EASTMAN ONLINE

Uni is almost over

2008-10-24T14:30:00.002+11:00

Hey hey

Uni has almost finished for my first semester. Putting the last touches on my final assignment for a couple of months. It's a nice feeling.

Check out the central hub for Eastman Online

This semester has been an interesting one, learning about new media and researching within that environment, along with media ethics and a bit of sociology for good measure. It's been fun, got to know some great people, and looking forward to next year.

Will keep you posted, until next time... cya!!

been a while...

2008-10-14T08:50:00.004+11:00

So, it has been almost a month since my last post... i've been busy trying to get uni work in on time...

Speaking of Uni, we recently signed up and played with second life some more in class. It really is a fascinating world. Creating your character and moving around the world is quite easy. Communicating is straight forward, but what I like more is the possibilities. In a matter of two hours, I drove a motorbike over the harbour bridge, viewed the sistine chapel, went to Chichen Itza, checked out bondi beach and the opera house, went to a waterpark and rode on waterslides, and took a hot air balloon ride.

Not only that, but I made a friend, joined a group and changed my appearance to look how I want. Fascinating, and the world is huge!! I must say, I can understand how easy it is for people to get into this other world. A good point was made in the lecture where we call this world the real world, when we really should call it the actual world. Second life is not a fake world, rather it works and operates like a real world, the only difference is, its virtual. The issue of lag means that time is weird, but that's ok.

Personally, I like second life, and I wish I had a faster internet connection and more bandwidth to be able to use it at home. It's just such a huge world to get into! So much to do and see!

I have uploaded some photos from my adventure to my flickr site.

~ce2

My first mobile post

2008-09-22T18:15:00.002+10:00

This is my first post from my phone!!

It's great that you can do this, I'll just have to find a use for it. I can't see a purpose for blogging on your mobile phone. Maybe if I was traveling I would use the feature. However, with my laptop and desktop, I don't feel I need to blog on the go.

Should try it sometime, I have put together a guide for iphone users to post to blogger.

Click here to check it out

wikipedia as a college professor??

2008-09-17T11:40:00.002+10:00

Just came across this video... its great!!

It's a spoof on the idea, what if 'wikipedia' were a college professor.

I think it really shows the weaknesses of the wikipedia system, and outlines the major flaws... but in a funny way...

Click here to view it

~ce2

Chinese Translations...

2008-09-09T20:51:00.001+10:00

Just thought this needed to be shared:

Enjoy!
~ce2

A Matter Of View

2008-09-09T20:34:00.003+10:00

Found another site of some awesome pictures.

This one's about an artist by the name of Felice Varini, who instead of using the traditional flat canvas, creates his artworks on a 3D space. It makes some really amazing images, however your perspective will change the art greatly.

Check it out for yourself, worth a quick look!

It's Just A Matter Of View

~ce2

Illustrated Photography

2008-09-09T20:14:00.003+10:00

Hey

Just came across an interesting set of illustrations. They've mixed drawings and photography to create some really nice images. Check them out:

Where Photography Meets Illustration

~ce2

Shape-shifting car???

2008-09-06T10:11:00.000+10:00

I just recently came across a post on Digg.com that led me to look at this new concept vehicle.

It's for a new BMW car made from a frame and material skin stretched over the frame... sounds strange, but check it out... I think it looks incredible, and completely changed the way I view car design.

Also, the idea that the driver can control how their vehicle looks and change the shape on the fly.. incredible, bringing customisation and car modification to the next level.

look at lookatbook.com

2008-09-04T21:54:00.000+10:00

Another art site that is simply gorgeous... yes, i used a feminine word... gorgeous...

The idea of this "scrapbook" was that a number of artists in different locations would take turns to add to the book. They would get a spread at a time, and once completed, post it to the next person. No other communication about the book existed. What an idea... beautiful... And the execution isn't bad either.

The flash animation is simple, and the design is cool. More than that, though, the concept is awesome. The idea of collaboration based on nothing but the previous artists work is fascinating. Art collaboration with no direction, no brief, and to make it so beautiful is amazing. As you flick through you can pick out the different artists influences, and you can see how each artist has taken inspiration of some sort from the previous piece.

I strongly recommend a quick peek at the site:
lookatbook.com

Google Tips Link

2008-09-03T22:19:00.001+10:00

I just came across this blog post. It outlines 100 tips for google.

Helpful for those needing to find something specific. Have a read, very useful..

101 Tips, Tricks and Hacks for Google

[timebeat] ... beautiful clock

2008-09-02T22:21:00.000+10:00

I just came across an animated gem through stumble upon...

all i know about it is it's called [timebeat] and it's beautiful. A simple flash animated clock, the design is great, simple, original, classy, a nice ambient track in the background.

I like it, and i reccommend it highly...

Check it out...

[timebeat]

~ce2

Stumbled upon stumble upon!

2008-09-01T16:28:00.000+10:00

I recently came across, or rather, stumbled upon stumbleupon.com

What an amazing toolbar to have in firefox. It's incredible, you setup your interests, install the toolbar and everytime you hit the stumble button... something new!! It's amazing the things you come across. I will endeavour to keep you informed on some of the websites i stumble onto. I've already been privy to some fancy flash games, photography, evolutionary sites, religious sites, music pages, art, architecture. All sorts of amazing things that i never would have thought to look at.

I strongly reccommend a visit, the ability to mark what you do and don't like, and have it automatically update your interests as you go, also the ability to log onto a specific website or channel and stumble through that. Pure genius.

Get into it, and let me know how you go!

Until next time... ce2 out... :)

second life...

2008-08-25T14:56:00.000+10:00

ok, so i downloaded and tried out second life.. and I must say, i enjoyed it..

Just the idea that you can setup an entire world, make new friends, dress yourself, and become the person you've always dreamed. It's incredible, and it's fun. While I find it silly to invest money in property or fake vehicles in facebook, it's still good fun just flying around trying to figure it out.

My only annoyance was my internet connection drops out every now and then.. This makes it very difficult to get around.

I've always been intrigued with second life, and I find the concept simply mind-boggling. I have had a taste and didn't feel like purging it back up again, which is what I thought would happen. I think I might even go back for more... when the internet gets faster.. maybe..

I get it now!!

2008-08-21T20:35:00.000+10:00

When i first began this digital communications course, my view of the internet was very limited. I didn't see it as much more than simply a form of education. A way to catch up with friends, find answers for questions, check out videos and pics from other people. But now, after 5 weeks, i'm finally starting to get it...

The web, the world wide web... It's so much more than just a server. It has become a way of life. It has shaped our culture, enabled and promoted globalisation, and now has cemented its place in the future of mankind. As i begin to understand the role of the internet, i begin to understand my place in the shaping of this tool.

It's been an interesting process...

web 2.0... is it that great?

2008-08-13T19:11:00.001+10:00

Okay, so maybe flickr isn't as problem free as I first thought.

I'm beginning to discover that the theories, possibilities and ideas sound amazing. They're exciting. This idea that everything will work seamlessly and make life easier. It's really exciting, but in practice. Not so good. Nothing in the digital realm ever works perfectly... ever...

But that's ok. It's not the end of the world, it's an opportunity to make things better. maybe.

I'm still excited about the prospects of web 2.0 (and after a little wikipediaing, web 3.0, check it out) but i'm coming to understand that endless amounts of customisation only creates a product that lacks synergy. I think that's why I am such a Mac-freak. Being into PC's and modding, and playing around with code and and all that stuff, I've come to love the synergy that comes from apple products. Sure, it's not open-source, and sure it's easier to crack, but noone can deny the way that programs work together, the way the operating system just works and does everything for you, and the way that the iphone, or ipod syncs up so easily. And the way everything just looks like it belongs.

My conclusion today is this. Web 2.0 rocks, the opportunities are great, but lets not lose sight of the beauty of collaboration.

Flickr... really cool...

2008-08-12T14:02:00.000+10:00

I stumbled upon flickr today. I'd always heard of this site, and thought that it was just another user created photo site where hundreds of amateur low quality photos of peoples dogs, or hands get uploaded for us to rate. And that's exactly what it is, however there is some absolute gold on this site. The ability to setup an account and uploaded photos from anywhere for people to see and add to their favourites is great.

Even better, on my new iphone, i just discovered that I can take a photo with my built in camera, tag it with a location from the built-in gps, and upload it from anywhere to my account. I can then go in and view photos other people took of both my immediate and surrounding locations.

I'm sure that it could prove an interesting future in terms of tracking locations and checking up on what they look like. I personally am intrigued by this concept of linking photos together by location. I'm going to start to do it, take photos and upload them, tagged with my location. You can check them out on my flickr photostream. The link is:

www.flickr.com/photos/chriseastman/

Also, if anyone else does this, let me know, i'm interested in tracking how other people have grabbed hold of this idea.

Until next time... au revoir!!

Setting up a hub for ME(v2.0)

2008-08-11T17:39:00.001+10:00

My recent experience has been that myspace sucks, and facebook rules. But after much customising, and fussing around with html code, I have come to like it.

I'm trying to use myspace as a general hub for my web 2.0 personality. I'm wanting to link from my myspace page to my accounts on digg, delicious, youtube, deviantart, facebook etc.

It seems to work ok, except for myspace blocking some of my links as spam. We'll see how we go correcting that. I've also been trying to find a file sharing service which is easy to use and share with others. Mediafire seems to be pretty good, but the only way to find out if it's good or not is to try it out. I'll blog my experience of that as we go along.

I'll leave it there for now. My experience of web 2.0 is starting to become cohesive, with many different sites and networks coming together to create a webified version of myself.

Blog History: Aug 5 2008

2008-08-11T17:37:00.000+10:00

Delving further into the worlds of both myspace and facebook has proved to be quite interesting. I love the simplicity of facebook, and while I agree that there are limitations in terms of customising your profile and the like, I can’t help but be drawn back in for me. It doesn’t try and do too much, and it doesn’t try and complicate things by opening too many doors for users.

I found working on myspace to be confusing. A little like walking into a chinese restaurant. So many choices, it’s overwhelming. The full customisation of your profile, including the removal of certain elements, was great. But I believe they took it a bit far. Browsing through the pages, and seeing the possibilities makes me like myspace more, but it takes an awful lot of work and timewasting to get it to do what you want.

The possibilities for remaining anonymous and mysterious are endless on myspace. You are able to hide certain details, and choose what you wish for people to see. This brings me to the issue of privacy. I believe that there is a chance for more privacy on myspace, however the anonymity of it all is a little scary. I find that with facebook there is more accountability for your actions online. Your every move on the site is published to those who you are connected with.

Personally, I like the accountability that facebook gives. It means that the user has to be more proactive and careful about what they publish and write to people. There is a chance still to remain anonymous in one to one conversations, but the basic things you do on facebook is open for viewing.

I see facebook as a much more realistic social experience. This is tough to create in an online world, but as I begin to webify myself, I find that facebook is much more accessible, accountable, and generally easier to manage.

Just like in real life, in facebook land, you must be careful about what information you give to others.

Blog History, Aug 5 2008

2008-08-11T17:36:00.000+10:00

I was quite surprised on Monday at how efficiently our group worked to finish the job at hand. We knew what we had to do, and we tried our hardest not to complicate the job.
While the video turned out quite random, it was a great possibility to delve into the world of multimedia and web 2.0

Completing the video was quite straight forward, and uploading this to youtube proved to be a breeze. This then allowed for the entire group to post a link to the video on their personal sites. From what I can tell, we were all quite proud of the finished product, and the efficiency at which it was completed, proved simply that despite popular opinion, teams can actually work together.

The video that we completed is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUciZ6N2oy0