http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZLSzAHabsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tt62m7Hgi4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFJ9trQXgs4
These are the kind of video podcasts I like best. I think I'm a one note wonder. All of these videos are about car maintenance and doing it yourself. I like these because they make doing work on your own car easy. And to be even more one note, I plan on doing my video podcast on a vehicle modification. I'll be showing everyone how to upgrade their vehicle light wiring harnesses to make the vehicle's lights brighter. I'll explain the concept of voltage drops and current flow to explain why installing the wiring harness will increase light output.
Trying to incorporate some of the reading, I think that the metaphor I'm working with now is the right one for the kind of site I want. I just want a laid back, inviting, cool site and the bar metaphor seems to be doing what I want it to do. I do think that I need to integrate it better in the site. I like the entrance and the interior shot, but I need to better incorporate the metaphor in the albums page, and hobby page, and the blog page. I'm trying to figure out how to do this better.
Also, I need to incorporate a narrative, that tells my story seamlessly. I don't feel like I have a narrative at all and I need to work on creating one and integrating it into the site.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Posting for 2/23
So...I've completely dropped the pieces of me metaphor that I was thinking about earlier, partly because I wanted my webpage to really laid back and fun. So if you visit my webpage now (www.thedomspot.com) you'll see that it's now a chic, trendy bar.
I'm struggling with better ways to link the pages together and to make the links more intuitive so that the way to navigate around the site is obvious. I plan on spreading the metaphor throughout the whole site by including different rooms (VIP, etc.) and spreading the look throughout. The difficulty and the frustrations I have have been coming from wanting to do so much more, but not knowing how to do so...I have SO MANY IDEAS! I just don't know how implement most of them! That's so frustrating. I will say that I am glad I took this class and was forced to start a webpage...I am definitely going to keep it (at least for a year...that's the deal I set up with my domain provider) after the class and I will continue to try my best to better it and implement some of my ideas.
Now to the reading..."Action is the highest form of thought." I think I agree with..maybe if I keep typing I'll definitely agree with that. For action to occur, there has to be thought. But in action that is converted to some kind of muscle movement. Thought combined with muscle movement will lead to muscle memory...and, at least for me, when something is committed to muscle memory, it is a whole lot easier to remember...it's like riding a bike! You will never really forget how to do it...because of the action. You can think about riding a bike all you want, but if you don't actually do it, you don't actually KNOW how to do it.
And that is why I agree with the statement from pg. 212. Action is KNOWING.
And some how I need to incorporate that into my website...
I'm struggling with better ways to link the pages together and to make the links more intuitive so that the way to navigate around the site is obvious. I plan on spreading the metaphor throughout the whole site by including different rooms (VIP, etc.) and spreading the look throughout. The difficulty and the frustrations I have have been coming from wanting to do so much more, but not knowing how to do so...I have SO MANY IDEAS! I just don't know how implement most of them! That's so frustrating. I will say that I am glad I took this class and was forced to start a webpage...I am definitely going to keep it (at least for a year...that's the deal I set up with my domain provider) after the class and I will continue to try my best to better it and implement some of my ideas.
Now to the reading..."Action is the highest form of thought." I think I agree with..maybe if I keep typing I'll definitely agree with that. For action to occur, there has to be thought. But in action that is converted to some kind of muscle movement. Thought combined with muscle movement will lead to muscle memory...and, at least for me, when something is committed to muscle memory, it is a whole lot easier to remember...it's like riding a bike! You will never really forget how to do it...because of the action. You can think about riding a bike all you want, but if you don't actually do it, you don't actually KNOW how to do it.
And that is why I agree with the statement from pg. 212. Action is KNOWING.
And some how I need to incorporate that into my website...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Posting for 2/9
The homepage design: I’ve had several ideas about how to best to represent myself in my homepage. The one I like the most is to have a black and white portrait of myself, cut up into pieces on the site’s main page. These individual “pieces of me” will link to other portions of the site, i.e. one piece will lead to a resume, one will lead to my hobbies, and so forth. Letting visitors click individual pieces of the portrait to discover different facets of me will allow them to feel like they are actively involved in getting to know me…the little that they will actually be finding out.
I think that this metaphor—looking into the pieces of me—can be carried out through the entirety of the site and will use the three principles of interaction that Meadows details: Input/Output, Inside/Outside, and Open/Closed.
With each input of the visitor’s clicks, the output would be another piece of my narrative. The visitor’s actions/inputs will determine the information/outputs they receive. Another piece of the output will be a changing picture upon clicking. As the visitor goes to different portions, upon returning to the main page, the visited link will now be a piece of a different color portrait. The more pieces of the site the visitor visits, the more pieces of the new portrait the visitor will see.
The changing portrait will also incorporate Meadows’s interaction principle of Inside/Outside. The visitor will know that they have already visited a portion of my site and internalized its knowledge (Inside) by the changed portion of the portrait (Outside). I really didn’t get this principle, so this was my best shot at it.
As for Open/Closed interaction, the website will allow the visitor to navigate to any portion they so choose and view what they wish at anytime (Open), but the visitor will be restricted to availability of the things they can see. The webpage is a closed system that the visitor can openly explore.
Observation, exploration, modification, and reciprocal change will be seen throughout my homepage. The ideas of observation and exploration are pretty self-explanatory. The visitor will be able to view and look at what ever they choose to view. The idea of modification will be accomplished by allowing the visitor to change the portrait on the main page through clicking through the websites various sections. Not only will the visitor be able to modify the image they had of me mentally, they will be able to modify an actual image of me. Reciprocal change will be accomplished by changing the mental image the visitor had of me. They will be able to change the actual image of me, but by changing that actual image, their mental image will be changed by the information they acquire.
The last thing that I’ve been considering about my webpage is having a conventional menu either along the top or the bottom. Only having the portrait provide the links may confuse the visitor and they may not realize that clicking the pieces of the portrait will yield a change. This is where the conventional menu/navigation bar will come into action. Navigating through it will also make the corresponding changes to the portrait and will allow the visitor to return to portions of the website hey wish to quicker and with more assurity.
I think that this metaphor—looking into the pieces of me—can be carried out through the entirety of the site and will use the three principles of interaction that Meadows details: Input/Output, Inside/Outside, and Open/Closed.
With each input of the visitor’s clicks, the output would be another piece of my narrative. The visitor’s actions/inputs will determine the information/outputs they receive. Another piece of the output will be a changing picture upon clicking. As the visitor goes to different portions, upon returning to the main page, the visited link will now be a piece of a different color portrait. The more pieces of the site the visitor visits, the more pieces of the new portrait the visitor will see.
The changing portrait will also incorporate Meadows’s interaction principle of Inside/Outside. The visitor will know that they have already visited a portion of my site and internalized its knowledge (Inside) by the changed portion of the portrait (Outside). I really didn’t get this principle, so this was my best shot at it.
As for Open/Closed interaction, the website will allow the visitor to navigate to any portion they so choose and view what they wish at anytime (Open), but the visitor will be restricted to availability of the things they can see. The webpage is a closed system that the visitor can openly explore.
Observation, exploration, modification, and reciprocal change will be seen throughout my homepage. The ideas of observation and exploration are pretty self-explanatory. The visitor will be able to view and look at what ever they choose to view. The idea of modification will be accomplished by allowing the visitor to change the portrait on the main page through clicking through the websites various sections. Not only will the visitor be able to modify the image they had of me mentally, they will be able to modify an actual image of me. Reciprocal change will be accomplished by changing the mental image the visitor had of me. They will be able to change the actual image of me, but by changing that actual image, their mental image will be changed by the information they acquire.
The last thing that I’ve been considering about my webpage is having a conventional menu either along the top or the bottom. Only having the portrait provide the links may confuse the visitor and they may not realize that clicking the pieces of the portrait will yield a change. This is where the conventional menu/navigation bar will come into action. Navigating through it will also make the corresponding changes to the portrait and will allow the visitor to return to portions of the website hey wish to quicker and with more assurity.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Posting for 2/2
The website that I think looks like the homepage that I would like for myself is www.michaelbuble.com. I think the most important thing is that it is simple, yet complex. The colors are soothing, like his music, and really calming. My homepage will be geared more toward professional activities…i.e, highlighting my resume, giving some insight into my life (not too much though), and leaving the viewer with a confident feeling about who I am, while not really divulging too much information. Official websites for celebrities tend to do just that too. They talk of upcoming projects, appearances, give biographies…but if you look really closely…it’s all superficial. You come away from the website thinking you know more, but do you really? That’s what I want.
One thing that I never thought of before was building a visual metaphor that would show up through out the webpage and using subtle changes to it as a cue to the viewer. The visual metaphor, along with other means, can show the viewer where in web space they are…resume page, hobby page, etc.
The heavy use of contrast is one thing about the www.michaelbuble.com website that I like as well. I read somewhere, I think it was in an engineering book about giving proper engineering presentations, that when viewing screens, dark backgrounds and light text are easiest for the human eye to process. www.michaelbuble.com uses this concept with the dark blue background and white text. The credits at the end of a movie also use this concept and I find that those words are quite easy to see, and they are more soothing to my eye than a bright background and dark text.
I will also use complementary colors within my webpage, most likely on the education portion of my webpage. Burnt Orange and Navy Blue…WAR EAGLE! The colors of Auburn University are complementary to each other and will work nicely in giving the education portion of my webpage hue and light/dark contrast.
I’ve had an idea about the interaction in my webpage. I think that I would love to have a portion my page devoted to call and response. Kind of like an ongoing interview. You view my webpage and if you want to know more, you can ask a question. I will answer and both will be posted to the webpage as an ongoing Q/A session. This way, if you have a question, it will get answered and you’ve become part of the webpage FOREVER…and perhaps someone else has already asked your question and you don’t have to wait for an answer…instant gratification.
Just for the record, I hate avatars, especially talking ones, and you won’t ever see a likeness of me on my webpage that isn’t actually a photo of me…and it definitely won’t be talking to you. In addition to uselessly using up bandwidth, it just plain annoys me.
One thing that I never thought of before was building a visual metaphor that would show up through out the webpage and using subtle changes to it as a cue to the viewer. The visual metaphor, along with other means, can show the viewer where in web space they are…resume page, hobby page, etc.
The heavy use of contrast is one thing about the www.michaelbuble.com website that I like as well. I read somewhere, I think it was in an engineering book about giving proper engineering presentations, that when viewing screens, dark backgrounds and light text are easiest for the human eye to process. www.michaelbuble.com uses this concept with the dark blue background and white text. The credits at the end of a movie also use this concept and I find that those words are quite easy to see, and they are more soothing to my eye than a bright background and dark text.
I will also use complementary colors within my webpage, most likely on the education portion of my webpage. Burnt Orange and Navy Blue…WAR EAGLE! The colors of Auburn University are complementary to each other and will work nicely in giving the education portion of my webpage hue and light/dark contrast.
I’ve had an idea about the interaction in my webpage. I think that I would love to have a portion my page devoted to call and response. Kind of like an ongoing interview. You view my webpage and if you want to know more, you can ask a question. I will answer and both will be posted to the webpage as an ongoing Q/A session. This way, if you have a question, it will get answered and you’ve become part of the webpage FOREVER…and perhaps someone else has already asked your question and you don’t have to wait for an answer…instant gratification.
Just for the record, I hate avatars, especially talking ones, and you won’t ever see a likeness of me on my webpage that isn’t actually a photo of me…and it definitely won’t be talking to you. In addition to uselessly using up bandwidth, it just plain annoys me.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Communication, transparency, and participation…for a website such as WhiteHouse.gov, these three ideals are more a point of rhetoric than reality. I think the way the Director of New Media words his/the administration’s thoughts on transparency should be carefully considered. In my recent recollection on the administrations in my lifetime and from reading the histories of those in the past, White House administrations have not been transparent at all; so being “the most open and transparent in history” won’t be such a difficult task. In comparison with the outgoing administration, simply listing the administration’s thoughts thus far has made this administration more transparent. But remembering that rhetoric (the bad kind) is part of political life is most important…so understand that the most transparent in history does not necessarily mean being transparent…but translucence is better than opacity.
How would these work into my home page. Well, I am a profoundly private person so I would undoubtedly have at least 2 homepages: one for the people who KNOW me…one for all the others. These two pages would be different and most likely wouldn’t share much, other than I made them both. So I’ll tackle both, considering I think I’ll make both with only one appearing before this class.
Communication: In the webpage for those who know, communication will be open and flowing in both directions…I’d love to have a call and response type webpage…A BLOG…where the people who knew me best could comment, like Facebook or MySpace, but wholly private and ALL ABOUT ME! That sounded a little self-centered didn’t it…well it was supposed to. The webpage for all the others would present to the world what I wanted them to see…the business Dominic for instance. There is no way I would anything from the homepage for those who know me on the homepage meant to introduce people to the job-seeker, the professional, the guy with his head on his shoulders…basically everything I want people to think. The communication on this homepage would be sparse and one-way. It would only communicate what I wanted to portray of myself…because if people who didn’t know knew what I thought sometimes and how I put things together in my head…well lets say the walls on my room would have some extra padding.
Transparency: Transparency and communication go hand-in-hand. To be full transparent, you have to communicate everything. Needless to say, the homepage for those who know me would be far more transparent than the one for the others. Completely transparent? No, but you’d be able to make most of the details of my life…we all have our secrets (Dominic raise pinky to lip). But the homepage for the others would essentially be a wall with a picture on it…all façade.
Participation: Like I said in my splurge on communication, I’d like the homepage for those who know me to have two-way communication…I’d like there to be input/participation on the goings-on in my life. Tell me what you think, what you think I should have done, and most importantly, that I was RIGHT ALL ALONG! With the other homepage…the extent of the participation would be the ability to email me…perhaps with a job offer or interest in my areas of expertise…nothing personal to be had there.
Well, that’s what I think about that…
How would these work into my home page. Well, I am a profoundly private person so I would undoubtedly have at least 2 homepages: one for the people who KNOW me…one for all the others. These two pages would be different and most likely wouldn’t share much, other than I made them both. So I’ll tackle both, considering I think I’ll make both with only one appearing before this class.
Communication: In the webpage for those who know, communication will be open and flowing in both directions…I’d love to have a call and response type webpage…A BLOG…where the people who knew me best could comment, like Facebook or MySpace, but wholly private and ALL ABOUT ME! That sounded a little self-centered didn’t it…well it was supposed to. The webpage for all the others would present to the world what I wanted them to see…the business Dominic for instance. There is no way I would anything from the homepage for those who know me on the homepage meant to introduce people to the job-seeker, the professional, the guy with his head on his shoulders…basically everything I want people to think. The communication on this homepage would be sparse and one-way. It would only communicate what I wanted to portray of myself…because if people who didn’t know knew what I thought sometimes and how I put things together in my head…well lets say the walls on my room would have some extra padding.
Transparency: Transparency and communication go hand-in-hand. To be full transparent, you have to communicate everything. Needless to say, the homepage for those who know me would be far more transparent than the one for the others. Completely transparent? No, but you’d be able to make most of the details of my life…we all have our secrets (Dominic raise pinky to lip). But the homepage for the others would essentially be a wall with a picture on it…all façade.
Participation: Like I said in my splurge on communication, I’d like the homepage for those who know me to have two-way communication…I’d like there to be input/participation on the goings-on in my life. Tell me what you think, what you think I should have done, and most importantly, that I was RIGHT ALL ALONG! With the other homepage…the extent of the participation would be the ability to email me…perhaps with a job offer or interest in my areas of expertise…nothing personal to be had there.
Well, that’s what I think about that…
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