For this week I decided to look at the Blood Sugar project on Vector’s Journal. The site looks into drug addiction, its effects, and how we as a country can help to end it. The project is based around the numerous testimonies of injection drug users who have been or are currently struggling with addiction.

The main feature of the site revolves aroung the audio “bodies” which each can be clicked upon to begin a testimonial and show information about the interviewee as well as key words relating to their story. There is additionally an option to view the transcript of the testimony while listening to the recording to more easily follow along with what is being said.  The design of the bodies themselves in terms of length is done to show the “density” of the annotations or key terms within each interview.

The project allows you to travel further into the “body” of each recording when you click on individual parts which takes you deeper into the body revealing more information. When you click on the key annotations a list of names appears which when clicked upon lead to the moment in a different testimonial where that topic is broached.  Overall the site is very interactive and though the design is a bit overwhelming, the Help page is able to do its job and help simplify the design to make it more accessible and clear as to what the user should be doing. Additionally the zoom out feature in the lower left corner acts as a way to back out of the body and return step by step back to the main page where all the testimonial bodies are arranged side by side.

The way the site was designed was meant to allow the user to act as the needle piercing into the skin of each body delving into each story. Part of the mission of the project is to offer a different view of the addict by allowing them to explain their stories and in exploring the site, the user literally enters into each body in order to experience each story. Thus the meaning of the design has much more impact on the user, though it is not immediately apparent on the main page. I would say the project is successful as it offers an interesting and interactve way to experience the harrowing stories of addiction which then leads into concluding arguments. The design is synthesized perfectly with the meaning of the project, and it creates an experience which makes users of the site just like the drug users by injecting into the body of each story, successfully offering new perspective.

Hypermedia Berlin, created by Todd Presner, is the result of a collaboration between UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities and Stanford University’s Humanities Laboratory. Basically, it’s a series of layered maps of Berlin. What’s different about them is that they portray the city from a nonlinear multimedia perspective; users are able to move freely, backwards and forwards, in time to learn about the political, historical and cultural importance of present landmarks, according to the website. Historical base maps and urban development maps from as early as 1237 to 2003 show users how the city has changed over time. By clicking on the markers on the historical base maps, users can also read chronological narratives in pop-up windows about how Berlin’s noteworthy landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate have evolved in historical, political and cultural importance.

The website is easy to navigate. By clicking on a date from the temporal axis at the bottom of the page, users can explore a map from that time period and click on the markers or the landmarks on the right side panel to see the narrative and images of the landmark. They can also learn more about historical figures from a certain time period by toggling to the “People” tab next to “Places.”

Based on the project’s editorial statement, I can understand why Todd Presner used historical base maps, which are in and of themselves primary documents that paint a vivid image of what the city looked like in the past.  Also, he mapped the same landmarks over time to visualize how the city changed in relation to those specific places, and as a user, that consistency helped me better understand the city spatially. However, from the perspective of someone who did not take the class for which this website was created, I had trouble understanding what the colors and lines on the base maps represented, although I’m sure Mr. Presner would have gone over the details in class. Another feature that I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around is the urban development maps. How are they different from the base maps? What are their use?

I think the project does a good job incorporating traditional maps and an online, multimedia interface to provide users a more tactile, comprehensive and visual understanding of Berlin’s history. Users can explore through time and space through a mere click of a button. However, the website is inconvenient to use and redundant at times. The narrative for each landmark is the same for every date, which begs the question, what is the point of having a pop-up window? It might have made more sense to have a separate tab for just narratives on the right side panel. That way, users don’t have to close the infowindow every time they hope something new might appear for each time period. Also, it would have been easier to use if Mr. Presner made the use of the urban development maps more apparent. One idea would be to place them side by side with the base maps.

I chose a project from the Difference section of Vectors called “Blue Velvet: Re-dressing New Orleans in Katrina’s wake.” The site focused on how New Orleans has changed and been affected by Hurricane Katrina, and relates issues of the city’s recovery to those affecting the entire country. Navigating the site was much different from what is typical. Instead of presenting information in simple, essay-like format, Blue Velvet’s interface consisted of animated graphics of the New Orleans landscape. Instead of the typical structure of having content within several tabs of the website, headings would scroll across the top of the screen and clickable links to topics would appear briefly as well.

Music was an integral part of the experience of using the site. When you are on the homepage, there is more subtle background music imitating waves on the beach and the background of silhouettes of homes in New Orleans. However, when you click a link to a subtopic, the landscape moves as if in turmoil, the animation slides as if moving underground, and the music shifts to a dark and dissonant theme music with drums and creepy-sounding vocals. Within these subtopics, there are a few paragraphs, which are laid out crookedly and sometimes even run over each other. There are also further links to photographs and videos which contain further information.

I think the designers made these decisions about Blue Velvet’s unique interface to intuitively let the user feel and understand on a deep level what New Orleans has faced through the emotional music and feel of the site. When you dig further and click on more and more subtopics, the transitions between the moods parallel the realities of the deeply rooted political problems which plague the city and worsened the effects of Katrina.

Although the site can be a bit difficult to navigate, as the clickable links are literally flying by on the page, the designers did a good job of balancing the need for being able to access content and still portraying an anxious mood by having a link to an index where the user can quickly and easily find a key term like on a traditionally designed site. Overall, the innovative design seeks to convey beyond just the historical facts, and effectively emphasizes just how devastated New Orleans has been from the hurricane, and engages the sympathies of the user unlike a more basic webpage could do.

As it is completely a part of my essential nature, I have chosen to go with the outright most dark and creepy project that was readily available to me. Please, journey with me if you will into the realm of Malperception.

This is a site that wishes to help shatter the objectivism and logical positivism that has been rampant in Western thought for about the last century. For those of you who do not study philosophy, logical positivism is essentially the idea that reality is completely objective, and that our senses do a pretty darn good job of informing us of how the universe actually is. However, as we begin to dig deeper into the hard problem that is consciousness, we are beginning to understand that perhaps seeing is not believing. The editorial statement immediately sucks you right in by basically explaining that everything you know is wrong. Please enter if you dare. I absolutely love the dark feel they were going for on this site and the editorial statement, a segment one might expect to be dry, gets the dark ball rolling.

The website’s interface is mind numbingly simple to use, as there are thirteen examples of perceptual phenomena that blows the lid off of what we would perceive to be normal. There are some (rather) irrelevant and (often) disturbing images on each of the different subsections, like this one:

The content on this site is insanely interesting, as it pokes… no, throws daggers at our preconceived notions of what we thought was real. I would highly encourage anyone to check it out. If reading about creepy phenomenon is not enough to pique your interest, then you will be happy to find out that there are visual demonstrations for each of the phenomena! At the bottom of each page, you can click on a link that brings you to an interactive page that allows you to experience that perceptual phenomena that defies reality as we know it. After you have had your fun playing with all of the different visual representations, you can get a little more academic and check out the three commentaries at the bottom which puts more of an academic spin on all of this madness.

This project is a winner for me, and I’ll just lay down the philosophical principle of Ockham’s razor by declaring “the simpler an interface is, the better.” There really is no need for a dazzling interface for this, as it may have just overcomplicated the incredible phenomenon and distracted from the sites overall meaning. I’m sure the designers intended to make it this way, as if to say “why do we need a flashy interface? The information speaks for itself.”

In this project called Totality for Kids by Mckenzie Wark, the interface is set up as a slide show with mouseover pop-ops that allow the visitor to read more into a specific topic or statement.  It was very straightforward navigating through the site, as it was just a slideshow which would phase in and out of the new slides. I think the designer, Erik Loyer, intended for the interface to be child friendly as evidenced by the title and also because of the addition of the cartoons which make the slideshow look like a comic book.  

This is a picture of the first slide in the show and you can see the bubble text where you can read peoples’ short conversations with each other. There is also additional media unrelated to the conversations in order to give the reader additional context behind the Situationist International movement. This movement started in Post-War Paris and then transformed into the Lettrist International. The viewer also enjoys music from The Love Technology which adds to the overall ambience of the project.

I personally didn’t like the project as I was confused on what message was trying to be conveyed, and I think that might have been part of the design of the site so that it could attract more curiosity about what this array of photos and text was really about. However, even after reading all the way through I was still lost on the central message which is what made me dislike this project. The illustrations are captivating and mellow music is relaxing, but if the audience is having a hard time understanding what is being shown to them, then their is an inherent problem in the site. One reoccurring message was, “the only adventure is in contesting the totality.” Now I’m not exactly sure what the “totality” is referring to, but I got the impression that it could just mean government. Doing some of my own background research I learned about Post War Paris society a bit more and found out that their were groups who wanted to return to the old bourgeois culture and other groups who favored communistic ideals. Apparently the younger generation favored the communist ideas and tried to make them more mainstream, but their movement ultimately failed to the new neoliberal corporatism that gave rise after the World War II. Finally, I don’t think this was a very successful project because it left me in the dark about what message was being conveyed. You can find the site here: http://vectors.usc.edu/projects/index.php?project=99

I chose to look at the Virtual Tourisms project from the Vectors Journal. The project offers a look into the world of tourism in Los Angeles via a specific hotel in the 1880s and 1890s, focusing on “the urban planning context and socio-spatial relationships” of the specific time and place. With the goal of “reinforcing preconceived notions of the city, while at the same time allowing for unexpected ruptures, the project takes the form of a 19th century scrapbook or travel journal.

To begin exploring the project, you get to choose between four historical characters, and they represent different classes, genders, and ethnicities. I like how you get to browse descriptions of each character before making a decision on whose journey to follow. Three of the characters worked at the hotel, while one was a visitor.

However, the interface at up to this point already had some problems. On the introduction page, you can mouse over images to change the text on the screen, and it seems like you should be able to click on them to take you to a new page but you can’t. Additionally, the scroll bar for viewing character information looked elaborate to match the theme, but the space in the scroll bar didn’t correspond to the length you had to scroll. I also didn’t like that there was no “back” option on the pages.

The rest of the project has a game-like interface. Your home screen is a series of brochures to look at: Where to stay in Los Angeles, Why visit Los Angeles,What to do in Los Angeles, and The Raymond Hotel. When you click on an entry in the brochure, you can view information about the location or activity and see a picture of it.  The image has three magnifying glasses, which the information box says are for viewing the advertising and promotion aspects, the history of the environment, and the socio-spatial point of view. You can collect souvenirs and mark the locations you’ve seen on a map.

Overall, I think the game interface is fun and interactive, but that sacrifices the clarity of the information. The website is pretty confusing to navigate, and I think a slideshow would be much more effective than the magnifying glasses because you can’t see the entire picture and some pictures only have one or two magnifying options. Though the project’s goal was to show the L.A. tourism industry through the eyes of members of different classes, the difference between experiences for the different characters is completely unclear.

From the Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology, I picked the project Public Secrets. Imaginative Speculation: Public Spaces as a Act of Resistance. Public Secrets is by Sharon Daniel and the design is by Erik Loyer. The focus for the project was power and knowledge regarding life for women in prison. Exploration of the project allows for an examination of who controls the power in the penal system and the need to increase awareness and knowledge about what is really happening behind prison doors. It is an effort to dispel popular misconceptions about prisons. It is also a part of a large resistance movement that works to dismantle the current prison system in the hope of a more humane and tolerant world. There is very little opportunity for the general public to examine a women’s prison from the inside out but that is what this project attempts to do. This is a social problem that inaction and silence by the public allows to continue without inspection or consideration. This is problem that impacts us all. It asks the question “ Is this really how a just and democratic society wants to treat people?” This sight combines visual and audio elements for a forceful presentation of the plight of women who are incarcerated in prison near Chowchilla in central California. The documentary approach allows for the women to tell their story in a view from the inside of the stark cold prison. The design decisions seem to be well thought out and carefully planned as they create the dynamic and powerful overall dark feeling and experience. When you browse the piece you see statements that are made by the featured women who struggle and live in custody. You can click on the statement to listen to the audio portion or you can click on the text to read the statement. There are options to click on buttons labeled “more” or “view connections” to view a new screen with additional content. You are asked to listen to the stories and consider the real life issues which make the experience more personal and moving. You focus on the descriptions the women are giving as you are asked to imagine the kind of life that is required to survive in that environment. The black and white interface with bold letters and moving blocks of space are symbolic of the inhuman black and white rules and regulations that these ladies must endure. The visual of limited color as well as definition of space in moving blocks are symbols for the strong lines drawn between those that are inside the prison and those that enjoy freedom on the outside.   The use of sound is gripping and chilling as there is a loud noise made as you move around the site that reminded me of a prison door slamming shut. The strip to make selections from is not on the top of the site, but rather down the side. This was a representation of a life that was not lived within normal freedoms but was sideways and out of order. The visuals and the eerie sounds are an integral part of the story that unfolds with the telling of each dramatic story.   This project did a very effective job of making a documentary and presenting a strong case for actions to reform women’s prisons using digital media.

I took a look at the Virtual Window Vector project.

http://vectors.usc.edu/issues/4/virtualwindow/

This project is based to provide a history and additional information at some of the frames that we use to see the word. These frames vary by literal window frames but to more abstract and modern kinds of frames like the frame of a television or cellphone. There is information that goes all the way back to the 13th century and with that distinctions and what kind of frames were used and what kind of content.

The navigation of this page was unlike anything I had seen on a computer before. The interface of the website felt more like a game or application than it felt like the navigation for a webpage but I think that it makes an interesting point about the way we view the world. As an English major, I often view out of the ordinary stylistic choices as a way to make a statement. When you are first brought to the website, there is nothings but a black screen and a human figure. Until you use your mouse to click and drag and create a window, the figure becomes illuminated and you can start to then change what kind of window and content the person is watching. I think that the point of this is to show the enlightening feature of being able to observe the world from home, and in modern times anywhere, with the help of a frame or screen.

Furthermore, once you have picked a certain scenario, there are few words that move statically that when clicked, give more information about why the term is relevant to the scenario you are viewing. I think that interpretatively, it shows what kind of ideas have led to the current scenario you are viewing from explanation to why the television is a certain ratio size to terms that describe the current interactions that we have with different frames or screens.

I think that the project is successful but there are some limitations and the creators of this project are aware of it too. The editor’s introductions states that it does take some time to get to learn your way around the interface. That is true since it took me a few minutes of playing with the site to know what I was watching and why it was of relevance. It also took me a while to learn to navigate the site in order to find what I was looking for if it was available. That leads to the next point, it is not full with information, it does not have the information that a large database might have but it does provide plenty of content. Everything that is on the website is clearly refined and works well which makes it look great as a project as a whole. From a digital humanities perspective, I might question how useful this might be as a tool for research. For the casual browser who bumps into this sight, it informative and immerse rive. That being said there is still limits to the content available of this page and as a researcher, I can see he interface as obtrusive  when looking for something specifically. That being said it offers a new perspective on how we look at the world which could not have been done with a traditional webpage which I think is the benefit to this kind of dynamic webpage. Overall I would call this project a success since it does accomplish to provide information in a way that a traditional book or even webpage could not.

The project I chose from Vectors was the Public Secrets project. This project is a collection of stories from inmates at a Women’s Prison, and also contains commentary about visiting the prison by the lead on the project, Sharon Daniel. The goal of the project is to expose the corruption of the United States’ legal punitive system, as the stories told by these female inmates reveal issues of guard harassment, inattentive medical staff, and more. Daniel also gets stories about the inmate’s lives before prison – many of which are full of trauma and hardship – and how the difficult living environments they grew up in are only further punished by a severe and unforgiving prison system.

The site itself has an interesting and effective interface. Upon opening the website, Daniel gives a voice-over introduction to the project as black shapes work their way across a white background, which later turns into a grey scale painting of a skull. This introductory sequence can be skipped by clicking a button on the bottom right of the screen, which is also the case for later voice over sequences. This “skip” feature is useful because it widens the appeal of the site; those who want to be fully immersed can listen through every sequence, and those who want to get to the main content can skip the sequences. The colors used in these sequences – black, white, and grey – are perfect at setting the atmosphere of the project, which focuses on the dismal, colorless, and lifeless nature of the prisons. The project uses a light blue as the hover color, which serves as a nice accent color that still does not contradict the gravity of the subject matter. In the project, one woman is interviewed about how she pictures the outside world, and she says she thinks about the ocean, the beach, and parks – all places that are vibrant and vivid, a strict contrast from the prison and its courtyard.

After the opening sequence, the site can be browsed via a menu on the side. In each of the menu categories, the page is full of different sized boxes that contain statements made by inmates and others, as well as story categories:

The user can either hover over or click on the quote to begin playing the recording of the statement. Additionally, when hovering over, the option to “Read Transcript” appears at the top of the statement box. Clicking on this opens up a new menu that shows the transcript of the statement, while giving options on the right-hand side to rewind, scroll through, or pause the audio. These options once more give the user the ability to control their experience on the site. Below these options, there is also a  button that takes the user to more stories from that inmate. And just as there is a “Read Transcript” option at the top of the box, there is also an option at the bottom of the box to see more stories connected to the same topic.

I think these design decisions were made because they are not overwhelming in information or style, and they have smooth transitions that feel pleasing to use. And putting the statements of the inmates in boxes is symbolic of their entrapped nature, as they are =enclosed by their cells, by the prison, and by the verdicts and methods of the punitive system. I especially like that they use quotes from the statements rather than trying to title each of the stories, because it exemplifies the notion that the project is trying to make these women and their struggles heard, not to categorize them or turn them into statistics. All in all, I think this project has a refined and useful interface that works well to convey the project message, while also providing tools for the user to define his/her experience with the site.

I chose the project Digital Dynamics Across Cultures under the Ephemera category. This project is focuses on the Warumungu people from Central Australia and their cultural norms. My initial impressions of the website were that it has a very simple interface – and this often very advantageous. A pop-up immediately opens on the screen that explains what the project is about. The layout of the website is clean and streamlined. There are three distinct pages and their headings are easy to understand.

When navigating through the three separate pages, a new textbox appears at the bottom providing a two to three paragraph explanation of the topic. These pages are not information heavy at all. The bulk of the data and research are presented in the map on the front page. This stylized map image includes seven floating balls that represent cultural names and artifacts of the Warumungu people. The data represented by the seven floating balls change each time your reload the site. This attribute of the website, as later described, truly captures the ephemeral nature of data and intellectual property.

Each time you click on a floating ball, a new page opens with information about that item. Also, a sound byte plays as you click on the ball. This is a nice touch because the user’s action is acknowledged and the sound indicates that the action is being carried out. Further, as you click on different balls, a faint line outlines the order you clicked on the balls. This is a unique method of providing a history of the user’s clicks.

The website has very clear indications of how to navigate from one page to the next, and back to home page. One feature that I appreciate is the return to map icon. After clicking on a floating ball, a new page opens on your screen and the user can no longer see the map. However, the website designers made sure to include a small triangle in the top right hand corner as a way to get back to the home page.

The editorial statement outlines how the designer of the website, Kim Christen, created a layout and an information representation that embodies the idea of the “ephemeral” and the fluid nature of intellectual property. I think Kim Christen is very successful in conveying these ideas. She presents small amounts of data in each visit to the site. Therefore, two individuals that see the site at the same time may experience two very different, but also limited, data sets. An individual who visits the same site twice will not see the same cultural protocols at each visit. This conscious decision successfully embodies the idea of the transient nature of data and intellectual property and it strips down the idea that intellectual property must operate within either the public or private realm. Christen enables the Waramungu cultural norms to inhabit both the public and private sectors of the online environment.