Monthly Archive for August, 2006

Mapping and stitching - Ele Carpenter’s homepage inspires

Ele Carpenter's homepage
Another unusual way to present a home page. I love the simplicity of Ele Carpenter’s design and it’s so effective. I couldn’t resist clicking on those enigmatic bubbles. In some ways it’s similar to Matthew Mahon’s site, both are like mind maps, which is interesting because I’ve been thinking of redesigning my own site with a more criss-crossy, mind-mappy feel.

Another interesting thing about Ele’s site is that the Research bubble links to her Open Source Embroidery 2006 project (see photo below).

The Open Source Embroidery project brings together programming for embroidery and computing. It’s based on the common characteristics of needlework crafts and open source computer programming…

photo of embroidered wordsIt’s interesting that I keep coming across connections between embroidery, textiles, dressmaking and women who create or write for the web. I don’t know why it should surprise me, the analogies are obvious - web, net, weaving, threads, interwoven networks, the computer and the Jacquard Loom… I suppose I’m surprised to find I have something in common with other webby women. My mother, Moyra, is an accomplished dressmaker and embroiderer and since I started making creative works for the web a couple of years ago I’ve had a notion about creating a piece based on our relationship, about what stitches us together. I must do it, once I’ve finished my other works in progress.

A few other links I’ve come across between women, textiles, computers and the web:

Noon Quilt

Web, Warp & Weft

Christy Sheffield Sanford interview in framed especially this reply to a question about perceived feminine qualities in her work.

And after looking at these pieces again, I can’t help but be inspired to sew my own pattern into the web XXXXXXXXxxxxxXXXXxxxx——///////\\\\\\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\———– x x x x x —- but I’ll use more than cross stitch. Much more.

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Photographer Matthew Mahon’s Fab Flash site

Imaginative, innovative and fun, Matthew Mahon’s site gives a great food for thought about how to present a portfolio of work and professional details on the web. The photos and odd bits of life’s detritus dotted around the place are also buttons and many contain lovely surprises. I particularly liked the animated way he interacts with his photos and the Matthew Puppet.

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Testing Performancing for Firefox

Now I’m testing Performancing for Firefox, another tool for posting directly to your blog as you browse in Firefox. As far as I can see it’s similar to the Wordpress Sidebar except it splits the browser window into two horizontal panes with the webpage above. As I write this I have the Performancing for Firefox Handbook open, which is useful. It looks more sophisticated than the Wordpress Sidebar and probably has more features. I’ll try them both for a while and see which I like best.

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Testing Wordpress.com Sidebar

I’m trying out the Wordpress.com Sidebar 1.2 for Firefox. I don’t know if it’s going to let me post to my blog straight from here, but that’s what I’m about to try. Here goes.

Hey, it worked! That’s going to be really useful. It means I’ll be able to view web contents and write my thoughts immediately alongside, then post it. I don’t know if I’ll be doing much commenting on web content (I don’t really know yet how this blog is going to evolve) but the ease of use of the sidebar may encourage me to go in that kind of direction.

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X is tense

Xroads + link = anxiety

Crossroads are extremely charged spaces. Here choices are made, fears and facts overlap, and the alien first shows its face: strange people, foreign tongues, exotic and delightful goods and information.

from TechGnosis by Erik Davis

The hyperlink sits at a crossroads. You have to make a choice to click the link to go somewhere else, somewhere different, perhaps somewhere strange. To click an unknown link you must be prepared to leave the familiar behind. Each click, each choice is a little moment of anxiety. There’s a moment of tension, a little thrill, perhaps a pause before you click - or maybe you rush into it, click-happy and reckless. But for X…

X is tense

It’s the fear of what lies beyond the link, beyond the door. Dare X open it? Dare X grasp the handle? The click of the catch as the handle turns the lock, the creak of the hinges, the groan of the wood, the scrape against the floorboards.

Click

You’re in an unknown space. What lurks here? Where will it lead? Will you be trapped? Can you retrace your steps? Or is there another way out, another door, another link? But to where? Click back.

Click your heels for there’s no place like home.

Click three times

No place

Home?

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