Project 1 :: Homework for Wednesday 9/2

in class

• o'reilly reading discussion
• announce teams
• teams get together & discuss activities (present activity ideas to class by 9:40)
• watch an Anthropological Introduction to YouTube!
  

homework

• community reading: psychological sense of community
• individually AS A TEAM propose your own community model (in writing) based on the reading, change it or expand it to incorporate restrictions or enhancements that the online space will bring, add it to this post's comments sections (as a team)
  
• diagram your model for next class (post to your blogs)
• start research & brainstorming, activity parameters such as:

1. physical boundaries
2. what's/who's involved
3. equipment needs
   
4. demographics
5. individual and community wants and needs
6. symbols (uniforms, tools, markers of the activity's community)
7. motivations, etc.

URLs & Hosting

In the interests of getting the most of your multimedia experience, your future as designers, and being prepared for looming job searches, I am requiring that you purchase your very own URL and get hosting for it.

As discussed in class, get domain names and hosting from different vendors to give yourself the most flexibility in the future.

here's some links for your domain name search:
Godaddy
Network Solutions
Yahoo
Dreamhost


here's some links for your hosting search:
LunarPages
SurpassHosting
HostMonster
DreamHost
MidPhase
HostGator

Use Google or check some of these comparison sites:
http://www.hosting-review.com/
http://www.upperhost.com/

Don't purchase hosting yet, just research and pick a couple possible hosts. Also, search for hte best deal on domain names. Please post the host and domain name holder you'd like to use.

Bring possible URL names on Friday: should it be your name, something clever and design related, or something you could build a business venture on. If you have an awesome name that's available, reserve it and keep it to yourself, or a sneaky classmate might steal it.

Web 2.0 Example 1

This image is not on my personal hosting server or uploaded to this blog, I am pulling the content from flickr, the image is really here: (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3843669085_4c529f9683.jpg). If I delete it on flickr it will no longer be on this blog. Though it will stay on your browser (stored in a temporary cache) until you reload the page.

Project 1 Teams

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Alicia
Meredith
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Corie
Jessica
Cassie
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Logan
Michael
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Ian
Ramzy
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Morgan
Josh
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Blake
Ryan
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Ideal team member?

Who do you really want to work with for half a semester on our first project? Consider carefully and send me an email with 3 names in order of preference before Thursday. I will then consider carefully and post the teams before class on Friday. All requests will be confidential.

considerations to carefully consider
do you each bring a special set of skills to the team?
do you get along and will you get along working together for half a semester?
do you trust each other?
do you respect your team member enough to be responsible for your share of the deliverables?

What Is Web 2.0?

Please read the incredibly boring but explanatory What is Web 2.0. This is not about social implications and user perspective, but about the technologies around the changes in the internets that made Web 2.0 feasible. Why do I want you to read this? Why should a designer be aware of these things? We talk Friday.

About the MX Blog

This blog will contain all materials relating to class, syllabus, project descriptions, deliverables, deadlines, discussions and more. You are expected to check it regularly and comment where required.

A designer must understand the landscape he works in and should regularly insert visual research into his routine. To this end and for the enrichment of all, I expect you to contribute to the FIND + SHARE post of this blog.

As part of your process and participation grades, your activities on your own blog and this blog will be monitored, so stay active! I expect significant process steps to be posted to your blogs and of course commented on.

Project 1 :: Community Building System

Design a multimedia system for a community of individuals involved in a common activity. This system should move content fluidly across platforms/mediums to display, map and share information. Define ways to facilitate interaction and sharing, finding ways to collect information from the real world to send, analyze, and visualize in the electronic world. An online area will respond to the needs of the whole community, while an iPhone application will be designed with the individual user in mind.

project objectives

• understand what Web 2.0 means
• understand the differences between, and design appropriately for, both static and dynamic content
• design for a specific user group considering ethnography, age, location, etc.
• apply user research to inform both your concept and design
• apply (and expand) your technical and design knowledge from Information Architecture to complex situations
• design at both the component and system level for screen-based communications
• further develop your presentation and critique skills
• integrate linear and non-linear elements into a seamless user experience.
• understand the multiple tools & multiple technologies makeup of interactive design and explore their combination of these technologies
• design screen-based systems that rely on and respond to user input
• understand the separation of design and content that is integral to current multi-authored web content
• demonstrate understanding of user-centered, contextually appropriate navigation structures

project considerations

• consider both available and hypothetical technologies when concepting, be creative!
• almost ANY individual activity can be the basis for a community, think about it!
• your ideas and the design of your interfaces are the most important aspects of this project
• you will not be expected to program functioning prototypes of this project, static click through demos and timeline-based Flash are fully acceptable
• those inclined and interested in deeper technologies like Actionscripting and Javascript are encouraged to develop those skills and use them for the prototyping of this project