blackdesignr

fifteen week reflektion

This past semester has been very enjoyable for me. The networked media unit has given me a wonderful insight into the purpose and availability of connected content. Socially, we are all connected and media tools are at the forefront of our daily communications.

Undertaking this blog component proved very worthwhile as I could often refer back to websites or posts that I had included to assist in my other units. Personally it was about documenting parts of my personality as well as documenting my progression through the networked media unit.

I believe that my blog is rich in content and is definitely a good example of what networked media is about and what this unit is teaching. Honestly, you write in the blog every week and it just feels like another entry but actually stepping back and going through it with a fresh mind, it’s amazing the amount of things that I’ve learnt. Although web links dominate my pages I am proud to know that I mixed it up with video, imagery and flash, which are all instrumental tools in mash-up media.

I can see that my blog didn’t get a lot of visits or followings but that doesn’t bother me as it is there now as a point of reference for myself because I ‘ll be happy to keep using it and adding to it with further entries and discoveries. If social media tools are there to help enrich our lives to add depth, then I know that the past fifteen weeks have no doubt been very beneficial to not just myself but everybody else in the unit.

Just like to say, well done on a very successful unit and I hope it will continue to be taught in the following years. Thanks Mitch and the Fresh Peeps at IceCreamLab.

my nmp project b - iTunes:artistcorner

Well I have finally completed my data visualisation for project B and I must say that it was definitely interesting.

I sought to take in a lot of other works to give me a basis for which to work my project around. Working on the project proved to be a challenging task as to actually determine how I wanted the project to look, what sort of data should be included to make the visualisation and also how the visualisation would be applied in a real life setting.

The basis behind my design was to use data that would come from a personal part of my life, eventually I settled on using the information contained within my iTunes library. The proposition for my data visualisation was to create an extension for iTunes called the iTunes:artistcorner. In a nutshell, what the extension does is, take artists already featured in my library and present them in a web like format. It connects artists who are in a like-wise category and each artist is represented as a node in the web - effectively you would be able to click on the node to view artist information as well as expand the web to feature more like-wise artists.

The grid or web is has three main features - that is: artists in my library are shown with a white node, the visualisation also shows artists that are linked to those in my library but are not within my library and they are shown with green nodes with blue linking lines. Effectively this is based upon the Amazon.com recommendations feature. The last function of the visualisation is the artist film nodes which are shown in magenta with yellow linking lines. The idea behind this is to take advantage of the fact that iTunes gives you the opportunity to purchase movies and some music artists have also featured in films also.

The assignment allowed me to put some ideas behind what I could perceive as being possible for iTunes as well as including my own personal data. The entire imagery was created using Photoshop and drew on the applications of current web trends as well as desktop programs. It takes advantage of the fact that iTunes has become a personal multimedia manager while Amazon has become a personal online store and review critic for content. Both services are so widely used in our modern world and rely on social data for a good deal of what is presented.

Ideally I would of liked to make the project interactive just to give an indication of how it would work in its natural environment, but I beleieve that the concept of my visualisation is a good blend of media outlets to enhance the experience of content management, content representation as well as content availability. I definitely think that the exercise gave me a great insight into the world of data visualisation.

Check It Out - Link: iTunes:artistcorner - Data Visualisation Concept

the top 3hree

The following are links to my top three posts throughout the semester:

Link: Navigating Networked Media - Finding Networked Media

Link: Web 2.0 | It Is What It Is & Not - On Web 2.0

Link: Plot Me On The Scope - Data Visualisation

Thanks.

this is some fresh stuff

so I’ve kept looking up some examples of data visualisations to help with how I would like mine to come across or how I would like mine to look. A few websites that I have looked at were really good and informative.

The first one that I looked at was Smashing Magazine and reading their page titled: Data Visualization: Modern Approaches, it gives you a very good insight into the applications of data visualisation and how expansive the use of the media solution is. The article is very rich in content and it is nothing short of amazing, just the kind of graphic imagery the creators of the individual visualisation have come up with.

Link: Data Visualization: Modern Approaches - Smashing Magazine

The second reference I found was the article by Garrick Schmitt, titled: Data Visualization Is Reinventing Online Storytelling and Building Brands In Bits and Bytes, for the Advertising Age. Schmitt’s entry is a complete account of how individuals and organisations are using the power of data visualisation to further their presence or expand their brand. He also makes note of the Radiohead film clip for ‘House Of Cards’ and how the band partnered with Google to ‘open’ up the data to allow individuals to make their own remixes and post them to the group.

Link: Data Visualization Is Reinventing Online Storytelling and Building Brands In Bits and Bytes - Advertising Age: Garrick Schmitt

nmp project b - update 2

This is the second update of my project. It is a look in stages of how the program would work within the iTunes environment.

more on that data vizion

Ok, so I’ve probly shown that this data visualisation stuff is fascinating to me. Working on my data visualisation project has got me to keep digging up stuff for inspiration and just to see what kind of things people are working on around the globe.

I find it is so large now that even big corportions are adopting data visualisations as part of their promotion/advertising campaigns. One of the notable ones I have found is Visa with their current ‘Go’ campaign. It draws on the same principles as the Flickr Time example I showed in a previous post. Quoting from Data Visualisation Is Reinventing Online Storytelling by Garrick Schmitt: The “Go” microsite features seemingly random bits of data (16,438 people in Paris smiling back at the Mona Lisa) that the user can explore to see how Visa is “helping more people go places and do things.” Similarly, the banner ads feature live video streamed from cities (such as Times Square in New York) around the world that show people “going” and utilizes similar data.

plot me on the scope

The use of data is so widespread that information can be applied to the greatest or to the most minuscule of references. We use data everyday and even if we might not consider it on a regular basis as it occurs, it is definitely there.

Data. Everywhere was one of the best lectures that I saw because it shows the natural relationship between information and application. What does it mean to be surrounded by quantities, characters and symbols and not know how they relate or can be related to us?
Data is an interesting thing because so many things in life can be calculated according to the information contained within collected material and I think what I found most interesting is how the scores of information can be visually reprsented.

Data visualisation can be as intricate or as simple as you want it to be and its intention can come across just as well in both perspectives. The visual representation of data lends itself to a wide array of possibilities and the ability to engage and capture an audience provides avenues as a designer to totally wow a client , I mean, blow their mind right out of their expectations.

So can evolved data visualisation be considered as a form of art? It is fair to say that with the advancement of technology, the commonplace pie chart, bar graphs, tables and histograms are good for what they are; simple. That said, simple does not have to be boring and some examples that I have come across online are testament to just that. A modern approach can leave an everlasting impression.

Flickr Time is an application that draws on the Flickr API to present uploaded images from the site and displays it as a clock showing the current time.

This is an interactive representation of the US trade deficit in regards to partnering nations, implemented by Brightpoint Inc. The input data is combined from trade deficits in consecutive months and years. The image allows you to play continuously to see the shift in deficits or you can stop and manipulate the visuals yourself.
Link: US Trade Deficit Data Visualisation - Brightpoint Inc

This is an image off the Oakland Crimespotting webpage. It is a visualisation of crime nature in the Oakland region. The data is plotted via area, time and degree. At the bottom is a timeline with a slider which can plot more crime or decrease according to the level of crime during that month/year. It is also built as a tool for understanding crime in cities. Link: Oakland Crimespotting

Social data is so widely available now-a-days that almost any sort of information can be obtained to create a visualisation which also allows individuals and groups to present atypical images like never before. I must say that much of this stuff reminds me of Jackson Pollock, who would then be one of the greatest data visualisers in history, if that were the case.

I believe that this lecture was a very beneficial insight into what we may be able to produce for the second project in networked media production.

on that project two grind

So today I decided to try and find some examples of data visualisations and comment about why the particular examples I choose appeal to me. Firstly I have been trying to find out exactly when the shift began to occur but that is proving to be a daunting task.

I can understand that the shift by many individuals and companies towards representing data in a visually pleasing manner stems from the availability of media tools to effectively open up new dimensions of interpretation. I have come to think of it as the evolution of data. Where it has been is still for some application but where it is at and where it is going as well as where it could go is what is exciting at this point in time.

Ok, so these are the examples that I have come across and it is good to note that graphing like this is even being adopted at government levels so it feels like a somewhat global shift.

The Fidg’t Visualizer is interesting because of how it works, aestheically it isn’t very inviting but coupled with your Flickr or Last.fm account, people in your network are subject to a ‘gravitational’ pull to a certain string or line called a Tag Magnet. When a tag magnet is created, others in your network that have that tag on their account a pulled towards that string. Link: Fidg’t Visualiser

This is the ‘stack’ visualiser by Digg Labs. I liked this because of its simplicity…people are dropped from the top and added to a line. The more people that flock to a certain story, the taller the line gets and it starts to change colour.

As for my project itself, I have worked out exactly what I would like to do and that is to do something that incorporates the music I losten to on my computer from my iTunes account - it will be data representing the amount of times I’ve listened to a song, top genres and days when played the most. Over the next few days/weeks I will try and figure out the best way to graph my figures.

nmp project b - update

This is an update of my data visualisation project. Basically the idea behind it is to create an iTunes section that takes into account my music library and creates a visualisation of related artists and possible artists that I might like but are not in my library as yet. It is a combination of personal data as well as data that would be in the iTunes Store and is similar in concept to the Amazon.com recommendations feature.

Here is the work in progress:

mul+iplici+y..

well i must admit that this weeks lecture was perhaps one of the hardest ones for me to follow. but just looking at some of the examples from our nmp del.icio.us site, the social media commentary that can be attributed and gained from multiplicity is quite interesting.

i think to help me better understand, i’ve adapted to calling it a montage or collage. but i think it just adds another dimension to what is already something that speaks alot by itself. very interesting indeed.