Following the success of the CGAA One-A-Day and The Supplement - both of which have become welcome fixtures on the group blog - I'm looking to introduce 2 additional threads into the mix over the summer months in readiness for the academic year 2011/12.
As suggested by Domantas in a previous post, there are times when you encounter something interesting you'd like to share with the CGAA community that doesn't quite fit into the One-A-Day or Supplement niche. What we need is a CGAA Miscellany or Misc. One of the great things about this blog is it's satisfyingly content-rich, not clogged with cats wearing hats or Twilight fan films. I'm hoping the CGAA Miscellany will create space for a kind of cultural 'off-roading' and not function as a Facebook crap-magnet! In common with the One-A-Day and Supplement entries, introduction and context is key.
The second strand I'd like to establish is a recurrent blog feature dedicated to music - of all kinds: The Tune. Music is absolutely fundamental to story-telling and world-building and a feature showcasing favourite composers, musicians, song-writers, genres, and music videos etc. would further enrich this creative space.
So, this is what I'm after; in common with the competition to find the CGAA One-A-Day logo (as won by Ryan), I'd like CGAA students (new/old) to design 2 new icons for use on the group blog:
- 1) The CGAA Miscellany
- 2) CGAA: The Tune
You have until 6pm on July 11th to email your designs to pgomm@ucreative.ac.uk. I will then put a post together showcasing all submitted designs and ask the CGAA community to cast its vote. You can submit an entry for one or both.
Good luck and I look forward to you swamping my inbox with eye-candy!
sounds wicked, love those idea's :) especially the music related one....always helps inspire my work
ReplyDeleteMight give this one a go this time :D. Like the idea of an area for music :D
ReplyDeletePhil, would love to use this opportunity to throw the idea of a CG Arts forum into the mix.
ReplyDeleteWith a forum it could really be a lot cleaner and laid out nice. You could have an area for one-a-day, misc. tune, etc. Can have a technical support sub forum, an announcement one, any number of things. I think it would be a lot more beneficial for the course and easier to get a library of, for example, technical help all in one sub forum for easy browsing for future / current students. I know it was mentioned before and that the blog was right at the time, but I think seeing as the blog boomed so much it might be cool to push it over to a forum where everything can be maintained easier. I don't know, just throwing an idea that's been going around my head into there :P
A forum would be nice I agree, but I don't think it would work because blogger is such a key role in the course now. It just cleaner and easier to use things this way.
ReplyDeleteI think that this page just needs a couple of extra sub-pages at the top. They could be used to link separate blogs used to host, one-a-day ect. I like using/seeing this blog as a bulletin board of news in the industry, course and anything regarding.
Jack, I'll come down there and kick your arse mate -- I'm not that afraid to fight you. PAH!
ReplyDeleteIn terms of subdividing up the group blog template into it's various compartments - Technical Help, One-A-Day - yep, I'm going to organise that over the summer. In terms of the forum, the blog works very well in a number of different ways, not least that 'blogspot' is used and understood by lots of other animators/practitioners etc (and every CGAA student) and so creates lots of opportunities for cross-over and linking. I like the idea too that the blog is a visual space, and that it's scaffolded by the student blogs etc. I guess what I'm saying is, Jonny, you'll have to fight me too on this one. Just because you've sat in the throne of swords doesn't make you the hardest... :D
ReplyDeleteThis blog is like a news page for our course - everything what is posted stays for a while on top, but you can always find it in the history, so if you want to find something from the past, it is not too hard to find it by labels. I don't think that forum would work better in this case. Blog is easy and quick while forum would take much more time to take care and check every time I think.
ReplyDeleteI AM THE KING OF THE NORTH PHIL AND YOU SHALL HEED MY WORDS!!!
ReplyDeleteNawww, but seriously. I'm just a forum nerd at heart, and I just know that it could be an effective resource for the course. My concern is that some posts are literally taking up the whole page on the blog and it's a pain to scroll all the way down to find older posts etc because it's so image heavy (which is great! Not complaining about that at all, just offering up ideas to keep it more neat and organized some how. Even a separate blog for one a day, supplement etc wherein you can get to those blogs via this blog which could act as a central hub where people can post for technical help and then there's links going to other blog webpages for each other thing. I'm not sure, causes more work, just playing devils advocate a bit really!
Correction Jonny you were king of the north...
ReplyDeletehttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fxoyxYM9NMI/TgHP8NxryyI/AAAAAAAABRc/4Y6PhT85J-M/s1600/267398_10150217889238511_602183510_7262548_3647654_n.jpg
I kill you and Joffrey!
ReplyDeleteis it really such an effort to 'scroll all the way down the page'? Don't think so - and the point about making lots of different blogs inside one is 'over-engineering' - I've seen other systems set up that way, and people stop engaging with all/some of it. I was asked to speak at a conference last week about CGAA and blogs, and the sheer, linear simplicity of the group blog (in a world of over-engineered virtual learning environments etc.) was very warmly received. Now, get off my f**king throne - both of you! ;D
ReplyDeleteI think it could be interesting to have tabs on top for each different section. We could have I guess around four, with one-a-day, the supplement, etc. Like this we stay in blogger yet we have a quick access to the different sections in case we simply want to scroll for ideas and inspiration in a specific media.
ReplyDeleteGuess its off to the nights watch then :D,
ReplyDeleteIn regard to the blog organsastion I have to agree with Paul above I think if there were tabs to specfic type of posts like the one a day segment and concept art it would make finding stuff easier and would clean up the archive bar to the side.
In regards to a forum I think it could work for things like opinions or assistance with work, that way you wont run the risk of bumping peoples threads down and maybe missing something, if that makes sense.
Just a thought.
Tabs on top is a good idea for sure.
ReplyDelete"Tabs on top is a good idea for sure."
ReplyDeleteditto.
What about also redesigning the blog, most of us now have some experience in blogger design, we could add a touch of personality to the blog, really make it a CG Arts & Animation blog. Too many blogs now have this layout.
ReplyDelete