e. cordora

Contextual Studies Portfolio

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:03:35 -0500

Contents

Task 1: Emergence

Task 2: Online Communities

Task 3: Remixed piece based on “Makers” by Cory Doctorow

Task 4: Colours

Task 5: Processing

Online Communities

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:17:00 -0500

Since the advent of the internet, hundreds of online communities have sprung up around the world wide web. One example is 9gag.com.

What is 9gag?

9gag is a publishing community where humour is the main fare. People post, view and collect images or videos they deem amusing. It is a veritable black hole of comics, internet memes and funny pictures in which one can spend ridiculous amounts of time getting lost. A popular saying in the community is that “9gag has taken their souls”.

How does it work?

9gag is a “Fun” sharing platform. Really. Posts are referred to as “fun” and could consist images (pictures, comics, drawings) or videos. There are three sections to “Fun”. the “Hot” page, the “Trending” page, and the “Vote” page. Registered users can go to the Vote page and decide which posts deserve to go on to Hot by clicking the Like button. These liked posts would go to the Funny Collection which is located on the account holder’s homepage. Users can also log in directly with their Facebook accounts to comment on the Fun. There is also an Admire feature where the registered users can subscribe to other posters so that people they “admire”’s work will appear on their home pages.

With an online community as large as this, it’s surprising how such a huge number of people who are essentially strangers can band together for a common cause. One such display of solidarity was when a 9gagger, Janos Szolnoki, asked for support in a post to win a competition held by Nescafe Hungary in order to help his handicapped little brother. He asked people to like his entry in the competition’s web page. All he needed to was 3000 likes to get his wish, he got 47,000. Unfortunately, Nescafe couldn’t oblige him. Even though his entry got the most likes, he didn’t qualify. The members of the online community were outraged. The “9gag Army” lashed out at Nescafe. Spamming it’s Facebook pages, calling out for boycotts of Nescafe products and even writing to news stations around the world to spread their grievances. In the end, this group of people wore down a big company and forced them to settle with the Janos, they donated $5000, the same amount as the prize money he would have won, to the institute where his handicapped brother goes to school. It would seem that even a humour-based site that’s supposedly just for fun can get some serious issues dealt with.

Emergence

Fitting to Steven Johnson’s emergence, on 9gag, people form one mass or whole. They start as individuals networking and sharing for their own enjoyment/ pleasure and later go on to build a macro system from interacting with each other. Individual beings connecting with each other and forming something greater than the sum of their parts — 9gag could very well called a “Noosphere”.

Task 4: Colour

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:12:00 -0500

Colour Triad

Analogous Colours

Complementary

Task 4: Colour

Processing

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:47:00 -0500

this is a sketch by Caroline Kassimo-Zahnd called Simplicity 4.

I took it into processing and altered it into what you see below:

click read more for codes

original sketch

void setup() {

//largeur, hauteur du sketch

size(800, 600);

//couleur de fon du sketch

background(255);

//antialiasing des lignes

smooth();

//frameRate(10);

}

float Mspeed;

void draw() {

Mspeed=abs(mouseX-pmouseX);

println(Mspeed);

noStroke();

float taille_ellipse=Mspeed;

color ellipse_color = color(150+random(0,100), random(0,21), random(0,21));

fill(ellipse_color);

ellipse(mouseX+random(-20,20),mouseY+random(-20,20), taille_ellipse,taille_ellipse);

if (mousePressed == true) {

strokeWeight(0.1+Mspeed/20);

stroke(0, 50);

strokeWeight(0.1+Mspeed/20);

line(mouseX, mouseY, width, mouseX);

line(mouseX, mouseY, 0, mouseX);

stroke(0);

strokeWeight(0.5+Mspeed/20);

line(pmouseX, pmouseY, mouseX, mouseY);

}

//fermeture de draw

if (keyPressed == true) {

//saveFrame();

background(255);

}

void mouseMoved() {

}

altered code:

void setup() {

size(800, 600);

//*sets the size of the screen/sketch

background(100);

//*sets background colour

smooth();

frameRate(10);

//*specifies number of frames to be displayed every second

}

float Mspeed;

void draw() {

//*executes lines of code within the block

Mspeed=abs(mouseX-pmouseX);

println(Mspeed);

noStroke();

float taille_ellipse=Mspeed;

color ellipse_color = color(random(100,200), random(100,200), random(100,200));

//changes elipse colour

fill(ellipse_color);

ellipse(mouseX+random(-20,20),mouseY+random(-20,20), taille_ellipse,taille_ellipse);

//draws the circle

if (mousePressed == true) {

strokeWeight(0.1+Mspeed/20);

stroke(0, 50);

strokeWeight(0.1+Mspeed/20);

line(mouseX, mouseY, width, mouseX);

line(mouseX, mouseY, 0, mouseX);

stroke(0);

strokeWeight(0.1+Mspeed/40);

line(pmouseX, pmouseY, mouseX, mouseY);

//block after if draws the black stroke when mouse is pressed and held

}

//draws the objects. this block is what generates what you see in the sketch

if (keyPressed == true) {

//saveFrame();

background(255);

}

void mouseMoved() {

}

Task 3 : remixed piece based on “Makers” by...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:52:00 -0500

Task 3 : remixed piece based on “Makers” by Cory Doctorow.

“Makers” was both an exhilarating and thought-provoking read. A creative novel about creative people by a creative author, it’s filled to the brim with ideas and possibilities of the near-future. Ideas so fantastic and inventive yet seemingly possible that you can almost taste it. And yet, there is a dark twist to it.

side note : The poison in the piece is a cocktail called “Alien Brain Haemorrhage”. Though not exactly eaten with a spoon, this sweet shot is one cool poison that leaves you giddy in a good way.

At least until you get to your sixth one.

Task 1 : Emergence A creative piece reflecting “Emergence...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:32:00 -0500

Task 1 : Emergence

A creative piece reflecting “Emergence in the City”.

Photos taken at Canada Water along the thames. Structures are buildings in Canary Wharf seen from the opposite river bank.