Internet Social Phenomenon # 1

Enjoying the steady stream of content comming to RomaineSpot? This is just the start!

Do you use Twitter? Will you use Twitter?

The amount of twitter users seems to have exploded. Fueled through partnership, advertisement and the media;

more and more people are following their friends, family and celebrites on twitter.

Essantially, Twitter users "tweet". They update thier online status and let anyone thats interested know whats currently happening.

The majority of tweets are uploaded to the web via SMS (text messaging) allowing users to be on the go while they share this content.

To be honest im not surprised how popular its become. Who wouldn't want to get live updates about Britney Spears straight from the source?

Actually, Twittering is also known as a form of micro-blogging. If I were using Twitter instead of Blogspot I could update this blog using my phone anytime. Or

what about the possiblity to update the whole family about dinner plans in one quick text?

Twitter claims to be a "modern antidote to information overload". - Do you agree?

Im not going to give a critique on this topic until I introduce other social phenomenon that ive noticed. This will be done in future posts.Id like to critique them all once ive introduced and posted examples of each of them. For now, heres a very popular youtube video that explains the Twitter concept very well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w

Look forward to more posts expanding on our analysis of Internet Social Phenomenon.

Phase 3 Debriefing

My phase 3 was executed very well. The product was two sounds that were deceptive in their origins. Many techniques were used to make it difficult for anyone to know what came from where.

In fact, traditional ideals of what "real" sounds like is what made it easy for listeners to get confused. Lets break it down:

DECEPTIVE TECHNIQUES:

1. "That sounds too good to be real" - Many people believe that recording a real life setting has a natural low-quality sound to it. The lack of static, background noise, and microphone taps sends the message that what they're listening to must be fake. This preconcived notion of "What real sounds like" was advantageous. Instead of simply holding the microphone into the air; a high-quality, pure audio recording of humpback whales in the wild was taken. It wasn't filled with static or background noise- yet it was real... How strange. Additionally, sound B purposely has that all the low quality features of a live capturing yet is deceptively constructed and fake.

2. "Whales just don't sound real" - Whats that? A creeky door? A small child blowing bubbles in his milk? A diseased alien!??..... It was a whale..... nuff said....

3. "A familiar sound MUST be real" - ofcourse, were all familar with the great Marc Couroux.

We should all be well accostomed to the sound of his voice. Many people also have the preconcieved notion that something must be fake if they can't identify it. Reversely, Something must be real if it sounds like something you've heard before; right? Well, sound B (the recording of our professor) was a fake. Listen again closely and one can see how it jumps around topics in a  confusing yet seemless way. Laszlo Moholy-nagy Helped create the telephone pictures of 1922. He was NOT "The creator of art practices and telecommunications". LOL 

If you havent heard the clips yet then you kinda ruined the fun for yourself..
Nevertheless, here they are:
SOUND A / SOUND B

Phase 2 Debriefing

I wont spend too much time on this since It was extensively critiqued in class. Heres a reiteration of points brought up during the critique:

WALKTHROUGHT:

The video features a man set to represent us and our television viewing habits as a whole. As he quickly turns on the tv, the search for desirable content is renewed. Strangely, his television set and cable providers are having technical difficulties. Signals are getting crossed, programs are blending togather and our protaganist has little control. Whenever he changes the channel, it quickly changes back to something undesirable. Despite all this, his thirst for sustenance unwavers. As he struggles to flipps throught the channels he stumbles upon a world vision ad. Images that were once powerful and disturbing are merely shrugged off and ignored. The man then finds a music video called "Wipe Me Down" by the artists "Lil Boosie", "Webbie" and "Foxx". Entranced my the catchy beat, hot rhymes and beautiful women; the man's thirst is quenched and his attention lingers. All undesired content is now tolerated until the problem becomes too severe and the networks decide to display an error message instead of broken content.

DISCUSSION AFTER WATCHING:

1. "The Medium Is The Message" - How is it that this medium seemingly dwarfs the once powerful images held in the world vision ads? 

2. "Differant messages, same Medium" - How do other mediums enhance/detract from the message?

Example: low-quality camera and shakey camera effects work better for horror films. Why?

Example: World vision ad making use of hollywood style narration including panning, dollies, zooms, slow motion caputure and more. Why?

3. "The IronGrip" - If you went McDonanlds they try to force you to eat a Big Mac when you asked for a salad would you give in? Definatly not. Yet, television and the internet are filled with undesirables: popups, viruses, spam and unavoidable ads. So why do we go back?

Interesting stuff? I thoght so.

These were the thoughts that my video was meant to provoke. I believe I was successful to a certain extent. 

Why not try viewing the video again? Do you notice anything missed the first time through?:

Phase 1 Debriefing

This post is long overdue. Its time to cover the process of creating phase 1. I feel this post is important because I was one of the few people who did not have their projects shown and critiqued in class.

OVERVIEW:

I am very pleased with the result as it was the first time i had created a website from scratch with no help from any WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get.") software. Finding quotes went smoother than expected. The qoutes I found conveyed simple yet powerful ideas regarding art and technology. I was very glad that finding quotes didnt take too long. This was because I really wanted to focus on the dynamic interface and and quote layout. I figured that EVERYBODIES gotta have meaningful quotes right?. So its all about the artistic vision and quote layout that would keep people interested enough to dwell deep.

BREAKDOWN:

Using frame manipulation I was able to separate the two important part of my site. These two parts are ofcourse my quotes; and the scrolling marques of 1s and 0s that i have labeled: "The Code". My site is meant to visually illustrate concepts covering in class such as interface and representation. The color-coded 1s and 0s represent the data shown once the link has been clicked. Normally when someone visits a site, all they see are text, images and video. However, Interfaces are heavily reliant on the "back end" the 1s and 0s (bits) that represent all that data. That is in essence what I wanted to convey with the stylistic approuch I took when creating my project.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

One of the few things id add given the time is a frame that includes Imbedded youtube videos. These videos would ofcourse serve the purpose of further illustrate the concepts behind the quotes. This feature was implemented by many of my peers in their own phase 1. Linking to other sites was not a mandatory part of the assignment. However, It was foolish to disregard the benefits of complementary content.

If you have not done so, please check out my Phase 1.

Do you see the what I was going for?

New Hopes For Phase 4

If you've taken the time to check out my blog post titled: "About Me - The coder behind the code", then you'd know that I am saddend about the revision of phase 4. For the students that dont know, phase 4 has been revised to no longer include Adobe Flash. Working with Flash is a hobby of mine and I was looking forward to putting my skills to good use. From what Ive heard, the change occured from time-contraints due to the strike. However on a positive note, the new phase 4 has its own interesting qualities... Additionally, I suppsose its safe to assume that I would not have benefitted much from the Adobe Flash tutorial we would have received. We tend to learn just the basics due to time constraints and the varying technical backgrounds between students.

Video Games - A Modern Art Form

Indeed... It is a well known fact that that many artistic people come together to create video games. In this day in age, a triple A popular video game sequel can take up to 2-4 years with a crew of hundreds to make. Whats that- did you just gasp? Well you shouldn't have, its not surprising. Regardless of race, sex or age I bet there is a video game out there that will tickle your fancy. From first person shooters to 3D checkers; images, music, sounds, stories and dialog come togather to immese audiences in ways some paintings and movies cannot compare to.

Dont believe me? Perhaps...

So check this out: Are Video Games Art?

Ammon Horn from GamesAreEvil.com gives a few interesting points to the argument. I highly recommend you check it out. 

Video Games =

"THE CONSCIOUS USE OF CREATIVE IMAGINATION

IN THE UNCONVENTIONAL MEDIUM OF FAST MOVING IMAGES ON A VIDEO SCREEN

WHICH ARE REGARDED AS IN A RECOGNIZED FORM OF FINE ART”

- Ammon Horn

About Me - The coder behind the code

I figured Id take the time to introduce myself before this places explodes with posts and comments...

My name is Romeko Romaine Loftman (yes, I go by my middle name) and I am a first year Digital Media student at York University. I chose to study this because of my hobbies which stem from my love of computers and the creative power they give us.

I am self-taught in the creation of various forms of digtal media. Programs such as MovieMaker, Final Cut, Audacity, Adobe photoshop and Adobe Flash are not new to me. Along with a few programming languages under my belt I feel as if i have a good foundation for my studies at york.

I look forward to learning more languages, programs, interfaces, artisitic concepts and techniques.

For a look at past work I invite you to check out osdesigns.

Remember when we were all young and made websites to showcase our creations? Don't lie, I wasn't the only one. It showcases a few flash projects I did awhile back. Like many of the pointless things we do, keeping the site up to date was a concept that quickly died off. However if you have some time, why not check it out?