Timo Klok
Comic upload: (keep on checking this one, I will show all the changes I've made, like adding text)
http://pzwart2.wdka.hro.nl/~tklok/cgi-bin/the_page.cgi?8∞

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Comic layout test:
http://pzwart2.wdka.hro.nl/~tklok/cgi-bin/layout.cgi∞ (and press refresh!)

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The main issue to me seemed the attractiveness of my project, why participate?, what's the fun! With Michael, I talked about the idea of placing images next to 'eachother' instead of 'after eachother in time'. And together with placing the text in the image, we came to the subject of comics... I think of presenting the 'collaborative story' as a comic could not only be interesting as a form of language, but by using some comic-conventions and the familiar concept of the medium, I could lower the threshold of the project.

The (or rather An..) idea was to show one page of a comic book at a time, with a pre-defined layout and blank spots where people can upload their own image. Not only does the user have to think about how their image fits in the sequence, but also how it relates to the layout. Also I could pre-define the size and place of the textboxes, setting more constraints for the user. And by showing the current page, and maybe how may pages are already created, the sense of the users 'position' in the project is also improved.

On the other hand, this is maybe slightly diverting from the concept of the Exquisite Corpse, the only remaining is that the users sees only one page, instead of the whole story. But is this a bad thing? I think the underlying concept of collaborative storytelling will still be going strong...

Stephanie also suggested of continuing to use the email communication as I did in the test. When a user makes his contribution, he/she has to fill in an email adress of someone who gets invited.

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20-2 Update:
-Summing up the critique from the test session:
Why should a user want to participate in the project. There is a certain need of sensing one's position in the project, what has been before me?, how much has been done?. The initial length of 7 days will amplify this!.
And give a sense of the 'bulk' of the project.... All about hosting I guess, how to get the people in....

Options:
- Display a part of current movie in progress. This can be distorted. For example blurred, or played at very high speed
- Display the log of changes, who changed, at what time, (what was their message, not showing their image)
- Make a separate project each day, and make the output from previous days available to view (maybe it's nice to start of with the same image each day, and see how it will differ at the end)
- Introduce a couple of more options to let the user express themselves, like the choice of different movements of the image. (Imagen the difference between zooming in to a window, and zooming out)

Thoughts:
"Any elements, no matter where they are taken from, can serve in making new combinations. The discoveries of modern poetry regarding the analogical structure of images demonstrate that when two objects are brought together, no matter how far apart their original contexts may be, a relationship is always formed. Restricting oneself to a personal arrangement of words is mere convention. The mutual interference of two worlds of feeling, or the bringing together of two independent expressions, supersedes the original elements and produces a synthetic organization of greater efficacy. Anything can be used." from Guy Debord 'Methods of detournement'
http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/3∞

also: the initial output of the chain-mailing-experiment :
http://pzwart2.wdka.hro.nl/~tklok/exc1.mov∞

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18-2 Update:
- As the basic technical hurdles have been jumped over, I can now focus more on some conceptual choices. I already made some: by the tests I did among the class I found that letting a search engine gather the pictures does not give the result I was looking for, so I decided to let the user upload their own image... Also, to allow for more 'poetic'/'associated' responses I will allow the user to create a subtitle for their uploaded image as well. At the moment the websites displays the last 2 uploads with their subtitles embedded in the image (the testshow on the 19th with clarify).

But now for the hard parts:
- The actual look of each animation. (maybe more then 1 option)
- The overlap/fade. Maybe the subtitle can overlap the images, to soften the edit. I also have to look at different types of transitions...

Technical stuff:
- The site needs to have a session monitor, to make sure only one user can edit the movie at a time...
- The scripts needs improved to make the process faster.

And for further development:
- If all goes well, I had the idea to allow 'forking' in the process. In that way, the final output will no longer a single movie, but a tree of movies....something like: http://cambrian.jp/index_e.htm∞

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I started a mailing test concept of the Exquisite Corpse game. Everyone will receive mails in the coming days (as long as everybody works along!!)

For testing purposes, I must now do the following:
- create a php form that writes to a textfile -- check
- import data in textfile to python
- setup the nodebox application to be used in python (http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Home∞) -- check
- test if I can stream via mac os x
- create test animation in nodebox

Connecting the Collective Unconscious

The internet has become the place where everybody can watch participate in, shout at, edit practically everything. However, the concept of a streaming event sounds to me more like TV, one way, couch-potato broadcasting...

On the other side:
The origin of the Exquisite Corpse game:
"Game of folded paper that consists in having a sentence or a drawing composed by several persons, each ignorant of the preceding collaboration...[eg]..."the exquisite/corpse/will drink/the new/wine"--excerpt from the 1939 Abridged Dictionary of Surrealism, as copied off the wall at the Art Institute of Chicago.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse∞

The internet allows for a Exquisite Corpse game were everybody can participate, at any time.
Online 'open' example: http://www.gesamtkunstwerk.nl/paint.php∞ (also at the Video Vortex exhibition)

Concept:
Hosting a online motion graphics version of the Exquisite Corpse game during the entire collective streaming week. Visitors are able to view a stream of the latest 5? seconds (for example) and are able to give up their preferable changes. Every hour?, all the input is gathered to process a new piece of the animation, and the site starts to stream this... At the end of the week, all the pieces will be put together! (this way, the output would say something about the collective/avarage opinion

Or: Stay within the boundaries of the original Exquisite Corpse game, editing the animation whenever a user enters his/her alterations. This way, the stream will be really passed on...

Example of image based 'mashups', maybe to use as a starting point for the animation:
http://www.solaas.com.ar/dreamlines/applet.php∞
http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Percolator∞

Further thinking:
- The content of the animation/movie. What do you see? Is it 'real life' or generated? What are the parameters that can be controlled/altered?
- For the interview: If I chose to make a generated piece, interviewing Tom de Smet (developer of Nodebox: http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Home∞) would fit nicely. If I go for a 'real life' video (step away from the computer sir!), maybe the United Visual Artists (see link below).

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Updated: Tom de Smet agreed to do the interview - Very interested in the outcome, will we see a general development throughout the week ?

Old:
My blog/portfolio is just started and in progress, so be patient, it will get better: http://pzwart2.wdka.hro.nl/~tklok/blog/∞

My interest are currently growing towards generative visuals and performance stuff / installations that can go with it. But how to combine this with hosting. Of course, a performance is all about hosting...

Some inspiration:

United Visual Artists - http://www.uva.co.uk∞
Processing - http://processing.org/exhibition/∞
Wii-VJ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ToaN7vTqtU&eurl=http://createdigitalmotion.com/index.php?s=wii∞
3D projection - http://www.antivj.com/clubtransmediale/video.htm∞