Week 9 & 10 – Social Media / SEO

Finally, we investigate the integration of Social Media applications with blogging, followed by Search Engine Optimization:

 

Social Media

Offering bi-directional communication, social media surpasses traditional media (such as newspapers, radio and television), and offers a channel of communication between content author and audience. This makes for a more dynamic blog while also helping to improve content through reader interaction and feedback. There are numerous popular soc media platforms such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter that serve to embellish the blogging experience and also garner attention further afield.

 

Facebook & Twitter

During week 9 we perused the various benefits Facebook can offer, such as setting up a business page, news updates and group interaction. We looked at customising the personal profile page, ‘Insights’ statistics and also how to add a ‘Like’ box to websites. Following this, we observed the various intricacies of Twitter, a hugely popular micro-blogging site. Again, we covered topics such as profile customisation, keyword tags, URL shortening and Tweetdeck. Twitter would be a personal favourite of mine as I’m not a particularly big fan of all the ‘bells & whistles’ that come with Facebook, not to mention the privacy issues…

 

SEO

In week 10 SEO (search engine optimisation) brought the succession of lectures to a close. In this final lecture we observed how various plugins were freely available that can be utilised to improve blog terminology, in essence making written content more noteworthy to search engines such as Google. Keyword Research essentially uncovers the most regular terms or descriptions that general users search for using the various web search engines. Keyword tools such as Wordtracker offer stats on these missives, enabling us to build a useful vocabulary which in turn, will make for a more efficient and successful blogging experience. There are many applications freely available on the web and a quick search should throw up some of the more prominent ones. Keyword density is another aspect of enhancing how locatable one’s blog is in the cyber environment. A repetition of certain key phrasings or individual terms is often assumed by certain search engine algorithms to suggest a tendency towards the meaning of said article i.e. the more a phrase is repeated within a document, the more likely that phrase is relevant to the overall meaning of said document. A keyword density of around 5-8% is appropriate enough for the average blog and should be enough to merit some attention!

Other methods of improving search engine rankings include appropriate content labelling, tagging, organisation and a friendly URL structure. Also, all internal links should be optimised and appropriately formed to add to overall efficiency. In sum, like all information design and publication ‘Gestalt’ is the bottom line.

Cheers!

A Few Last Photos To Compliment the Blog Podcast…

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Week 8 – Writing for the Web

This week we looked at writing for the web, blogging, citizen journalism and so on. Web-users are mostly goal-driven and are usually not reading online for pleasure.  Some factoids: 79% of online readers scan rather than read word-for word, users also read 25% slower than if reading from paper. Users also scan large tracts of text in an F-shape scanning mode; their eyes normally scan in this manner instead of reading the complete passage. With this in mind, we’ll take a look at some useful information to aid you in your online penmanship / citizen journalism.

Effective guidance of your reader:

An effective visual hierarchy is important, visual cues guide the reader through your site. Descriptive headlines and road-signs usher the reader in a gentle directional flow. One must write with the most frequent visitor-type in mind, but not at the expense of the generic / casual visitor – there is no need to talk down, just simplify.  Simple language coupled with chunking of content is the best methodology to achieve this middle ground.

Some pointers:

–          Non-descriptive links are pointless

–          Write with ‘printing’ in mind

–          Use categories and tags to organise posts

–          If repurposing offline content, edit out at least 50% of the detail

 

Legibility & Readability:

Legibility and Readability are also important factors to consider when writing. Line length and line height all play a part, justification is also important. Spacing will also impact on the visual element of your page, too much ‘white space’ can leave a passage disjointed and scattered in appearance. Typeface and fonts are another aspect to consider, and can also vary depending on target-audience, topic and tone of the piece.

In the digital domain, editing and tweaking of online content is much easier than before. Digital text can be tweaked in various intricate ways such as tracking, letter-spacing and so on.

The Plain Language Movement:

The above is a good example of what constitutes for effective web penmanship. This organisation endeavours to promote the accessible and effective language in all aspects of writing, aspiring to remove the unnecessary jargon and complex terminology that is rampant in many fields.

• “Clear writing, effective organization and inviting presentation are all keys to creating readable, informative documents”

Tautology, synonyms, euphemisms, clichés and idioms should all be avoided as they don’t serve the purpose of effective writing. Also, avoid neologisms and vulgarity whenever possible. So, that was a brief perusal of of online writing guidelines to consider based on this week’s class. While only encompassing some of the main pointers – this should be a good starting point for any budding online wordsmith!

Further Recommendations:

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. is a classic style guide which aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style.

Week 7 – Podcast Publishing and RSS Feeds

Finally, it’s podcast publication time!! After tinkering around on the web and researching the various options I decided to go with Podomatic as it seemed the easiest option. So, I completed the meta-data tags on the final mp3 file (I found I could access these using t right-click menu on my mouse), signed up to a free Podomatic account, filled in some personal information, picked a profile picture and attempted my first podcast publication! It was all pretty straightforward and surprisingly quick and easy to do. However, getting it onto my WordPress blog was a whole other issue…

I attempted for ages to embed the player in a blog post but was unable to (… even though I had Googled information that said it was possible?!). After numerous failed attempts I gave up, and sought solace in the FAQ section of the Podomatic website. Finally, I figured out how to link an RSS feed in the sidebar menu of my blog, but it that information was tricky to locate. Shout-out to WordPress and Podomatic: make your ‘help’ information menus more user-friendly and accessible, oh and work on your embedded search box option – your controlled vocabulary appears not to be up to scratch!

Anyway, it’s now up and running on the site (as you can see to the right), and I also double-checked it’s availability in the i-Tunes store, all present and correct. I think chuffed, at this juncture, is an appropriate word for how I feel after that.

In truth, the whole process, from Audacity to Podomatic was relatively painless and easily done. As it was my first time to do this the obstacles lay in my lack of experience and direction. Most issues were related to not knowing where to look for various options within the software. I had one or two problems regarding popping with the intro music but I got it right in the end with a few volume tweaks.  The quality of Podomatic as an application interface is quite slick and impressive also, I uploaded one or two pictures to the profile to compliment the iPhone shutterbuggery theme to boot! And while never giving a project like this much thought before, I think I’m slowly coming around to the idea of doing something similar in my free time. It could be my calling in life! 🙂

Week 6 – Podcasting, Audacity, MultitrackStudio and more

This week I kicked off my podcast adventure in earnest. Unfortunately however, I was experiencing problems with my microphone and could not get a clear recording of my vocal, so instead, I opted to experiment with software known as Speakonia – a text-to-speech package. Basically I typed up my podcast script and pasted it into Speakonia, which in turn allowed me to tweak the volume of speech, type of voice used and speed of reading. Finally, when I was happy with the results I recorded the piece using the in-software recording option and exported the final edit as a  WAV file. I then pasted the WAV file into another piece of software known as FlicFlac, which in turn encoded the audio to a 320kbps mp3 file.

For the introduction music I used a drum-loop (which I got from the Hammerhead free sampler software – see above) and put it on a perpetual loop. Over this, I used an audio interface to record four separate acoustic guitar tracks using a direct line into MultiTrackStudio software, which I’ve discussed in an earlier post. I used in-software settings to add the delayed effects to the harmonics that can be heard. I played around with both reverb and panning until I was happy with the over sound and then recorded the Master track. Again, I exported as a WAV file.

Next, I imported both WAV files into the Audacity software (both the music and the vocal), I then arranged the tracks in various ways below:

I cut a small sample from the music and used it to paste elements at both the start and end of my finished podcast. I then added fade effects to both copies to coincide with the commencement and completion of the vocal track respectively. Using the drag option I was able to position the vocal track (recorded in Speakonia) perfectly between both intro and outro segments of music. I then exported my podcast as an mp3 and voila! Podcast complete and ready for submission to Podomatic for next weeks post.

Useful Links:

From anyone interested in the home-recording aspect in terms of music, below you’ll find links to some interesting free software. While Audacity is excellent for general recording, Reaper is an outstanding piece of software that can compete with commercial packages worth hundreds!!

Reaper Audio Production Workstation

Myna Audio Editor (not bad either!!)

Home Recording Information

Week 5 – Audacity and podcasting techniques

The focus of this week’s lecture was podcasting technique and how to use Audacity to manipulate audio recordings. We were briefed in what is required in making a successful podcast, methods of recording i.e. examples of software available, types of equipment used, from amateur to pro level and so on. We then investigated the various options available within the Audacity software, the ability to overlap multiple tracks, edit out sections of the audio file, stretching out the visual audio track to enable isolation of sections to delete etc. Nial provided examples of this on-the-fly, recording vocal samples and tweaking them by way of modern-day digital wizardry! Other areas touched on were normalization, vol fade-in/fade-out, reverb addition, multi-tracking to name a few.

I feel comfortable regarding the podcasting recording aspect as I have previous experience using MultiTrackStudio, Garage Band (iPad) and various other versions of home recording software, including Cubase and ProTools also. Hopefully,  time permitting, I’d like to record a small musical intro for my podcast, just to give it that extra bit of professional gloss! At this juncture I’m looking at what’s available to record my podcast, as I have an iPhone I was looking at two apps that might do the trick:

Caster

AudioBoo

Both seem pretty good, it’s what comes after the recording of said podcast which I’m stumped about. If all else fails, I’ll stick to Audacity as the guide is available on Blackboard…

So, without further ado, let’s wrap this up and get cracking. Below, you’ll find some useful guides to podcasting that are perfect for the uninitiated. Enjoy.

What is Podcasting?

Creating a Podcast with Audacity

Podcasting Tips

Week 4 – photo editing and print preperation

In week 4 we continued on with the digital imaging in terms of editing and preparation for print and web. We looked at various file types and their eligibility for creating images of superior quality for publication, highlighting idiosynchrasies such as tweaking the transparency of said image (for overlap/fading purposes). Tiff is a good format for image storage, allegedly! Image-resizing is another attribute we covered; as many images will often only be viewed on a computer monitor one can reduce the file size of said image by reducing the resolution to match that of the monitor. There would be no noticeable difference with this process also saving disk space, making multiple images easier to store and/or email. We also looked at how to record sequences or a kind of macro within Photoshop to allow bulk updates to image collections. This method allows for consistent recreation of effects once this command has been saved, thus streamlining the work process into batches. For example, tweaking colour effects using the ‘S-Curve’ in Photoshop could prove problematic to recreate at a later date, recording this task solves the problem.

Creative Commons licensing is another topic we discussed:

“Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons licenses free of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.

Portfolio

For this week’s lab we uploaded our image portfolio to our blogs. Over the next few paragraphs I’m going to explain my choice of images and what I was trying to achieve with each in terms of assignment requirements, themes etc.

Firstly, all images were taken on an iPhone as due to budgetary restrictions I was unable to procure a point n’ click or DSLR. I used a number of apps to tweak the images such as:

Camera+

Hipstamatic

Pro HDR

TiltShiftGen

The majority of the images were taken in New York but there are two from Thailand and one of my family home in Portlaoise. All of these images present an urban snapshot in differing cultural areas around the world. From the super modernity of Manhattan to the serenity of Wat Pho, Bangkok, an evident theme is one of an urban cultural snapshot of what someone calls or once called home. As the assignment requested that we consider themes such as ‘space & place, urban society, social documentary, history & memory’ I thought these images quite fitting. Personally, each location harbours memories weighed with emotion i.e. the one of home reminds me of wanting to be somewhere else, somewhere exotic, anywhere but there at one point in my life. The other locations such as New York and Bangkok remind me of being overwhelmed with a desire to be back in the safety of the homestead, a longing for the familiar, where someone knew my name and the horizon was the top of my road.

When choosing said images I was trying to highlight aspects that we covered in the lecture such as ‘depth of field’; the ‘Nobody Home’ picture achieves this, I think. While having no aperture settings to tweak I used the TiltShiftGen app which gives a miniaturised feel to the image and creates a sense of depth and distance. I used the same app to create this effect in the picture overlooking Times Square. In the images taken from Top O’ the Rock (overlooking Central Park and the shot of the Empire State Building) I tried to keep in mind the ‘rule of thirds’, i.e. lining up certain aspects of the image with the imagined symmetrical lines within the image – think noughts and crosses and you’ll get the gist.

Within all the images I tried to capture a sense of movement or flow, the best portrayal of this is the black and white photo of the four office towers lined in a row, creating a natural diagonal movement within. The Chrysler Building picture also has elements of this diagonal flow, with the building interjecting from the right directing the movement of the eye and dynamic of the picture. The same again is evident in the Bangkok Traffic image (Sukhumvit Road), and Times Square – I tried to compose the frame with an interesting angle in mind, using the natural shapes of the surrounding environment to add character. The Wat Pho image is an example of how shape repetition can enhance composition; the unusual structures (don’t know what they were called?!) really capture the eye and punctuate the skyline with their spires.

Lighting and more:

To achieve the pronounced lighting in some of the images I used the Pro HDR iPhone app which enhances and exaggerates the natural colours, creating a more vibrant image. This is most evident in the Manhattan Skyline and Wat Pho images. I also used some of the filters available with apps such as Camera+ to achieve the effects found in the ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ image and ‘Top O’ the Rock’. In terms of landscape/portrait decisions I let the environment dictate the need, shots viewing the horizon demanded landscape, those viewing upward to a height demanded portrait. Elementary dear Watson.

Week 3 – photoshop jiggery-pokery!

Week 3 kicked off with gusto, this week we looked at editing photos in photoshop i.e. opening, rotating, cropping and saving, cleaning, colour correction, optomizing and resizing. While this software is available for student use by way of blackboard, it has proven to be problematic. In light of this, there are a number of alternatives which can handle similar tasks, such as sumopaint, pixlr, pixer, gimp, paint.net etc etc. Niall ran through the various tweaks that are found in the toolbar inventory and discussed the differing outcomes when using each. Tools such as Marquee Tool, Polygon Lasso, Magic Wand, Crop etc. Using some examples he demonstrated a number of these and how to undo each to return to the original. He also demonstrated how to touch up a photo (for example, if it were scanned from a physical photo and had been damaged, faded or scratched).

Many of the Photoshop menus and actual layout were familiar to me as I have some previous experience using Adobe Indesign and they seem to have some similarities (such as menus/palettes etc, I’ve also used Gimp before, an added bonus as I’m sure this package is quite confusing for the first time user! These Photoshop techniques may prove useful to me when tweaking my portfolio shots in terms of cropping, colour correction and resizing. Speaking of which, my portfolio is almost complete – I plan on using a number of images taken between 2009-2011 from various places I’ve travelled to. I think they suit the themes quite well and with some additional cropping and tweaking we should be good to go!

While doing some research on the web recently, I stumbled across an interesting site that provided some useful tips for the newbie shutterbug. Definitely worth a look and gave me some great insights into taking better-looking shots!

(Lifehacker.com) Pro Tips for Regular People – 5 Photography Tricks that Anyone who Owns a Camera Should Know!

I also found one or two editing/tweaking sites that may prove useful, no software downloads are necessary as all actions take place within the browser:

TiltShift Generator

Rollip

Pixer

That concludes this weeks blog-post folks, safe home and have a great weekend! Until next time 😉

Week 2 – camera spec, file types and useful shooting tips

This week we looked at the various intricacies involved in digital photography from cameras of minimum spec up to pro shutterbug gear; we discussed file formats (RAW, JPEG etc), Megapixels, aperture relationship, depth of field and shutter speed. Composition was discussed indepth with slideshow examples used to demonstrate various techniques, offering insightful glimpses into how the ordinary can be tweaked to become extraordinary. We looked at how a grid can be used to aid in object placement within a photo and how natural lines that are present in the image can be used by the photographer to create a flow or movement.

Natuarally occurring shapes such as shadows can be smartly utilised to create geometric nuances within an image, lending artistic character and flair to an otherwise banal offering. We discussed the assignments further and perused a collection of published photography in the hope of inspirational osmosis! Concluding as normal in the lab, we practiced our new found knowledge of camera settings and their idiosynchrasies, and had a chance to update our blog and express any concerns or questions we may have to date. As a lack of an appropriate camera is still a pressing concern I’m unable to publish any personal shots that portray the previously discussed tweaks, to counteract this problem I offer you the folowing: I’ve researched the relevant course material a little further and published some examples of said tweaks below to compliment this blog post. Ciao for now amigo!

JC

(All the above examples in this post were sourced on Google Images)

Week 1

Below, youll find a Composition tutorial to kick things off!

So, week 1 is now complete and my first research-blog post ensues. At this juncture there’s not very much to impart other than I have set up my blog on wordpress.com (ta-dah!!) and experimented with themes, layout and a few other tweaks. As requested I have updated the ‘About’ page, posted the above image and embedded a YouTube video file to said blog. To counteract first post ‘bloggers block’ I’ll wax lyrical about the module in general:

So, I’ve taken a look at the assignment info that’s posted on Blackboard and begun thinking of a few ideas for the photography portfolio due in week 4. I have a few personal shots that I took on holidays in New York, Thailand and Cambodia recently and hopefully I’ll be able to mingle one or two of those along with some recent ones specifically taken for the project. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to an SLR camera or even a satisfactory point n’ click at the moment so I’ll have to work off my trusty iPhone 4 until the problem is rectified. Not a bad camera however, especially coupled with some excellent apps such as Pro HDR, Hipstamatic, Tilt Shift Generator and Camera+, shame the resolution wasn’t a bit higher, and as for the flash…! I’ve also taken a look at the podcasting aspect and I’m eager to get started on this as it appears interesting, I’ve been told that I have a face for radio so we’ll see how that works out.

That is all.