billboards into bookbags, Advertising news (here @ 404.px w)
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Category Archives: Media & Resources
cllick to enlarge.Zooming ahead
We live in the kind of world that you can do that in,
it is probably the thing I like most about the world we do live in.
Seeing the big picture is a luxury
seeing the advantaged using it usefully excellent.
The latest punch at it by advertising
{advertising and sustainability} (e.g. adbags [http://www.biz-community.com/Article/196/12/9527.html] by TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris [http://www.tbwa.com/])
deserves nothing but standing ovation.
Applied creativity is an eerie thing
its structure spawning autopoetic
salutogenesis seemingly at random
in truth driven by ultimate reality.
Design is begging for the u to be rediscovered
everywhere in each intimacy
inwov’n structure and form
in our every expression.
Now if you hold the kind of focus that can see that kind of detail, at that kind of resolution and its quality and promotion and you trust your sense of judgement
and pull back on your point of reference
as far as you can without losing
necessary balance between objective and subjective
reason and experiential emergence.
New media is a good industry to be involved in tonight.
Good night.
Salutogenesis
The broadly single minded pursuit of quality tenaciously:
1. systematically {Manageability}
2. aiming procedurally {Meaningfulness}
3. predictably, repeatably and reputably { Cognition }
See also
Salutogenesis in Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis]
where its arguably present if you bother to look into some of the
Web 2.0 Wikipedia discourse [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Web_2.0]
at peace and prosperity down Technorati [http://www.technorati.com/search/peace%20and%20prosperity%20]
Firm Learning : Salutogenic Perspectives on Lifelong Learning
as a way towards cultivating
Organised Sustainable Prosperity and Well-being
of Learning Organisations and their People, 2004
[http://pixelplexus.co.za/txts/firmLearning.htm#Index]
PS.
More than your average soundbite.
Choosing Open-Source CMS
How to choose an open-source CMS
Seth Gottlieb, Special to ZDNet
My Synopsis:
- Evaluate the software as well as the behind-the-scenes ‘human-ware’.
- Look at quality and source of both questions and answers in support space.
- Technically evaluate relevant project’s development strategy and documentation.
- Check demo.
- Check bug processing.
NB. Technolgy is just one of the factors determining success.
Take and give back.
Focus on the business challenge and let the chosen open source solution grow with you.
ImageManager 2.0 vs UploadManager*
ImageManager looks like a Great plugin for WordPress 2.0, installed flawlessly and worked when WP’s native upload wouldn’t.
Now what I would really like is being able to upload other types of documents, e.g. PDFs, any ideas? (I haven’t spotted any so far – any experienced or aspiring coders/developers interested?) – especially in CMS context so users & authors can get stuff up without an FTP client.
The Art of Strategic Systems Study
My recently ordered books on Autopoiesis have arrived, ‘ Autopoiesis and Cognition : Realization of the Living’ (kind-of hardcore (bio)systems theory) and ‘The Tree of Knowledge : The Biological Roots of Human Understanding’ (a kind of an intro to the API of thought and perceptions – hopefully)
I have decided to register for two third-year modules in Philosophy of Logic at UNISA this year (‘Contemporary Social Epistemology: a study of the social determinants of knowledge” and “Mind and Reality”), either of which successfully completed will help me do an Honours in Philosophy (probably take two years) which in turn will allow me to do a Masters, probably in Information Design at the University of Pretoria where I did my first degree. Who knows, by then I might just do the unthinkable and start on a doctorate. (Formal Logic, will have to stay on the back burner a while longer)
Volunteered in response to Matt’s request for WordPress Development contributors. (Always wanted to meet ‘rockstars’ ;- ), fact is, I have fallen in love with the WordPress thing.
Edited and added to the Wikipedia entry for Salutogenesis:
Inserted experience of well-being = SOC in 1st paragraph
Added SOC section, external links, created section for ‘areas of application’, and started looking at the narrative structure
by way of familiarisation- and engagement with WIKI – which for interest sake has close semiotic ties with ‘Taxi’
Spend most of yesterday in a fascinating and exceptionally exciting dialogue with David Krut of David Krut Publishing, TaxiArt Books and David Krut Fine Art.
Investing a lot of thought and research into the potential offered by the collaborative dynamics offered by CMS, and as much as the technical gory details are very interesting and entertaining to me, it is the glimpses of spectral unfurling of the much bigger meta-future that has me for once sitting up and taking notice. A lot of notice. Thinking about Art, about State of the Art, the Art of Information, the Intelligence of Art.
Oh and my and Je’anna Levannah’s latest conception, ‘Vapour Vixen’ is waiting in the wings.
‘a new member every hour’
The new SA Top Sites site, is allegedly growing at a rate of about a new member every hour (I did have trouble opening it this am though). After my membership being solicited via a friendly email I asked Justin Hartman for something to post about his site. His response in full below. Now I’ve always had a thing against popularity for the sake of it, and mindless pursuit of popularity is a significant part of what is wrong with this world, mynsinsiens. But I like Justin’s approach. I think this his site is worth keeping an eye on and for some behind the scenes intrigue see his public apology to 2Large, the ISP of the previous SA Top Sites site.
SA Top Sites (http://www.satopsites.com) officially launched on Sunday 15 January solely out of a selfish need that I had… It’s not quite as sinister as that but I think a little history is required to shed some light on the subject.
About 16 months ago I started a website for Arsenal (www.arsenalsa.co.za) football fans in South Africa. The site grew to astronomical lengths and before I knew it we were generating around 45,000 page impressions each month.
Then one fine day about six months ago I managed to stumble across a website that had a little button with a ranking value on it and the button said “SA Top Sites”. Naturally I clicked on this button and very soon I had my own button to display on the Arsenal website and within no time we had climbed the ladder into the top 5 rankings.
The fascination with competing against other websites for the #1 spot was not only shared by myself. I found that members of the Arsenal club grew to love the Top Sites and it became a daily visit to see what the other websites were doing.
Three weeks ago however, the SA Top Sites website went down. Our buttons stopped working and access to the website itself brought up a 404 error page. This had happened before so I, along with all the other members, thought it was a temporary problem but after two weeks I realised this website was most likely never going to come back online.
All I really wanted was to see the Arsenal website back up on the rankings and it was freaking me out to no end that nothing was happening. In my spare time (like I have any) I own and run a successful web development and hosting company, Hartman Productions (www.hartpro.com), and because of this I decided to take the initiative and start my own SA Top Sites website and alas a new version of SA Top Sites was born.
I really wasn’t expecting much. I emailed a few people I knew who were previously on SA Top Sites and told them about what I was doing and that first day 39 members signed up. The next day a further 11 signed up and the day after that 12 signed up. This hasn’t stopped however and as I write this now an additional 24 new members signed up today bringing the total membership to a staggering 86 websites which I think is not bad for 96 hours.
The feedback from members has been amazing. Popular bloggers like Tertia from So Close (http://tertia.typepad.com/so_close/), Bee from Accidental Mother (http://beeslife.blogdrive.com/) and Wezzo from ChumpStyle (http://chump-style.blogspot.com/) have all emailed me personally to tell me what a fantastic site this has become and how much they love the competition.
In fact it was Tertia who asked me privately “what’s in it for you?” and while there is no financial reward I have to admit it gives me a personal lift to see the effect this new site has had on the community. So much so that tonight I launched a dedicated Forum (http://www.satopsites.com/forum/index.php) for the website where I truly hope to get members alike to share their experiences, strengths and hopes with each other.
The friends made the last few days are unbelievable. It has truly been a fulfilling experience and I aint gonna stop here!
What’s next on the agenda for SA Top Sites? You’ll just have to subscribe to find out :)
There seems to be a minor proliferation of South African, oops, I mean Safrican, search engine type websites going on, interesting in the face of Great Google Almighty and the rush to capitalise on this whole Web 2.0 storm in a teaspoon. Why the hell not!?
on bloggers explaining blogging
Purely for the sake of discourse (about bloggers explaining blogging)…
(For an intelligent take on the cause of this discussion see Sean Coon’s retort post Bloggers Are More Than Writers: We’re Social Connectors to the original A BLOGGER IS JUST A WRITER WITH A COOLER NAME Why Blogging vs. Traditional Media Has Been Oversold article by by Simon Dumenco )
Do you have to understand the technology that gives us antibiotics, or insulin to get value out of it if or when you need it? At the end of the day Language and Typography are also technologies, indeed arguably blogging is the same technology in a newer guise of evolution, if anything the difference lies in the receding barrier to participation and one could argue that it is actually a new tendril of the organic growth of the socio-cultural phenomena(/meta-meme?) of democracy. Human computer interaction teaches that the more efficient technology is, the more invisible it is, simply allowing the user to do whatever they choose to do as quickly and easily as possible.
With more and more blog entries appearing in online search results and other media channels familiarity will increase and eventually, many will become proficient in blog technologies without ever really noticing or having it explained to them, purely because as a specie we excel in creating mental models from experience through pattern recognition (and many of us suck at anything that feels like reading a help-file). Which is not necessarily a good thing. The downside is that this often means we accept and take to ridiculous extremes new technologies to discover the cost much too late. (But that’s another topic)
If anything, I would argue we need better terminology for things like ‘trackbacs’ and ‘pingbacks’ –and while we are at – it might be a good idea to resolve the semantic quagmire brewing in the mix between ‘tags’ meaning ‘keywords’ and ‘tags’ meaning mark-up code-elements.
just 20c worth.. :- )
besides ‘should’ seems a bit facist don’t you think?
MADONNA : Confessions on a dance floor
Madonna certainly has her legs w i d e open, musically that is. When she says “I’ve heard it all before” she does so over a barrage of audio-scaped meta-pop (and cultural) inter-preferentiality that demands rapture in the arms of the mother-muse’s seduction, while flaunting unashamedly juvenile ‘take it, or fuck off’ sentiments. This is a strategically crafted album, accessible to the point of unpardonable promiscuity. It is ablaze in stylistic convictions rooted deep in the tabernacle of salacious illusion. The artificial sonority factor regularly pirouettes right of the scale, sonically illuminating Madonna’s authentically human voice. Confessions on a dance floor is a big phat ‘take that’, a mild sermon and in a way a bit of a bubble-gum koan, even if only in contemplation of its artistically ambiguous aesthetic posturing, w i d e open to orgasmic sentimentality and indulgent enjoyment.
I love it :- )
South African Font Hinting?
Question to South African graphic designers: What are the best applications to do the hinting of a font in? Who locally does hinting and what are typical rates?