Welcome to the third age…

Hello and welcome to the first post of my 3rd year as Multimedia student, its been a long while since ive updated this thing and ive finally found enough time in my ridiculously busy life at the moment to become an active member of the blogosphere once more!

Its interesting as i start this third year of blogging about my course to look back on previous posts (spread across this blog, and in my first year over on blogger – http://walkerjournal.blogspot.com) and see how far ive come.

Ive been up to loads of stuff over the summer, some work related some not but all exciting so i will update you on everything that ive been doing soon, but right now its time for me to sleeeeeeeeeep!

Death of the author

Recently we had a lecture on the subject of ‘Death of the author’, the recent rise in user generated content has lead to anyone and everyone with an opinion being able to get it out their in the public domain.

Is this a good thing? Should we trust people who publish content without editorial control? For decades people who have published information be it in books, film, radio or whatever medium have had to go through strict editorial processes and you could pretty much rely on said information to be reliable and trustworthy.

With the advent of the internet everything has changed, sites such as Wikipedia and the multitude of blogs are abuzz with user generated content and in many ways are a good thing, allowing freedom of speech and the widespread sharing of knowledge. The problem is that many people will still trust information that is ‘published’ in this way in the same way they would trust a book on a shelf, even though it has not had the same rigorous quality checks opposed on it.

I do not think the ‘Author is Dead’ we have more authors now than ever, and if anything that places a greater value on true authors of content, authors that people can rely on and trust that the information/knowledge they give us is worthwhile and factually correct.

It’s good that people can quickly and easily publish things on the internet but there will always be a need for a stamp of approval, a seal of trust that says this author is bonafide, he knows what hes talking about and you should beleive what he says, and i cant see that changing as long as we live.

The Big Idea – Bantr!

I thought it was time to set my stall out so to speak, let you know what my overall concept is for my coursework.

Facebook does everything you could ever want a social site to do and even if you don’t like it there are plenty of alternatives that provide pretty much the same thing but with a different name. No one needs a new social networking site so this coursework is not going to be a revolutionary attempt to gatecrash the market, it will be a vital exercise in learning the technologies used to develop and design modern day websites.

So I have decided to take a tongue in cheek approach to my site, to use liberal amounts of web 2.0 cliches/trends. There are a ridiculous amount of sites out there all trying to look like each other and jump on the bandwagon of the latest Internet boom and i shall illustrate this point by doing the same so you can expect to see plenty of gradients, reflections, high contrast colours, fake badges/stickers and cool snappy taglines, and of course it shall be a ‘Beta site’.

The name of my site will be called “Bantr!” After the popularity of Flickr it has become popular for start up sites to drop vowels from their name in an attempt to seem cool. So seeing as people are going to be having lots of fun witty conversation looking at each others photos and profiles on my site, i thought shortening Banter to Bantr! would be appropriate.

Right, time to get back to work, speak soon……

One step at a time…..

Progress with my coursework is being made slowly but surely, i have decided to get all my pages scripted using web standards before i start adding any visual elements. By having pages with clean mark up it gives me the best base to start adding css and will improve usability of my site.

With that in mind i have today produced my first page of XHTML 1.0 STRICT mark up, one small step for mankind one giant leap for me!

The exciting results of that code are below, time to roll my sleeves up and get dirty with some css….

Transcending CSS – The fine art of web design

This is a book that Ive been reading recently, its about using CSS to separate structure from the visual design and to create rich visual experiences in web design.

Written by Andy Clarke this is a very helpful book, previously i’ve read books which take the form of more traditional text books and they can get a bit heavy at times. The approach taken here is to explain the theory but to also give plenty of working examples in the form of pictures and support files provided on the authors blog.

It has really enabled me to get a better grasp of how cutting edge websites are constructed today, the chapters on the design process are particularly helpful as it is this where I have struggled most in the past.

I would recommend this book to anyone embarking on a course/career in web design and i am sure over the coming months as i create a website for my next piece of coursework that this book will be an invaluable resource.

Looking back at Term 1, Year 2…..

So now terms over and i am back in my hometown of Watford, i want to take a look back at the first term of my second year, its certainly been different to last year.

Web Pathway

I shall start by talking about my pathway choice of web. I chose this last year because I’ve long had an interest in web design, dating back from when i studied at a level way back when in 2003 (scary!) Since then though my skills have not really developed much, largely due to the 2 year break from education, i wanted to rediscover my passion for the web so i thought this choice would be the best for me. It also allowed me to enter a field where i could combine both technical and creative skills in equal measure.

So have i made the right choice? I think so, I’ve certainly enjoyed what we have done but wish we had done more. This term has mainly been concentrating on flash/actionscript in relation to our banner coursework. Which has been a great learning experience, but i cant help feeling that i wish i had been taught this stuff last year so we could be doing even more complex things now.

The database lectures/seminars have been interesting, Ive never done any database work before so they’ve given me a crucial foundation in the basics, but i know i need to learn a lot more about them with next term in mind. It’s not a bundle of fun but will be important for me in the future so I’m pleased were learning about them.

I look forward to next term and the coursework task of creating a social networking website and hopefully this time next term i will be far more advanced in my knowledge/skills in web design/development than i am now.

Losing the Snodgrass

The departure of Adrian Snodgrass mid term was a blow, he was a good man and i always enjoyed his teaching. It also disrupted the course somewhat, i found it very very strange that he was made to deliver the coursework on his final day, surely it would have made more sense for David (his replacement) to deliver the brief? It made the changeover a bit awkward, and just lead to some confusion.Dave seems like a good guy who knows his stuff but i feel his introduction has been handled very poorly and he seems to be getting mixed directives from the staff above him, annoying to say the least

MULTI media

Last year we tried our hands at a variety of disciplines within Multimedia, with the idea being that we find out which one we like most and concentrate on it this year, makes sense and i can see why the system is in place. However i find myself this year missing the multi-disciplinary approach of my first year. I look on with envy at the AV students busily editing their films, the animation students making cool looking creations in 3d max. There is still so much i want to learn besides just web and it is beginning to annoy me. Maybe its a case of the grass always being greener on the other side but i miss trying my hand at everything, especially when my own pathway hasn’t really been that inspiring yet.

I plan to combat this in term 2 by going to lectures and seminars of other pathways, devise my own custom timetable if you like. I went to one Animation seminar this year and really enjoyed it. I’d like to learn more about 3d animation as i beleive it could come in handy for the design side of things on future web projects, i also want to find out if there are any audio lectures and seminars for the AV pathway. I have always had a great interest in audio and would very much like to have that as another string to my bow, which leads me nicely on to my next topic…..

Fly FM

As you may know from earlier posts, i am head of production for FlyFM which is NTU’s radio station. Fly’s taken up a lot of my time this term, and is another contributing factor to my end of term frustrations. It has without doubt had an effect on my course, and as i became further frustrated with the start of my course i used Fly as a welcome distraction.

I’ve enjoyed it so much, both from a work point of view and also from the great bunch of people ive be-friended as a result. As the term went on i found myself producing less and less audio and concentrating more on the updating of the Fly FM website. The website is an annoying thing to say the least, the content management system is very frustrating and an overly laborious process.

I’m very glad i got involved with Fly and i have benefited in many areas from my experience. I enjoy creating audio for broadcast and i will look to keep on improving these skills. The chances, albeit limited, ive had to get involved with designing a few bits and pieces for the website is good experience and something different from my course.

I’m considering running for Fly FM officer next year, something i need to think about long hard as if i was lucky enough to be voted in then it would take up a significant chunk of my time in my final third year, but thats a long way off yet….

Time to look to the future….

So in conclusion to this mini essay, a quick run through of where i stand right now.

I have not been happy with the course this year in general. I have been relatively pleased with what we HAVE done, but its what we HAVEN’T done that concerns me. I feel that the foundations of a really good course are there but could do with some re-organising. I think we would really benefit from more small tasks, say a week long in duration, where we have a specific small task that we had to go away and complete and then bring it back for detailed feedback. Much like the tutorial exercises, but focused on more practical tasks. The tutorials are an ideal forum for feedback, and whilst i’m aware that i can raise any questions i like during these sessions, if it was a proper task we were given with a proper objective then i think we’d benefit a lot more than just asking questions here and there.

I’d like to make clear that i realise were expected to do plenty of self directed study. Which is something i agree with, and something that i make an effort to do. However i feel that if we could increase the contact time with tutors and structure it in a more appropriate way and couple it with plenty of self directed learning then i’d be in a much more confident position as a student than i am at the moment.

So thats my rant over, sorry for moaning but it felt good to get things off my chest that have been annoying me. It’s onwards and upwards from now on. I’ve got some projects to be getting on with over Christmas and i shall post details of them here soon

To anyone that reads this i wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Reflective Practice – Learning Swallows Doing

A few weeks back we had a lecture on the subject of Reflective Practice, and here are my reflections.

I found this a very interesting subject, and one that will be highly relevant to me when i write my essay later in the year. There were a couple of points in particular that held great significance with me, the first one being this -

“For Many Practitioners, doing swallows up learning”

This quote is alluding to the fact that the pressure of deadlines and commercial work means that the focus is getting the job done as quickly as possible, rather than taking the time to learn new things and explore different methods.

Relating this comment to myself i find myself in completely the opposite situation, for me learning has very much swallowed doing. Over the past few months i have been reading around the subject, learning techniques for various software packages, learning the theories behind my area of practice. That is all very good and will benefit me in the long run, but i feel that Ive spent too much time learning and not enough time putting what Ive learnt into practice. Without actual projects to work on i find myself with too much time ‘experimenting’ rather than producing actual pieces of work.

My Journal as an outlet for Reflective Practice

Throughout the last year and a bit ive kept an online journal to document my experience at university so far, in particular relating to my course. I really got into this last year and ended the year with something like 50 or 60 posts, i have found this to be a really beneficial experience. Much in the same way that people write diary’s of their lives as ways of expressing their feelings, i have found that writing about the trials and tribulations of my course allows me to take a step back and think about where i am and what I’m doing. It gives me a greater sense of perspective and forces me to think about everything Ive done and to evaluate it, if i did not have this journal then i don’t imagine i would actively think about how I’m doing as much as i do. I’d more than likely just plough on with my work without stopping much to think about what I’m doing right or wrong.

Coursework – More Thoughts…..

I’ve moved on from my initial research and have decided on two ideas to go with. It is now time for the design process, something that’s never as easy as i’d like it to be!

More Planning less Flashing

Both my banners will be created using Flash and interactivity will be added by using Actionscript 3.0, in projects past i have jumped into the software stage to quickly and as a consequence wasted lots of time messing around without really knowing what i was trying to achieve.

This time i have deliberately delayed using Flash too quickly and will only start once i am good and ready, with a fully completed plan of what i am aiming for.

Final Ideas

Seasonal Product – Hay-fever

My seasonal product will be a hay-fever remedy, in the form of a nasal spray (reasons for that particular form of remedy will become clear!) The size of this banner will be 300 x 250, so its more of a box than a banner but its listed by the Internet advertising bureau as an official ad size, so there!

The ad will show some evil pollen creatures rising out of the grass and plants and they will buzz around a head causing it to sneeze, the user will then be presented with the nasal spray and proceed to spray away the pollen and cure the sufferer!

Country – England (London)

I’ll be advertising tourism to England, with the emphasis on London. This will be a skyscraper banner, 160 x 600, a more traditional form of banner advertising.

The idea is to show one of the royal guards outside Buckingham Palace, the ones with the big tall furry hats, who are famously still and focused on their job.

The users task will be to distract the guard and make him smile or blink by waving and making noises at him. I plan to do this by making the mouse cursor a pair of hands and providing a button for the user to click on that will make noises. Once that is achieved some text will slide in saying something along the lines of ‘ Find out if it’s that easy in real life, visit london’ or something like that, still got to decide on the details of that part.

Sketches

My hay-fever banner will centre around ‘evil pollen’ characters that the user will have to spray away, here are some sketches Ive been doing as to what they may look like. Next step is to scan them in and tidy them up in illustrator and prepare them for importing into Flash.

 

 

 

Actionscript!!Ah!!

I’m trying to separate the functionality from the design for as long as possible, i believe this approach will allow me to focus properly on each task rather than muddling the two together. The interaction is obviously introduced through the use of Actionscript 3.0 and i have to admit i am struggling big time, trawling through the help guides and tutorials is proving to be very tedious and confusing me a great deal. Looks like i shall be having plenty of ’surgery’ in the week ahead.

With precisely 2 weeks to go till hand in its full steam ahead, just off to the shops for some pro plus and red bull!

Year 2 Begins…..

The time for blogging is back, its been a while since Ive wrote one of these but now as i start my 2nd year of study i shall be regularly documenting my thoughts and progress on this wonderful thing.

Last year i used ‘Blogger‘ but over the summer i decided to switch to wordpress. I prefer the range of themes available and also the potential for customisation of my blog in the long term is far greater on this platform than blogger.

For those of you that care, all of my posts from last year can still be found here

Well thats it for my first post, just a little introduction. I’ll be updating properly soon as i already have some work to be getting on with and will also be posting details of what ive been up to over the summer, bet you cant wait……