Firstly, it’s worth noting that browsers will increasingly be using HTML 5 from here on, and with this will come easier embedding possibilities and via a more developer friendly Javascript API – increasingly innovative experiences with sound online. Here’s your old friend w3schools on the topic of HTML 5, and here’s a recently celebrated example of pushing it’s capacity: http://ro.me (and do read the section about the technology enabling it).

As part of gathering relevant web audio bookmarks for the course (which I’ve been storing here: delicious.com/jeanpoole/websound ), I wrote to a few musician and audio production friends, and Dan MacKinlay provided the unexpectedly detailed reply below, which I’ve added a few links to for clarity. Well worth a read for those interested in the more technical capabilities online for audio.

Add generous Dan on soundcloud!

Web audio? You mean a bald, beginnerish summary? How practical do you need it to be? For basic encoding stuff there’s the good old William Haun PowerPoinT. For the specialist, there is user interface design using javascript audio events. Quite aside from the Heath Robinson contraption flavour of such Flash solutions (and HTML5 audio is of course itself fragile and limited), the main problem with these things is that sonifying your average website is a joke.

So I divine that perhaps you are looking for something a little more cutting edge? Good old chrism’s attempt to port puredata to the web – aka WebPd. Or the older Lily project to turn firefox into a generative media plaything…?

Or my own modest bookmarks: http://www.delicious.com/buttergod/audio+browser

For the extra fun, I reckon we should plumb nearly-web audio. I hereby be possibly off topic.

Did you know the RJDJ app supports network connections?I think my next RjDJ app will be based around that idea. Or processing.js – did you know that it does some amazing audio stuff? (esp. in firefox)  (David Humprey, linked there, is optimistic about audio web stuff)

sc140 is another near-web contender.

Or, let us suck up the zeitgeist and think of augmented reality sound design. Isn’t AR last season’s hottest flavour? (Cringing at memory of punters pronouncing it Arrr, and me not being sure if it was talk-like-an-internet–pirate day or if they were just constantly amazed)

The oldest and awesomest instance of this i know is audionomad, where composers made the landscape into a a weird compositional acoustic hallucination. I heard Nigel Helyer’s composition from a chartered boat with multichannel sound system bolten on for full-spatialization goodness. The Sydney harbour bridge was a traversed by invisible roller coasters, Sydney Cove resounded with echoing screams of the drowning victims of the Greycliffe disaster, and as we passed the couple posing for their wedding photos on picturesque Dawes point, a dry voice read extracts from an early colonist’s diary, recounting  that the site was where the scurvy riddled- bodies of the dead and dying convicts where dumped from the vessels like sacks of wheat. Historicity FTW.

All you’d want is to make those annotations be collaborative and it would be webalicious.

Of course, a multichannel ferry is overkill in this day and age. everything’s made of smartphones, and the hallucinations are a little more solipsistic than a boozy ferry-ride.. Layar, for example, supports audio.

For what its worth, I’m not really interested in the web as a site for audio, as that is not what I use it for. rather, I’m interested in the web for audio control. Nothing supports nested, dynamic controls like a browser does, not even the ex-Jazzmutant-lemur. It’s still a bit more tedious than it needs to be because OpenSoundControl is a zany binary format that prefers UDP and browsers prefer delicious JSON-over-TCP. Which, as an ex web guy, I argue is excessively tight coupling on OSC’s part owing to a confusion of the hierarchy of the protocol stack. But that is a nitpick for another day.

Any of that brain dump what you’re after? What DO you mean by “web” anyhow?

Dan

Submission Details ( DUE BY 5pm, Friday June 3rd ( end of week 13))

Send in an email with -

- Full name and student number
- 1 x URL for your Final Project
- 1 x URL for your blog
- 1 x URL for your delicious account

See the bottom of the course guide for RMIT policy on copyright, plagiarism, late submissions, penalties etc.

***

Technical checklist for your blog (also includes useful tips about using links effectively within your writing).

Questions to ask about your blog posts?

Could this post have been written on a phone by a 13 year old on a tram?
( No? Great, move to the next question.. )

What useful points are you making, or what ideas are you exploring, that might be of use to anyone in the course, or in the music industry, or in general?

Are you merely describing something (‘This exists. Here is a link’), or adding any useful analysis, any critique relevant to the course? ((‘This link intrigues for these reasons. As mentioned elsewhere (link), there are many problems with … and site X solves this nicely in these ways. It also brings new problems though (other links) and I think…. etc )). Writing doesn’t have to be academically formal within a blog post, but effective writing still requires some attempt to provide insight / meaning / value to the reader. What value does your post provide?

Have you added any *relevant* links, supporting any of the points made? Have you explained why and how the link is relevant or of interest?

If presenting any interesting examples of media or artists, companies etc - have you explained what opportunities and/or challenges are represented by these examples, or represented by the way they have been developed, produced or distributed?

In general – have you asked yourself – what are the implications ( or opportunities / challenges / risks ) of the topic you are writing about -  for a musician’s research / collaboration / production / feedback / distribution? What are any implications for the music industry as a whole?

Ideas for blog posts?

Have you written any posts about ideas brought up by other students on their blogs?

If so, have you included specific links to their original posts, and outlined any meaningful points / addition thoughts that you get from reading them?

As well as outlining those responses, have you included any relevant research or examples that back up your points? (( The goal here, is to provide interesting feedback, and to explore their points (or some aspect of them) in more detail and nuance.))

Have you written meaningfully about any of the networks you are involved with? Expand your knowledge about some aspect of Soundcloud, Vimeo or Flickr, and explore it in fine detail. Succinctly describe, provide example links, and move quickly to the juicy bits – what does this mean? What are the implications? What insight does this offer us about the music industry today and tomorrow?

Have you been involved in any interesting interactions within your wider online networks? Describe and document these, and tease out the implications.

What gaps exist in your online knowledge? Do a last burst of research, dive in and explore, document your findings and explain their significance in the online ecosystem. What unique opportunities does this provide?

**

“The kind of motion picture I am interested in will be like creating the modern LP record. It will be mixed into ways of thinking rather than cut linearly” - FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA ( Academy award winning director of Godfather, Apocalypse Now etc ). And now we have the likes of starwarsuncut and sample based live cinema.

What are your speculations about the future of music? What are some examples or stepping stones towards that?

**

What inspires you outside the music industry? Does it provide any interesting lessons, parallels or differences to the music industry that could be fruitfully written about?

To warm up, we’re going to look at a couple of videos featuring Sherry Turkle. The first discusses the relationship between technology and identity, and the more recent video has her discussing limitations to hyperconnectivity… albeit on the Colbert Report, laugh track included.

And 3 related tasks this week via Ed.

Within those tasks, a challenge to think about what happens to our complex identities, when we are online. What do these words mean for us in an online context: Authenticity? Privacy? Anonymity? Authentication? Fake identities? Stolen identities? Trust? Online reputations? Social capital? Although set in 2005, this conference presentation serves as a useful overview to some of the issues surrounding online identity.

“A podcast is a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; program-driven, mainly with a host and/or theme; and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software.”

- Wikipedia via Academics at the Community, Journalism & Communication Research group at the University of Texas at Austin.

And this weeks reading ( as discussed by radioblaster and nikkichook), expands on that definition, outlining some of the technical foundations that make it possible, and some of the social uses that spring from this.

Some Example Podcasts?

Technopodcast - note their automated availability via itunes, soundcloud, mixcloud, twitter and facebook.
Rocketboom.com - daily 3 minute dose of net culture as a video. ( Which dovetails podcasting with ‘video blogging‘ )
Radiolab ( WNYC ) – An existing radio show expanding it’s reach.

ABC Australia’s Podcast collection, Australian Government Podcasts, http://lifestylepodnetwork.com.au, Aussie Geek Podcast, Skepticzone (Australian based show, charges per episode)

Why Make A Podcast?

Where is your potential audience? How can you remove barriers to them finding out about your work? How can you adapt your own workflow to take advantage of automated systems?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of subscription based media / feed based media / push (notification) based media?

How To Make A Podcast

Options?

a) Using built-in services such as podomatic or podbean

b) Rolling your own, with all the added customisation ( and potential monetisation ) benefits

Wikihow’s guide to making a podcast is probably the simplest set of instructions available online, boiling the process down to:

- deciding on what type of material you will produce (research + planning )
- recording, producing
- Adding metadata – ‘Tag it, give it ID information (Artist, Album) and give it album art.’
- Creating an RSS Podcast Feed (using a blog and the Feedburner service)
- Uploading your .mp3 ( to any site or server that will generate a media file URL that ends with .mp3 )
- Make a blog post, and including a direct link to the .mp3 file ( This will enable Podcast software to auto-download it for any subscribers)
- Add a podcast button and link for people to subscribe to your show

More details are included in the Wikihow guide, but those are the basic steps. Another guide?

c) Adding your podcast to iTunes?

Apple’s guide to making an itunes friendly podcast ( See also Understanding the (difference between the) iTunes Client and the iTunes store)

Monetising your podcast

Generating a Podcast from Soundcloud
Soundcloud wrote in January 2011, that they will ‘soon’ be offering podcasting abilities from within Soundcloud:

Group Research Tasks: (To be done in class today, in separate groups) 
1. Popular software (mac and PC) for subscribing and listening to Podcasts? List some of the key distinguishing features. Make a recommendation for best mac and PC software.

2. Research cost for:
- buying your own domain name
- buying your own server space
- having your own custom email address ( eg myname@myband.com )

3. Find examples of podcasts that have large audiences, and find examples of podcasters who appear to be making some form of income from podcasting.

Creative Task: (To be done in class today)
- Brainstorm a podcast that could take advantage of remote collaborations ( eg something as involved as co-editing, co-curating, remixing, or something as casual as using specific twitter hashtags ),
- Think of a suitable name for your podcast, and a suitable domain name.
- Write a brief blurb describing your podcast.
- Describe some ideas about how you might use social media for research, collaboration, production and promotion of your podcast.
- Outline potential roles for delegating between participants.
- Develop a simple budget that would show the minimum costs needed.
- Publish as a blog post.

Individual Research Task :
Find a good podcast worth sharing with your peers. Write a brief blog post that includes a link, summarises the podcast and describes what makes it successful. When publishing your blog post, use a subject line like this:  ”Podcast: Name of chosen podcast”. This should deliver us a large range of podcasts from the group as a whole.

Some software in a related vein worth a look: Metasynth, and some interesting Max for Live patches for audiovisual uses are being developed by Melbourne musician and artist Zeal – see zealousy.com.

- Create an audio folder on your server with fugu / fetch etc, and upload your mp3 into it, note URL of audio.
- Test this in the browser : eg http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s1234567/foldername/filename.mp3 If correct, this should play your sound.

- Insert audio URL into PageOt to generate code, (note – make height=0, so you get a controller without a blank video window) Insert this code into a HTML page made in PageSpinner, include links for any sourced material.) Width can be adjusted to make the controller suit the width of page design elements. Clicking controller on/off will have it display or not, and loop and volume allow further controls. Press ‘code and options’, paste this into a HTML page, upload – and bingo!

[ Or try this web based option for generating embedding CODE. ]

What to do with your soundscapes?
Aside from publishing within your final project – where else can you publish them, and what else can you publish them with? ( Eg text, images, links to your project / music / blog etc ) And what are useful tags to use when publishing them?

Soundcloud is obviously an option, but there are also several dedicated soundscape related websites:
eg Freesound (which hosts creative commons samples), http://www.soundcities.com/, http://aporee.org/maps/ and http://turbulence.org/soundtransit/

There are 3 main ways to display media files within a web page.

Method 1: Direct linking to a media file.

1. Upload your media file to a server. Noting the location on the server, figure out the URL for this file.
2. Enter the full URL in a browser. If pointed to the address of a media file stored online, a web browser will play back the file in the centre of a blank web page. eg the link below:
http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~e56720/video/timelapsebikeridetest.mov

That same URL can be used with hyper-linked text (eg my time lapse video file ), to take viewers to a separate page with the media file.

Method 2: Using Files Hosted at Online Services

Most media hosting services such as Youtube, Vimeo and Soundcloud etc will give you embedding code for a file, which can then be placed within the body of your HTML page. While this allows positioning of the media file (instead of having it centred in an empty page), it still limits control over playback of the media file, and limits the look of the media player.

Method 3: DIY Embedding Codes

The most flexible, customisable option for embedding media files – is only a couple of steps more difficult than the other 2 options above, but through learning this method, we gain the capacity to play sounds in the background (by setting the values of the player visibility), add the ability to loop playback, design the look of the media player, and several other functions.

What Code Do We Need for Embedding Media Files?
W3Schools outlines the structure and syntax of HTML, and explains the relevance of elements within that structure. For embedding time-based media files, we are interested in the Object Element which ‘supports many different media types, like Picture, Sounds, Videos and other multimedia Objects’.

Below is a HTML page with a table in it, and the code for a video file embedded within that table. This allows control of where the video player is located on the page. Use the browser menu to view the source code for the page.

http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~e56720/video_example.html

Having viewed the code, note there are two options for generating the relevant codes for embedding time-based media files within webpages.
1. PageOT is free software ( mac + PC ), that “an immediate access to the complex features of QuickTime plug-ins, and gives you the power to create interactive playlists and presentations.” (If installing PAGEOT in the mac lab, install into a folder on the desktop, as you don’t have permission to install into the applications folder)

2. A web based generator of embedding CODE for embedding ]

For both processes, you will need to enter the URL of your media file, choose various settings, then collect the relevant code outputted, and then place this within your HTML page.

And some context for the near future of web publishing - HTML 5 – audio and video:
“HTML5 is not yet an official standard, and no browsers have full HTML5 support. But all major browsers continue to add new HTML5 features to their latest versions.”

Film = 24 frames per second, 24 images
Analogue Television comes in two varieties, PAL (used by most countries, =25 frames per second) and NTSC (used by the U.S. and Japan, =30 frames per second).
Video cameras often have options for recording 24 or 25 or 30 frames a second, to suit the respective regions.
Computer games, graphics cards and monitors can be optimised for displaying 60 frames per second to suit high speed gaming requirements.
( Side note: James Cameron recently suggested cinema should move to 48 or 60 frames per second, to achieve smoother high speed camera motion and detail.)

Relevance? Time lapse video.
If we record a video with a video camera in Australia (which uses PAL), we are capturing 25 still images every second – in real-time / as they happen. When those images are played back at 25 times per second, they show movement as natural. This means video can be created without video cameras, by compiling and sequencing images together. The images can be photographs – but they could also be illustrations, screenshots, or any combination of the above.

A time lapse video – simply means increasing the amount of time that has lapsed between the capture of each image. If we capture 25 images within 10 seconds instead of 1 second, playing this back (at 25 frames per second) will give the illusion of 10 x faster speed.

How To Make A Time Lapse Video
There are plenty of tutorials for creating time lapses (and a dedicated Time Lapse group at vimeo), and the methods boil down to this:

1. Capture images
2. Arrange images into a sequence that can be played back
3. Export movie.

1. Capturing images can be done with any camera – just be aware of the desired image dimensions for the final video. A video of 640×480 pixels is probably fine for our needs, so the camera will need to photograph at this size or larger. If it is capturing at a much larger size, this can allow for panning motions, but it’ll also be important to ensure the end video has been reduced to a size appropriate for the web.

2. Arranging Images. This can be done by importing all of your images into Final Cut Pro and then arranging them on the timeline. An even easier method involves Quicktime Pro – have all of your images ready in a single folder, then choose File > Open Image Sequence. Quicktime Pro will ask you what frame rate you wish to import the images as. Select the frame rate, and your movie will then be created and open up for you. The Quicktime process is simple and quick, so try experimenting with different frame rates to see which gives you the best time lapse / stop motion / smooth motion effect relevant to your video. Bringing this completed movie into Final Cut Pro can then allow easy adjustment of colours, framing, or the addition of text etc.

3. Exporting your movie. These guidelines for Vimeo give a good summary of the relevant parameters to consider when exporting from Quicktime or Final Cut Pro.

Quicktime Tips
Quicktime has a few useful audio editing, composition and exporting functions, for making quick adjustments to your newly created timelapse.

The in/out markers ( press i or o while a movie plays ) underneath the timeline can be used for quick and easy cutting, pasting ( command + x / command + c / command + v ), or deleting of sections. ‘command + n’ will make a new quicktime document you can paste sounds into. Sounds can also be layered to play simultaneously, by using quicktimes ‘add to movie’ function, found under the ‘edit’ drop down menu. Selecting ‘add to movie and scale’ will re-adjust the pasted item’s length of time to match the time of where it is being pasted – as set out by the in and out markers. This can be useful for matching times, or speeding / slowing / changing pitch of sounds.

Under the QT file menu choosing ‘view’ then ‘play selection only (command + T) makes quicktime play only the section within the markers – which is useful for fine tuning an edit, and choosing ‘view’ then loop (command + L) makes the clip play in a continuous loop – both of these in combination can be useful for refining an edit.

Sound + Time?
What is the musical equivalent of a time lapse video? Or more broadly – how might you creatively approach time with sound recording or composition?

In-class task: in groups of two or three, brainstorm some ideas for the essay. Think about the different technologies that can be focused on, the different practices that can be discussed, the impacts these have had on the music industry, any recent controversies over copyright and intellectual property, etc.

In-class task: write a quick blog post which outlines the structure of your essay, mentioning any supporting evidence.

**

Ed has also compiled a list of useful resources and theories related to the topics of remix, copyright and authorship, that we’ll be exploring this week. Please read in it’s entirety, taking special note of basic definitions you need to understand, useful reference sites for accessing at times of need, and the RMIT policy for copyright issues online (including your blog) – how well you read, and adhere to this, will affect your assessment.

**
Remixing brings a couple of interesting questions to the table, one involving law and the other, artistic integrity.

The law argues if you do not have the right to copy a portion of music, no use of this music is authorised without permission (and often payment) to the original copyright holder. In practical terms, legal action tends to be threatened or enforced only when money is involved ( ie songs or song portions used in some commercial context, earning payments). This means a chart topping act is much more likely to be sued than a small band without any releases or a significant bank account. Garage productions aside however, if gainfully employed by a media organisation, if producing a soundtrack for a film being submitted to a film festival, or if publishing material online within a hosted environment ( eg youtube), then the doors are open for legal threats – and you need to be aware of your legal responsibilities. Ed’s post covers that ground well.

Issues of Authorship and artistic integrity?

“Music has always been a craft of borrowing. In traditional, or folk, music, melodies and lyrics were handed down from generation to generation. At every stage, musicians would change the tune or substitute words at will, adapting songs to their own situations.”

The above quote is from the liner notes of the Illegal Audio Art compilation CD (Offered as a free download as part of illegal-art.org,  a website created for an exhibition ‘Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age’, highlighting several key controversial copyright cases of recent decades. Also relevant, with a very similar URL, illegalart.net - home to a variety of sample based music, including Girl Talk.)

Cultural arguments about remixing, as mentioned above, and as touched on in this week’s reading, suggest that existing art and media are raw materials for an artist to create from. What is important, from such a perspective – is not whether you have sampled, but what you are doing with it. Have you added value to an existing work, or are you merely riding on the easy recognition of a very familiar sample? Also of more interest within the cultural realm, are the changing notions of authorship that remixing brings to attention. What does remixing, and newer technologies which facilitate remixing, mean culturally? See Roland Barthes’ notion of the ‘death of the author’, or Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction as key theoretical reference points.

Trying to find a middle ground between legal and cultural arguments, lead Lawrence Lessig to found Creative Commons, and he has several free (and very influential) books available at his site for download, which flesh out his arguments in great detail, and are potentially useful for your essay. See also Creative Commons Australia.

Assorted Remix And Copyright Links:

Copyright related controversy about Soundcloud, which has developed it’s popularity on the backbone of hosting DJ mixes. Further discussion by Wayne + Wax, citing remixes of James Blake as a case study.

Remixtheory.net - assorted writings about remixing.

Soundscape remixing? RJDJ - interactive applications for smart phones, that incorporate and remix any sounds from the microphone in real-time, and (sometimes musical..) create ‘sonic experiences’. RJDJ is built using Pure Data, and the team created a special version for the movie Inception, that ‘transforms the world around you into a dreamworld. It uses augmented sound to induce dreams through the headset of your iPhone and iPod Touch. It will change your perception of reality.’

http://studiomultitracks.com - a collection of separated studio tracks for easy remixing. Found via cory_arcangel.

Also on the copyright front – thanks to delicious.com/s3235243 for drawing attention to the article ‘IIA Fastracks Industry Copyright Code - an ISP lead intiative to limit the liability of ISP’s for copyright infringements made by users. “”Market failure remains a core contributor to the infringement problem. If users have access to more and better content, when, where and in the form they choose to consume it, and at a realistic price, we’re quite confident the motivation for infringement will decline”.

Below, the Kopimi logo, ( ‘copy-me’), which advocates use if ’you want to be copied‘, a reflection of the idea that ‘only obscurity is worse for a creative than piracy‘.

Morganblack disagrees with an aspect of the McLeod reading for week 7, arguing “a mash-up should not have to rely on people recognising the original songs.” We’ll be discussing that more in our focus on Remix in week 8.

Radioblaster shared some insights (and example code to view) into designing a page with a table on it using CSS, and noted a recent brush with ‘twitter fame‘. Did anyone make it to the demonstration of lighting used by Usher at the Rod Laver Arena? (mentioned earlier by Radioblaster)?

The Patientau prefers Tumblr to WordPress (“WordPress is the worst”), citing Tumblr’s easier customisation options and the payment required to edit CSS on the hosted wordpress.com version we are using. (Note: A free and fully customisable WordPress version is also available for people who wish to host it themselves.) What do other users of both Tumblr + WordPress feel? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each in relation to the music industry? Why do you think we have chosen to use wordpress?

Goodfellow has figured out a time lapse idea, and links to some examples, while Glapeshh demonstrates a time lapse ‘work in progress’: emo-style capsicum.

In other project related Starcky writes about the Coburg Trombone monster, and Scott wonders about sampling ‘audio tactile detectors‘ ( aka the buttons pressed by pedestrians at traffic lights).

“Think about how your creative work reflects your principles and values; and if it doesn’t, what values is it projecting? Are these the values that you want to be associated with?”

Task: Research the manifestos below (and others listed by Ed) and make a note of any points that inspire you. Write a blog post that describes how these points might relate to contemporary media making.

Example Manifestos:

Futurism Manifesto (1909: “Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.” )
A Short Manifesto on the Future of Attention (The more information, the less attention, and “the need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”)
RIP – A Remix Manifesto A movie about remixing. What is their manifesto stating?
The Freeculture Manifesto “We believe that culture is a two-way affair, about participation, not merely consumption”
Portishead’s new music ‘manifesto’ “There will be no… “
Locative media manifesto “cyberspace leaking into the real world.. an era of the ‘internet of things’.”
Slow media manifesto “Slow Media are not about fast consumption but about choosing the ingredients mindfully and preparing them in a concentrated manner.”
Dogme 95 Manifesto – A set of strict rules to create film-making based on story rather than special effects or technology.
A DIY Data Manifesto.. Decentralising the web with DIY servers.
Anti-Web Manifesto A plea for ‘rejecting the modern web’ and the way it is designed.
A ‘Web Thinking’ Manifesto “We will let go of control… we will consider it a sign of success to see our brand or message distributed far and wide in ways we could never anticipate.”
The Assembled Web: Notes Towards a Manifesto “Success on the web is no longer about driving traffic to your site, or keeping eyeballs there once they arrive. It’s about engaging audiences everywhere they already are. ”
The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web Designers “Guidelines intended for any group of people looking to standardize web design in Photoshop”
The GNU Manifesto for free software: “..if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it{
McKenzie Wark’s Hacker Manifesto: “The class interest of hackers lies in freeing information from its material constraints.”
Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto “A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction”
Even more? 100 years of Design Manifestos, and via comments to the Post Media Art Manifesto, an amusing automated Manifesto Generator…

Today’s group exercise :

Create a mini manifesto for musicians and internet technologies. This should be a short list of points for a musician to consider as guiding principles for 2011 onwards, when they are seeking to create, distribute or publicise their music. We will have a series of brief presentations before the end of the class.

- What are some of the writing techniques used? (within blog posts, comments and the wider site. Voice? Style? How do they include links? How do they maintain or develop interest and sustain desire to return and read more? How often do they write? etc)
- How do they use and prioritise available screen space? What do you notice first?
- How do these blogs include / involve / engage their readers and peers? (Using any novel techniques?)
- What other bloggers and artists seem to be included within their inner network / community / fanbase / set of peers? How does this shape your perception of this blog?

Which of these blogs would you be most excited to see reviewing your music? Aside from directly writing to them, in what other ways might you engage with them and become visible on their network?

via Helise ( who mentioned these blogs, but didn’t link to them) Waycooljnr (discusses music, marketing and social media – and includes a reminder for songwriters to join APRA), The Empire Ship (artist blog), The In Sound From Way Out (EMI blog).
via mickeywsy Cut Copy (artist)s, Open Your Eyes (reviews, gig listings)
via Siblog thetempertrap (artists), entertainmentdepot (news) exp-melb.blogspot.com (experimental music)
via Morganblack Electrorash (also a member of Grindin, a network of blogs ) TheMusicBlogs (collaborative blog with writers all around Australia). The Temper Trap’s blog.
via Crystal Rainbow Pyramid - Cyclic Defrost (electronic music), whiteboydancefloor, Stoney Roads
via radioblaster - ALIA – Australasian Lighting Industry Association, Channel [V], Triple J version “Home & Hosed”
via Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Fran and Daves Musical adventure, Camden Sounds (gear review), Twenty Songs(weekly countdowns of different genres), Who The Hell (event promoters), The Drones (tour diary blog)
via BlogEugene - Momentary Shelter (well networked in rural Victoria), Electrotrash (Aus club scene), Two Bright Lakes (artist+label blog)
via OGMartin - New Weird Australia (NWA coming straight outta Compton Sydney: ‘is a not-for-profit initiative designed to promote and support new eclectic and experimental Australian music.’), Mountain Fold music journal ( Melb based journal), life is noise ( Perth events)
via Starkyblog - Canberra Jazz
via Lucasskinner - Tone Deaf ( Melbourne music), Mess and Noise (National)
via nikkichook - whothehell.net (tour, artist info), electrorash, ausindies.com.au (awards site)
via alexlikestotravel - Audio technology, The Music Blogs (collaborative blog, anyone can submit reviews).

UPDATES:
via Fight the MCP - The Melbourne Deepcast (Melb tech / house), Everybody Loves a Buzztech (tech / dubstep), Open Your Eyes (band reviews)
via Tashalloyd - New Weird Australia(experimental), Polaroids of Androids ( mostly Sydney)
via Glapeshhh - auscore (Aussie ‘core), Spoz’s rant (Adelaide music), mess+noise (indie)
via Coltdebango - Woo-Ha!! (Melb DJs), There’s Nothing Like Australia (not an Australian blog, but an L.A. music perspective of Australia..), Northside Records (Melb store).
via Fisherfisherfisher – TONE DEAF (gigs), Rock ‘n’ Rollerdex (contacts), Who The Bloody Hell Are They? (news, reviews)
via TheElectric Stranger -Pogomix, a DJ/VJ from Perth who remixes tracks by sampling snippets from existing popular films.
via Madddg - Oceans Never Listen (reviews), Who The Hell?  ( & the other blog wasn’t Australian..)

Patientau writes about the unusual usbari project, which is a kind of chain-mail USB stick type adventure:
“I thought it might be a good idea to try and bring a little more attention to this project, and maybe get some BA Music people involved. Daniel has recently updated his website, adding some more content to the info page, and a nice faq to the homepage.” Any takers?

Starkyblog offers an excellent post with their perspective of the Gunkel reading on ‘mash-ups’ and remixing. Good? Plenty of reflection, provides comparisons, and is a quite personal response to the reading. Problematic in an academic blog context? Unauthorised used of copyrighted images ( It is relevant for many C.D. bloggers – to re-read the Copyright section in the course document ).

Set Sail & Conquer notes some free software for easy creation of time lapse videos, and (importantly for network dynamics) mentions where they was originally discovered it – over at the blog of Lucas. It’s hard to overestimate how crucial links are to engagement within blog networks.

After we’ve tallied a few more Aus music blogs, I’ll do a compilation post to put them all in one place, which should make for an interesting snapshot, and we can have a look at some of their habits and techniques.

Mac : PageSpinner (available as unlimited trial version) (Pagespinner support page)
PC : Try the free Notetab Light.

WSYIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage cannot be used to create your project. We emphasise the use of simple HTML editor software so the rules and structure of HTML are absorbed as much as possible.

To Install Pagespinner
Create a new folder on your desktop called ‘Other Apps’. ( We do not have permission to install applications into the official applications folder)
Download Pagespinner. (See also The Pagespinner FAQ)
find your downloaded application, double click, and drag the Pagespinner folder into your ‘Other Apps’ folder. Go inside the folder, click Pagespinner and explore.

Some PageSpinner Tips:
The Opening menu offers suggestions for :
New Empty HTML page – which gives you a blank page, with the necessary tags, to start a page from.
New Page Assistant – choose an example template ( eg a page with some tables in it, or a page with a long list of sample editable links included )

Or, from the menu at the top of the screen, clicking File and ‘New Empty Page’ will also get you started..

- Choose ‘Window’ then ‘setup’ then ‘select browser’ and choose Firefox. This will allow you to test your page in Firefox by pressing the navy icon in the far top right of the Pagespinner code window.

- Generally you will work within PageSpinner using page for writing text and code within, and keep a smaller ‘HTML Assistant’ window open beside it. Find this using Pagespinner -> Window -> HTML assistant. The HTML Assistant can also be used to easily insert necessary code for transforming parts of the page.

- When starting a new page, use the pull-down menu in the HTML Assistant window and choose ‘document body’. This will give you options for defining the text colour, background colour or a background image for your page.

- Want to quickly change the colour of particular text? Highlight your text, then from the top screen menu choose ‘text’, then ‘text colour’ and ‘other’ if you wish to use a colour other than the ones they suggest.

- Want to quickly formatting text or photos to be centred? Highlight the text, then click on the ‘centre text’ icon. Change the code from ‘center’ to ‘left’ or ‘right’ if need be.

- Note, to delete any code or text from a page, you need to highlight the text, then press ‘command + delete’.

Related: Here’s a review of student blogs by Ed, noting that a) many haven’t yet fulfilled basic blog functionality criteria, and b) many are currently failing their participation component by contributing so little to their blog. Next week is week 6, which should represent half a semester’s worth of participation on your blog.

Homework Task:
Identify 3 key blogs in the Australian music industry (including only one by an artist/band). Explore and explain why they are significant, successful or unique. Describe their sphere of online influence, and their strongest online affiliations. Note any unusual or interesting techniques of engagement.

Write a music post and include ‘Aus-Music Blog’ in your blog post subject title. Given that we have 50+ students across the 3 classes, this task should yield a very interesting map of Australian music online, and we should start seeing this reflected in our RSS feeds this week.

Why are we doing these presentations? They help emphasise a few project management skills – time management and communication.

-  By Week 6, it’s important that your ideas are refined and that you’ve budgeted enough remaining time in the semester to produce and refine your project.

- Being able to clearly describe your project to peers and potential audiences, increases the possibility of meaningful feedback, collaboration, further interest in your project and importantly – it helps focus your own ideas about the project’s development and priorities.

You have a small amount of time to do your presentation – so prioritise the delivery of your ideas. What is most important and interesting about your project? Why would anyone be curious or excited to explore your project? Being mindful of these questions will help shape your project in worthwhile directions. With a good project underway, part of the challenge for anyone in a creative industry is framing their project in a way that will attract interest and attention. The old advertising phrase – ‘Sell the sizzle, not the sausage’ – suggests that selling sausages can be done more easily by selling people on the idea of an enjoyable BBQ, or the memorable sensations surrounding it, rather than the product itself. In what ways might web viewers be lured deeper into your web project? In what ways might next week’s presentation audience be lured into your project?

Ongoing Project Development

1. Clarifying and refining project idea. (Is it feasibly scaled? Is it framed well?)

2. Storyboarding and mapping out your overall site plan.

3. Developing media assets:

- Write any needed portions of text

- Create any needed photographs, graphics, navigation buttons, background images etc

- Create necessary Time Lapse video. A time lapse video is a series of images / frames / photographs taken over a long period of time. We will delve into the technical specifics of creating this video later, at this stage your idea matters most. What is it that you wish to document with the passing of time? ( A journey to a destination? Movement of people, objects, clouds?) Think about what will work well with this special effect, and think about how it can relate to and enrich your project. What would be an ideal setting and composition? Learn from the network: research timelapse videos and techniques within vimeo. How many photographs will you need to produce a 1 minute time lapse video? What size and format should they be?

- Create necessary 1 minute Soundscape from Melbourne. What is an appropriate / interesting / provocative / evocative soundscape that would add richness and depth to your web project? Where do you need to record this? What will be the web context of this soundscape, and it’s relationship with onscreen imagery?

4. Building website with all of the above, and testing, refining, getting feedback, testing, refining.

HTML = Hyper Text Markup Language (designed to display data)

XML = eXtensible Markup Language. (designed to transport and store data.)

XHTML = a stricter cleaner version of HTML, eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language. It combines everything within HTML 4 with the strict syntax of XML. (Unlike HTML, XHTML documents require all coding rules to be adhered to, for pages to work properly. This makes it ideal for running on mobile phones which do not have the resources or power to interpret documents with poorly formed code).

RSS is written in XML and stands for Really Simple Syndication, and defines an easy way to share and view headlines and content.

HTML 5 = is the next generation of HTML, and although most modern browsers have some HTML5 support, it is still a work in progress. Notably for those interested in sound, it introduces a new standard for playing audio in a web browser page. It also does the same for video, and offers a new way to draw graphics on a webpage with javascript (a scripting language to add interactivity to webpages). (We will be having a much more detailed look at the issues around the embedding of sound and video during week 9)

CSS = Cascading Style Sheets. Whereas HTML defines the content and structure of a document (eg it states which part is a heading, or a paragraph, using appropriate tags), CSS defines how these HTML elements are displayed (eg what font + font colour should be used etc ).

That’s our context above.

Given that this isn’t a web design course (we have a much wider focus than just the technicalities of building webpages, including analysis of the social, cultural, legal and economic dimensions of the online environment, as relevant to the music industry), and given that we have limited time – we’re focussing on learning a foundation of HTML to build webpages and just a little CSS to control how those pages look. If later desiring to pursue web development in more detail, the above context should help. And so, onto lay-out and design – which means HTML + CSS.

HTML Lay-Out – Introducing HTML Tables

The W3Schools HTML examples page hosts a large and useful series of examples all on one page. These range from the basic structure of a document through to links, images, advanced form functions and our focus today – tables. Tables allow content in a webpage to be arranged within grids of rows and columns. By creating tables of certain sizes, and putting content within specific table rows or columns, and leaving other rows or columns empty if we wish, we can control where content appears on the page, eg:

TASK: Construct a html page which includes a table.
Your table should have 3 columns, 2 rows and some example text.
Adjust your table so it is 800 pixels wide. Experiment with the width of each column. (table width/

- Have a look at the code for a basic table at W3Schools, try altering some of the code, then press ‘edit can click me’ to see changes. Then move onto this table tutorialand use this to help build your html page with table. Name your new page table1.html and upload to your server with Fetch.

Using CSS to Control Colours + Fonts

There are 3 ways to use CSS to format a document in a particular style:
1. An External Style Sheet. This is a separate document with the extension .css, which lists the styles wanted for the document ( eg font colour, background colour. If a .css file is linked in the head section of a HTML document, that HTML document will be displayed according to the style rules of the .css file. This is the easiest method to style many pages.
2. Internal Style Sheet. This method inserts a list of style rules, using the style tag, inside the head section of a HTML page. This is an easy way to style a single page.
3. Inline Styles. This method inserts a style into a specific HTML tag, by using the style attribute.

How colours are classified on the web. Complete HTML colour chart. Colour Schemer (helps pick compatible colour schemes).

CSS TASK: Experiment with the 3 methods of CSS formatting.
Use your previously saved HTML page to experiment with the following:
- Changing the colour of the page background
- Changing the colour of the text
- Placing an image in the background
- Adjusting your table.

Interesting use of navigation, non-linear design?
Wax Or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees is the first independent feature film to have been edited on a digital non-linear system. It is also the first film to have been re-formatted as hypertext and posted on the internet.

Media Relationships?
Example projects that feature interesting relationships between image and text? ( Online comics are often innovators here.. See also, Scott McCloud’s discussion of image and text relationships.) Image and sound? 10 tips for effective web sound design. Gamers have long been thinking about non-linear uses for sound and issues that arise. Some of these game desig thoughts about interactive audio might be useful in thinking through how sound could work on your website.

Collaborations and crowdsourcing?
Projects built by engaging with an audience / promoting during development / aggregating content?

Star Wars Uncut – Features a constantly changing version of a the film, constructed with 15 second clips made by anybody, with the highest voted clips at any time, being included in the current playing version. See the CNN profile about the project creators
White Glove Tracking – volunteers isolated Michael Jackson’s white glove in all 10,060 frames of a video clip, so that this data could be used by anyone to create remixes or special effects.
Webcam Sour project – “The cast were chosen from Sour’s international fan base and filmed entirely via webcams.”
Where is Gary? Using social media and the audience to track down a scammer, and build a documentary around this.

Episode Based Productions
Taking advantage of subscription based technologies and social media to develop projects and build audiences over time…
Hometown Baghdad
The XKCD comic ( now a book, like many webcomics that’ve gained popularity )
Rocketboom ( daily 3 minute video news )
Ze Frank a whole range of ideas and projects, many collaborative.
thejuicemedia Satire and hiphop meets current affairs in the Melbourne based ‘Rap News’.
Ask A Ninja

And Bringing it Back to Basics
We’ll be exploring some more project management and multimedia storyboarding ideas next week, along with our next dive into HTML (bring along some sample text and images for use). Below is some useful reading in regards to framing and designing your project.

Tips on building portfolio sites, “Your site is a frame: A frame exists to hold its art. It should compliment your work, but never overshadow it. Think of your portfolio site as a frame for your work. Keep it clean and easy to navigate. Don’t let your site get in the way of letting me see what I really came for.”

Advice for designing your website layout.

“With 30% of your final mark on offer with the essay, this week will involve consideration of approaches and techniques for academic writing and research. The question can be found on the course guide document. Read through the entire article that the quote is taken from, although be careful not to plagiarise anything in your final essay.

Your essay should be a formal piece of writing, written in an appropriate academic style. This means it cannot include abbreviations, colloquialisms and journalistic language. All academic writing involves a degree of research, which is used to underpin and support the author’s ideas and thoughts. This means your essay has to demonstrate a degree of independent research, and is therefore not something that can be written the night before it is due (Wednesday May 4 2011). With this in mind, it is wise to start thinking about your essay now.” ( See Ed’s post below.. )

Week 4: Academic writing and research skills

**

The computer world could be completely different- Ted Nelson: Founding designer, Project Xanadu

Monday 4 April, 7.00 – 9.00pm

Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria (enter via 179 La Trobe St) (Map)
Bookings – contact isradmin@swin.edu.au indicating the number of tickets required

Swinburne University of Technology, the Institute for Social Research, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, present a public lecture based on information that . . .

“the computer world could be completely different”

Fish, they say, aren’t aware of water. Most people, including computer scientists, don’t notice the hidden assumptions and traditions that have structured today’s computer world and digital documents. These assumptions push the real problems into the laps of users and programmers.  Almost nobody notices the consequences of this locked cosmology.  While there is no right or wrong computer world; what is wrong is that there is only one computer world, with no other choices.

We will consider some alternatives.
___________________

Theodor Holm Nelson is an American designer, generalist, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms “hypermedia” and “hypertext” in 1963, and is also credited with first use of the words micropayment, transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and dildonics.  He is the most important computing visionary of our time.  The main thrust of his work has been to create a different kind of electronic document which allows many forms of connection, instead of the “paper simulation” of Word, PDF and the World Wide Web. Nelson founded Project Xanadu in 1960, a project that has inspired a whole generation of computer programmers, hobbyists and developers. The effort is documented in his 1974 book Computer Lib/Dream Machines and the 1981 Literary Machines. He has just published an autobiography, Possiplex.

**

Global Perspectives on Media Piracy: An evening of public lectures from Joe Karaganis (Social Science Research Council, New York) and Ravi Sundaram (Sarai/Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi)

Thursday, 24 March, 6.00 – 8.00pm
Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria (enter via 179 La Trobe St) (Map)

Blog Checklist:
Does your blog have each of these elements? (wordpress help)

- An about page on your sidebar? ( Or about text – using the text widget )
- An altered tagline ( ie it should not say the default ‘Just another wordpress blog’ )
- Have you successfully inserted an image into a blog post?
- Do you have your own custom header graphic?
- Do you have at least 5 links to others, in your sidebar? ( Why do this? )
- Have you edited / deleted the initial default ‘Hello World’ post?
- Is your blog included in the Yahoo Pipes compiled list of class blogs?
( If not, email your blog address to get added ( sean.healy -at- rmit.ed.au )

And for those new to blogging, some thoughts about writing for the web:

Why should you include links? Writing link text. More about writing link text. Kottke on writing vs editing. How to be a good ‘linkblogger‘. yourhtmlsource – on writing for the web. And yet another article titled writing for the web..

In The Meantime
Have a look at these previous examples of projects by Concept Development students. Aside from their chosen topics, what makes them succeed or fail as websites? Who has integrated audio in an interesting way? Who has interesting relationships between text and image? Which sites are easy to navigate, and why? Make some notes about any ideas you find, and write about how they relate to your project.

VooPoo Dolls.., Dog Meat Records, Noise Pig Productions, DIY Home Recording, A World Percussion Tour & The S.A.T.O.R. Chronicles, Meliki’s musical quest, running small events, Take Away Food Project, ‘NV‘, From Bedroom to Rockstar, Groove Swing Blast ( a site for Melb drummers ), Behind the scenes of Sid The Serpent, Australian Teens Against Animal Cruelty, Recycling CDs, DVDs, Awe Presents ( Online Music Marketing ), Music and Visual Images, an audiovisual diary of inner city retreats.

Readings
We’ll be discussing both of these readings in Week 4:

Aguiton, Christophe @ Cardon, Dominque, 2007: The Strength of Weak Cooperation: an Attempt to Understand the Meaning of Web 2.0,Accessed Feb 2011: <http://www.idate.fr/fic/revue_telech/696/CS65_AGUITON_CARDON.pdf>

Ganaele Langlois (2011) Meaning, Semiotechnologies and Participatory Media, Culture Machine, 12, 1-27 Accessed Feb 2011: <http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/437/467>

Please ensure your blog covers all of the points mentioned in this checklist.

And yes, you should write some blog posts about your reading here. ))

RE-CAP + CHECKLIST
Creative Project. Shared research + feedback. Lots of online Participation. Blog as reflective journal.

To enable shared research and learning, we need to have these steps in place:

- Signed up for a delicious account, delicious button installed in browser, rmitmusic tag used when bookmarking.
- google reader account + multiple subscriptions – including :
- the RSS feed for all the student blogs combined.
- the rmitmusic bookmarks @ delicious )

Research Tasks:
- Browse the combined student blogs, and on your own blog, write a post about something you found interesting. Include a link back to that specific blog post, and provide another relevant link and idea to add depth.
- Browse the delicious bookmarks being collected by everyone under the rmitmusic tag, find an interesting link and see who submitted it. Add that person to your delicious network.

Bonus subscriptions:
Want to learn about these online networks? Get information straight from the creators. These are great sources for finding out about new features. Add these to your google reader subscriptions:

soundcloud blog
vimeo blog
flickr blog