Simulation

Here is the link to my simulation:

http://cordova.asap.um.maine.edu/~whitea/498proposal/simulation.html

It is a story that the user can click through and interact with a little bit to get the feeling of what it may be like to search through the site for an event.

Jenkins Article Response

a) The principle from Henry Jenkins' "The Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape" that best describes my capstone project is the fifth one: networked. The timelines in my project allow for many-to-many communication since anyone can share their events and stories with anyone else. There will be a large community that will allow for participation from everyone. Users can create networks with people from all around the world, making new connections and friends that would not have been realized before.

The principle that fits my project the least is the third one: everyday. While I think my project is important, I don't think it is something that will end up being used everyday simply because events important enough to post usually don't happen every single day. I will have to find a way to make my project easy enough to use so that people will be encouraged to use it as often as they have a story to tell. To accomplish this I could make it easy to create an event and to edit it at a later time. The events will have to be fluid so that pictures, text, video, and tags can be added and deleted at any time.

Two principles that I would like to break are seven: generational, and eight: unequal. It will be a challenge since I know that most of the older generation is not as into computers and would be less likely to participate in my project. Also, a lot of people will not be able to use this project if they don't have a computer or don't know how to use one. I'm hoping that I can make the project easy enough to use that it will encourage participators of all ages and types.

b) I like Jenkins' definition of new media because it is very practical and current. He discusses the problems and advantages of new media in society and the effects it has on people now. Just like the culture is changing, so is new media and the definition of it. Jenkins lays out some good principles that describe this change. However I think that new media projects should break some of these principles since not all of them are always a good thing. We should see how we can make new media more accessable to older generations and equal to everyone. Technology is increasing at such a rapid rate that we don't have time to observe the effects that it has on society. Perhaps we should take a step back and look at the big picture to predict where this will bring us in the future.

Manovich Article Response

a) I think that my capstone measures up well to Manovich's definition of new media in the article "What Is New Media?" He has a very technical definition of what new media is. Like his descriptions, my project has a numerical representation on a computer, is modular, can be automated, has variability, and can be transcoded. I think the princible that fits my project the best is the first one, numerical representation. All the principles are related to each other, but they all seem to be based on this first one. Manovich bases his argument on the principle that something is new media if it is created in a new language that is on the computer. This language can then be changed, recreated, and open up many new paths. Since my project will essentially be a database driven website, it will be run on code, which is a language that computers can read and one that can be easily manipulated. It will allow different parts that will make up the bigger overall picture.

The principle that fit's my project the worse is probably the third one, automation. I won't have a lot of automation in my capstone, since users will be doing most of the work (submitting and viewing events). There will be some automation involved within the code to add the events and create the timelines, as well as in showing the events on the timelines. To conform to this principle more I will have to make the project more self reliant, where everything that is submitted is checked and added by the computer, so that I don't have to do a lot of work to keep the project running once it is complete. I will also need to make sure that my project remains variable so that there are many different paths for users to make and so that it can allow for growth and many changes. Scalability will also be a big issue that I will have to design for so that it will be able to grow.

b) I agree with most of the principles that Manovich discusses, but think that he is being too technical. I think of new media as more of a concept than a computer program. However, I do agree with what he says about the project having to be variable and to allow for change. It is important that the project is flexible and allows for growth. If it remains stable and unchanging, then it will soon become old media. I think that people who create new media projects should apply the principles to their projects, but they don't necessarily have to do the project all digitally because the idea behind the project should be more important than the medium it is done in.

New Visual Approach 5

This is a storyboard/rendering of what the search functionality will be. People should be able to search to find very specific events, or just be able to browse through events that they may be interested in. Once the user picks out the search limitations, he/she will be able to refresh the page to see the filtered timeline.

New Visual Approach 4

Site Map

Homepage

• Will have master timeline for people to view
• Users can click on any event to view it
• Users can contribute, comment, and rate events
  
• Links to: register, login, search, most interesting, about, faq

Register

• The user will go through steps to create their profile
• Create a username and password
• Enter personal information
• Choose a picture to represent them
• Design timeline
• Timeline will be created based on age of user and the template he/she picked out

Login -> Personal Timeline

• There will be links to edit account information and to see a list of events to edit
• Users will be notified of contributions made to their events
• Other users who have an account can contribute, but not edit another users event (only their own contributions)
• The creator can set privacy features to make is so that he/she has to approve contributions or so that the events don't appear on the master timeline
  
• All events created by that user will be on the timeline to view
• Events that the user has contributed to for other people will also appear as a link on the timeline (perhaps more faded than the others)
  

Login -> Add Event

• Once logged into personal timeline, the user can create an event
• Will be asked for basic event information (name, time, place)
• Text based description (as long as they would like!)
• Photo upload (comment them as well)
• Other media upload (video or sound)
• Invite other users to contribute to event
• Tag the event

Search

• People will be able to search based on:
• Geography
• Event Name
• Person Name
• Tags
• Age of Creator
• Specific Date
• Media Type

Most Interesting

• The most interesting events based on number of hits, amount of comments, and highest ratings
  

About

• Information about the project
• Contact Info
• How to get started (tutorial)

FAQ

• Questions users have about site, contributing, suggestions...
  

New Visual Approach 3

This is a template of how I think the layout of each event should be. The top has the basic information, and right below it is the actual story and a slideshow of the photos that are attached to the event. Below those are links to all the contributor's timelines and below that are the audio and video clips as well as the tags given by the creator, viewers, and contributors. The event pages can be linked so that anyone can view it by just following the url.

New Visual Approach 2

This is a rendering of what the personal timeline might look like. It will be very similar to the master timeline, except that all the events will be from the creator of the timeline. The user can change the color and font of the timeline so that it is personalized. The size of the timeline will work the same as in the master timeline. The user can pick the picture that represents the timeline and the size of the event will represent the amount of media added to it. The brightness of the border around the event will indicate how many people are linked to the event as contributors or who were actual participants.

New Visual Approach 1

This is a rendering of what the master timeline might look like on the site. I'm not much of a designer, so I'm hoping to jazz it up a little bit, but I think this is what the basic form of it might look like. Random events would be shown as pictures floating through the timeline for people to browse through. The width of the timeline would be dependent on how many events there are at that time and the color of the border around the event would be dependent on how many people have contributed to it.