I’ve been having problems getting on to livejournal.com this evening. I don’t know if it has anything to do with them winning a webby award. Talking of webby awards, I’ve just been looking over the nominations and there’s someinteresting stuff there.
Particular web sites of interest include map24 – some neat software similar to multimap.com but cooler. iTunes won a couple of awards which I have mixed feelings about. I’m pleased that HowStuffWorks.com, Google and wikipedia got a look in.
But my personal favourite has to be The Access Project. This project won the webby award for net art and I love this kind of quirky thing. From the web site:
ACCESS is a public art installation that applies web, computer, sound and lighting technologies in which web users track individuals in public spaces with a unique robotic spotlight and acoustic beam system. The robotic spotlight automatically follows the tracked individuals while the acoustic beam projects audio that only they can hear. The tracked individuals do not know who is tracking them or why they are being tracked, nor are they aware of being the only persons among the public hearing the sound. The web users do not know that their actions trigger sound towards the target. In effect, both the tracker and the tracked are in a paradoxical communication loop.
They describe the result as artwork and I’m willing to go with that. Seeing as a breeze block with bird poo on it qualifies for art these days I think this more than gets the title. I think it’s thought provoking and clever and it weirded me out just watching it. The creators say they aim to raise awareness of “surveillance, detection, celebrity, and their impact on society”.
Moving on…
Me, djkoa and lauperr had our lunch in the park today, largely to give djkoa some fresh air because he stayed up ALL night finishing his Computing coursework! Laura fed the ducks and it was nice to be outside. Mr C didn’t crack as I thought he would 😛
lauperr and I went to feed the ducks (and evil nasty black swans) this evening as well then went for a drive. We saw a barn owl and a hodgeheg 😛
I’m getting increasingly bitter about the dates for Bourne Festival. During a dinner with the organisers, the Round Table, months and months ago, djkoa and I along with a friend,Libby, brought up the point that the festival is right in the middle of AS level and A-level exams and possibly before the GCSEs finish. This means the festival will be excluding a LOT of teenagers in Bourne which is just not fair. djkoa and I both helped out Nick Gomm with the sound and lighting for about five days which was lots and lots of fun! This year we can’t help out and I’ve found out tonight that Nick still doesn’t have any commited help for this year. Hopefully next year I will have the time to commit and I’ll be able to do it again.
Not wanting to end on a negative note, let’s think of something else. I signed up toe Friends Reunited today, perhaps a little prematurely. Looking at the page about Bourne Grammar I’m already getting nostalgic and I haven’t even left yet! I’m planning on putting up notices to encourage our year group to sign up so we can keep in touch. Only a week to go.
Friends Reunited have this cool system for making an avatar called weemee. This is mine:
