Shared Creation Projects

The car door closed with a slam and immediately his breath started to steam up the windscreen. He was bundled on the drivers seat. Bags, coat, sweat and all. He was shaking, and his thoughts were trying to focus on the car key, it was sort in his hand but everything was akimbo. He was out of step, confused, dislocated and all in all a mess.

Still breathing heavily he managed to lock the door. All the doors clunked tightly into place. He was sealed off, encased in steel and glass. He was isolated, from what was out there. That still did not make things feel any easier.

His hands were still shaking to much to start the engine. His hands were still shaking too much to make a call on his ‘phone.

Nothing was working. Except for this sweat glands, and his memory. Perhaps his imagination. It was the same scene over and again. Never stopping, never relenting and worse each time.

Something caught his attention. He heard something.

Then it was silent.

Then a body slammed into the side of his car.

He screamed and it roared.

I’d like to introduce you to :

http://www.dwaynetucker.com/blog/

It is the blog of Dwayne DC Tucker II who is very passionate about advertising, design and photography.

Its a simple blog - Dwayne updates it with a nice combination of personal chat and useful photography tips. Dwayne comes to problems in photography with a point of view that includes elements of practicality, design and photography.

In this blog Dwayne does something that particularly interests me - he blends the technicalities of capturing or enhancing an image with the emotional side of photography. Photography is art, it is meant to affect feelings. Sometimes this gets lost in talk about camera’s, lighting arrangements, and camera settings. Its nice to see it getting a mention here.

I’d recommend this blog, as something to dip into regularly (or better still subscribe to). It is able to make you think about your own work, and that really is the key to creative photography. Think about your work and then incorporate some good lessons or good ideas into your pictures.

This will improve your photography and this blog will help you do this. It is a good source of inspiration and information.

This time we’re talking about where and how to write for the Internet.

Well where is easy - any where you feel comfortable. It really is that simple. When you are writing for the Internet you need to write material that is personal, passionate, contemporary and compelling. This sounds like an impossible combination. It’s not. To achieve this the writing has to flow, and for the writing to flow you need to be in the moment. That means writing as the inspiration hits you. Inspiration can come at any time and any where. So be prepared to make notes at a moments notice. This is good. It means you’re removing the task of writing and replacing it with just note taking.

To do this remember the tools of working in the moment are everywhere. To make notes remember the old standard of pen and paper and the new standard of the mobile phone. Phones are pretty useful things. You can take photographs to remind you. Make notes to read, use the phone as a dictaphone with a voice recorder or if the phone is fairly smart - it makes a good notepad as well. Of course you could be actually in front of the computer when the idea seeds. This means that you need to instantly access something to write with. You should check out Scribefire - a Firefox extension that is a great note taker and blogging editor or something like Evernote. Evernotes beauty is simply that it stores your notes in the cloud. Meaning you can start your note on any computer you have access to and finish it any other computer you have access to. Giving a nice and easy workflow.

Ok so thats a few notes on the where. Where being anywhere so long as inspiration is with you. Now for the how.

How means you need something to write with. For Internet use avoid Microsoft Word. You don’t need most of its features - or the dubious code it generates. Word is better for other jobs. Not that this means Microsoft is down and out. If you run Windows then check out Live Writer. It is a first class blogging tool. If you’re not on Windows then check out Scribefire (turning into a favourite this), or perhaps one of the online writing tools. If you are writing online its not a bad idea to store your prepare your writing online. Take a look at Google Docs or Adobe Buzzword. Both are fine Word Processors. Alternatively you try out a virtual computer such as g.ho.st.

There are of course plenty of other alternatives. Whats import is that your tool is easy to use, feels right to you and be inserted into a blog entry with the minimum of fuss and bother.

Next - Platforms

Ok so you want to write online. It’s not an uncommon desire. In fact blogging has become one of the most popular of activities taking place on the Internet. I don’t want to restrict myself to blogging though. I want to look at the concept of publishing online. This can be fiction, non-fiction, newsletters, newspapers. No limits and no exceptions.

I’m not going to give advice on computers and Internet connections, but remember this; you need to write - not play the latest games or rendered complex 3D images - these are different creative pursuits. Writing only needs a basic computer. Text is easy for a computer to process. This article is being written on a browser plugin running on an aging Mac laptop, not the latest fashionable piece of multi-core kit running a heavy duty word processor.

So where do you start?

You start with an idea. You need to have some idea of what you need to write about, and then there is passion. Whatever you want to write about you need to be passionate about it. Remember you are going to be spending a lot of time with this subject material - it is essential you have real feelings for it. If there is no passion you are in trouble.

It is possible that you feel the need to write but are feeling a bit fuzzy on subject. That is fine. The passion is there - but not the focus. You need to find something to focus on. Read around some blogs, add some comments. Join services like Twitter and Plurk, follow a lot of people and see what is being said - it will help. If you are nervous about writing in public then practice on paper. You have total control over a piece of paper. Only the people you give the paper to can read it. You can practice until you are feeling happy enough to commit something in public. Remember though that when practicing writing you are own enemy. It will be easy to be over critical and that kill your ambitions before they really start. So remember this rule, you are not looking for a great style of writing, you are confirming what you want to write about. Be honestly brutal here. When you find your subject you will know it, anything else just won’t feel write. Write until you feel enthused. Then you go online. Not when you have written a perfect piece. The reasoning here is simple. Writing online is a serial affair, no matter how it starts - over time it should improve. This is fine as no website gets instant recognition from nowhere. Recognition comes in time. It comes when you have a body of work behind you and when it is interesting for others. That comes with application on practice. Your words will be improving as people find you. You ‘just’ have to have the faith that this will happen.

By now you have an idea. Now give it an easy to remember name. You will be placing your work on a website and a good name helps a bundle. Think carefully about the name. No so long as you don’t start. Just long enough for a name to come about. What you are looking for here is an identity for your writing. Ijustine is a good example. Take a look at http://tastyblogsnack.com/ its simple sassy writing with a clear idea of who ijustine is. Great stuff. Learn from it.

Ok so you know what you want to write about and what it is going to be called. Next time - where to write it and thoughts on creating content.

Technorati Tags: how, to, write, online

I’m going to mention a project right at the very start of its life and I’m wishing it the very best of luck.

It’s called the Mindmunity and it is a blog dedicated to the creation of a community of like minded individuals sharing and improving ideas.

The Mindmunity team have put together a fun video to explain their concept. You can see it here

There is a kinship here with Shared Creation. SC shares news, ideas and projects to help out with creative projects. Whilst Mindmunity openly publishes and refines ideas. I think in a way I was bound to like this idea.

Taking a look at the website the MindMunity team are making full use of the current wave of online communities. This is a good idea. If you want to talk you need to go where the people are.

There have been ideas communities in the past, but the ones I can remember seeing have taken the form of a forum. I think blogs, micro-blogs and social networks area good modern take on this idea. Not just because these are the way of doing things right now, but because it raises accessability. Future readers and contributors of Mindmunity can work from their comfort zone, and probably create better output as a result.

Good luck Mindmunity.

Technorati Tags: idea, share, community

We speak here of writing, film and other media, but I’ve been taking a look at a blog that speaks about design. Design tends to sit about and when its good - we hardly notice it, when its great - we go “Way Cool”, and when its bad we tend to gripe. Yet despite the impact it has on us - how much do we actually think about design?

If you’re creative then design is important, it affects how people interact with your work and how they actually find your work. Design is something that is important.

So take some time to stop and think about design once in a while and use it check your own actions and creations.

Of course sitting and thinking isn’t as good as understanding - hence the Laws of Simplicity. This is an excellent blog and is a recommendable read. However once you start you realise that the latest entry is a little bit in the past. Fortunately this is more - once you’re done with the original Laws of Simplicity website move on to http://our.risd.edu/ This is where the story continues. RISD by the way is the Rhode Island School of Design - and the blog lives up to the name.

So next time you need a quick snippet of good reading and design go here.

Ok things have been a bit quiet on Projects recently. I apologize for any inconvenience. To make up for this here are few thoughts on the nature of broadcast.

I cannot help to see the rise of personal broadcast. These thoughts have been brought on by a culmination of experiences. I think these are important and I hope you find these interesting.

I’ve been experimenting with Twitter. I’ve not really experienced anything like Twitter before. It’s part blog, part instant communication and part social network. It enables a stream of consciousness to reach the world, and for immediate crowd sourcing. It is a subtle and powerful tool. One that enables its user to make friends, support friends, and broadcast to like minded strangers. I’ve recently heard it mentioned that the next big thing on the Internet is the conversation. If my experience with Twitter is anything to go by then this is true. Twitter is also cheap to use. The minimal requirement is a mobile phone (you can broadcast by SMS), although it is at it’s best with a basic PC. PCs are now so cheap that some ISP’s are giving them away to encourage custom.

My next thoughts come from how cheap it is to set up a basic to web TV station. I’m not talking about the new cool stations emerging like Channel Flip or Joost or even the familiar fun and games on YouTube. I’m talking about individuals or community groups. You see I’ve recently been working with a community that over a few months has been teaching people to use PCs and video camera’s to create local content. The equipment bought has been cheap and from the consumer end of things. Literally a few thousand pounds - and that’s to equip 3 workstations and 2 cameramen. The people have all joined the project to learn how to use PC’s,Video Camera’s and to make films. Yet their quality of output slowly gains quality and tells me that using facilities such as YouTube and Blip TV it is now possible to for any community to broadcast to itself and the world. You can see the early output of the group I’ve been working with here.

Finally I must mention a very special broadcaster,  one from whom an awful lot can be learnt. His name is Leo Laporte. His main website (one of many) is here. I’ll refer to him as Leo for short. Leo is an established technology journalist and pundit in the USA. I first became aware of Leo about 3 years ago listening to technology podcasts. However this was only a warm-up. His latest enterprise is outstanding. Leo is sitting in a studio, creating content, and talking to the world via a variety of Internet based broadcast means. Leo is now not a just a man - he is a combined on demand TV and Radio station. If you’d like to see this in action then click here.

These three factors - the ease of mass broadcast, the ability of anyone to create video content and the rise of the one man broadcast network all validate this thought - that we are living on the verge of the individual and the community becoming increasingly important. That for me sounds like the rise of the story-tellers and bards of ancient times. It feels to me as if a circle is being completed and something outstanding will rise from it.

I’ll continue - as I have been to talk about this and to do what I can to help people get creative - by sharing experiences and information.

Tags: Leo, Laporte, Broadcast, Web, Community, Internet, Personal, Channel, Flip, YouTube, Joost, Twitter