Project #5: Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing!
Projects due and Critique: March 25

This project explores the creative possibilities of "crowdsourcing" - inviting you to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in three unique "crowdsourcing" art projects online and to conceive of a proposal for your own crowd sourcing project.

What is crowdsourcing? 

From Webopedia:
A slang term used to describe the practice of using both the skills and time of underpaid — or unpaid — amateurs to create content or solutions for established businesses. Basically, crowdsourcing means to "use talents of the crowd", and is a play on the word outsourcing. The origins of the word crowdsourcing are credited to Jeff Howe, a Wired Magazine writer who first brought crowdsourcing to people's attention and vocabulary with his 2006 story, "The Rise of Crowdsourcing".

READ THIS FOR DISCUSSION NEXT WEEK:
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Arts/2011/0114/Crowdsourcing-The-art-of-a-crowd

-AND-

Pages 111-124 Participative Systems from Rethinking Curating

DOWNLOAD PARTICIPATIVE SYSTEMS HERE

Develop TWO questions for discussion - one for each reading!

Part 1: Choose THREE of the following and participate! Fully document your participation and provide appropriate links, images and writing on your blog posting for your final project effort:

1) Upload a video segment to the online video/film collaborative experiment, Man With A Movie Camera: The Global Remake http://dziga.perrybard.net/

2) Create a photo essay to submit to the Collected Visions project: http://cvisions.nyu.edu/mantle/info.html

3) Participate in The Johnny Cash Project http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/

4) Create a proposal for the iraqimemorial.org project: http://www.iraqimemorial.org

5) Participate in the Young Me/Now Me project: http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme/ 

6) Revisit the past with Dear Photograph: http://dearphotograph.com/

Part 2: What if you were to make a crowdsourcing art project? What would it be? This is your challenge! Come up with an original crowdsourcing art project and create a design for an imagined home page. Think carefully about the idea of crowdsourcing art - please don't simply copy what has already been done (for instance, don't take a Lady Gaga song and do the Johnny Cash Project). Come up with something original. It can be funny, political, change the world? Be creative! Post your website homepage design and concept for this original crowdsourcing art project concept to your blog!

You are expected to expand upon what you have learned over the course of the semester in terms of your technical and conceptual growth. Do not choose simply what looks to be the “easiest” path to engaging these online crowdsourcing projects or in developing your own concept! Challenge yourself by conceiving an approach to these projects that will present you with new possibilities to advance your capabilities and thought processes as an artist! Projects are graded considering the complexity of concept, technical execution and the apparent level of difficulty in regard to what you choose to do! Good luck and have fun!

Projects due and Critique: March 25

Crowdsourcing Links:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2007/07/crowd_captain
http://mashable.com/2010/11/06/crowdsourced-art-projects/
http://kk.org/ct2/2009/07/crowdsourced-music-video.php
http://www.crowdsourcing.org/video/eric-whitacres-virtual-choir---lux-aurumque-/2881
http://www.starwarsuncut.com/
http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/

Writing and Presentation Research Project

1) This is a two part final assignment.  You will be creating a 5 to 7 minute presentation for class and a 1500 word Illustrated Blog Post/Paper on the same subject matter.

2) Choose two artists (or artists groups/collaboratives) from the following websites featuring literally hundreds of artists for you to explore.  You are to choose artists we have not covered in class:
http://www.eyebeam.org/people/current (search through "fellows" and "residents" for hundreds of amazing artists, links to their websites will generally be on their profile pages)
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~infoarts/links/wilson.artlinks2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_art
http://rhizome.org/art/
http://www.gamescenes.org/

2) Research your chosen artists. Make sure to record citations of where to find the works, links, etc.

3) Choose ONE representative work from each of your artists for a total of two works to be considered in your paper and presentation - you may choose to include more works by these artists in your visual presentation to the class.

4) Describe, analyze, interpret, compare and contrast the artist’s works, considering broadly their chosen formal and conceptual strategies, being careful to address genre (film, video, performance, interactive art, simulation, game art, etc) in your general analysis of the works. As part of your research, make an attempt to contact both of your artists to ask questions regarding the work. (If you don't hear back from them please note such in your paper and/or presentation). You need to reference the readings from the class when completing both parts of the research project. For the paper/blog post, make appropriate citations following standard academic paper guidelines (MLA or Chicago Manual Style)

Please limit your chosen artists/works to those created after 1980 - the only requirement is that the artists are somehow intrinsically involved in the creative use of digital technologies in their works.

The intent here is to give you the opportunity to critically engage in basic research and analysis of artists and artworks while at the same time encouraging a greater depth of experience of various artist’s creative production and contexts.

The paper is to be in the form of an extended blog post - include illustrations, videos where appropriate, etc.

Here are some online resources to help you in considering how to critique, compare and contrast your chosen artist's works:
http://clackhi.nclack.k12.or.us/~edgintonwWeb/page%20files/Critiquing_Writing%20about%20art.htm
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/comparison_contrast.html
http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/handouts/?q=node/15

Grading:
Your presentation and writing will be graded according to the quality of your research, the originality of your analysis, the clarity of your writing, design and clarity of your presentation.

Due Dates:

In Class Presentations

Monday, April 15th
Lian
Kelsey
Annliese
Katie
Lilly
Tim
Jacob
Kailee
Debora
Fantasia

Monday, April 22nd
Aaron B.
Ivette
Mason
A'Riane
Ethan
Rhea
Aaron W.

Paper as Illustrated Blog Post:
Posted by: 4/28 by Midnight

Apocalypse!!!!

Here is the completed work and it's great! It is visually engrossing, relevant to our contemporary society, and remains both humorous and emotionally gripping while exploring a complex concept. I appreciate all your hard work into the project and think you all should consider it a great success!

Project #4 Video Reenactment

 
VIDEO ART

1) Visit the website ubuweb and explore the many experimental films and videos available on this site: http://www.ubu.com/film/

Choose a video/film of your liking. Shoot and edit your own version of the chosen video/film preserving the soundtrack from the original source to be added to your video creation. This is an interpretive experiment. Be creative in how you approach this project! You can attempt to recreate or copy the point of view, camera angles, timing, subject matter and such in your original or creatively re-interpret. Your video creation should somehow reflect your chosen work. There are many hundreds of choices on this site - take some time to explore these many varied historical and contemporary works! (You cannot pick Fatboy Slim)

The minimum length of your video should be 45 seconds with a minimum of three cuts.

In our critique we will be viewing your original source video and your reenactment, please be sure BOTH works are embedded blog post as well as your Artist Statement!

Equipment and techniques: You may use anything from a cell phone video camera, laptop webcam to a high end HD camcorder. This is up to you! I recommend you use Adobe Premiere of Final Cut Pro to edit your work after capturing the audio with Snapz Pro X (This program is only available in the lab)

Your video is due, posted to your blog (embed through Youtube or Vimeo) by the start of class time Monday, March 11th.

2) Read "Chapter 2 Video Art" for next week, Monday, March 4th and post two questions on your blog prior to class time.  Research artists mentioned in the reading - find videos of their work where possible online as this will greatly enhance your understanding and appreciation of their works! Bring your camera and other supplies as you will have time to work on your projects in the lab.

Nam June Paik

Matthew Barney

Snapz Pro X and Adobe Premiere

Once you have chosen you video, open up the video player in your web browser.








Open Snapz Pro X (usually CMD-SHIFT-5) and select the Movie button.

 Move the selection box over you video. (It doesn't have to be perfect as we will be deleting the video track later.)

 Make sure the "Capture Mac Audio" button is selected.

 Open Premiere and Click "New Project

The New Project interface will open. Name your file and choose the location in which you want to save your file. (Mine will look a bit different because I am using older software, but the process is the same.)

Next, you are given the "New Sequence" options. You want to choose "DV-NTSC" (Digital-Video National Television System Committee) as either Standard48kHz (4:3) or Widescreen48kHz (16:9), whichever one you prefer. The 48kHz is the audio sampling rate.

Go to File > Import, and select your file.

This will import your file to the project window. Drag you file to the timeline and you will separate video and audio tracks. This is how you import your own video to the project window as well.

To delete the original video track, RIGHT click on the video track in the timeline and select "UNLINK."

Now all you have to do is hit delete and the video is gone. Drag your new video to the timeline and use the same process to remove the audio.

 After you video is put together, go to File > Export > Media.

This will bring up your CODEC interface. Make sure your settings match this image completely, then hit OK.

Use H.264 (MPEG4), Quicktime, or MPEG2 as your CODED/Compressor so it doesn't take 9 years to load to YouTube or Vimeo.

This will bring up Adobe Media Encoder. This program allows you to make any final changes to your video settings before rendering you file. If you followed the directions you won't have to make any changes except where you want the file to render to (as indicated in the image.) Click "Save Queue" and CONGRATULATIONS, you are a Video Artist!!!

UBU Web

UBU Web

In preparation for our next project, please explore the website UBU web. This page contains a large variety of video art pieces from the beginning of video art to today. Please explore the links and find some favorites. You will be using these for your next project. You'll probably find some inspiration for your animations as well!

Reading #2

Here is the second class reading. We will be discussing it on February 25 so please have your questions posted to your blog. Consider the ideas Bishop brings up in regard to the role digital media plays in contemporary art and how they relate to your work.

Bishop, Claire_Digital Divide by

Project #3: Class Animation and Sound

Tales from the Heart (An animated exquisite corpse, perfect for Valentines Day.) from Droolart on Vimeo.

Animations due Wednesday, February 20th!!! Here is how to proceed.

Instructions:
At this point, you each have an individual 10-20 second animation of your photoshop image. Now, you will work together to link all your animations into one big looping animation sequence! First step is to look at the student blog list after we look at all the animations in class today. Second, meet with the person in front of and after you to create an animated transition that will blend well between your separate animated sequences! Please remember, the expectation is 6 hours minimum per week on outside assignments, you should be spending 3 hours with the person before you and 3 hours with the person after you!  Make these interesting and feel free to continue honing your individual animations if you feel it might use some further refining (particularly after seeing the work of your classmates - if you feel as though your work doesn't stand up - make it better!).

1) Consult the Student Blog List.

2) Meet up with the persons in front of you and after you on your list.

3) Brainstorm/collaborate on how best to animate the transition between your works to create a smooth and aesthetically pleasing flow between your animation and your partners.

4) We will be making this piece to exist as a stand alone "single channel" video installation thus you do not need a title or credit sequence - the first and last person's on the list need to mix their start and finish respectively with each other so as to give the impression of a never ending, smoothly transitioning looping video that will go on forever!

5) Sound!

 
http://www.soundcloud.com/
http://www.freesound.org/browse/

Animation Soundtracks:
Working with Audacity, Soundtrack Pro, Adobe SoundBooth or another audio editing/mixing program of your choice create a unique soundtrack to compliment your individual animation segment.

The audio piece you will create for this will start with four tracks:

* I have selected a "drone" sound that you will all use in your animations. This audio piece will be stored on the first computer's desktop for your downloading convenience. Please do not alter this object as it will be a unifying factor in our final animation. You need to include this in your animation file as we will not be adding it on later

* One sound recorded using a microphone.

* The other two sounds are to be found/downloaded or otherwise appropriated from the internet.

Creatively mix your segment to effectively work with your animated piece - use filtering, repetition, Left/Right stereo mixing to assemble the best possible audio mix that works flawlessly to complete your animated sequence! Remember to create audio for your first transition and your original animation.

Two links to find inspiration from:

Cory Arcangel

Marina Zurkow

* Put your animations and audio together in Final Cut Pro. Remember to export your files using the Animation codec, 30fps, in a .mov file.

6) Animations are due Wednesday, February 20th!!! Save your file and number these "01 LASTNAME". Please upload your file to the folder located on the first computer titled "art_245_ani_whittenberger". This is essential so that we may edit these together! (Since this is a group collaboration, please be patient and flexible so we can successfully complete this project)