the twelfth week

This is it! The last blog! I can't believe it's already over!
Now this may sound cheesy, but it's true. I've loved every second of Digital Media! Even the tricky moments and projects.

I loved the lectures to bits. Tuesdays were always my largest number of tweet days on Twitter! I couldn't help but tweet out all the awesome things we were learning. Watching music videos in class? The best. On that note here's a few current favorites that I'm loving...

"Love of an Orchestra" - Noah and the Whale


"Cousins" - Vampire Weekend


"Paddling Ghost" - Dan Deacon

The labs were super fun too! I learn by do-ing so thus the labs were perfect! Although frustrating and tricky I now know Flash! Kinda. And that's the point right? The Photoshop and HTML labs were my very very very favorites.

What needs to be changed or improved? Hm. Maybe have us do the tutorial along with you? Would that be possible? Like...
"Okay and now we're going to add a new layer by clicking this"
*and then we all click along*
I suggest this because while whatever was being explained at the beginning of the lab, I'd be like " WOW I GET THIS!" But as soon as I sat down I was like "WOW I DON'T GET THIS!"

This course has made me even more comfortable and skilled in all digital media aspects. Because I had lots of Photoshop and a bit of HTML experience before hand, this course challenged me to take my skills a step further. I loved the material covered in lectures because I enjoy participating in the things we were learning about, ie social media, rss feeds, blogs, etc.

I think that the most important thing I've learnt in this course is again cheesy but true. Anything is possible when it comes to digital media. It is a great mix of the technical and the creative. I knew that digital media was taking over the world, but only this semester did I realize the extent of ground it has already covered.

I'm so sad for this course to be over. And Laurie if you're reading this? Thanks for everything. It has been the best.

the eleventh week

This week in lecture we learned about Crowdsourcing! Things that only professionals where doing before, are now open to 'anyone' out there online! Kind of like a online mass contribution! The users get to be a part of something much bigger, and the organizations or companies get to save money. A lot of bands are making music videos with the help of fans shooting some of their own footage.

One example is The Beastie Boys concert film, where they asked fans for concert footage and then pieced it together!


Another example is how Pepsi held a contest, where artist could submit new Pepsi can designs. The winner won $10,000 and their design was printed on certain cans.

Crowdsourcing is a great fun and easy way to get fans and users involed!

the tenth week

Web 2.0 yo! Here are the five characteristics!

Dynamic content
Content is no longer static! It is now organic and constantly changing! The content that one viewer of a site might see one second may be completely different when another viewer see the same site a second later! Constantly updated, users contribute in a way that changes said information. It's viewable on multiple platforms and can be something like a reader.
Example? Digg
Digg is a social news website where users can submit stories and "digg" them if they like 'em. You can also "bury" something you don't like. This means that the top stories are top because people said so.

User contribution
User contribution means that the user plays a role in generating the value of the content. By tagging and rating the content allows organizations to see how people experience their content. This means that the creators know what you like or don’t etc.
Example? YouTube
Users can not only upload their own videos, but rate other videos too. Also, just by viewing a video on YouTube, the user contributes to the "times viewed" number, which can increase the popularity of video as well.

Social media
Social media is online media that provides opportunities for socializing, connection, and sharing between users. Users can express their identity and interact with others.
Examples? Twitter
Twitter is a social media/mico-blogging site that allows users to constantly update how they are feeling, what they are doing, what they are liking, and more! They can follow other users and interact with them by @ replying them or "RT" or Re-Tweeting them. Users showcase their identity with their profile picture and with their background images.

Online applications
An online application lets users create things in a browser, with the help of software run online.
Example? Picnik
Picknik allows users to upload photos and then edit them online. Like an online and simpler photoshop.

Harnessing collective intelligence
Tagging let's users assign keywords to content, so that you can find what you want easier. Also known as “folksonomies” the tags you create are then “you-based”. The website then knows what the user wants and likes and can direct the user to other things or users they may like as well.
Example? The Sixty One
The Sixty One lets users listen to music and tag the songs that they like. By doing so, it can recommend what other songs they might like. The Sixty One let's artists submit work, and track what people are listening to. With this info they then create lists for users of what other users are listening to most and what songs are hot.

the ninth week

The moment I saw Barbara Adler perform her slam poetry I instantly became inspired. Having had lots of trouble trying to decide what to do I was overwhelmed with joy when she happily gave me permission to use her poetry in this assignment. My ideas changed and became more concrete at the same time.

At first I really wanted to incorporate my photography into the project, but then realized that this would not work well with this poem. I wanted to focus on the words. Keep things crisp and clean. I also decided to challenge myself with the kinetic type. You see, while I am very comfy using Adobe Lightroom and CS4, I had never opened up Flash before this class. Needless to say I did not pick up flash in a flash. I found it very tricky but after a while I think I got a bit of a hang of it.

Although my project is not perfect, I’m quite happy with it. I would have liked for the sound and text to be more synced up but I am still figuring out how to do that. I am hoping to improve these lacking skills and go back to this project and make it better. Hope Barbara likes it!

After watching others work, I realized just how much you can do in flash! The possibilities are endless! Now, I just need to figure out how to upload my flash to YouTube without it getting corrupted.

the eighth week

This week we learned about ARGs! Alternate Reality Games! So neat!

ARGs are digitally interactive games that have intense player involvement. The players of the game help solve plot based puzzles. The players share the information that they gather over the Internet and swap what they've learnt to work together as a team. Crazy cool right?

So who else is involved? Well there's a "Puppet Master". The unseen leader. The Wizard Of Oz! The man (or woman) behind the curtain! And speaking of the curtain - that's a metaphor for the separation between the puppet master and the players! The "Rabbithole" is what we call the first website, contact, or puzzle that starts off the ARG.

They have usually been used for video game viral marketing because hey those nerdy geeks get into it! And hey I'm one of those geeks! I few years ago I played an ARG! It wasn't for a video game, but a British TV show - that never aired in Canada. Lol right?

I stumbled up a website which spoke of an unreal celebrity's death. From there I found myself on a fake chat board and next thing I knew I was trying to solve a fake celebrity death hoax! It wasn't as interactive as the ARGs we discussed in class, but still! So fun!

After talking about ARGs in class I'm super temped to get involed with one again! So I'm keeping my eyes peeled for any suspicous looking bilboards or websites. Find soemthing? Let me know!

the seventh week

Scopitone videos! The first music videos! Kinda! Scopitones were a kind of video jukebox. Because it was so bulky, you can't find many scopitones around today. So let's go back in time shall we?

What do these videos have in common. Well for one they're all French. Not all scopitone videos were French, there are just lots of French ones on Youtube. What else? These videos don't really have any concept. The videos are simple and colourful. There seems to be lots of dancing in all of them as well. The songs are all super catchy! And the singers are all quite talented!

Now let's look at some of today's "top music videos"...







Like scopitones, these videos are colourful and there's dancing. Unlike scopitones these music videos have plots, giant sets, and some even have explosions! All three of these videos are also selling the artist's persona, wither it be "the diva" or "the girl next door". It's less about the song and more about the star.


Wow music videos have come along way!

the sixth week

Eek! This week is a tricky one!

I find it hard to make decisions. I've come up with about a billion brainstorms (rough number) on what to do, and still I'm having a hard time making up my mind. Blarg. It's the worst.

Alright. Focus Kate. Just make a decision already. Or do another brainstorm.

YEAH! That's it another brainstorm.

So. Here's what I know...
I want to do a lil' mix of kinetic type and photographic animation. I keep changing my mind on if the focus will be on the type or on the photos. I guess it depends on what this animation will be on.

At first I thought about recording a monologue that one of my friends wrote. I still like this idea a lot, but it requires lots of extra work. Not that I don't like doing extra work, I just don't know if I have time. Oh how I wish I had all the time in the world. But no.

Here's my next actually solid idea that poses complications. I'd love to do a mainly kinetic type (with some photography) based on one of Barbara Adler's slam poetry. But then we bump into the whole copyright issue. I met her in person and of course the idea doesn't hit me until I leave her pressence. Just my luck right? Ack.

Here's her Myspace. Super cool right?

So for now I wait on her e-mail response with either good or bad news. And as I wait I do my best to come up with another stable idea. I really hope I hear some good news soon.

I'll get back to you as soon as I know. Fun fact? I hate not knowing.

If I had magic powers I'd do something like this or more so like this.

As I said. Wish me luck.