Virtual Communities at OCAD

MAESTRO -Compose your Emotions

2006-12-14T08:27:00.000-05:00

MAESTRO
Compose your Emotions

With the advancement of portable palm pilots, short-term amnesia patients have the benefit of planning out their lifestyle and are able to live an independent life. Even though the palm pilot is a useful tool for planning out the day it doesn’t cover the aspect of remembering emotions.

Facing the problem of not remembering their emotions can cause the patients to have frustrations and mood swings, which affects their personality and behavior. Enabling patient to function in the everyday life activities. With my interface music and sound will aid in associating and evoking emotions for the amnesia patient. Thus, by the sound triggering their emotions induces memory. In other words, the purpose of using sonic memory material as a tactic of production is to ‘trigger’ a sensorial engagement with audio stimulation.

The interface helps compose the music to convey emotions for those who suffer from short-term amnesia. Maestro is the ideal software for portable hand held device such as a palm pilot. With Maestro the user is able to construct and rate their emotions through a library of music and sound. Maestro functions like a personal log for the user, dividing into categories of people, events and places. In the software package there is a default library folder, which contains music and sound clips that the user can use as a starter kit to construct their emotional association. It also has the ability to download other audio tracks. Maestro also has a (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) MIDI keyboard for the user to compose his or her own music and sounds. Through the MIDI keyboard the user has a library of instrumental sounds. Where users can efficiently assemble and associate their emotion with the events, places and people. Hence, with the aid of palm pilots, short- term amnesia victims are able to plan their day and to remember their feelings to lead an independent life. With MIDI, the patient is able to not only construct music and sound but also creates a pattern of their emotional behavior. This helps benefit not only the user but also others to have a better understanding of the individual. Maestro could be the stepping-stone to understand the relationship between sound associations and emotions.

memory assist

2006-12-12T15:14:00.000-05:00

Assistive Memory Loss Project

For this project I have chosen to develop a device that would be used at home mainly by the person who has acquired memory loss, or in conjunction with a caregiver. It is a magnetic board that allows the user to plan their day. On this board, the user would place magnetic images of all of the day’s events, at the appropriate location on the board. These images, some of which may contain text, would be designed by the user and would therefore have a very specific personal meaning. The user would choose certain colours, images and text that have a specific meaning to them. This customized feature would allow the board to have a very personal meaning or value to the user. The board wouldn’t be time specific but would resemble the profile of a set of stairs ascending than descending. The beginning of the day would be on the far left of the board at the first step. As the day progresses the stairs ascend with the top step being midday. The stairs now start to descend, as the day progresses and the end of the day is the last step. This profile of ascending and descending stairs is meant to represent sunrise to sunset. Each step is meant to represent a change in activity and the magnetic pieces are placed on the different steps.

Key Features:

Repetition. Board is done daily. Repetition is key to regaining memory.
Personal. Image pieces are custom designed by user to incorporate personal colour and image preferences.
Hierarchy. More important things are first or higher on the board.
Text. Text can be added to include things like the specific time of a doctor’s appointment.

SUN and SHADOW

2006-12-12T14:40:00.000-05:00

Shadow is used as a time and is meant for telling the time with the help of the sun. When ever, where ever, whoever, whatever, when the sun is out you can tell the time. Shadow is part of us, in respective of who we are. Your Shadow does not disappear because you had a brain lost. Either you have short or long term memory your shadow is always your best friend, that's why its low cost but effective way to remind your self the time to be in bed because it past nine in the evening or to the time to watch you favorite T.V show or take your medicine, you get the idea. The best thing about this tool is, you don't need to have a memory problem to use it. As long as you not afraid of your shadow, but even if you are I got something for you too. This tool can be used with all other memory tools. Imagine you lose your palm palette or forgot where you put it (not the same with shadow), but if you know the time, you will find out what you are supposed to do from the notice board.

How it work

It does not matter where you face (North, South, East, or West), as long as you know where your sun is. If you can not locate the position of the sun you can use this as your compass. When you know your East or West, now you ready to tell the time. By the length of your shadow you can tell if is 6 when your shadow is the same length as you, or 12 when your shadow cannot be seen or is under you. Click here to watch what I mean. In other to tell if is P.M. or A.M. depends on where you facing. Example if am facing towards the west, my shadow will be behind me when is 6am or in front of me when is 6pm. Click here to see what I mean.
The whole idea is to create an interactive flash using 3dmax and flash. In this flash the viewer will tell in time what it wants the the character to do base on his shadow.

Traits

Using paper trait is another memory tool. We are found of cleaning our house daily, either picking up pieces of papers from the floor or moving the cup from the counter. Leaving pieces of paper behind you, that contain what to be done either before you go to bed or on your way to the leaving room. It can be random on what you have to do. That means you can end up picking paper number two before one, but at the same time you will get things done. Watch this movie to see what I mean. These are the traits of the movie you just watch.

that's me - oh boy is hot

by Ephraim

final map project

2006-12-12T12:29:00.000-05:00

I used a game element to express how I felt and where I used to live and moved from place A to B. By creating a game interface to use for my friends who lives in Korea, they do not have any idea how I used live so far so on.
This game can be suit in to my friend’s cell phone and they will play through and gain knowledge of my different states of emotional icon by looking at the different pictures of mine. The avatar represent my memories of emotional states depends on the different environment circumstance.
I utilized the “Ladder Game” to make this events of mine can be shared by my friends from far away.

PLAY! (Phase 3)

2006-12-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

Rediscover Toronto and yourself with Naviwear sunglasses. Integrating several technologies in a wearable format to help users experience walking around in a city in a whole new perspective. Have fun and PLAY!

Warmware: Olive Jar

2006-12-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

The Olive Jar is used on a Palm Pilot and is meant for random jobs or rewards. The jar can hold many olives, but each one is worth very little, it is meant for things that don’t need to be done on a regular schedule or have great importance. The main user will contribute both jobs that they tend to put off, and rewards that they have been meaning to do or have done. Other people with the same Olive program will be able to send jobs or rewards into the mix. (Many can contribute but only the one user can redeem). If someone contributes an olive, it shows you what the job or reward is, and then it is mixed up in the jar. The virtual olives are floating around in the jar, they all look the same the outside, so you just point on one and the pimento will pop out. Once you have read it, it is put in the ‘trash’ so that it wont be used again. The ‘trash’ can also be looked at as an archive of what you have done both rewards and jobs, and give you ideas for ones you need to rewrite. The system is kept interesting because it is something you will do when you know you have time to do something, but you don’t know if it will be something good or bad, and most of it is out of your control. ‘REMEMBER’ to restock the jar!

Jason Whetter

warmware: the melody + non-linear timeline

2006-12-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Music has always been connected to emotions in a symbolic way.
Although this symbolic connection differs throughout different cultures,
to the individual, it can be an obvious when a melody is excited, happy,
somber, tired, proud, timid, dramatic, etc....

The Melody:

This is a special new software written for blackberrys.
This software works not only with melodies which help users
remember certain entries by the associated melodies, but also
uses a special link system which allows the user to bounce
around the entire database using keywords which occur elsewhere
in the database.

This project was created with the two ideas formed in class
for the virtual communities assignment and the non-linear timeline
assignment.

Melodic Memories

This was my Timeline project.
This is a system which creates a non-linear timeline of events
with the use of pictures, videos, and sound files. The timeline
is ordered by the similarities in the associated melodies.
Users can enter their own melodies and memories, and a slideshow
of their life relative to the associated melody.

This is me!

Warmware: RemAUDIO

2006-12-12T11:06:00.000-05:00

RemAUDIO, by me.

People are arguably the strongest support network – why? Well, one reasoning we can determine from this is the fact that people are complexly intelligent individuals who have motivation to check up on you. At any rate, people are the basis for a quality system of reminding – combining that insight with the notion of audio and phones, I’ve created RemAUDIO.

RemAUDIO is a warmware system that allows you to take any digitally stored data that is being used in the context of a calender or schedule, and then upload that data so that you are able to receive a set of audio reminders via your cell phone. A powerpoint including all of this data is available in the title link.

RemAUDIO works in a few basic steps -

First: Take data from scheduling tool – either Palm or the computer – and upload that data onto either your cell phone or the specific website. Either way, you must register with the website in order to download the cellphone software or upload. Registering requires the telephone number you wish to be called at.

If website: After data is uploaded, select category of clips you would like for reminders. The site will automatically correlate the specific reminder with an appropriate phrase depending on the kind of audio chosen, or text-to-speech audio is available.

If Cell phone: Confirm the data transfer on one’s cell phone and activate the alarm system.

You’re done! Get ready to be reminded.

How it works: You will receive phone calls at the times you have specified in your digital schedule, reminding you of what you desire to be reminded about.

Customization: You are able to customize the audio you hear when you are called; with either a selection from previously stored audio or basic text-to-speech digital audio.

For example - if you wish direct audio reminders, you can use the text-to-speech software which would sound like this.

Or if you wish for something a bit more tied to popular culture and have a hair appointment to meet, then you could use this.

This system is ideal for users suffering from memory loss due to acquired brain injury because it can be direct with reminders as well as poentially re-conciling them with popular culture without having to rely on other individuals for these direct reminders.

Warmware: e-calendar

2006-12-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

Final Project- Warmware
Memory Assistance
Memory is precious and valuable. Future events are important and significant. There are thousands of things we need to do in our everyday life. In this modern age, we are busy with all kinds of things such as school works, money making or taking care of kids. For example, nanny day care is necessary for business women and men to help with looking after their children. We are always looking forward new sources to help with our life. Technology is continually improving and progressing so fast that it makes our life easier and simpler. We tried out best to achieve better living and working quality. Therefore, I have decided to create a digital calendar based device to assist our memory system. It is an emotionally- rich tool that everyone should have.

Warmware- memory ripple

2006-12-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

This is a continuation of my personal timeline. I find that alot of people have the habit of using online albums to store their photos, and I am one of them. I want to create a new way of utilizing online photo albums, a method much more personal and interactive. I present to you www.memoryripple.com (guys, I know you are all tempted to go there, but the site doesn't exist yet =p)

This will be a personal album, so no one else would be able to view it unless you send them the link and password. Since this is more of a personal diary of non-linear events narrated by photos, no one else will be able to relate on a deeper level then you. Users will start by first, applying for an account. Then then will go to the upload section to upload their pictures. They can upload as many as they wish, but they should remember is always better to upload pictures that relate to one another (it just makes more sense that way), and also to write down dates and captions that go with each picture.

Whoo-hoo! After this process, you can then rearrange you photos simply by the click and drag methods. The begin with, the pictures will always be placed in the order that you uploaded numerically. So let's say you want picture #5 to be the first one, simple click and drag it before the first picture, and *ta-da*. It's as simple as that. But there's a catch. #1 must relate most closely to #2, then #3 and so on so the computer can then generate the ripple effect.

The last step is to view and admire the masterpiece that the user has "created". The album will run horizontally, depending on how many photos the user has uploaded, the longer the page. The page opens blank, but when the curser touches a hotspot, a picture will appear with the captions that go along, and the ripple will start to form. The ripple will contain pictures that relate to the event in the middle. The more outter of the ripple the picture is at, the less relevance it has.

Then when the curser rolls over to another picture or a hot spot (which appears blank) that contains a picture, the same effect will appear again, but only now the previous one is gone.

Warmware: Emotion Database

2006-12-12T07:04:00.000-05:00

My last posting about my emotional database idea went into much of what I would have gone into to take my idea into a 'warmware' phase. For this final posting I want to refine those ideas and provide a number of possibilities for customization of my proposed program. My last post was: "a proposal for a way of recording and creating a sort of digital simulacrum for this memory process that could be carried around by a person on a PDA-like device or cell phone." It was basically a database that a user could build up emotional information and experience in (Sample images from my last post: [1] [2] [3] [4].)

Most important to me with this idea was the idea that each entry would have a user generated colour background that would be shaped by user input. With this in mind, and with the discussion that we had in class last week, I have come up with a series of modifications and ideas that I think improve and expand upon my last posting.

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1. Allow for user-customization of the emotional scales and of the category tabs.
The emotional scales that I created for my first post were admittedly crude and non-specific. The best solution to this problem is to allow the scales to be user created and editable in both what they represent and the colours associated with the tabs. For example if the user did not like my initial "Boring<->Fun" and "Important<->Unimportant" scale for entering information about People they could opt for another entry scale like "Best Friend<->Enemy" and "Nearby<->Far Away".

On top of being able to customize the entry of the emotional information for each category it would be nice if the user could also create categories of there own. For example if the user didn't like the "People-Places-Ideas-Things" layout they could change it to "Friends-Movies-Music-Books" or whatever they preferred.

2. Provide more opportunity for user modification of the background visualization.
The simple gradient background visualization is a good starting point for visualizing the emotional input into the database, but a more direct approach mght help the entries be more personal. Perhaps if the user could directly add images (like clip art, camera images, etc.) directly to the background they could personalize the entry to their liking. The gradient would still be visible on top of the altered background so the emotional scale idea would still work with users altering the background.

3. Add the ability for the user to add sounds or movies to an entry.
Adding sounds and movies to the entries would allow the user to add another layer of information to an entry and make that entry more interesting and accessible. It seems like a logical step if only to add more options for the user.
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Using the above three ideas I've come up with a few sample images of what the modified program would look like with these changes:

This image shows the modified interface (different buttons and tabs) as well as a user modified backround visualization (the stars)

This image also shows the new buttons, but without the modified tabs. It shows the possibility for user edited backgrounds.

These three additions to my initial idea will make the program more user friendly and customizable. With these additions the program also becomes more personal to each person that uses it so that two people using this program could have completely different experiences and output using the same program.

-Jacob Fowler

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Warmware- chocolate

2006-12-12T03:19:00.000-05:00

The memory project that I created was simply a calendar with different special chocolate to represent the events and emotion throughout the month. The chocolate are used to demonstrate the mood of the day and to remind the individual for particular dates. Chocolates are for all-aged typed and there is no gender restriction; it is, to most individuals, a special kind of desire. This allows me to take into consideration of establishing a calendar in human daily life by taking into account of individual’s greatest passion – chocolate. For each type of chocolate, it has various colours along with a different sweetness level and this is significant in turns of how the chocolate are categorized. For example: Crown is a bitter dark chocolate and it is expressed as a negative emotion/event; in contrast, Chocolate Twist is a sweet white chocolate and it is symbolized as a positive emotion/event. There is also a chocolate, Heart, for special occasion and is designated for specific activities which also has a distinctive taste from the chocolate in norm.

Warmware- Forget me not

2006-12-11T22:50:00.000-05:00

The image of a standing in front of an open fridge and not remembering what it was that you were looking for really stuck with me after the presentation on Tuesday afternoon because I felt it was one of the most common issues. I thought I’d use the contents of the fridge as connections to the bits and pieces of the emotional story. This way the viewer is waiting for or gets the idea of ‘what’s next’, what am I looking at, the viewer gets the sense of frustration and randomness, the way many people with memory problems often feel. The interface I have chosen to use is an internet website. Every time you roll over an item in the fridge it will link to a particular emotion or memory attached to the taste, smell, look or feel of each food item. The website will allow people with memory loss to document their memories in their own account or fridge. They can customize their own fridge according to their memory progress they make, this way the website can encourage their random non-linear memory patterns, possibly encouraging new random links, almost in the same fashion as brainstorming. The site will document blogs, and other media dealing with memory issues connecting many individuals with memory loss.

For example when someone logs into their fridge account on the website they can investigate it buy moving items around in the fridge, giving certain items priority or significance depending of what visually represents priority to each individual. The example I have shown here is that if you clicked on the Mayonnaise in this person’s fridge you would find that they have associated it with memories of their father’s distaste for it, not necessarily their own experiences with the item themselves. After clicking on the Mayonnaise the website would make a picture chart showing that it is connected to a specific memory/thought and then when you scroll down it will explain it in words.

Each fridge has a password so that only the amnesic people will able to add to or change their fridge. Although only people with memory difficulties will be able to customize a fridge, family and friends in the support network of a recovering amnesic can still have an account on the “forget me not” virtual community. This way the support network for someone who is amnesic is also supported. If the family and friends of the amnesic individuals want to help them, they can ask them to add something to their fridge by posting a message to the blog or e-mail them via the complementary e-mail you get when you sign up with “forget me not”. E-mail coming to this account can be forwarded to other e-mails. From this e-mail they can retrieve newsletters about topics concerning memory loss, the research on memory loss, and stories about other people who have dealt with or are dealing with memory loss issues. Members of “forget me not” may communicate with other people in the virtual community including their support networks (that have also signed up) via the community blog, and via “forget me not” e-mail. This website will also have links to other websites of interest and a video library or homemade video diary of people from the community or perhaps of anything concerning the topic of memory, some people may honour their memories by making a video reminder of a certain point in their past or an event to come. There will also be a picture library documenting images connected to memory issues. The link shows a video compilation of a possible video memory of someone’s dad through pictures and music.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.

Dec 12- final day

2006-12-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, Andrea and I are looking forward to the presentations tomorrow.

Light to Unite

2006-12-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

Follow the link to light a candle.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is donating a dollar to fight AIDS every time someone goes to their website and moves the match to the candle and lights it. This site is functional and well designed, and contains memories and stories from AIDS health care workers, family, friends and survivors.

my post

2006-12-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

Here is my first post, I am thinking....

FINAL ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION - DUE DECEMBER 12 - FINAL CRITIQUE DAY

2006-11-30T09:06:00.000-05:00

Virtual Communities ASSIGNMENT - warmware : an assistive memory project
DUE DECEMBER 12 - FINAL CRITIQUE DAY

description by Judith Doyle : jdoyle@faculty.ocad.ca

For this assignment, you will adapt your "non-linear timeline" into “warmware” - an assistive memory project. Using the “timeline” that you’ve been working on over the last few weeks as the basis, you will create an emotionally-rich reminder system. It could include text reminders, sounds or music clips, photos, drawings, video clips, interactive characters (avatars) or a mix of these. Your reminder system may help to provide directions (an interactive map) or keep track of a list of things to do (like shopping lists) or it may be structured as a calendar that reminds the user of appointments. Your project may do all these things. As well as helping with planning and remembering the future, your device will be an archive (a diary or photo album) that helps keep a record of feelings (emotional responses) as well as events.

Your assistive memory project will be based on the work you have created so far in class, especially your virtual community and interactive timeline project. Who will use your system? Will family members and friends share this system (or a virtual community linked by technology, that might include doctors and caregivers, or online friends, for example), or is it just for one personal user? Please take into account the in-class feedback you have received from your classmates, instructors and our expert guests from the Memory Link program.

Your assistive memory device will be engaging and as simple as possible to use. It may be for fun, with gaming or creative features. It may be designed for handheld devices like the palm pilot, cellphones, MP3 players, web sites, alarm-clock type timers and other devices. It could include wearable elements. It could involve a combination of all these things.

Deliverables :
- Create a visual prototype for the blog, including a written summary description and an image
- Link to a detailed prototype with text, images or an interactive web site. If your project includes video and sound, provide examples : sound and video files
- Include a description of how your project will be customized for different users (how can people include their own images, sounds, video, drawings and personalized features).
- Include your name and photograph of yourself if possible

PROJECT DUE : December 12 2006 (Critique Day)

GRADE WEIGHTING : 20%

Chocolate- Nonlinear Timeline

2006-11-21T14:06:00.000-05:00

I do my nonlinear timeline on chocolates. One box of chocolates represents the “calendar” which each individual chocolate contains a little note that can write the memory or reminder. Based on the experiences of the tastes and the chocolates colors, there are different interpretations to it. For example, Black and dark Chocolate with a bitter taste is a representation of a negative emotion which in this case, it will be an unhappy memory or reminder. On the other hand, a more colorful chocolate will contain a happy memory or reminder. The chocolate color and the sweet percentage represent the emotion of happy or unhappy memories.

PLAY! (Phase 2)

2006-11-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

Moving

2006-11-21T13:29:00.000-05:00

My non-linear timeline is based on places where i moved. Since i've been come to Canada as a visa student i moved more than 5 times because i haven't got my own house here. I have specific different feeling and memories for the each houses of the places. I'll use a map of Ontario and i'll put the picutures of different houses i've been moved. As the map of Ontario shows different colors and numbers by representing districtions, I'll use same idea of it, i'll put diffrenct colors of dots for the different feeling of the each house where i like the houses or not and why.

#1 Donmills and Yorkmils 69 Valentine Dr.
Peach color - feeling of excitement
first place came to Canada from Korea

#2 5 Northtown way 1113
blue color- feeling of blue..
Missing hometown
First experiment living in Condominum

#3 89 chestnut street
Hot Pink color-feeling of happiness
made lots of friends
First time habving loomates

#4 1229 Marlbough Court Oakville
Green color- feeling of comfort
First time living in apartment of countryside.
Had some trouble with contact with friends who live in Toronto.
#5 158 Byng Ave
Light pink color - feeling of pleasure.
living in my grandparent's house

#6 77 Finch Ave.
I havn't decide what kind of feeling i got
I'been living in the galleria apartment now..

Haunted Night

2006-11-21T12:21:00.000-05:00

Visiting haunted house was an amazing experience. Even though things were man-made, it is still very scary and frightening that may give kids and adult to have bad dreams. Dreams are difficult to remember. Most of time, we can only memorize part of it and it fades away quickly. They are not presented in a chronological order. Moreover, They don’t make sense usually. Therefore, I decide to expand my original idea of drawing comic strips. I combined some drawings and shot video. It is about a girl who has a horrible dream on halloween night. The haunted house terrified her and left her a terrible impression. Every scenes is related, but they aren't showed chronologically.

Olive Jar

2006-11-21T12:20:00.000-05:00

Leave it around the house -- Fill the Jar with Memories & Information. (over a day, week or months)
The red scrolls can be colour coded, using words and pictures. The jar fills as you fill it, until they it is too full to move freely. When you go to retrieve the memory olives -- you can only take from the top (the more recent entries) -- once enough room is made the olives will end up very mixed.

non-linear timeline final

2006-11-21T12:19:00.000-05:00

My initial idea was to relate the events of my life and the memories that are attached to a roller coaster ride. However, as I did more brainstorming I found a better metaphor that would work for my timeline. My new idea revolves around the ripples in a pond. When a pebble is thrown into the pond, the surrounding water begins to ripple around the rock. I find that a valid connection between our brain and the way we recall the memories (or visions of the future).

I chose to focus this project on my trip to Cuba and how one simple incident brings me back to memories and events from the past, and how it leads to envisioning future events. Each event or memory will lead to another one, and this thought process does not proceed in chronological order, which is like a ripple idea. The core idea (the rock) spurs the memories (ripples) that surround it, and it spreads outwards. That is how I have designed my timeline.

Assignment Part 2 ( SUN and SHADOW)

2006-11-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

This is similar to setting the correct time on analog clock or wristwatch (by moving the hand of the timepiece into proper position), when the project is done properly every move of the sun move the gnomon (straw) shadow into position so that the dial faces display the correct time. During winter the shadow will be under the straw and on top during summer. I used Toronto latitude 43 degree

How it works

o The gnomon should be parallel to the Earth’s axis, inclined at an angel equal to the latitude of the observer.
o Place it on a horizontal surface; the top of the straw point toward the north, or align the upper dial face so that 12 noon points toward north (as shown in the image).
This is done to tell the time in Toronto, and it can also be use to tell time any other locations.
➢ This is easy to carry around and use any where.

Non-Linear Timeline - Cellphone magic!

2006-11-21T11:34:00.000-05:00

Expanding from my proposal of two weeks ago, I essentially proposed a program specified for a cellphone (thus usable on any sort of datebook PDA device) that is a catalogue of visually-translated information about individuals that can and should be expanded into understanding what sorts of emotions and internal factors are recognized with certain tasks and individuals.

Here is a visual of my system - It is an image and as direct a prototype of my system as is able to be made, due to my... lack of ability being able to tinker with cellphones directly.

A sample image of the 3rd level of the system.

The system ColourCODE is inherently a system that involves coded colour.

The first step of initiation is to basically have the phone directly interact with another individual - you could get a call (primary instigator), but also connect to other cellphones or the like (that the phone recognizes) via infrared, GPS, Bluetooth, etc.

Then, you are taken to the quick profile screen. There are three levels of profiles, depending on what sort of information you wish to process -

Level 1 - Offers a border that allows a customizable choice of hue, saturation and lightness - which can attributed to any 3 factors you wish to set them to. The default setting is personal assocation, understanding, and how you feel about that person.

Level 1 also offers the initial font setup - due to various font manipulations, the font is able to be set up for a visual cue as well. The default is what sort of role the person has in the world. Only pixelized fonts are available at the initial stage due to the inherent simplicity of many of these fonts. The fonts are only available in black.

Level 2 - Offers everything level 1 offers with added visual cues - The broder now allows for integration of texture and gradient intensity. The font system stays the same. Texture's default association is the past you share with the individual, and the gradient strength's default association is how stable that relationship is.

Level 3 - Offers everything level 1 & 2 did, which even more visual cues - the added factors of a background image, manipulation of colour of the font as well as allowing access to non-pixel fonts. Also, pattern is introduced as another cue. Pattern's default association is the understanding of how you would spend time with this person, while manipulation of colour is intensity of job. Serif indicates conservative traditionalism or the like, while the background image is indicative of what you usually do with said individual.

The system is easily adaptable to alarm and memory cues as well - due to many cell phone's internal scheduling programs, it's easily applicable.

Easily integratable.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Step (Assignment2)

2006-11-21T11:25:00.000-05:00

Dancing is a universal form of expression and is culturally diverse just like music and art. From Ballroom to Hip-hop all the styles of dance influence and create it’s own culture and community. Even though there is a dance community I find it to be an exclusive community divided into groups of a different dance form. To be aware of the dance community you either be a part of a dance club or studio. All the dance forum and websites that I research are mostly focus on dance lessons and partner searching for ballroom or salsa.

Step is a virtual community base on dancers looking to network and collaborate with each other from all over the world. The Step forum will give dancers the chance to work with other dancers from different dance background. This will also give amateurs and professional dancers the opportunity to profile themselves and search to be part of a dance group or search for a dance partner. Step will also post up news and events both internationally and locally covering the dancing scenes and profiling active dancers and groups. Dancers can post up blogs, music, videos and other information that is related to dancing. Step is a great place to get in to the dance community and learn the dance culture both locally and international.

Emotional Experience

2006-11-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

For my Non-Linear Timeline Project I wanted to create a way of cataloguing emotional experience over time. We discussed in class the idea that memory itself is not linear in the way it works and in fact it is sort of like a composite of various things built up into a whole. I wanted my piece to be a proposal for a way of recording and creating a sort of digital simulacrum for this memory process that could be carried around by a person on a PDA-like device or cell phone. With this program a person would be able to create a web of entries each with emotional experience attached. While this proposed program could serve those with cognitive impairment I could also see it serving a role for an average person as well: as both a personal encyclopedia and emotional dictionary.

I've given this proposed program the temporary title of EmotionBase (standing for emotional database) and created some sample operating windows. This program would allow a user to create and organize entries under four categories: people, places, ideas, or things. The user would be able to create links between relevant entries, add descriptions and photos to an entry (which would work best on a camera equipped portable device), and search these entries through a number of methods. However, what separates this program from a more typical database is that the users are also able to attach emotional experience to each entry over multiple instances--much as memory is altered by repeated encounters with something. These entries would be registered by adding a note and by picking spots on two charts: a 'fun-boring' chart and an 'important-unimportant' chart. This nomenclature for my charts is decidedly inelegant at the moment and I would be more than willing to replace it with a better emotional experience model. Each of the two charts is represented by a colour scheme: blue-red for boring-fun, and green-yellow for unimportant-important. These colours are represented in the background of each entry and will change with each emotional entry added to a database entry. This will give the user an instant idea of their feelings on the topic, without reading the text, and the fact that it will develop over time will allow for their emotions to change and grow on a certain topic.

On the left is a sample of what the program would look like on a portable device (in this case a cell phone). This window shows a 'place' entry for the OCAD main building and the background yellow hue shows that it is IMPORTANT on the importance scale and neutral on the FUN scale. [Click to Enlarge]

On the right is a sample of the emotional experience entry form for a sample item. Notice how the background of the item changes as the two sliding scales are moved. [Click to Enlarge]

These are prototypes for the front end screen for this program and for the various section screens. The 'Main' screen shows the various ways of searching through the entries and the most recent entries. The section screens show samples of people, places, things and ideas, each with there own emotional experience shown as colour across the back

of the entries. Click to Enlarge: [Main] [Section Screens]

The visualizations of the various colours for the emotions and the scale that the emotions are entered on could be played around with quite a bit so that the individual visualizations are unique and expressive. I feel that with a tool such as this each individual user could create and maintain unique non-linear memories through a digital intermediary. Each person who used this would create their own unique web of relations; each of them becoming pieces of art.

-Jacob

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Forget me not...

2006-11-20T22:34:00.000-05:00

sound

2006-11-14T14:27:00.000-05:00

My non-linear timeline is in the form of a musical note. I thought that sound and music could be the gateway to the stir up emotions or memories, since we learn the majority of our experience through our senses. Sound and music can evoke discomfort, pleasure, fear and many other emotions. The palm pilot is one of many possible platforms to help the user to remember.

Martha and the Muffins

2006-11-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

Could this be true?! Could our very own professor be a member (or have some sort of connection with) Martha and the Muffins? I didn't think of obvious terms of connecting Martha Ladly to Martha and the Muffins, however, what was brought to my surprise was our very own OCAD website has referenced Martha and the Muffins on Martha's bio! SUSPICOUS!!!

Also, does anyone see a striking similarity with someone in the band to Martha Ladly? Martha Ladly ... is that you?

C.nnect the D.ts

2006-11-14T13:44:00.000-05:00

These are screen shots from a power point that represent the non-linear time line I am proposing.

This non-linear time line is based of the way that that neurons form ideas; connecting to eachother through related information. I built the model as an interactive face. I had hoped to make it into a tourable website however the scripting became a problem due to time and knowledge constraints.

Basically bits of information are connected to make cohesive ideas that exist autonomously from the rest of the information. Interactivity allows the user to form specific questions.
Who was there? A: Betty, Mark, Chris
Who is Betty? A: Betty is the beautiful girl like.
What did Betty do? A: Betty brought cookies over.
What else happenend? A: The cookies were stolen.
By Who? A: By Mark.
Why? A: Because he wanted to play a prank on you.

By going through a process of illimination of information a specific and unique collection of data creates a simple idea of the event:

The girl you like, Betty, brought you cookies that were stolen by Mark as a joke.

However, this remains just a piece in an over all event. The advantage of this model, however is time is not the only non-linear element. Information is divided into pieces and is refused unless it is asked for. This allows the user to ask specific question and retreive specific answers without having to sort through unnecessary information or be confused by it.

Non-Linear Emotional Experience

2006-11-14T12:07:00.000-05:00

My non-linear timeline project idea is based on the idea that experiences and emotional information is accumulated over time and over multiple experiences. Rarely are our emotions and feelings about a person, place, thing or idea formed over one meeting or interaction: rather they are formed through a build-up of experience. I want my project to give the user a way to record this emotional experience and build-up as well as to link that experience to other relavent emotional ideas. I also want the user to be able to call up that experience easily and simply, so there has to be a way to 'tag' objects for quick recall. This project was inspired initially by semapedia tagging and the user-created feedback ratings on online shopping sites such as ebay. I want to try to create a similar way for people to catalog the buildup of emotional experience (the bad an the good) so that they can create an overall image of a person, place or thing. I want the user to be able to 'chart' their emotional respones to things using some sort of scale. Each of these things should be able to associate with other related things on the timeline so that the user can compile and view emotional responses. I want the end result to be a program that could assist both the average person and people who need cognitive assistance as we are looking at in this course. I want it to be a web shaped non-linear set of associations between ideas, people and places. The user of the piece/program should be able to create associations and chart emotional responses to those things over time. I also want there to be some way that the user can search this web of objects, people and ideas to locate specific objects in the web either through a 'tag'-like search or more traditional means. I want to create something that would address the issue of building up a network of associations and emotional responses. -Jacob This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

non-linear rollarcoaster

2006-11-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

I want to shape my timeline in the form of a rollar coaster. The idea is that where ever the memory takes you, you will always end up at the starting point. For every rise, there will be a downfall (a drop), also the hoops of the rollar coaster can relate to the repetition in memory. My metaphor of the rollar coaster is best at describing emotions, since that is the key point I want to convey in my timeline.

PLAY! (Phase 1)

2006-11-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

Imagine a future when palm pilots have already mastered the perfect user-friendly interface for amnesiacs so they have complete control over the bare necessities; thus, they are no longer dependants on another person to live day-to-day lives.

Studies and research are constantly being performed to help those who have been identified with a condition in hopes to get everyone back to the state of being normal. Therefore, rather than finding a cure to amnesia, or making day-to-day life easier for troubled victims of this disease, I want to incorporate a sense of play to this project.

When amnesiacs have no chores to complete, no doctor’s appointments to attend to, will they still want to go outside?

Imagine a scenario where you just wanted to go for a walk and experience the community around you. What if amnesiacs could record what made the experience memorable to them? So as the person walks through a space, they would record something (whether it be a picture or a voice message) that made the experience personal to them. The next time that person walked through the space, they would be reminded (from some sort of technological device) what was significant about that space to them, and thus, built up a database of memories to prevent users from constant repetition. For example "I didn't know that statue looked so phallic!" vs "That phallic statue reminds me some art I did in highschool". Thus, the experience of something in a space is building up.

The overall goal of this project is not to help memory loss victims find their way around a city, but to help the user enjoy the unique spaces within the city on an intimate level.

Timeline

2006-11-10T14:56:00.000-05:00

Non-linear timeline

Stairs – rise and run. Life itself can be compared to a set of stairs. Each rise and run of the stairs can represent the challenges, accomplishments and disappointments in life. Stairs are made of uphill and downhill challenges and plateaus all varying in size and effort required to overcome, which inturn will determine our next step. The different events and stages of our life can be shown in the profile of a set of stairs. Each rise and run of the stairs vary in height and length as do the events in our life. A long rise could resemble a challenge. A long run; a joyous event.

Clock – The sum of all the parts are equal to the whole. Most mechanisms are made of several pieces, each part contributing to the machine as a whole. Some of the parts may be considered to be more important than others, but the machine wouldn’t work with out all of its parts.
Some of our memories are more vivid or clear or significant than others. Some are recent, some are distant. All of our memories are important.

Resonance of Memory in the Moment- TIMELINE

2006-11-09T16:45:00.000-05:00

What allows a memory to remain with us for our entire lives? What allows us to constantly refer to it, call upon it? Why do we forget even the most important of things sometimes? Why can we occasionally remember the most mundane, unimportant details?

If I am sitting in class one morning, discussing branding, but I'm daydreaming about the time i went to Mexico with my family in 8th grade, chances are when I look back on that morning later in the day, I'll will remember more about mexico than ever before, yet what homework was assigned or what was spoken about in class may be a blur, a mess of images, many names, specific times, but the content, my sense of what branding is and how it relates to my course, is lost in a sea of those images, with beaches, aztec ruins and sunny skies.

Through this, we can speculate that what we think or pay close attention to is usually the will of our desire, which sort of morphs forms and transmits itself in many different ways. So sometimes we really want to be in class, and remember everything that is said, and sometimes we want to be in Mexico, or perhaps a child again.It is hard to say whether we have any control over these types of desires.

So why does desire allow some experiences to resonate and play over and over again in our heads, like our favourite song, yet some dissappear?

In this project I would like to compare the experience of an event to a musical note being played and the memory of the event as the resonance of a musical note. But what allows a memory or the resonance to last is not necessarily how it was played during the event but how often that particular note, or a similar sounding note, is heard in the moment/present.

So what can be created is a map of memory in time, using the moment/the present as a central figure, linking this moment to what was desired at different times, but allowing the frequency of their occurance in our experience to determine their distance from the moment, rather than the amount of time that has passed. I may have heard my favourite song once in my childhood, but if I continue to sing it to myself, or if I contiually hear its influence in other songs, I may never need to experience the song again, yet i'll never forget.

But I've already forgotten what I was reading about on the subway this morning because I was thinking about christmas holidays a little too soon.

~joe.d.

Moving In Ontario

2006-11-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

My non-linear timeline is based on places where i moved. Since i've been come to Canada as a visa student i moved more than 7 times because i haven't got my own house here. I have specific different feeling and memories for the each houses of the places. And also as time passed by the each houses are changed, therefore i can document and write about how the places are changed. I'll use a map of Ontario and i'll put the picutures of different houses i've been moved. As the map of Ontario shows different color by representing a distriction, I'll use same idea of it, i'll put diffrenct colors for the different feeling of the each house where i like the houses or not and why.

Non Linear Time Line

2006-11-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

I've based my non-linear timeline on how the brain creates neuron connections. One point symbolizes a single piece of information (one point like an axon) that connects to several other pieces (like multiple dendrites).

You deal with one piece at a time and follow the multiple pathes to related information. As such information is separated and catagorized into two teirs.

1. Important and essential informaiton about the event. (Who, What, Where, When, How)

2. Related Information of the event.

3. Other Information.

AMDb Virtual Community (Ass. 2)

2006-11-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

A great place to make professional contacts and post your accomplishments.
You're a STAR!

Olive Jar

2006-11-07T12:11:00.000-05:00

Olive Jar - Jason Whetter

While the jar is almost full, you only have a choice of a few because you can only reach the ones jammed at the top (a selection of 5-10). As some are taken away, the olives are able to move freely and it becomes more mixed up (luck of the draw as you stab around aimlessly.) Since there are soo many olives, each one would contain a small amount of information. This is non-linear because –there is no lines, the olives become completely out of order as they float in the jar.

The pimento unfolds and exposes the scene or part of the story (words)

Non- Linear Timeline Idea

2006-11-07T11:27:00.000-05:00

© copyright 1999-2006 Getty Images, Inc. All rights reserved.

The image of a standing in front of an open fridge and not remembering what it was that you were looking for really stuck with me after the presentation on Tuesday afternoon because I felt it was one of the most common issues. I thought I’d use the contents of the fridge as connections to the bits and pieces of the emotional story. This way the viewer is waiting for or gets the idea of ‘what’s next’, what am I looking at, the viewer gets the sense of frustration and randomness, the way many people with memory problems often feel. For instance if the memory I was going to explore was the birth of a child perhaps the carton of eggs could link to the idea. Every time you roll over an item in the fridge it could link to a piece of writing or a picture of something. I am also thinking that each piece of the memory whether it is a picture or piece of writing will be shaped into a puzzle piece such that after view all the bits separately you can put them together in various different ways, taking inspiration from the ‘Meanwhile’ project at the hybrid. I also want to use an element of poetry because I think it is really tied into the aspect of emotion.

Tina Debi

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.

Sun and Shadow

2006-11-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

This is a really short story that use to be told by my grandfather when he was alive. In the olden days when there was no watch to figure out what the time was. When there wasn't any light to stay up late. Back in my country (Ghana) they depended on the sun and their shadow to tell time. Also there was no light so people at that time did not wake up early till 6 a.m. when the sun comes out. Although they could not tell the specific time like 6:45. They still knew it was 6 a.m. or 6 p.m.. How? They will stand in the sun and face any direction (N,S.,E. or W.)it does not matter. Direction good enough for them to see their own shadow. According to them when is 6 a.m. your shadow have the actual length of your height, and when is 12 in the afternoon your shadow will be under your feet. How did they know it was am or pm? When your shadow is facing west is evening and when is facing east is morning. The Sun rises from the east and set at the west. At that time because they did not have lights. They go to be bed by 6 latest by 7 when their shadow is longer than their actual height. Beside, they did not have a choice to stay up. When the Sun is set(gone) the place start getting dark.

Non-Linear Timeline

2006-11-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

The subject matter I would like to focus on is the period in Ancient Chinese history known as the Three Kingdoms period - it is the aftermath of the Han dynasty, and the pre-cursor to the Jin dynasty.

The reason I chose this subject matter is the fact that there are many, many instances of comparison in which events can be ascribed as directly related, even though they are not related in a typical linear fashion (emotional content as opposed to cause and effect).

In effect, what would happen is that it would use the historical figures as place cards and what would happen is that the timeline would be empty, while understanding individual relations would be the key to cememnting and creating the timeline. Basically, you'd have two factors in choosing family lines - if those match up, then you can narrow it down to individual and see if it fits into an event.

- Ryan Singh

Sprawling Worlds

2006-11-07T10:40:00.000-05:00

When language enters the world through speech, art, or any other type of sign, we tend to understand or believe that the meaning we immediately give to signs is concrete. Therefore, when the time comes to interpret signs, we understand them one way. Many thinkers throughout history have come to believe or understand things another way, where the sign signifies nothing but other signs, and the meaning of the sign shifts and mutates relative to an individuals experience of the world, usually filtered through cultural associations. Though this understanding confuses our world quite a bit, some even suggesting that no actual communication could ever exist because of this interpreting problem (interpretosis), one could also take a glimpse into the way our mind uses signs and language to see the world, and how our mind operates.

With the example of Finnegans Wake as a point of departure, FinnegansWiki shows these concepts by taking every word within the book and linking it to the other words that it could be associated with. Yet, the Wake is already fully displaying these concepts because of his created language based on the deconstruction of English, and the altering of reference by the alteration or combination of words. This gives some insight as to what Joyce was thinking about during the creative process of writing the Wake, and shows how language functions. But this is how all language works, and this type of analysis shouldn’t be limited to interpreting a fictional language, this process could be even more revealing if it is used on common language, possibly classical literature, or most importantly, our own writing.

The online community that I will purpose is something related to FinnegansWiki, but it will be much more community based, and will work with many different written works. Sprawling Worlds will be a database of writing ranging from personal writing, to classical literature, to news articles, to science reports. The website will have a script similar to the Wiki software, but will run on every piece of writing, and will link every single word to every possible connection.

business2business

2006-11-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

BUSINESS2BUSINESS

Be successful in business! Bussiness2bussiness is a virtual site where business minded people are able to interact with other like-minded business people. They would be able to share ideas, thoughts, and information on all matters business. Business people could post ideas, thoughts, experiences, tips and questions. Other related services, tax info, laws, financial services.

Features:

Job opportunities
Business contacts
Business/financial/tax info
Post ideas/experiences/stories/advice
Trends

Assignment 4- Non-linear timline

2006-11-07T09:47:00.000-05:00

I would like to compose a story about my experience of visiting haunted house in Halloween. This is the first time I visited the haunted houses. It was exciting, scary and fun. Each house had its own theme and atmosphere. Some rooms are bright and colorful with beautiful pictures that we are able to see things clearly. Other rooms are so dark that we didn’t even know where to go and who was beside us. Suddenly, ghost jumped out and screamed. We were frightened, run and screamed as loud as possible. At that time, I had various emotion and different reaction in response to those houses. Even though the line up was very long and tiring, it all worth it, that I had so much fun.
I am thinking to create a short story of my favorite haunted house. It is a comic strip with simple, easy understanding and appealing images. It will describe the things I saw and the emotions I had. It will have a plot from beginning to the climax to the end. Text and sound will be included to achieve an interesting and exciting short story to read.

The chocolate Store…

2006-11-06T22:43:00.000-05:00

On the second week of May, in 1995, it was the first Mother’s Day I celebrated with my parents in Toronto. Close to the Mother’s Day, one day after school, I hang around with few friends around a plaza that is close to school; suddenly we got attracted by this small but “decorative” chocolate store, when we went in, I am so nervous that it is actually my first time going into one of the “expensive” treats “galleries” but because I am so amazed by the small delicate chocolates and the beautiful containers, I decided to buy one as the first given present to my mom. I still remember the chocolate was designed in a small pig and put into a red cute little box. One year later, I moved back to my country and stayed there for more than 5 years, I keep on wonder whether the chocolate store still exist or not.
Until high school I came back to Toronto, I went to visit the same plaza and to look for the chocolate store; therefore, it is still where it used to be. For this time, I went back again on Mother’s Day and buy the Chocolates, but this time it is for all my families, it’s my way to “celebrate” the memory of this place, my second home-Toronto.
This chocolate store is very important to me and it has just celebrated their thirty years anniversaries. It is often pack with costumers and they give the costumers the best helps and services. Are you interest to know more about this delicate chocolate store? Let me tell you more about it!

Coming soon... Google Universe

2006-11-01T16:44:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else think that Google is going to own the Universe?

I mean, I use their website for my primary search engine, I even check first with Google Images before using my 5 mega pixel camera that I paid $700 for three years ago, I use Google News to see what's happening in Canada and the world, I use their maps for driving directions, as a Google Geek I also check out major cities all over the word with Google Earth, I use YouTube for all videos but now I find it's owned by Google. Same with Blogger. Ohh yea, and Google also owns all my emails since I use Gmail as my primary online address.

Should I be worried? Or should I just try to find a way to work for such a successful corporation?

If you can't beat them... join them. Right?

I'm just wondering what you guys think on this...

ASSIGNMENT - nonlinear timeline

2006-10-31T11:22:00.000-05:00

Here's the description of your next assignment, Due november 21st. (blog post due next week - November 7 - with a short description of your idea)

ASSIGNMENT - non-linear timeline :

description by Judith Doyle

For this assignment, you will create a "non-linear timeline". Think, for example, of a short story, the paragraphs of which are to be found in different drawers and cupboards. Or of an easter egg hunt, with 25 eggs hidden in a backyard. You will create an account of an experience, event or memory (and its emotional content) that occurred over time. You do not have to build all the episodes out of words, you could elect to work with image/texts, sound recording, video clips, or even just pictures. However, it is important that the “timeline” theme is used.

Your non-linear timeline may be shaped like a leaf, a sandwich, a pile of clothing -- anything but a straight line. How can something be a "timeline" and not be in a "line"? Well, Baycrest psychologist Dr. Brian Richards thinks that memory is often shaped this way. We look forward to your interpretations!

Please, bring your ideas, sketches and work in progress to class on November 7 and 14. We will develop the projects in class, where you can get feedback.

REQUIRED NOVEMBER 7 : • 1 - 2 paragraphs about your idea, uploaded to blog with your FULL NAME.

PROJECT DUE : November 21 2006. Project description, on the blog. An IMAGE from your non-linear timeline. A link to your WEB SITE with the non-linear timeline.

NOTE : This assignment is a part of the "warmware" project, about creating assistive technologies for cognitive impairments. In the second assignment, you will use your nonlinear timelines as inspiration for assistive memory devices.

Virtual Communities

The following list is compiled by Mike Wu, U. of T. from research he has undertaken with Dr. Brian Richards and Dr. Ron Baecker.

Memory Problems

In the home, a lack of memory can lead to:

- the misplacement of objects like glasses, papers, keys, telephone
messages
- the inability to complete day-to-day chores (being distracted and
forgetting to return to a task that has been interrupted)
- going into a room but then forgetting why upon arrival
- not knowing what is coming up next
- not varying the choices of food eaten each day (which can be the
same for many meals)
- the inability to recall plot from a novel while reading it.

Memory impairment can severely affect the following tasks that are often
done outside of the home:

- the recall of simple facts that result in repetitive tasks such as
walking the dog several times a day
- forgetting where one is going, who they are with, or why they are
there
- misplacement of objects like identification or keys
- the inability to go somewhere independently
- the inability to relate back to what was talked about before at
social outings
- forgetting major events and details (such as family weddings or
parties), and
- the inability to maintain a job, though we note that a handful of
amnesic individuals we interviewed volunteer at schools or community
centres.

++++++

Online Game- Creative World

2006-10-31T03:41:00.000-05:00

posted by Joanne Chen & ChiaChien Tsai

Online Game - Creative World
Assignment 2- I did my research on Online Game-Lineage. It is a game for all ages to join and a game to express personal emotions by having their own characters. Also, the gaming world in lineage is very similar to the real world, which the players can "interact" with each other by communicating and playing through the game. There is a storyline and some events to make the players keep updating their characters, for example, the coming holiday Halloween, there is an event for it.

Assignment 2- There are massive amounts of interesting and unique virtual communities. However, among the seemingly endliess reservoir, Friendster is among the most amusing and beneficial to everyone living in the world. It is an online social community that connects people via networks of friends. There are manyfunctions in Friendster. Users can build up their own friends' network, post pictures, create a blog and perform many other tasks.

Assignment 2 part 2- Our “ Creative World” is an online-game that all ages can join to express themselves throughout words and images. We decide to create this “ Creative World” based on what we had research, Lineage and Friendster, by combining online game and social network together. It is a game for players to have “ connections” within each other.
This is a 2D virtual world. Our goal is to achieve multi- cultural virtual space. It provides a space for people to meet with other people who come from different nations. There are several things participator can do. People can personalize their webpage by simply changing wall paper, font, or add music whichever they desire to do. In addition, they can post their daily journal to share their emotions and to tell secrets or ask questions. Every member is welcome to leave message and comments on others’ blogs. On the other side, people have another chance to make new friends while playing games. Those are not complicated games. Instead, they are easy to understand and fun to play. For example, players are able to make up their own characters. Moreover, for clothing stores or pet stores, the players may have to keep updating to take care of their characters and pets. Hope everyone will enjoy this game!
The difference between second world and our creative world is that we tents to focus on having individuality with in the group, people have their personal identification by expressing the emotions and thoughts throughout journals and images. They share information and knowledge through their blogs. Also, we are based on the two dimensional gaming, which is created by drawings that even players can give ideas or their drawings to present them as gaming backgrounds Besides, Creative World primarily focus on making new friends by their blogs and have more conversations within each other by the gaming sections.

Online Community Call for Submissions

2006-10-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

This call for Virtual Communities can lead to a $1,000. production honouraria. FYI

mosaica@yorku.ca

CALL FOR ONLINE PROJECTS FOR WWW. MOSAICA.CA

Project Mosaica, a website devoted to contemporary Jewish culture online, is seeking projects from individuals or groups on the theme of Jews and Diaspora: Jewish Culture, Web Culture, New Culture. Once again, two 1,000 CAN $ production honoraria will be awarded to the successful candidates whose web projects address the possibilities of the virtual diaspora with this theme.

CRITERIA FOR PROJECTS
Projects should be innovative and address the visual possibilities of the web as well as contribute to an understanding of the multivalent nature, complexities, significance and changes in meaning of Diaspora or transnationalism. The call is intended to be as inclusive as possible: projects from all artistic disciplines are welcomed.
All proposals must:
* Provide a project description in 500 words including the following: a
statement about the project’s relationship to Jews and Diaspora; why the web is
a viable medium for the project; and an explanation of how the project will be
sustainable beyond implementation.
* Include a web-ready presentation
* Include a CV
* Include a selected portfolio of previous work in CD-R, DVD-R or video DVD
(Region 1 compatible ) featuring not more than 3 images or 5 minutes video per project.
* Proposals to be submitted in English or French, however we recognize that other languages may play a role in the final project.

Innovative content and its adaptation to web aesthetics will be the primary consideration in the selection process. Artists will maintain copyright of their productions which will be disseminated by Mosaica on the site www.mosaica.ca and presented at public talks and screening(s).Submission material will not be returned.

Applications must be submitted by December 15, 2006
Online applications are to be submitted to: mosaica@yorku.ca
Decision Date: Candidates will be notified by January 15, 2007
A condition of the honorarium is completion of the project by April 1, 2007

Mosaica: Jewish Culture, Web Culture, New Culture
http://www.mosaica.ca/

You Tube (Broadcast Community)

2006-10-30T08:41:00.000-05:00

How to view Video in your Community

How To Post Video To the site
First Step --> You video tape the scene with your phone or any other
device that gives option to upload video to your computer
Last Step --> You will have to pay to send video to your phone

I did research on You Tube. I was interested in their idea of expressing yourselves through video and posting it for worldwide. I Imagine how beneficial it will be to know or be aware of what’s going on or happened in your neighborhood especially for people who do not like watching or listening to the news or might have miss the news couple of days ago. Video would be posted and register under city, province and postal code, including the day and date and main intersection. (You then search by the city or surrounded area and see the activity of the street over any period of time - - through video posted from anyone who has been there).

If you had $100M to "Free" a Copyright

2006-10-27T08:50:00.000-04:00

What would it be? Dream BIG! The founder of Wikipedia has put this plea for ideas out to the public, he has a partner who would like to make this happen, and he is accepting your suggestions! You can join the discussion and see previous suggestions at the link in this post.

"Jimbo" Wales is the founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia

READING FOR NEXT WEEK - Marooned in the Moment

2006-10-24T14:39:00.000-04:00

Please read and be prepared to comment on this article for next week - October 31st. It is an excellent description of amnesia and of the Memory Link project, heading by Dr. Brian Richards at Baycrest.

Have a conversation with my dear friend, iGod

2006-10-24T13:59:00.000-04:00

A program similar to iGod was mentioned in my presentation.

Have fun with this, and be sure you bring your sense of humor.

Prototype for Non Free Downloading Website

2006-10-24T13:47:00.000-04:00

Everone can be involved as an audience for my virtual community. There are no restriction of age-differences and gender-differences.
My community is ideally wanting to share every genre of music and pre-listening of the music. The reason for being the community is becuase of the downloading website. Theses websites are all over online and easy to approach therefore music industry in danger as people burn and copy instead of buying actual CD or discs. However, the ones form the free downloading websites were incomplete, mixed, and not clean in terms of the music quality. The non free websites showed opposite results when the same song was downloaded. The goals for my community is people should appreciate the music and the amount of hard work andd effort each artist has put into making music and pay a littel fee to listen to music.

* As many people using Internet make a program of listening, researching information and downloading music from famous website which peole can rely on .For example; Google, Yahoo

*There is no doubt for music quality because the websites uses original Cd which is offered by evey single music entertainment. It can prevent people steeling songs from free downloading website.

* From the program people can research whatever they want to find( various arist, songs, and music vedio )

* They can only pre-lisstening and seeing the music and the music video for a minute

* Then if they want to download dwhichever they want to listen from the website they have to log on and buy or hold until they want to download it

* In order to log on people have to give their information including Name, Age, Birth, Gender and account number which is important factor in order to buy the music.

*If people buy 10 songs the website provide on free downloading coupon for having free song as a service, so people could come and enjoy the downloading the songs.

FaceBook & Cornerz

2006-10-24T12:41:00.000-04:00

I did reseach on the community of FaceBook. I was interested in their feature of "tagging" in the photo albums. My proposed community called Cornerz, is a combination of the "on the street" story telling of Murmur, the maps of Google Earth and the "tagging" of FaceBook -- all through pictures. It would be most appealing to travelers that meet and get pictures taken with other people, or by other people. Pictures would be posted and "tagged" with the location that the picture was taken. (you then search by the area, and see the activity of the street corner over any period of time -- through pictures posted from anyone who has been there)

Statspeak Prototype

2006-10-24T12:34:00.000-04:00

I have designed a virtual community based on short surveys on current events called, 'Statspeak". The surveys (created by users) and their results can be used as a spring board for posts and contributions by people creating dialogue, whether it is in the form of pictures, audio, video or a comment. The interface utilizes a weblog and wireless mobile software similar to VirJ from the Hybrid Media show. The interface can be accessed via PDAs, cellphone and computers. The Wireless mobile technology is used to that people in public area can use cell phones to vote on a particular answer for surveys based on current events.

Here is the online interface & the wireless mobile interface:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.

Assignment 2: Second Life

2006-10-24T12:17:00.000-04:00

Hey guys,

I'm doing my research for assignment 2 on Second Life, a program brought to you by Linden Labs. This program takes virtual communities at a whole new level since it encompasses the scripting for you to do ANYTHING you can imagine. Check out the program at www.secondlife.com. It's free to download, so see what your new life can do for you!

Virtual Community Proposal

2006-10-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

In creating a proposal for an online virtual community, I started by looking at current communities that interested me. The first was Google Earth: I admired its scalability and its ability to search anywhere in the world. The second was the [murmur] Project: in which I enjoyed its ability to link media with a certain time and place. I wondered if there was a way to combine the best qualities of these two projects as well as adding some new ideas. What I wanted was a way to search for media at a specific time and place and be able to see all publicly available photos, audio, and video. There is a wealth of recording devices at play in our lives everyday, everything from cell phone and digital cameras to a professional news camera; I want a way to make this data searchable, accessible and publicly available. It seems a shame, with the mass volume of data recorded, that so little of it is truly organized and publicly accessible.
My proposed solution to this in the form of a virtual community is a web-driven browser that is able to search by location and date for media (pictures, audio, video) with an interface similar to the scalable Google Earth interface. Media would be user added and tagged with site and time information so that a user could search for a particular type of image at a location on a particular day. Since the content of the site would be user driven, it would take time for reasonable content to build up. There would be a wealth of media available to flesh out this site from the many recording devices around us (everything from personal digital cameras to security cameras in public places), it would just be a matter of whether people would want there media publicly available. As users add media they could give it certain tags and code words so that it would respond to certain searches.
Over time a plethora of data could build up, giving people a number of unique ways of doing things they couldn’t do before. With a browser/directory like this people could sample the sights, sounds and stories of place before they visited it. A person reminiscing about the past could search back in time through the browser and see the images and sounds of an earlier era. In terms of the everyday, someone could search through a parking lot security camera to see which car caused the new scratch they noticed on their vehicle, or a parent could watch a home video of their child’s soccer game that they missed earlier that day. The possibilities seem attractive and endless and yet my proposed community is probably too idealistic to exist. The technology and the storage capacity to create a community like this likely do not exist and the idea of everyone freely sharing information seems farfetched in this cloistered and private era. Nonetheless, I put this proposal forward as a theoretical prototype of something that I would very much like to see.

-Jacob Fowler


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5  License.

www.somethingawful.com, virtual comedy

2006-10-24T11:34:00.000-04:00

Hello class. While doing some research, for our virtual community class I came across a virtual community brought together by comedy. I haven't actually been able to fully experience the site because you have to pay to use it, but, you can still get an idea of the tone by going to the website. I found out about it on my search in wikipedia, so it might be a good idea to look it up on there too. It has a few forums divided into types of humour. The community on this site seems very open to anything. Worth a look.

Online Bargain Hunting Communities

2006-10-24T11:28:00.000-04:00

For my research component of the second project I looked at online shopping communities, specifically I looked at a Canadian site redflagdeals.com. The sites are generally simple forum-based websites with all the communication text or image based. The most interesting aspect of these communities (or so I thought) was there ability to effect change in both real and online stores simply through the number of members that they have. A posting of a good sale can cause an immediate response in a store or on a website. Having worked in retail for a while I can speak to instances where I was in store and getting numerous request for a particular item only to go home and find that item listed on the site. In this way I found the forum community to be almost self-defeating because often these sale items are sold out almost immediately, so it is only the initial few readers of a post who will get the posted item. It's basically the online equivalent of that family member we all have who spends all day cutting out coupons, but many thousands of this type of person at once. It was interesting to consider in the context of the virtual community.

-Jacob

assignment 2 part 2

2006-10-24T10:48:00.000-04:00

I am sure all of us, at some point in our lives, have paused and reminisced about the past. There is always something about the past that we miss; whether it was the people we grew up with or just the old games we used to play. Isn’t it everyone’s dream to step out of his or her chaotic lives for a minute and revisit their childhood- a minute to re-play the good old times? As much as we wish we could go back to the past and relive those moments, we know it is impossible (maybe until the time machine is finally invented); but what about a device that can bring back anyone anywhere in the world, to any point in history virtually.

Re-play is the virtual time machine for the real world. The primary goal of this website is to connect individuals of the same time periods who lived in the same countries so that they can share their knowledge and memories of the past. Re-play is also a great place for self-reflection and reminiscence. Moreover, this website can serve as an archive for personal history development around the world.

Assignment 2: Research & Prototype

2006-10-23T20:35:00.000-04:00

Researched Virtual Community:

GaiaOnline is the largest online forum community on the internet, boasting a user base of almost 5 million registered members and over 816 million posts.

GaiaOnline is an online community that presents itself as a virtual world - almost all of the primary features of MySpace, Blogspot, and other user-interaction-based communities are active within Gaia but are integrated within Gaia's own stylized system of surfing and interaction.

Gaia targets primarily fans of anime and manga, but it is not exclusive for these communities - Gaia has become a niche community for geeks of all kinds, although criticism of the site is heavy due to a childlike aesthetic taste and the fact that it homages many other popular communities (and openly acknowledges thus).

A Gaia avatar simulator is located here. Gaia's avatar system has been the primary draw of the site ever since it's inception.

Here is a short weekly comic the administratos have begun to create - one of the shops is run by the owner's pet cat as of now. Here are his adventures.

Prototype Virtual Community:

Prototype image here.

[More images coming.]

Inspired by the failure Gaia had with creating a role-playing and creative community and the PaCu boxes interactivity, I have created a localized virtual community that takes tangible items and uses them as a catalyst for creative growth.The community inspires to promote writing and creative growth within a technological age that is fast detoriorating diction and focusing creative though.

They are a community due to an interest in creative thought, growth and a want to break into the creative design industry as well as creative protfolio peices. We are linked with technology due to the nature of distance between potential users - despite relative closeness, it is still not viable for users to meet after every interval. More importantly, the community is existing to fight degenerating diction and the like online - thus, making the statement online is important.

The primary goal and mission for this community is to fight creative degeneration online, and to promote creative though and practice within a safe community.

The community is known as "Narrative.", but is differentiated in name due to community - for example, the Toronto version is known as "NarraTOve." and the New York City version is known as "NaYrrative.". The community is blog-based.

The system is localized in a much smaller fashion, due to the nature of community in context of creativity - creative work is a personalized experience and working within a huge community where one does not feel individual or personal is detrimental to the creative experience.

Essentially, the system goes as follows -

Users are, in 2 week intervals, are organized in groups of 15-20.

PaCu boxes will be placed within various areas of the city and it's greater area (such as the GTA), where users in the group are prompted to place tangible items of interest - anything that isn't organice or will rot is fine - within the PaCu boxes. They have 2 weeks to do so.

After the time period has ended, the moderators of the community will organize and note what items have been placed there and keep them with them (as temporary storage if the people wish to reclaim their item). They will post the entire list of items within the blog...

And then 3-4 randomly selected users in the group will be asked to creative narratives involving 75% of the items on the list in some way or another. Motivation for the work is prompted by the fact that industy participating individuals (artists, art directors, writers, etc.) will be participating within the work and the work can be considered portfolio work.

After a week, the 3-4 users will post their creations for the rest of the group to critique, as well as the moderators and the like. Encouragement and sensitivity are essential.

Then, the creative work will be archived and given a CC lisence and the system begins again.

YouTube

2006-10-22T21:08:00.000-04:00

YouTube is a popular free video sharing web site which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. Founded in February 2005 by three employees and now google is buying for 1.3 billion.

Would you Please post your comment on this post about YouTube and what it means to you?

Photo was YouTube's early Headquaters in San Mateo

Assignment 2 research component- Friendster

2006-10-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

Hi class, sorry I am not able to attend class because I am feeling sick today, but I have still manged to post and I have emailed the written component to Martha, hopefully next week I will have a chance to present to you guys =(

I have done my research on www.friendster.com. It is a virtual community that has been around since 2002. It was actually one of the first communities to introduce the idea of social networking, and connecting with friends and strangers via friends of different degrees. Some people recognize Friendster to be the inspiration for sites such as MySpace and Facebook, but I think that Friendster manages to take a different approach. Some may criticize the "unoriginal" layout and that it allows very little freedom for users to express themselves, but I personally enjoy Friendster for what it is, which is to connect with friends and expand my network. I am a big fan of Friendster, and I have been using it since 2003. It has been my daily routine to log on and check my friends' updates, see how they are doing, and also to message with new friends I have met. If you are not an existing user of Friendster, be sure to sign up =)

FinnegansWiki

2006-10-17T09:55:00.000-04:00

FinnegansWiki is a great online community which is trying to complete a empirical study of James Joyce's book Finnegans Wake. Basically "The Wake" is written in a completely metaphorical language which refers not only to a particular story/plot in the novel, but also refers to many historical events, literary events, and if looked far enough into, nearly anything related to language exists in some way in "The Wake." The community is slowly building every interpretation of the words that it can, using Wiki community software to allow open editing to anyone with the backup of some moderators.

~joe.d.

Hi OCAD FOODCOURT

2006-10-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

This Is a pocast audio clip in OCAD foodcourt. The imformation within this audio clip is taken from an interview with the worker whose name is Bruce around foodcourt. He tells us about how he's been feeling about our foodcourt environment and also location and so forth.. . . I think this is great assingment that we can actually get somone's story about our community and also can share their experience.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Teen Threatened at knifepoint

2006-10-03T14:36:00.000-04:00

A terrified high school student walking home from school had a knief held to his throat by two youths. the victim is 16 and was robbed of his cell phone and wallet. Both suspects are described as South Asian, 16 to 18 year, 5foot - 9, 160 pounds, with blue and black bandannas covering their faces. Police Briefs

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Nuit Blanche

2006-10-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

Nuit Blanche:

"It feels like an invasion of environment,"
Space and place transformed by sound, object and viewer,
The world suddenly became a surreal adventure,
And you could be assured that every 'X' on the map,
Would transport you to a place you've never been.

The Unknown Chef

2006-10-03T13:02:00.000-04:00

The person I interviewed was a good friend of mine, who is an excellent chef. What interests me about him was that he is carrying on his heritage and the memory of his grandma through his culinary skills. He doesn’t cook for a restaurant nor for profit, cooking is a way to express himself.

The original time of interview was 8miins, I edited down to a minute and half. If you listen closely you can hear the kitchen in the background.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.

Pedestrian Sundays

2006-10-03T12:37:00.000-04:00

This is an informational audio piece on the Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington market. The information within this audio clip is taken from an interview with the owner and operator of Kensington Melody on Baldwin St. in Kensington market. I then took the information gained and made this clip. In general, the information seems correct, but for some of the facts, I couldn't find a secondary source, so be weary of misinforming people when creating these types of things...

I think this also shows a possible draw back to community/grassroots journalism, because the source is not always so clear.

None the less, it was an enjoyable experience.

Podcast - Toronto Housing

2006-10-03T12:32:00.000-04:00

My podcast is of my friend's views of student housing, or lack of.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 License.

When's the last time you said hi to your neighbour?

2006-10-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

© copyright 1999-2006 Getty Images, Inc. All rights reserved.

This is a commentary on society's fixation with media/celebrity and thier neglect to make a real connection with the everyday physical community that surrounds them.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Cabbagetown

2006-10-03T12:12:00.000-04:00

This is a post about St. Jamestown, which is located in the heart of Cabbagetown, downtown Toronto.

Enjoy!

Google Geeks

2006-10-03T11:44:00.000-04:00

Here is a posting with my test community journalism project, linked to my file on the student web server.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Assignment 1 Thing in OCAD Campus

2006-10-03T11:39:00.000-04:00

Thing in OCAD Campus
ChiaChien Tsai 2225480

This is the audio file about ocad students and campus safety. A gunshooting event happended in Dawson College in Montreal. All students were scared. However,I interviewed a security in 100 McCaul St. building. He was very generous and shared his point of view. I was very glad to know that our school's security do their best to strengthen their policy in order to protect students life.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

When walking gets you no where.

2006-10-03T11:22:00.000-04:00

An open critique of mine, involving information I've gathered from several participants of the Toronto Dyke March. The one consensus that is predominant within the feelings of these people is the fact that the march was brushed under the rug by popular media and news coverage.

The fact that Toronto considers itself a progressive city concerning human rights and civil liberties makes this a travesty, in that the Dyke March is representative of those individuals who are still being "swept under the rug".

The city and other major news stations need to shape up.

This work is liscened under the a Creative Commons liscence.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Assignment 1 Cammy Fung

2006-10-03T02:09:00.000-04:00

This is the audio file to my story. I interviewed Simon Au, the founder and creative director or Xitch Design Studio. He is truly an inspiration to all of us, the students at OCAD. At the age of 22, Simon has already established his own business which began about 3 years ago. He is definitely someone we can learn from.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Project 1: Community -- Soccer School

2006-10-03T02:04:00.000-04:00

Soccer School
Jacob Fowler 2213643

For my community Blogging and Podcasting project I, at first, looked into local events and stories from my area. I live and work in the suburbs and after asking friends and family about any interesting events that had happened recently I received a resounding chorus of: "Nothing." No one could think of any 'news' happening so instead of looking for a news event I chose to look for something simple, idiosyncratic, but above all real-feeling.

Rather than looking for a large important story I went around and asked friends, and family for a "short story" around a minute or two long. I left it at that; people interpreted this many ways. My collected stories ranged from little jokes, to serious life lessons, to inane ramblings. From these stories I settled on a little story my mother told me about my sisters and I playing in soccer school as kids. This story ended up being my selection for a number of reasons: it's a personal story that is accessible and a little funny, but mostly it seemed very real to me.

It is for the most part unedited other than a few minor alterations and cleaning up made in Audacity. I debated chopping up the audio to make it flow more smoothly, and do things like removing the cough and apology. In the end I chose to leave these and am happy with the realism these lend the audio. as if you were sitting in a room listening to the story.

Recorded on Sept. 27, 2006
Link: Soccer School

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Creative Commons

2006-10-03T00:03:00.000-04:00

Creative Commons is a new system, built within current copyright law, that allows you to share your creations with others and use music, movies, images, and text online that's been marked with a Creative Commons license. We will be learning about the creative commons and using creative commons licenses for our next project. Maybe for this current project too, as no one seems to have posted anything yet!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

Murmur Kensington Market Walk

2006-09-26T12:43:00.000-04:00

Wandering around Kensington Market, we were around Oxford and Augusta area, where we stumbled on this interesting car we saw parked on the side of the road.

We didn’t really notice it from a distance, but as soon as you walk past it you can’t help but notice that it was completely filled with dirt/grass and random plantation. This included the hood, the trunk, and even the inside… completely filled to the sunroof.

We wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a murmur posting about this very vehicle sometime soon. Well we did, there were actually 3 stories that went along with the location 274 Augusta. The one that really interested us was the one about Pete Pelisek’s encounter with the deer. Strange, isn’t it? Pete encountered a deer running in the heart of Toronto, the busy Kensington. We chose this story because we felt that the story will be great for a community news. It is very interesting, and will captivate everyone in the city. Especially for those who live around the city will be thrilled to hear this. Every time we visit Kensington from now on, we will be sure to watch out for the deer.

Link to the 274 Augusta Story
http://murmurtoronto.ca/place.php?232626

Jacob, John, Brad, Cammy

murmur at Augusta and College

2006-09-26T12:20:00.000-04:00

Group: Chia Chien Tsai, Joanne Chen, Gi Young

Pete Pelisek [232626] 274 Augusta

Story: On May 1994, he was walking on Augusta and College Streets around 3~4 midnight. He saw a deer runing whild on the street across College, which he had never seen something like that and found it very interesting.

Response: This murmur story interest me the most because I had grown up in the city which is hard for me to imagine animals except cats and dogs running around on the streets. If I am Pete Pelisek, I will be very surprise to see deers, but I think I will be happy to have experiences and memories like that.

Murmur

2006-09-26T12:18:00.000-04:00

My favourite Murmur story was the where someone was reminiscing about when he was about 3 or 4, and would go down with his mother to a butcher shop on Augusta. He described the street as having chickens running around, people arguing in other languages, and one time two butchers were arguing and one pulled out a meat cleaver and chased the other one.

Meat Cleaver Fun @Murmur.

2006-09-26T12:15:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of the Ear that told us our favourite story.
The story is by 39 year old Warren Morris who tells us of his
childhood memories of Kensington Market. Lots of images come
into mind when listening to his account of chickens running around
on the street, meat markets, and crazy Meat Cleaver action!

You can see all of our ear images here.

iMovie Tutorial

2006-09-26T08:43:00.000-04:00

Go to the link in this post or in the blog links to take a full iMovie video tour and tutorial.

You can also try the GarageBand tutorial: Go to the side link or:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/garageband/

Appropriate posting and use of the class blog

2006-09-25T21:30:00.000-04:00

This blog is a community space, for sharing information, posting class projects, and topics relevant to the course and the subject of virtual communities. Do not use it for any other purposes. Posts of an inappropriate nature will be deleted.
Thanks -- don't turn me into the class watch dog -- use the blog sensibly and for the purpose it was created!

Post your favourite [murmur] story

2006-09-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

Post a short description and a related image of your favourite [murmur] story in Kensington Market to the blog.
How does it relate to the community journalism project, and why did you like it best?
Include a picture or drawing of the site of your favourite story from your field trip.
All posts are due during this week.

Editing audio with audacity - tips from a7

2006-09-19T01:36:00.000-04:00

I'm going to assume that everyone knows how to record, and import their audio to the computer, so this little guide shows you what to do after you have the file on your computer. First, a little background on why you may need to process your audio before it can be used for the Murmur project. Sorry for the geek speak that follows, but it helps to understand a bit more.

Sound "pitch" (i.e. whether a sound is low, like a bass, or high, like a flute) is measured in Hertz. Low sounds have low Hertz (100Hz) and high sounds have high Hertz (10000Hz). The human ear can hear sounds roughly between 20Hz and 20000Hz. That's why humans can't hear dog whistles for example, since they create sound above 20000Hz (dogs can hear up to about 40000Hz).

So, how does that relate to the project you ask? Because what WE hear is not neccesarily what the recording device picks up, and more importantly, NOT how a telephone works. Microphones vary greatly in the frequencies they pick up, and cheaper mics can exaggerate some frequencies more than others. In general, cheap mics will boost low frequencies, and cut high frequencies. This makes for a "boomy" recording, especially when recording a male voice, as the male voice is generally in the range of 150Hz. Under normal circumstances, this is not a big issue. However, it gets tricky when playing it through a telephone. Most telephones only transmit sound in the range of 300Hz to 3000Hz. And that's why it's important to process your audio for it to sound good on a telephone. You need to cut out that low rumbling streetcar sound and cut out the high pitched wind hiss in order for the voice to sound right.

So this is how you do it:

Start up Audacity (free download from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ). Open the file you recorded. Audacity will let you import WAV, AIF, or MP3 files. Once the file is loaded, make sure the sound is actually in stereo, or in mono. If the file is in stereo but the sound is mono, you will only be getting sound from one speaker (i.e. not good). In that case, the file will look like this (notice the straight line in the lower window):

If your file is ok (already mono or proper stereo) you can skip to the next block of text. Otherwise, you can change it by clicking on the file name in the top left corner of your sound file (in the picture above, the word Murmur next to the "X"). Click your file name and select "Split Stereo Track". You will then have 2 seperate files. Close the one that has no sound (click the "X"). Then, in the remaining sound file, click the name again and select mono, as in the picture below:

Now to process the sound. Click "Edit" -> Select.. -> All. You should now have your file highlighted. Click "Effect" -> High Pass Filter. Enter a frequency between 400-600 and click ok. Then click "Effect" -> Low Pass Filter. Enter a frequency between 2800-3500 and click ok.

Finally, we will normalize the sound. Normalizing the sound ensures that the parts where the person was talking soft will be about the same volume as when they were talking loud. Click "Effect" -> Normalize, and click ok. Your sound should now be "telephone ready". BUT, by applying all those filters you may have lowered the volume of the sound. If you think it's too faint, click "Effect" -> Amplify, and click ok. Now save the file first so you don't lose anything, then export it as MP3 if you like (or convert to mp3 by another method of your choice).

Phew! Hope all this crazy nerdy info helps a few people to get better sound. :) Good luck.

A7

Code sketches

2006-09-18T23:58:00.000-04:00

hello everyone,

here is a link to one of furkan's recent code sketches. unfortunately he wasn't able to upload the source code. It is possible to visualize an infinite amount of possibilities with the same structure and different data.

furkan

(reposted, with the link in the title -- apologies for the unintentional edit!)

Nuit Blanche - Sept 30th Toronto's open all night

2006-09-18T23:46:00.000-04:00

This site has maps and all of the information on cultural sites and everything else that will be open all night for Nuit Blanche.

Scotiabanks's Nuit Blanche

2006-09-17T17:22:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone!

With all the talk about Nuit Blanche, I decided to go google it and for some reason I didn't seem to find out too much about it. I have posted the link for the info I found regarding it on our OCAD site but its not much. Is it like a festival that happens throughout the city in different places but at the same time?

Oh, someone was talking about the Chinese Lantern Festival, I didn't get to visit that yet.... I think there is still time to until October. Has anyone else seen that? If so how was it?

Until next time,

MeThinks

2006-09-12T14:24:00.000-04:00

www.methinkspresents.org
The artist organization I'm involved in.

Current Projects:

I
Project Co-Ordinator/Organizer
New York Roadtrip
Dates: September 24 - September 29
More Info: An organized trip to New York City (Manhattan Island) that aims to facilitate cultural exchange and encourage emerging artists and designers to research/explore/find inspiration in the city. --> http://www.methinkspresents.org/xchange/

II
Project Co-Ordinator/Performer
Nuir Blanche: Bark News
Dates: September 31
More Info: A guerilla project involving a group of artists that will engage the public with a performance/installation involving recorded media that will be available for viewing online.

A word on lines of flight...

2006-09-12T14:07:00.000-04:00

I took this from wikipedia...I think that the rhizome is a wonderful way of understanding
the virtual..the line of flight helps describe the rhizome as a philosophical concept..

A line of flight is a concept developed by Gilles Delueze and used extensively in his work with Felix Guattari. In the first chapter of "Capitalism and Schizophrenia: A Thousand Plateaus", which describes the concept of the rhizome, it is referred to as:

"Multiplicities are defined by the outside: by the abstract line, the line of flight or deterritorialization according to which they change in nature and connect with other multiplicities. The plane of consistency (grid) is the outside of all multiplicities. The line of flight marks: the reality of a finite number of dimensions that the multiplicity effectively fills; the impossibility of a supplementary dimension, unless the multiplicity is transformed by the line of flight; the possibility and necessity of flattening all of the multiplicities on a single plane of consistency or exteriority, regardless of their number of dimensions."

enjoy!
~joe.d.

"I wish I could miss school."

2006-09-12T14:02:00.000-04:00

I'm going to take a major, assumptive leap and assume that said title was the first thought that most people would have when they are aware of this news.

Once again, our media portrays a level of intelligence for re-enforcing what should be an obvious conclusion considering the involved factors.

Nonetheless, this news does have relevance to the course matter - One should be aware that access to virtual communities is not a universal privelege, and the fact that these children are having education removed is going to correlate with the types and amounts of perspectives concerning world news that we will be able to access and interact with in the future.

2006-09-12T13:44:00.000-04:00

hi every one!

Burning Man

2006-09-12T13:25:00.000-04:00

Check out this garbage ball from burning man!

Get to know our local neighbourhood with [murmur]

2006-09-11T11:06:00.000-04:00

The [murmur] Project is about the lives and stories of people who live and work in urban Toronto. The very first [murmur] project was created in Toronto's Kensington Market, just a stone's throw from our campus at OCAD.

[murmur] is about the stories of people who live and work in our city. And [murmur] believes interesting things don't just happen at the Rogers Centre and Nathan Phillips Square -- the city is full of stories, and some of them happen in parking lots and bungalows, diners and front lawns. The smallest, greyest or most nondescript building can be transformed by the stories that live in it. Once heard, these stories can change the way people think about that place and the city at large. These are the stories that make up Toronto's identity, but they're kept inside of the heads of the people who live here. [murmur] brings that important archive out onto the streets, for all to hear and experience.

[murmur] is an archival audio project that collects stories set in specific Toronto locations, told by Torontonians themselves. At each of these locations, a [murmur] sign with a telephone number and location code marks where stories are available. By using a mobile phone, users are able to listen to the story of that place while engaging in the physical experience of being there.

For more information about [murmur] in Toronto's Kensington market click on the title link or go to:
http://murmurtoronto.ca/

This is our first assignment and field trip for Virtual Communities.