air twang.

three posts and thoughts.

the three blogs that i will choose are:

1. lets make a match…

2. data visualisation…

3. HTML & CSS.

META POST
I have quite enjoyed this subject,  mainly because it was a blend of everything: design, information, technology, news etc. It was also quite good having tutors that knew what they were taking about and are currently in the business. I thought having the delicious account where the tutors would post current affairs, new ideas, anything that was interesting quite useful to the course as they could explain how it was/is affecting us, how people are using different methods that we are learning about  and concepts that people are coming up with to benefit the internet and the people that use it. An example of why I like he course and how the tutors use examples from the net to teach us can be seen in one of my old blogs, more than one…

Having a blog was quite strange to begin with, mainly because i thought it was like an online diary where you just type your thoughts, but after looking at other blogs you find out that a blog can be anything you want it to be. It just just be pictures, info, jokes or even just a word. I have found Tumblr to be a good blogger website mainly because of its design qualities but also because I hve found it simple to use. Finding out how popular my blog is and the amount of views/traffic my blog gets is difficult, as it doesn’t seem to display alot of information for you to view.

The website blog OH! blog talks about how vital traffic information can be, as you can understand your audience and what they like/dislike, and then develop your website accordingly.
“You must also look at the behavior of your website visitors to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site.”
From what you can see from the image, it is quite hard to understand who is viewing your blog and what they are looking at. It mostly just shows my activity on Tumblr and what i’ve been doing on my blog. So this information isn’t quite as helpful as other blogs, as I have seen other blogs go into more detail about who looks at their blog, which blogs have been popular and what weeks.

However, you can get a small understanding of who looks at your blog by who is ‘following’ your blog. In my case its mostly students that are doing NMP, probably because my name is on the blog roll and other students what to see how you do your assignments and what information you have learnt. I say that because I have done the same to other students in this subject. I believe the other non-student people who are ‘following’ me are from clicking a tag and then finding my blog with the tagged blog.

So you can see that a blog is more than someone’s diary or random thought but more of a method of sharing yourself and what you like/believe/hate etc to the rest of the world. As if you want no one to view your blog, you can easily just have a diary, keep your images on your computer or even make all your blogs private, but people don’t, they want an audience and feedback to know what they are doing is interesting and is worth while. People may do it because of the potential fame or jobs that you can get, just look at that Perez Hilton guy who only sits on his computer all day, yet is famous. They are thousand of reasons why people do have a blog, but from what I’ve learnt this semester is that all it is in the end is Network Media Production.

Project B

my geo-narrative url:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=109852759739222476838.00046b73259c39b95905f

For this assignment there again were three options to choose from. I decided to choose the second option: geo-narrative.

“2. Create a geo-narrative. Create a sequence of images and text attached to specific
locations in Google Maps. The images should combine to form a coherent structure or
narrative; this could be a fictional story, an essay-like argument, a documentary
account or historical recreation, or a photographic tour. Use image and text together
to tell the story. Use 10-12 images; of these, up to six may be the work of others,
provided it is licensed appropriately (Flickr is a useful way to find CC licensed
images). The remaining images should be either your own or “remixed” – using a
combination of your own work and that of other creators, again provided it is licensed
appropriately. Make contact with the creators of images, and introduce your project.
In your rationale reflect on this process of “networked” production.”

I selected the geo-narrative as I enjoy using/taking photographs and I also thought this was my favourite concept between the three options. I didn’t wanna do the data-visualisation because I didn’t know what information to use and how, I also didn’t want to make a Youtue video.

My assignment is based around my travels in Europe from June to December in 2007. I wanted to document my account and all the historical, cultural and social places I visited whilst overseas. Hopefully you will get to learn about the different sites and the uniqueness of each country. I traveled with a couple of mates around Europe, and we took photos along the way. I will explain each image in detail and the events that occurred in that country. It was a great experience to have done, you learn a lot about history; cultures, people and you come back home with some amazing and funny stories.

As I had alot  of images to choose from, this assignment was ideal. Choosing which locations was the moe difficult aspect, as I had to make the images relate to one another in some sense. I didn’t want to stick to just one country, mainly because I wanted to use Google Maps to its full potential, therefore by showing different locations and countries, the viewer could relate to the images and the map together. My images relate to one another because they’re tourist sites that have historical, cultural and artistic background to the country. I displayed the images in historical order, so you can understand how the culture and country has developed along with the tourist sites.

I tried to make a seperate tumblr blog purely for this assignment, but tumblr has some technical difficulties in allowing Google Maps to be displayed on its blog. I then decided to try other blogs, such as Wordpress, but I found customising the blog quite difficult as I am used to using Tumblr. In trying to develop my blog, I researched other travelling blogs to see how they are constructed and how I can improved my design for this blog. The main travelling blog I found was the website: Travel Blog.

However I decided not to use a blog and base my assignment purely on the Google Map website, therefore I have tried to make it quite detailed by included facts and my thoughts on the sites and also by including links that relate to the various images. I also made custom logos, so the viewer knows which point they are up to and where to start the tour and when the tour is finished.

i.e: for the 9th location on my map.
I found out you could do this by watching Youtube videos that said you can customise the different logos.

I hope you enjoy my assignment, just in case here is my pro B url again: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=109852759739222476838.00046b73259c39b95905f

dont wanna do the exam.
also wtf on a satday….
i have a game at 3 and exam at 230…hmmmm

tv killed someone and his star.

wow tv has gone pretty boring right now. well some days its just painfull to have the tv on, even if its just in the background. the simpsons is ok but should of easily been cut off a few years ago. i can see how the the stories are just going downhill and the writers are just do whatever to get paid, having twists on twists, repetitive jokes. wow. at the same time i can watch other shows constantly, seinfield, south park, chappelle show. outstanding. HILARIOUS. ok maybe not constantly but a good sess though.

back to shows being allowed to stay on for a while TOO long is defs prison break. man, i really enjoyed the first season aswell, but to escape, then to get caught, then escape, then befriend your enemy, then he turns his back but you have to trust and somehow in the end you end up in a prison again.

im just angry/sad as i want fox and channel one. theres soooo many things i could watch and thoroughly enjoy….just thinking bout all the sports. i am gonna drool on my keyboard-this is my excitement.

COPS is such an entertaining show, just how people try and get away from them when they have dogs willing to savagely attack, heicopters following and then guys with guns chasing after you. lol.