caroline's stuff that doesn't go anywhere else.

final-final project/tool post pt. 2 (super, super long)

Continuing from what I found the first time (the only thing, actually), I have a better grasp of what it is that I'm going to be doing. After some long hard consideration (and quiet time being a lab monitor), I've decided on my final project.

My original final project proposal had to do with building up an artist collective, which by the way, is still something that I want to do. But I'll probably leave that for when I have more time. In sticking with the "art" theme, I've decided to build up a site that I would say resembles Buzznet or other photo-sharing sites. And I came up with "Random Art In The City: A(nother) Place For The Weird And Obscure In San Francisco." That's a working title because I realize that SF is a place that might go beyond weird and obscure (in some cases).

The basic premise is this: people in SF can send in photos of crazy things they've seen in the city ... random art. My favorite piece of random art in the city are the painted mushrooms. They're just pipes with little domes on them, and for some odd reason, someone painted the domes red with white polka dots to make them appear like mushrooms on concrete. The first time I saw it, I thought I was a little nuts, but now whenever I see those type of pipes without the paint on it, I just wonder what happened. When they send their photos in, they can tell a story about how they found it, and what they thought of it (besides it being random and weird). Or maybe they can send in a little known fact about the piece of art instead. People will be able to comment, share their thoughts, or maybe like on YouTube, they're allowed to post a video response ... maybe the commenter can post a photo response. Maybe later on if I have the will to carry this into the future, I'll let people do video responses. Who knows? The possibilities to be able to interact are pretty much endless. One of the goals of the site is to show another side to the city that natives and tourists don't really see. Of course you can come to the city and see the Golden Gate Bridge, or whatever famous place, but I think it's kind of cool to go around and see the obscure .. and take people to go with you, too! I want it to be an adventure site ... choose your own adventure, perhaps? Maybe not so much that, but just fun. Like if you have a day where you're bored, you can just go see whatever weird attraction interests you.

Now, all I really have to do is find a way to make all of this work, and besides the FireFTP program, I had a couple of tools that I wanted to use:

• The first tool is a version of Google Maps called Google Maps API in which you can imbed a java version of their maps on your own site. I figured using this will give the reader an easier and hopefully fun way to find the piece of art that was submitted. The map would appear with the photo, of course. I have to read up on this more, though because they have a LOT of options. Almost too many.
  
• Another tool I'm looking into is Moveable Type ... the free, personal version. While I love Blogger, I feel like I want to branch off into another type of blogging platform. However, if I feel like I'm ripping my hair out at the last minute, I'll go back to Blogger just because I'm familiar with it more. But MT is something I've always wanted to try out, so it's a pending idea.
  
• An HTML/Webdesign program: On my super-old school laptop, I used to use this thing called Microsoft FrontPage, and I used to be all over that. Now that I think about it, it was a pretty good program to use, but I probably won't be using that unless I go super-fancy. I also don't have it on my newer PC, so that's a bust. In a way, I have my heart set on Dreamweaver (because now I have a Mac), and then I'll just try to make it my own somehow by fixing other stuff. I've got some basic HTML stuff memorized, so I think if I need to make certain adjustments, I will. Anyway, I probably should have mentioned this in class on Thursday, but whenever I had a problem figuring out an HTML code, I'd go (and still go) to Lissa Explains it All, which is a HTML site for ... kids. Yeah, it's a kids site (I like how it says "JUST for kids"), but whatever works, works. Click on the "html-help" tab.
  
• Photohosting site: I already have Photobucket, but I'm going to shop around for another one. Maybe Flickr might be better. I'm still looking at stuff.
• My old digital camera that resembles a brick, but magically still functions.
  
• Photoshop, too, which is what I use to resize my photos all the time and do some color correction.
  
• Webspace, if I won't use blogspot ... which will be my SFSU account. Free webspace!
  

Other things I thought about were commenting abilities, which should be cool if I use Blogger or Moveable Type. I've still got a lot of kinks to work out, like more advanced ways to submit photos. I guess I could set up another email account for people to send their photos/blurbs in, and that would just require me to look at/or approve things before they get posted up. I also want it to work on its own, like Buzznet, where they have their own accounts and such, and can upload whatever and whenever they want. I won't go that far, though. That's just too out of my league at the moment.

I've also started to think about the basis of the site ... rules, regulations and such. My first rule is no landmarks/famous stuff... which I might rethink, because I all of a sudden remembered the Defenestration Building, which is probably the weirdest thing ever. But it's still cool. I guess the rules part is a work in progress, too. But I think I can get a basic layout done by the next time I come to class. Hopefully.

posted by caroline @ 4:37 PM