SWOT analysis

My business idea is to create a online community for new and existing students. I want new students to be able to look and compare course and universities all over the UK. I want them to have real feedback about each course and university from students already enrolled. 

For existing students I want them to have a place they can go and have a discussion with people on the same or similar course all around the UK. A place where they can test project idea and help each other develop these. It is not just the new students that can benefit from the university hub, they could be used to post upcoming events. A way for you to find out whats going on at your university. 

I also want the existing student to generate the content for the new students. I want them to write reviews about their course and universities.  Keep each other informed about what happening around campus. 

Devlopment

RSS feeds

My first thought when it came to development was deciding a suitable RSS feed. I looked at for different types of feed, the stage newspaper, Ticketmaster, theatres around the UK and iTunes.  Originally I could not find RSS feeds for any of these, so my backup plan was to use Facebook to pull in information for theatres all around the UK. The main problem I had with this was the sheer amount of different feeds I would have to pull in. I decided that it would be better to just use one feed with multiple data. Luckily a fellow classmate told me about the iTunes RSS feed generator. So I decided to use the iTunes feed.

 This is the iTunes RSS feed generator. As you can see you complete the country, the media type,  the feed type, the size of the feed and the genre. As you can see you can create many different RSS feeds for music to apps. I decided to use the United States, the media type music, the top songs, I wanted to use the 1st hundred and wanted the genre to be classical.

This was my result as you can see you can view the songs information, including the publish date. This is the peace of information I am pulling out of the RSS feed.

Code

 For the code I adapted what my lecturer gave me. One of hardest things about coding this project was working out the different framed in the video that the years had to jump in.  My video had 3 different sections, the old section (1980-1990), the middle section(1991-2006) and the new section (2007-2012). Each of the section are of different lengths, which meant I had to work out what the delay should be for each section, below are my working out.

Sliders

Our projects had to have a interactive element. I have included sliders that allow the user to apply effects to my video. Through using these sliders they can speed the video up, freeze the video and play the clip backwards. Below is an example of the sliders at work.

Music research

I wanted to use famous pieces of classical music at the soundtrack to my video. I was however worried about the copyright on the music I wanted to use. I decided that the value the music added to the project was worth using it and of course I referenced the composer. I am using a RSS feed that they generated from iTunes about the top hundred classical singles, I believe using famous pieces of classical music in my video, makes a strong connection between the RSS feed and the video itself.

The first piece of music I used was J.S.Bach - Las suites para orquesta‬ this was one of the first pieces of classical music due in the Baroque/Classical transition, which was between 1720 - 1760. For the oldest years in my video I wanted to use the classical piece of music that was set at the forefront of the Baroque/Classical transition. I believe this gives the video more depth, as I have just not chosen the music because I like it, but there is meaning behind my choices as.

‪J.S.Bach (1720) - Las suites para orquesta‬

 The 2nd piece of music I chose was Vivaldi - Four season, "Spring". As you can see this piece of music is only a couple years elder then J.S.Bach - Las suites para orquesta. Vivaldi was also at the forefront of the Baroque/Classical transition. I have chosen this piece of music because this is one of my favourite classical music pieces. When I look at this project I decided that it wasn't just about the RSS feeds and the video because I decided to do something that was quite personal to me, it also became about putting a part of me into this video. That is why I included Vivaldi - Four season, "Spring".

Vivaldi (1723) - Four season, "Spring"

The last piece of classical music I used was Paul Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This is a much more modern form of classical music. I needed to find a piece of music that was very fast. It was not easy trying to find a piece of classical music that would complement tap dancing. I also like to use this piece of music because it is the soundtrack for the sorcerer's apprentice in Fantasia. I am a big Disney fan and I think this is reflected in my choice to use this composition. Plus it was the piece that the best with the video.

Paul Dukas (1897) - The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Final idea

My final idea is to create a video that uses ballet and tap to represent different years classical music was published. I will be generating a itunes feed for the top 100 classical songs. I want to take the year that the song was published and link that to the video. Depending on the year the song was published it decides what frame of the video will be played. I took a example of 50 classical songs in the chart and recorded their dates. The oldest date I found was 1980 and the newest was 2012. This is how I got my range of years.

The ballet filmed in yellow light will represent the oldest published data which will be 1980 - 1990. I wanted to use the ballet with the yellow light older music because I believe it give the film a old type of feel. The ballet in white light will represent classical music published between 1991 - 2006. This is a more moden way of using light and therefore represents a more moden time. As you can see this range of years is bigger then the last one thats because a lot of music found in the top 100 was released in the 2000's, so I wanted to brake them up to give the movie more depth. The final section will be based 2007 - 2012, this would be represented by the Tap dancing.

Final video Idea

My final idea was to create a video that used different types of dance. I finally decided on using dance in my video because I danced for 13 years myself, doing Ballet, Tap and moden. It become a big part of my life with 3 geniration of my family dancing at the same time. I always wanted to look into this area because I have a inside knowledge that I don't have in other aspects of performance.

I will film the video in the green screen room in university. I really like the idea of filming here because I can control the light. I believe the lighting can make a big different to a performance film. It as important as the moves themselves. I also want to use the lights to represent different time periods.

I want to film both Ballet and Tap. I have chosen to do these types of dance because they are the ones I have knowledge about. Also they are the types of dancers I have accessed to do. I have asked Shannalee Rea to do ballet for me and Susan Adams to do tap for me. They were both able to film at short notice for me.

                                                            Shannalee Rea

Susan Adams

 

Brief & ideas

Brief

We were asked to create a video that can be effected by a RSS feed of your choose. We were given an example that Simon made, it was a high pitched noise and a video that flashed different colours. The colours and the sound are decided by the information talking in by the eco RSS feed. We were allowed to use Simon code on our video and we could edit as much or as little as we wanted to. The video also had to have a interactive element to the it. Simon provided the sliders and add some simple effects. We could use these or great out own.

Ideas 

I came up with three different type of video I could do. These are Times lapse, performance based and adapted video (from material that already exist). I really like the idea of doing a performance video. Performance has also been a big part of my life. I danced for 13 years and acted for 10 years and I want this to influence the project. I wanted to use a RSS feed to compliment the performance element as well. As for the interaction I wanted to still use the slider, but I wanted create my own effects.

Reflexion

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Feedback

The Street art  and the involvement of the local shools is a good selling point as a way to partecipate in the demilishing of the wall.  The repurposing of the wall could be more imaginative both physically and digitally.

The presentation demostrates the idea and it proves to work although innovation is not the best quality of this project while it attempts quite successfully to have an integrated design approach.

I would suggest to be more innovative/ambitoius and  push the  bounderies of the concept and the media further to be more original both on the interaction design aspect  and on the technological tool (i.e use of QR codes is very standard).

Presentation

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Development of demo

This is a video we filmed explaining the concept of our project and what will happen. The architect students built a wall out of bricks they got from the site. Then Chris and Ben painted the wall white ready for the giraffe. We all took turns in grafting the wall, we draw what ever came to mind. However we only had three colours black, brown and sliver. With the giraffe on the real wall it will be bright and vibrant.

I took my photo from the demo and made a timeline to show the development and how it progressed. I think it make a good compliment to the video. Its good to have two different types of media documentation, to make sure the concept this clear. 

Reflexion

On reflection the team worked on this project was basically non-existent. Everybody went off and did their part, but there was no communication between each other. So this meant that none of us saw the visualisation and what it looked like until the day before the presentation. We all expected it to be what we discussed (a flower) and were very surprised when it was a path in the grass. By this points there wasn't any time to change the original visualisation.

If I was going to do this project again I would not work with the same group, it was very disorganised and I believe this affected the outcome of the project. I will also make the visualisation much more artistic and abstract. The visualisation would be visible from where the senors are, so people could play with the project. Below are two examples of different visualisation I would have used instead of the path.

This visualisation I would create a screen full of balls (as you can see below) them when people walk  on the grass it will look like they are walking through the balls. I believe this is something fan that people would like to take part in.

My second idea for a visualisation was to allow people to be able to draw lines by crossing the space. I believe people will enjoy this because they are seeing their movements appear on the screen. Another aspect of this idea I like is that you kind of end up with this piece of artwork drawn by students movement through the campus.

Feedback

Below is our feedback from Hannah, I have to agree with what she says. I think are visualisation of somebody walking over the grass is far too literal. I also believe that it is very boring and won't engage people to interact with it. I agree with Hannah that if it was on the portal it wouldn't make it very easy to relate with. I believe that they should be seeing an interactive with it at the same time. Another thing disappointed me was the fact we had done the research but that didn't come out in the presentation. I also believe that Ian input is the presentation damaged it rather and then helped it. He undermined Gaston Bachelard by calling him a French bloke. I don't believe this went down very well and does not show any professional courtesy.

Final designs

This is the final website design. We tried to pull in everything the architecture students liked from each design. This design was created with the input of all four of us I-dat students. I do like the final idea the only thing I am not 100% sure about is the button. I am not sure if it totally fits into the design.

This was my first design for an error page for the pc because the website is only going to be available on hand held devices. I wanted to create a page that was fun but included all the information needed to help the user find the site. I really love the opps man, makes me laugh every time I see it. Even though the guys liked my design they wanted the page to be the same as the mobile website.

This is the final error 404 page that we used. I have used the same design as the main mobile website but included my opps man and error notice. 

2 minute presentation

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Competitive companies

What I found when I looked further into the research is there is nothing like my idea out there. There is no one website creating a online community for students, run by students. There are online community within each university, so you could interact with people on the same campus as you but nothing to bring you together with other university or to help you decide which uni is best for you. These three of the closes sites I could find to my idea.

The student rooms

This is a website where student can go to talk to each other and connect. It is mostly aimed at students about to go to university. It gives them advice about personal statements, finding accommodation and gives advice when choosing a university. It also give student option on certain university. A lot of the topic discussed within the site are not academic and  when they are it tends to be aimed at A levels. The website is also very informational heavy, there is a lot of the material to look though.  

The difference between this website and my idea, is that my idea content is purely generated by the students. I also want it to be a academic site focusing on coursework, exam and study aids.   

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

UCAS

This is the main website for students starting university. It is used to view all the possible course within the UK and the entre requirements. Each student seta up a online account that allows them to fill out their university applications. Containing their personal statement and a choose of the top three course they want to apply for. This process is normally closly monitored by a teacher at the secondary school, making sure every student who want to attend university has the chance. 

The biggest down side about this site, it is does not give you any information on the course you are looking to join. It give you the entre requirements but not any real information about the course for that it links you to the university page. 

I do think that this website does have some good aspect to it. I really like the fact that you are able to look at all the same course at all the different university over the UK. It is simple to use and I believe this is something I could build upon. 

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/

University course pages

Each university has a webpage that displays the course available. It explains a bit about what the course is, what you will study over the next 3 years, what the requirement are, things like that. However you have to ask yourself how true really are these pages. I have used Digital Art and Technology for an example. The pages makes the course sound very exciting and creative. No where on the page does it state that you will be learning programming languages, not even in the modules break downs. 

I find this very misleading because IDAT does have a lot of coding and this page is the reason people turn up expecting a different course. I want to give students the opportunity to see what a course is really like, not what it is marketed as. 

Facebook groups

The last company I am going to look at is Facebook. When anyone say online community everyone mind automatically goes to Facebook. There are millions and millions of different groups on Facebook. Different groups for different university and course. Facebook could probably do everything my company could do. 

However the information would not all be in one place they would have a troll though millions of groups to find what they were looking for and even then the information might still not be related. It would make it hard to compare the information. There would also be no way of knowing if the information being giving was true or not.  

http://www.facebook.com/Ayaan.Aahat?ref=ts&fref=ts

Presentation

The presentation was meant to be made by me and Ian. I understand that Ian has family commitments, so I offed to drive to his and do the presentation at his house. He told me it was fine and that we would meet up on Friday to sort out the presentation, which was fine by me. Imagine my surprise when I sent him a message on Thursday about meeting up and he told me he finished the presentation because he could not meet me on Friday as he had family issues (which turned out to be drinking with his mates). I was very annoyed he lied to me about not being able to meet me and that I had done lots of research into the topic that had gone to waste. I was mostly annoyed that I did not get the chance to put in my input. I hate it when other people do the work for me. It was already done so what could I do. 

Ian always said that he would be presenting the presentation. So imagine my surprise when I turned up to the lecture and was told that I would be presenting. Which was fine I don't mind presenting, I just wish I had been informed before it was due. There is nothing I hate more then presenting off a presentation someone else has made. If I knew I was presenting I would of insisted on doing the power point myself if he didn't have time to do it with me. However I presented anyway and I think it went ok.

Mini website design

All four of us IDAT students agreed to make a website mock up and decided which part we like and which we didn't. Below are the mockup that we all done. With my thoughts on the designs and the feedback we got from the architects.

My Design

For my design I decided to focus on the graffiti element and build a mobile sit based round that. I design it so it was not meant to be professional it meant to be fun.

Architect feedback

"Jodie - Like the vibrancy of the colours, think the simple layout is fine for the design of the app but personally I don't really like the text as I find it hard to read."

Ben design

This is Ben design I really like the idea of have a texture background, this makes sure the app still looks good. I am not really sure about the button as it is the only thing on the page. I thing maybe it could be a bit more detailed.

Architect feedback

"Ben - Like the buttons and the simplicity of the returning stuff, possibly the whole thing is a bit sparse though. Text is really clear and easy to read without any problems, colours are also vibrant and the texture is more interesting than just a plain surface."

Jon design

This is Jon design. He has gone for a old style look. I really love the look of this design. I really like the brick work photo and I really thing its something we should use in our finally design. The only thing I would change with this site is the amount of text. 

Architect feedback

"Jon - Text is clear and easy to read but i think there might be too much on there as i'm not entirely sure people will read it all. Like the Twitter piece in the corner and the clarity of the buttons for the home and return buttons."

Chris design

This is chris design. I am not a big fan of this of this design. The button are way to big and pull focus from the rest of the site. I also dont like the mental effect as the background. I still like the idea of having a texture for the background but I believe it should be more subtle.

Architect feedback

"Chris -  Text is easily readable, the buttons are clear and large enough not to prove a problem. Also like the integration of the gabions and QR code into the background. Colours are a bit pale but the materials make it look good and actually quite interesting."

Business idea

After the last few days of having no idea come to me at all about a possible business. I was starting to worry about what I was going to persent on tuesday. Then last night I went out for a meal for a friends birthday. The topic of university came up, discussing how it would be great to have a online community of students doing the same course as you all around the country. They could help you with problems when you get stuck. This made me start thinking, I-dat has a lot of students and we have our own focus group in a way. But not everyone has that many people on the course. Who do they turn to when there stuck? who do they bounce ideas off? This is where my business idea came from.

- A online community of students based all around the UK.

- You will be able to take to other students doing the same course as you.

- Most courses cover similar topic, which allows you to discuss problems with people who understand.

- You have a focus of like minded people at your disposable.

- You get to connect with people with the same interests. Be able to share resources (books, blogs) and information about events. That other you might never have heard about.

- Another use for this site is for new student to decide what university they want to do the course at and weather or not the course is really for them, with real student reviews.

- There could be different profiles for the different university showing what they offer and the surrounding city offers.

- There could even be a reward scheme for students who take part in this they collect points and when they get so many points they can buy stuff from the stop.

So one thing I was asking myself how would I make any money? Then I thought about business that are free to sign up to but still make money, like Facebook, Goggle and MySpace. I could have ads on my page, even local ad to where the university is.

I have no idea if this idea has been done before. I have never heard of anything similar, so if it has it clearly has not become very big. But is there a reason for that? I have to undergo a lot of research before the presentation on tuesday. But so far I think the idea could work.

Mobile phone site reviews

For the in between project we are creating a mobile site to hold all the information from the bricks. I have been given the task of looking at different mobile website and picking out what's good and what bad.

What I like about this website is the background. I love the colours I think they work well together. Also another thing I like is the buttons and layout they are not like all the other mobile websites.

I love this mobile website. The thing I like most about this website is the colours blend very well together. They have used different shades of the same colour to bring it all in as one. I also like that the colours of the photo go well with the colour of the site. I think this is something we should try to, try and include the colours in the images into the building of the main site.

The thing I like about the mobile site is the artwork, with the circles and the lines. Something like this would work well with the graffiti theme. I also like the small picture in the menu.

The site is horrible there is just to much going on. I think with mobile websites less is more. It better to have less information rather then more.

I really like the look the colours create on this website. Not so much the purple but the black and the cream is very eye catching. I also like the button at the top of the page. It keeps it simple and yet effective.

I really like like the colours on this site. I like how the colours in the logo compliment the colour in the rest of the site. I also like the use of a image on the homepage. I also like the fact that all the different section have different colours.

There only one thing I like about this site and thats the banner. I like the bright colours, I think its moden and very funky. However the rest of the mobile website is pretty horrible, the colours just clash. The list is horrible and makes it look cheap.

I believe we should try to design a mobile site that brings together all the different colours within the project. From the graffiti on the wall to the mobile website we should include the same sort of colours.  Graffiti is normal brightly coloured, so I believe we should bring this into the mobile website.

Development

The development of this technology was mainly conducted by Stuart. We used a proximity sensor to sense if somebody is walking on the grass. If it picks up somebody walking underground it plays the visualisation Joe made. One of the hardest things about the development of this project was getting android talking to flash. Below is a video of the project working.

Final idea

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History

This project is to be based around the Devonport Wall, which currently stands as a barrier through the middle of the area of Devonport. 

Research

Gaston Bachelard

Gaston Bachelard first came up with the theory of path of desire in his book "The Poetics of space". His theory was that people move though the space how they want to. The track people leave behind should be encouraged. People should be allowed to walk where they desire and do things they desire. These are a thing of beauty a way for us to leave a lasting mark.

Path of desire

This is a typical path of desire a short cut though the grass to get to the other side quicker. You have to wonder if they see these man made paths and know that where people want to walk. Why not just put a path there.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzWh2OVF_llk_t3uFGbKBnKNQKD_jqQCngj9N2xygwNhwIXnoYoa4PLVpNpYKbmg8xTFcfr0_uAdclwp9cM-8JJJvr4Ksj4AaVlbEN8_qvs5Zv9PFVQ4spU-JvZwy7u9MxMSTtQRsi3ZT/s1600/desire_path.jpg

Definition 

A desire line normally refers to a worn path showing where people naturally walk. Desire lines are an ultimate expression of human desire or natural purpose. An optimal way to design pathways in accordance with natural human behaviour, is to not design them at all. Simply plant grass seed and let the erosion inform you about where the paths need to be. Stories abound of university campuses being constructed without any pathways to them. Planners responsible earn great respect for their cunning in allowing the desire lines to form before finalizing the construction of the paved pathways. Reconstruction of paths across Central Park in New York was famously based on this approach.

http://www.litsl.com/personal/commercial_success_by_looking_for_desire_lines.pdf

Example


This is a video that show you how paths of desire are created and give you an example of different path that can form.

http://vimeo.com/30197847

Hinduism Philosophy

I really like this philosophy it implies not only do people make these paths to get somewhere quickly but they also get a pleasure out of making them. It also tell us that we shouldn't stop someone using these paths we should encourage them, we should feed into their desire. 

The Path of Desire--the twin goals are pleasure and success; nothing is gained by repressing these desires--in fact we might be worse if at some point we do not seek desire.

http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/purpose.html

This is a lovely quote saying that no matter what people do they leave line and imprints everywhere they go. We all make some lasting impression on the world, that a nice thought that we will all be remembered in a way.

“As walking, talking, and gesticulating creatures, human beings create lines everywhere they go.”  -Tim Ingold, Lines: A Brief History

Another thing I found out when I was doing my research is that centre park in New York is totally design by desire paths.  They left the whole park as grass and let people walk on it and then built the paths following the desire lines. How amazing is that! You can say you had a hand in developing the park, you were able to change something in the world and be park of the reason something was built like it is. I think that truly is amazing to be apart of something so magic in a way.

http://www.cringel.com/files/images/central-park-usa-new-york-flickr.com-photos-retokurmann.jpg

Final idea

The final idea of the project we decided to focus and research paths of desire. We thought it was interesting how people interactive and moved though the grass. We wanted to encourage students to walk across the grass and follow their desires. So we decided to make a visualisation in flash of a flower growing every time someone walks across the grass. This visualisation will be placed on a screen in the university. 

I believe that the installation should be somewhere where students can interactive with it in real time. Something that is going to make it exciting and fun to walk across the grass. I am not sure how exciting a flower growing is going to be as a animation to engage people, but this is what the group wants to do. 

This is a mock up for the flower that will be used in the animation. I believe its bright colours will catch people attention and make them want to interact with the flower more. The flower could also grow in a curve to make it more entertaining  instead of growing straight up.  

Brief & Ideas

The brief was pretty open. We have to create a project that uses an arduino sensor. We could use any sensors we could get our hands on. They did recommend sometime simpler is better. We like the idea of using a simple sensor.


The ideas


We came up with many idea in the lecture. We decided to create a project that works with flash or a game, as Joe has great knowledge of both. We throw around a lot of idea before we settled on our final idea.

One of the possible ideas was, having a camera on one side of the campus then when it sensored someone it took a photo and send it to a different location on campus. It could even have effect added onto it, so it made it creepy and more interesting. I really liked this idea, I though we could get some really interesting effects and reactions. However we deiced that it might be to hard to do in 2 weeks and wanted to do something more simple.

Another idea that we came up with was having a sensor that detectes when someone is near to  headstone and projecting onto it so you can see the writing. The purpose of this is so you can visit your loved one even if it is dark. A big problem with this is a lot of grave yards are locked at night and not everyone in the group was comfortable with mess around in the grave yard.      

We finally settled on basing our project upon paths of desires. We wanted to use pressure pads to see how many people walk across the space. Then create a animation in flash to make people relise what they were doing to the grass and how they were effecting it.

Inspirational business

Mutant labs

My inspirational business I wanted to write about is Mutant Labs. They are my inspiration because they came from I-DAT did the same course as me and made a business out of what they learned. They specialise in creating Flash Games & iPhone Apps and have become very successful in the last 3 years. They have also been active in the local community, teaching at the university, sitting on the board of 'Designed in Devon' and spreading knowledge in youth workshops. These are things that I think are important in a company. They got their break and they are giving back to the community and this to me is a great thing to do in business. 

http://www.mutantlabs.com/about