Matt Elliott – Spring 2015 Class Blogs

Remix: April 7th

Matt Elliott — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 16:04:41 +0000

A bit of a struggle working on the project today since the computer locked me out but fortunately I already have my initial sources and ideas. The idea I’ve chosen to focus on is the Disney-fied Hercules story as if it were from Hades’s perspective. I think I could come up with something fun that captures through a instagram enriched twitter account the snark and plotting that goes on in the Background of the movie while including the other characters.

The sources I intend to work with are the 2014 Dwayne Johnson Hercules, the Heracles myth, and the Disney Hercules movie/TV show/video games. Right now I’m just trying to figure out if I can create it using fan-art or snapshots from the movie/TV shows.

Resources for Hercules Remix

Matt Elliott — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 16:03:44 +0000

Potential Formats:

Thebans community forum (second choice)
Phil sending snapchats or tweeting
Hades plotting and venting over twitter (favorite)
Remix including Herc as a teen

Links:
http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Thebes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267297/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney%27s_Hercules_characters
http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Heroes/Heracles/heracles.html

March 30th: Presentations!

Matt Elliott — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:57:50 +0000

Today’s presentations had a lot of similar applications, and the only one that seemed like something that I may use was the Twinery website and application. The cataloging of tagged text posts in that format seems very convenient for anyone who might find themselves taking on a creative project or trying to produce a story and keep track of details. I could see myself using it for any extensive writing project where I had to keep track of characters’ back-stories and associations. I think it would be at its most useful in a collaborative writing project or really any group project because it makes it easy to find information relevant to whatever information it is that you are trying to work with at the time.

March 27th: Presentations!

Matt Elliott — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 16:04:23 +0000

Today’s presentations had a hidden gem that I’m glad I didn’t miss. As I’m currently fumbling my way through learning how to piece together websites and code, the widget X-Ray Goggles seemed a perfect tool that I’m about to download immediately. The easy access to code and the visibility of the changes in real time is invaluable to someone like me trying to figure out what’s what with coding.

March 23rd: Presentations!

Matt Elliott — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:57:57 +0000

The website that seemed most handy to me was Videonot.es. I’ve had countless classes that require you to learn and write while following along with recorded lectures or stories and neither laptop nor notebook were really sufficient for making it a seemless note taking experience. Enter Videonot.es: this website would do away my desktop consuming habit of having dual monitors set up for projects and note taking. My using dual monitors has mitigated the problem somewhat but it also anchors me to a desk which is not always great for me. I could see myself having some frustrations trying to get the website to work with various video sources but ultimately I think it would be a boon. Now if only it worked with Lynda videos…

March 12th: Productivity Log

Matt Elliott — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 21:22:00 +0000

Oof, finally no longer sick so I can start catching up on my schedule.

What is Coggle? Coggle is a digital tool that allows for the user to create aesthetically pleasing notes that are open to being worked on by groups much the same way that a Google document might. The web-like way in which the notes are organized is very easy to look at and allows for an ideal way to brain storm and color code notes on a collaborative document. The Coggle application in the Google store had some very helpful examples including a minute long introduction video that does a fantastic job as a little quick start guide.

Coggle also has a Youtube channel dedicated to helping users make the best of the application.

Side note to myself: So far Coggle is very seemless and user friendly. It seems somewhat basic and I would have thought it not very useful but the reviews and user help available quickly turned me away from that notion. I think it’s also important to note before I forget that like many applications today, it is dependent on the user having and linking an existing Google account. (Which while not being a hindrance to myself, could potentially be a setback to new users.)

I’ve watched the videos made available by Coggle and they do make the application very user friendly and even link you to a TedTalk that goes into how having a mind map can be useful when developing thoughts and projects, and that Coggle provides a handy online accessible notebook that embraces the organizational style of a mind map.

March 4th: Project Schedule

Matt Elliott — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 21:11:00 +0000

3/02: Create a login for the tool (Already done)
3/06: Research what the tool does and how it works
3/06: Fill in the Writer/Designer Analysis Questions
3/12: Outline your web essay
3/15: Take screenshots to support your analysis
3/15: Draft your web essay
3/18: Draft your slideshow

Daily Post: March 2nd

Matt Elliott — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 20:56:00 +0000

The aspect that I found myself focusing on one the organization of the pages on the web essays. Any page that had clear navigation that was readily apparent and words that are paired with an appropriate amount of pictures. The only things that really got to me while observing some of the pages was that the navigation would be awkwardly placed or a long visual description would go unpaired with some image to reference.

A piece of information I want to focus on while designing my web essay is the specifics in describing and sharing an application that deals with visuals and interactive elements. I really appreciated the pages and essays that embraced the use of images, and noticed that any page that was more than 70-80% text was a bit daunting to follow. The blog addressing Editorially did a great job balancing text and images.

What I Chose and Why I Chose It

Matt Elliott — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 16:33:02 +0000

The application that I decided to go with was Coggle, an interactive online note taking app. I didn’t choose the application out of easiness or usability but simply because it seemed like it would be a useful tool for me to utilize in classes. There are a lot of cases where I’m note taking with a group before we take a project and we go to put our ideas together afterwards and frankly, all we end up having is a jumbled mess of duplicated notes that are completely unorganized. On one hand, I could do what most teachers recommend and turn to using a Google document and then just run with it from there so that the notes are all in one place. However, unless I’m working with other English majors I tend to find that most documents come out bland and disorganized when a bunch of people try to coordinate on one document.

Enter Coggle. This application seems to have some handiness that was built to compliment Google docs users by copying a lot of the usability features. The application blends the useful group sharing/group tracking features of Google documents and works with your Google account. The easy to use color coding system and the thought-web design of the notes that it helps you take is very user friendly, and great for collaborative or even individual work.

2/18 Daily Post

Matt Elliott — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 02:06:58 +0000

What I did

I cleaned up some of my syntax and added a page dedicated to my puppy. I mostly went over my posts and tags to check for consistency.

Why I did it

Adding more pages at this point would just clutter the blog. I added some pictures of my pup to add another personal element to the blog as well as build on the amount of visual content within the blog. as today is the last day of editing posts, i decided to focus on making sure the previous posts weren’t riddled with extra commas and missing periods while making sure the pages on my blog looked as they should.