d-wils.webs.com

I have created an entire online exhibition to share my insight in the field of audio and visual performance. I have recently become immersed in a world of technology revolving around performance, the using of sound and light to create a place to detach from society. Most people come into contact with this style of performance at nightclubs, concerts and music festivals, however, is ever becoming more commonplace. Access to technology is becoming cheaper and now it is possible and affordable for many to start to create their own performances that can be showed at any sized event. Even in Canberra groups such as Univibes are getting together, pooling talents and resources to create amazing shows using sound, light and vision out of ordinary house parties. It is this subculture of technologically driven young people that I explored with this website.

Using my own forays into audio visual performance as a base I have created the startings of a knowledge base that people can refer to in order to understand and begin to learn about digital performance. It is easy to see the cultural context of this website; young people are always looking for new and exciting forms of expression. It only makes sense that the youth of today are interested in digital performance, considering that they have been born into a world where everything is slowly being digitised. Young people are constantly adapting, learn new ways of doing things digitally. From the humble use of the internet as a research tool, adapting to a new social networking platform or learning software to aid their learning, kids know technology. Explanation and understanding of this digital subculture should then come easily to a child of the digital generation. To polish of the website I added some other fascinations of mine which I believed relevant. I think what makes my website successful is the fact that it not only gives information about a wide range of topics but also the account of someone who themselves is still learning. A basic and broad understanding for the masses who know little.

I set out to explain not only the software aspects of performance but also how this interacts with the hardware to create a finished product. This obviously is not an easy task so building the user interface simplicity was key in mind. Not only did I want the website pleasing to look at but making sure my audience was not confused before they even read the content shaped the aesthetics of the website. Separating content onto numerous pages was an easy choice. I used style sheets to keep formatting consistent and created a sidebar for navigation using a table in the HTML. A link to my blog and facebook API were also included. The facebook page badge not only provided a link to my performance profile but also displays recent updates to my website. I look to expand the content on my website in the future, something I will do as I myself continue to learn more. I also plan to add a image gallery, probably using Flicker’s API, once I collate my images online.

Images used can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobysimkin/3787228445/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobysimkin/3787228899/in/set-72157621812928763/

http://www.casa-laserlight.com/images/laserlight_DCRV/DC-F.JPG

Perfect time to hit the blogs

I'm becoming slightly nocturnal,
maybe it's the not having early lectures,
the amazing univibes parties,
my DJing,
homework,
or my fascination with Keanau Reeves the insomniac hacker in the matrix
but it's working ok so far.

Instead of attending skyfire this year, along with 98% of Canberra's underage drinking population, I hit a crazy house party come music festival come night of mayhem. Organised by the amazing crew at Univibes (working out of the ANU) they had three stages of music, DJs, Live bands, circus acts, VJs and enough lights and speakers to fuel the 100s of people who showed. Truly a marvel of a night. Local music producers paqman and shifty business were a highlight. One of the best things was the atmosphere, it was a pretty small place which helped make it feel safe but also brought the craziness you can only get at house parties.

Hopefully I can relate this night somehow into my web page, I did pick up a few new tricks off the DJs and it really showed how much you can do with such a small area. Another great part of the experience is how the party worked well with the law, by starting at midday and only going till midnight the neighbours stayed (mostly) happy and I got a good nights sleep before work this morning. Great idea!

Next week you will be hearing about my finished web page, I might even send it live if I find an appropriate web space. Expect a feature length instalment of all the ins and outs.

wk5

time passes
time passes

It's all sinking in now,
blogs,
css / html,
the internet,
time,
space,
etc.

I'm mostly focussing on content at the moment, getting that website up to scratch, but lets review.

-Semantics
As we know there are many ways of achieving things in code, I would say there is no right or wrong way but there is semantics. Semantics make your website better presented under the skin, not only that, but they are important for anyone that wishes to go back and change things later. A web designer who has used semantics in their coding can easily change any number of formatting variable with ease as opposed to spending hours ctrl+ving "size = "14".

-CSS
CSS saved my life. I cringe at the mess my website would be if I were hand coding everything. The fact that I can format all my pages in exactly the same way without clogging the html with masses of code is great. I have 1 line referencing the CSS at the start of the html and I'm set. If I need anything specific I just need to call on my trusty div tag.

-Censorship
The government's plan for a censorship firewall is bogus estimates say that it will slow down broadband speeds by at least 30%! Australia already has one of the lowest average broadband speeds in the developed world. If the government wants Australia to stay competitive in a digital world ISP censorship is a big no no.

Now that I've had my little spiel on that I'm getting back to some real work.

Project A

My work on CSS and html has been continuing this week and it's starting to sink in. Using CSS has actually been really helpful for creating my multi-page design. By referencing the same style sheet I can make each page formatted the same and use div tags whenever I need a specific design aspect.

So now it's coming down to ideas on content, sharing my ideas in an interesting and easy to understand way. To start with I'm going to break it down into various sections and subsections. If I have time, subsections further.

Example of sitemap:

-Home Page
-Sights
-Lighting - DMX512
- lightings software
- types of lights
-Video - live video mixing (VJs)
- visulisations
-Decor - festival decor
- nightclub decor
- house parties
- Fashion - Dance fashion
- Club vs Festival vs Concert

-Sounds
-Dance music genres
- Music Production - synthesisers
- Live music - performance styles
- performance software
- technology

-My Exploits
-current fascinations
- links to/ examples of work
- current tech
- future prospects and goals
- link to blog


This design should hopefully allow people not only to find out what I'm doing but also where I'm coming from. Although it would be great to have a one-stop all inclusive package, I think providing links to information across the web will be better suited to my needs. A lot of the attention will be focused on my current forays, using the other info as a reference in understanding my direction. Most people are confused when I try explain why I buy so much technology, maybe I'll hook a few people into my fascinations along the way. The more I work on this task the more I'm starting to enjoy it.