This is also a really cool site that I found... also with free flash, like Hannah's post. I looked through some of the templates and they're pretty useful for personal portfolios. 

http://www.flashvillage.com/

-Melissa

portfolio websites

I know a lot of people are doing personal portfolio websites so here is a good site that gives steps to making it perfect.

perfect portfolio

-Shannon Leahy

Photo Galleries

When looking for a flash application to display my page like a virtual magaine, I came across a Smashing Magazine article with many different gallery views for photos. Some of them are really neat looking plus they are all free. Check out the article here.

By Hannah Schulman

Overheard At Temple - Bianca DiMaio

Last week I stumbled upon a facebook group called "Overheard At Temple". It's a place on facebook where Temple Students can post random, funny quotes heard around campus. When I joined last week there were only around 200 members in the group. Now, there are already over 1,000 members! So, far I think this group along with some the other Temple based facebook groups, has been a good way to unite the Temple community and create more common ground between all of us. As such a diverse campus I thought this was a great and entertaining idea for facebook. It reminds me a lot of Post Secret and fmylife.com. I think the one flaw with this "Overheard At Temple" group is that the posts to the page arn't anonymous. Typically, people don't give names of who the overheard quote came from, but you can see who it is who overheard the quote and posted it. This might leave room for controversy. Either way, this has already become a viral group that has caught onto a significant number of people in a very short amount of time.

Bianca DiMaio

top web design trends- melissa randall post

Hoping to get inspired for our Locomotive Media project, I read this article about some of the most up and coming trends in web design. My favorites were embossing letterpress, PNG transparency, 

I didn't care much for the magazine look, or the look of the introduction blocks. See for yourself and get inspired!

Melissa 

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/14/web-design-trends-for-2009/

Swine Flu might affect our class!

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2620750120091026

An article about how the millions of people staying home because of swine flu might clog web access. Who knows maybe we might not be able to access our class websites!

Seriously though, I find this interesting something as big as the internet could be brought down by the very people who use it.

- Josh Nase

Locative Media~Will Rowe

I found "Views from Above" and "This American Life" audio clip very interesting, as thy would go around documenting the places in which they lived. I started to think about the ways in which people try to capture the world around them; through pictures, home videos, sketches, stories, sounds, souvenirs, etc. Then I thought about the ways that technology can bring all those different artifacts together to create a picture, much like the pumpkin map, of the world. Google has done this in many ways, especially with their Map application, which has user content, pictures, and videos. Giving us a little glimpse of communities and not just a 2-dimensional satellite picture. Seeing what Laura is doing reminded me of all this and what potential it has to bring people together, creating an understanding of different lives all over the planet. Also, while thinking about locative media, I remembered a Vimeo Project that I came across this summer that I wanted to participate in. It is basically creating a map of major world cities through the use of time lapse. If anyone is interested Philadelphia is still open.

Project Page

Video Page

Completion Map

Take180.com - Bianca DiMaio

Two summers ago I responded to an ad on facebook looking for people to test out a new beta-website called Take180.com. At first I was suspicious that it was a scam because it seemed too good to be true that they were willing to pay people for doing such a simple job from home. Since they didn't ask for any personal information I figured that there was nothing to lose.

I responded to the ad and was sent a password to gain access to take180's legit website.

Tak180.com is an interactive website that consists of different challenges for users to participate in. If you win the challenge you get a prize(such as an ipod, laptop, or a trip) and your idea also gets featured in an episode on their web series.

For example, I particpated in a challenge called "Unhelpful Movie Review". For this challenge the users were asked to upload a video of themselves giving an "unhelpful movie review". Here is one of my submissions...

Garfield The Movie from bianca on Take180.com

Not all of the contests required video. Some of them asked for images or even photoshopped photos designed by the users.

Here is a tabloid cover i designed for the "Put the "U" in Magazine" contest. This contest asked for an original magazine cover with crazy headlines that features the user.

Alright! Magazine from bianca on Take180.com

I had a lot of fun working for this site during summer of '08. I also made around $500 for my submissions to the site and getting nominated as a finalist for the tabloid contest.

I think this site is an interesting idea for giving the user the chance to see their work in a real, professional, studio created, webisode. The prizes are definitely a great incentive to gain interest.

So what's the catch right?

I found the biggest catch to be the fact that whatever you submit to Take180.com immediately becomes Take180's property. This means that you are not allowed to upload this video anywhere (like YouTube) EXCEPT for Take180.com. That may not be a problem for someone who is just making goofy videos for fun and not professionally trying to be recognized, but for filmmakers, such as ourselves, this is very limiting. Is it worth selling out for the possibility of winning a laptop? Okay, maybe it is, after all we are struggling artists...

Situationist International's political remixxx

Jeff McReynolds - 10 website tips article

I was bored and stumbleupon got the best of me but I came across a really good article from smashing magazine with a top 10 list in of how to make a website more attractive to get more people on it. I thought it might be worth glancing at since many of use plan on making websites in the future.

10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidlines
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability-findings-and-guidelines/