished, however, i recently stumbled upon something quite random that might just spice it up a bit.... but we will wait and see.

regards yall

The idea of what is real is real, how does this relate to the new web?

Ok so this one is a bit late... oh well cant win them all.

From what i gather web 2.0 is the equivalent to Microsoft releasing a new version of windows if windows didn't belong to anyone and computers all worked the same. Web 2.0 is a new way of looking at the web as a whole. In the past we used to see the internet as a medium in which top plonk documents up for general access. This is not the case anymore as a result of the new ideas brought in by web 2.0. The idea is that this new concept changes and improves the way in which things are classified and they way in which information is valued. 

example 1.

In the old classification process cars were seen as machinery and machinery was therefore linked to the classification of a car. Now through new more intuitive classification systems, a car is obviously still seen as a machine but a machine is not necessarily seen as a car, as it can be other things as well. There is a new parent/child formation that is helping to make sense of the web in a way that has not been seen before.

example 2.

The new concepts behind web 2.0 revolve around the power of the users. The idea is called "group of whatever', and the basic idea is that for example two peoples opinions/knowledge is more accurate that a single persons. So that web based applications such as wikipedia, value the knowledge of a huge group of people in discerning what is accurate and what is not. 

These new guidelines for the internet are leading us as users into a new age of better ordered, easier to maintain web based application which we can trust through input.

How creative... for war stuff

Multiplicity

Multiplicity is one of those things that if done well can look really really cool. Multiplicity can be used for a number of different things, computer games, assisting with CGI for large scenes and in basic motion graphic works. 

Multiplicity has been around for ages in computer games, as there was less emphasis on getting i right due to the concept behind them. Of late full length motion pictures have begun to use multiplicity appropriately and well. The lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the best examples of this, in regards to the fighting scenes. At around the 3.58 mark there is scene where huge armies are charging each other, this is a perfect example of multiplicity.

In more static objects multiplicity can still be seen, more in reference to a group mentality. The photographs taken by Peter Funch of NY streets [link] are a collage of various photos taken at different periods over several weeks arranged in such a way that they look like they were taken at the same time with a set theme. 

there are a variety of ways in which to use the idea of multiplicity, but in my mind none do it better than these two astounding examples

regards

Street art, seriouly cool stuff

All different all cool. i was just 'surfing' this arvo, i found myself continually coming across cool stuff like this on other peoples blogs, so it thought i would share. Hope you all enjoy....... regards

Post secret, for secrets

i found this site (post secret) really interesting. This is a amazing community tool. Instead of people having to give up their secrets privately they are encouraged to share said secrets with a huge volume of people in a completely anonymous way... how satisfying. i Went through a fair few of these, and was kind of amazed at the variety of secrets told. There were secrets on adultery, lies, sadness and truth among others. I found the simplest secrets fascinating. I can relate sometimes to things like this.



However, another part of me looked at this site and thought about the weakness in people this site encourages. People have an avenue to escape the reality of their problems and secrets... still that point of view is pretty heartless. Everyone has secrets and what better way to share them than splash them all over the web.

regards

A certain realisation

well its only just now as i sit down, with pretty much fuck all to do - 'surfing' the net instead of working, that i actually see how a blog/media collection can be adventagious to me.

I sort of took in the lecture about the yahoo pipes, it seemed like a cool enough idea, but, i didnt truely appreciate it until about three minutes ago when i started having trouble, a. remembering all the cool sites i had been to and b. figuring a way that i would keep track of all of them. yes yes i know, had i payed more attention to the lectures i wouldnt have had this issue. but im glad i did, it really openned me up the idea of being a dedicated blogger/yahoo pipes, not just for the class but for my own entertainment in moments of pure boredom at work.


Also i have had a brain wave. now that i have access to the internet at work i am going to start reconfiguring my blog here. yay! getting paid to maintain my blog.
hope all are having as top hols
regards

OFFF, wow sick

This is seriously cool, i have had a look at the stuff around the next relating to this OFFF conference and i looks amazing. They have speeches and presentations from some of the world's leading figures and motion graphics. If you have a chance go to http://blog.offf.ws/ and check out some of their stuff 

OFFF 2009 Main Titles from Prologue! from OFFF on Vimeo.

Ze Rational Project A

The idea was to design an exhibition on the "Minimal", minimal techno music genre. I wanted to create somewhat of a basic reference page for people who had little to no idea of what minimal music was under the disguise of an exhibition, thus using the exhibition to build on their knowledge of the genre and music in general.

I tried to keep the exhibition as simple as possible, attempting to maintain the minimalist feel of the genre. The idea was to keep vast open spaces and a sparse look.
I chose to use a blog format for my exhibition, due to simplicity and functionality.
The initial layout of the blog pages did not suit what I was looking for so i made it a point to strip the blog's html down to its core elements, again to maintain the general aesthetic of the movement. In order to get the simple text, nav bar layout there was a fair bit of chopping and changing involved, however, i think the end product shows how much i have learnt about blogs in general and the concept of html manipulation.
I tried to maintain a very block revolved design, with minimal flair. At one point i showed the exhibition to a friend who asked why i had kept the default heading style and simplicity in colour as opposed to doing something like my main blog heading. Personally, think the default heading style really suits the idea of the minimal genre and the basis of a tradtional exhibition aesthetic. the back contrasts well with the white, again achieving my design solution.


I had an in-depth look at variety of ways in which i could format my music into an exhibit able medium. There are a whole lot of licensing issues with the distribution and bootlegging of music in an online forum, this made the process a little more difficult than i had originally counted on.

I found two great ways in which i could easily access and display my exhibition pieces without infringing on licensing regulations.

The first was reverbnation, an excellent platform for organisation and display of music. Reverbnation offers an online player that creates a visual playlist for the user in a format where they can see what music is in the playlist in what order. This was an excellent option however; there were two main problems with reverbnation. For my exhibition i was looking for of a shuffled playlist where the music sorted itself out for the user as the target audience would have no idea what to look for in an ordered playlist.
And reverbnation is designed more for users to upload their own music not that of other artists, what i wanted would have been in breach of their licensing.

The other option and the one that I choose to use was last.fm. Not only can you create your own playlist from music of other artists in a legitimate way, but you can also generate a widget from that music library and direct it through to your blog.

There were issues with the size of the collections. Last.fm does not create a playlist without considerable content in the user’s library. This did work in favour though as it pushed me to add more than i had originally decided, which increased the depth of my exhibition piece.


I had a detailed look at the licensing arrangement for Last.fm had a detailed read of their main user guidelines and widget usage rules.
The regulations are very basic: ‘(a) must not frame, surround, obfuscate or create a browser or border environment around any of the Content of the Website; (b) may link to, but not replicate, the Content; (c) must not imply that Last.fm or the Website or any artist or performer are endorsing or sponsoring it or its products’. The ideas of the widgets are to ‘enable our users to share Last.fm with their friends. It is not provided for commercial use, distribution or exploitation’. On this basis last.fm provided a very simple option for sharing of music through the exhibition.

The pictures used were also used in accordance with licensing through creative commons. All the photos had full usage, and only needed to be attributed to the photographers. refer to references page for more details.


From research point of view i have trawled through the internet in search of information, i have looked a huge number of sites relating to the music genre. To this point i have not really found anything, that directly replicates my exhibition.
There are individual resources for and playlists on the music genre. However nothing really stand alone as a collaboration. There is wikipedia that has a huge level of text based information on minimal but no media. Then you have platforms such as reverbnation that have all the media but no information.
Of course there is last.fm’s minimal resource, however, again it is not really a standalone independent page that covers the same information that i do, in as simple a format that caters for the users i do.
In fact i got an email from this music company/music channel(?) http://www.mangarepublic.com/ based out of Hong Kong, wanting to know if i could develop a few more online reference exhibitions for their new website using their playlist streaming.... enough said? ha ha.

All the images used in this project are licensed appropriately and attributed accordingly.

My Exhibition can be reached at minimalexhibition.blogspot.com

Regards

blah blah blah... oh skating, videos, style and music? tell me more!

The idea of mixed media is really attractive, as we are being confronted with more and more collaborative work from renowned designers, photographers, musicians, filmmakers and other industry specialists, there is an increasing body of work looking at new ways to present certain types of information in more creative and exciting ways. 

There is no doubt that skateboarding has long used music in a similar way to MTV video clips, using music to cue certain actions and vice versa, however, now film makers are pushing the boundaries in order to back up the musical element with equally exciting movement.

 

I was watching fox the other day and i would hazard a guess to say that it was 'fuel tv' that supplied me with the info, but anyway, skate company teams across the US have begun to do some pretty sick stuff with film and dare i say it, interior design concepts.... Im not sure who is running the idea, however, said skate teams are competing for heaps and heaps of money and are now pushing the boundaries of new techniques of filming and are coming up with some unbelievable results. I cant find particular the stuff on the net, for whatever reason, however the main idea is that a skate team sets up their own formation in a warehouse, uses their own film crew (or hired professions) and try to create something that hasn't been done before (i will update if i find anything). 

I did find something similar though, on topic. This is a film festival revolving around skateboarding, some pretty rad stuff....

Little Balloon from The Skateboard Film Festival on Vimeo.

I did also find this really cool clip by a skating company, that is the promo for their new video... it is amazing, hope you enjoy.

Lakai, fully Flared /w m83

im really looking forward to stepping out in this industry at a time when boundaries are being pushing, nobody know what will be next.

regards

Back to attack

Ha Ha i had a go at the wolfenflickr 3d this morning... how cool

I am amazed at the idea of api, the way people have developed programs to piggy back off other more entrenched setups. I have had a look at the variety of API applications on the net and i have to say that this, the flickr remixed and the twitter stream take the cake.

These are all seriously cool variations on existing concepts... although I do wonder how far this will go. Will this idea of using API's in to remix existing content just turn into an overcrowding of similar stuff on the net?

I was thinking about it in terms of a remix of a song, and i know that these API generations aren't static like a song, however my basic idea is this..... the song is pressed and then various other artists have a go to try and make it better in their own style and for their own needs, but what ends up happening is the song gets over played, the song loses its identity and everyone gets sick of it.... 

Will this be the case where people take the original idea (perhaps the twitter stream is the best example of this) and try to make it more user friendly and creative until we either just dont care about its function anymore, we get bored or there are to many options to actually care about userbility because we have seen it before?

regARDS

Free for all

ha ha how funny is that about the leak over the blacklisted sites!

im sure this is exactly what they didnt want to happen now they have half of Australia's youth browsing through material they might not have otherwise... i know if i got my hands on a list like that at 15 i would have a decent look.

I did hear though that certain figures in the set up of the groups in charge of shortlisting the black list had already called for a smaller group so that the information could not have been as easily leaked, and if it had have been leaked they could simply find the person who did it....

oh well, its pretty funny that now wikileak is on the shortlist because it leaked the info...

regards

Creativity Remixed and Attainable

How awesome are the people at creative commons! I hadn't heard for it before this week. It is such an interesting concept. They have broken down the intellectual barriers relating to copyright.

I love the way they have used existing footage from heavily copyrighted disney films to get their point across. But due to the fact that everyone will probably use that in their blogs i went looking for something else. I found this documentary/interview type piece on creative commons....

I was amazed that major artists such as Moby are putting their music online. But surely this makes sense in a global culture society, the more people remix or share this music the wider the orignal content will spread and therefore the further the artists influence will stem. This has to be a good thing for everyone. People can listen to the music that they enjoy and artists are being attributed to the original work.

I hope that this is a launch pad for a number of other artists to follow in Moby's path and use mediums such a s creative commons to share and further promote their music.

I was also amazed by the remixed work based on original concepts... let me be more specific. The alice clip by Pogo is amazing. The original work below is unbelievable...

Works like this truly amaze me, the artists dedication the final solution is astonishing. I would love to be able to do something like this but i really don't think i have the patience for it. I assume work like this is done with vj-ing software, i would love to get into this a bit but not to the extent of the above work. I found this video on the basics of vj-ing, doesn't look that difficult, much like dj-ing however, there is an added visual element as a result of the mixing. The music is a bit hardcore but you get the idea.

I am really interested in the relationship between sound and graphics, so this is definitely something i would be interested in pursuing. 

regards

CSS yeah!

I must retract my week 1 rant on how pointless css is, i have been working on some freelance stuff with a mate and he is pretty good at all of this stuff. Wow! it makes like so much easier in the long run.

In dreamweaver in order to create a reasonably cool site without css you need to import stuff in from photoshop. That just isn't rational when you are dealing with material that needs to be updates regularly.

During this process we have, or should i say, he has been run through how css is a way better way to do all of this stuff. He can create a similar template to me in a way that is easier to navigate, faster to load and simpler to update than anything i have done in the past.

I think i am a changed man. forgive me css for my previous comments about you

regards

I will code for food

Ok so i have made the change to blogspot... well because it is easier and they require less monies for the same thing.... Ta Da!

So i was late to the tutorial on thursday morning but when i got there i wasnt to put out becuase i have done a bit of this stuff before. However, the difference is, i have learnt the lazy way.

I taught myself the basics of html a while ago and learnt a bit of css while i was at it… the problem is that dreamweaver makes the process easier, so i have forgotten most of what i learnt.

I dont want to sound like a wanker, but why would you do all of this coding when you can just design it in dreamweaver with out any code hassles?

i get the point that you probably have to learn through html so that you can understand problems that may occur down the track if you have them…. is this why we learn the coding of web stuff? Does coding allow you to do things you cant simply with dreamweaver design view? am i an idiot?

Regardless i did find it interesting to relearn the html stuff and the relationship it has with css style sheets. Css certainly makes the html process easier

Regards

If you wish

Ok so i have been having a bit of grief regarding the navigation of css additions and themes in wordpress so far… in fact i am currently considering changing to blogspot (i hear it is easier to navigate? right guys?)

Problem 1

Ah so to give you some backgroud, i was trawling the net, and stumbled across some really cool themes for wordpress. thinking that i could be a bit different and bash up something really funky, i decided to have a go at applying it to my blog.

As it turns out in order to change the themes you need to go through an ftp server, which is highly inconveniently given the uni doesnt let us upload via this sort of stuff.

Problem 2

after ditching the idea of being totally radi’cool’ and busting out an obscure theme setup, i decided i would just create an image greeting for my page, what a hassle. i’m sure it is just me here but seriously, it shouldnt be that hard… can anyone tell me how to insert a picture into my title space, with out having to change the theme or whatever?

This is ruining my picnic!

regards