World Clock

It's a little disturbing,

But it's an interesting use of flash.

Reflections on DM

We covered a lot in digital media this semester, but I didn't feel particularly challenged. Considering it was a 101 course, I understand why we don't go into these things in depth, but I'm excited to do so in second year RTA.

Showing examples in lecture helped inspire me and give me an idea of what can be done through different media. The tutorials were helpful but seemed pretty redundant at times.

This course should offer more instructions and possibilities when it comes to programs. More importantly, programs like Fireworks which aren't used by professionals should not be bothered with. There is no reason not to start with Photoshop, as this course should be an introduction anyway. I think this was the most frustrating part of the course, since Fireworks is rather crippled software and you would never use it again outside of class.

I have always been interested in digital media, and am definitely considering a career in the field. However, I wish we had a better idea of what these careers would be, specifically. This isn't covered in the course and would introduce ideas student previously hadn't thought of in occupations related to digital media.

The most important thing I learned in this course is how to use Flash and all the information about the web. We're on the internet everyday, but we generally don't spend time analysing it or thinking about its effects. It's important to think critically in this digital age and this digital media course helped me do just that.

See you next year!

The Importance of Getting on the Web

In these technology and web-saturated days, it is absolutely crucial for businesses and individual persons to have a presence on the web. With out fingers practically connected to our keyboards, cell phones, and PDAs, we want information fast, and if we can't get it fast, we move on to different topics of interest.

So what is a perfect example of individuals with a web presence? I believe the answer to that is the authors of popular webcomics. They draw something, we laugh, and we keep coming back for more.

Personal favourites:
1. xkcd - Randall Monroe
2. Sinfest - Tatsuya Ishida
3. Perry Bible Fellowship - Nicholas Gurewitch

Web 2.0

According to O'Reilly Media, Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.

Here are some sites that exemplify the main characteristics of Web 2.0:

Dynamic Content
Example: Google Maps
Combining real life mapping data for use on the internet is a mashup, creating dynamic content viewable on multiply platforms.

User Contribution
Example: Reddit
Users generate post or generate headlines and stories, popular ones get upvoted and sent to the top of the page for everyone's internet surfing convenience.

Social Media
Example: Youmeo
A social networking site that lets the user import data from MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc and control it from one interface. Created by a 15 year old genius who makes me feel rather unaccomplished.

Online Applications
Example: Google Documents
Word processing and data spreadsheets programs available online. They allow for group collaboration and chat, giving everyone control and access to the same document at the same time.

Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Example: Delicious
Social bookmarking and tagging uses individual efforts to contribute to a larger database that may help everyone else.

Political Satire At Its Best

After stumbling upon Blurb, a bookmaking site, I found the illustrations of Zina Saunders. She does political commentary through vivid illustrations with incredible detail.

WORKS: Flash Assignment

If you would like to view my flash assignment, please click here. It's hosted from an external website.

Artist's Statement
"Pandora & Her Box"

Pandora & Her Box was inspired by Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies. In Gorey’s (rather morbid) chidren’s book, he goes through the alphabet in rhyming couplets about how 26 children meet their fate. This is the reason why most of the drawings are in greyscale, I wanted to embody the same feeling Gorey gives off in his work. My basic concept was to create a story with a girl and her mishaps with a mysterious box. The title, Pandora & Her Box, came as an afterthought, alluding to Pandora’s box of evil. In this interactive, a stranger leaves a box at the girl’s doorstep. She opens the door, bring the box into her home, and tries to open it. However, the box reacts very unusually, but she is persistent in her attempts. Eventually she opens the box, which contains a whirling vortex, in which she is sucked into. She falls empty space and finds herself face to face with the box once again.

The target audience for my work is children 10 or under. The interactive is filled with buttons and goofy sound effects. I believe children would enjoy this interactive because of its cartoonish nature and simplicity. The humour used is understandable on a low level, which means an audience of any age could understand.

The program used for this assignment was Adobe Flash CS3. This program was used for all the motion and interactivity. To draw the objects in the piece, I used a Wacom tablet. This helped achieve the handdrawn effect with accuracy and without being incredibly time consuming. All sound effects are from the royalty free library at RCC.

The biggest challenge of this project was dealing with errors in Flash. On more than one occasion, the program “unexpectedly quit” and all progress was lost. Another difficulty was trying to figure out what was wrong with the action script which disallowed the buttons from working properly. This was the most frustrating and time consuming above all other tasks.

By doing this project, I learned how to use a new program and I now have a stronger appreciation for those involved in animation. One must have a lot of patience and strong logic skills to piece together a successful interactive animation. Although I feel like I could’ve improved on my original concept, I believe my piece is successful in portraying my original concept. The project was a challenge but seeing the end result is rewarding.