Note: Considering this is an ISSUU submission, I have designed the spreads to fit an aspect ratio of 16:10 (The same as all Apple Displays) to make viewing online much easier as it will fill the screen space fully.

Extenuating Circumstances approval letter has been emailed across along with the low-resolution reference pdf.

Note: Considering this is an ISSUU submission, I have designed the spreads to fit an aspect ratio of 16:10 (The same as all Apple Displays) to make viewing online much easier as it will fill the screen space fully.

I’ve been stuck in such a rut over the past couple of weeks with Independent practice as it’s dawned on me just how close we are getting to our FMPs. I’ve really struggled to find a way through to the next semester to work on something that will last for 3 months and not run out of steam as well as being something that is actually feasible based on my skills and abilities.

I know that I want to go into something that has a web related outcome but I’ve been worried as to whether I know enough skills in the subject area. I’m feeling fully competent with HTML and CSS and bits of PHP but I really have no idea when it comes to JavaScript, Python, Ruby, XML. I’d like to work on a big web project over the 3 months of the FMP but I don’t want to spend more time allocated to learning new skills that I may or may not learn. It’s a bit of a risk to take and that’s what’s been holding me back with deciding on what can or cannot be done.

However, I may have had a slight breakthrough today. I’ve been developing with WordPress quite a bit in recent times and have had an idea of creating a media based blog that is visually pleasing and interesting to view. A blog that could automatically pull in all of my latest Flickr uploads and favourites as well as my Vimeo uploads and likes and YouTube uploads/favourites as well as my Twitter stream. Each of the named sites have their APIs (Application Programming Interface) publicly available so it is just a matter of mixing them together into the right concoction. I have this idea of a social network dashboard. This is all well and good but it’s very personal to me. It only really features my own uploads and favourites/likes. Then came my little breakthrough today. BuddyPress! The developers of WordPress have created a social networking plugin that allows people to register for their own profiles and enables a ton of social features to a site. This would allow other people to sign up and create their own visual grid of recent activity as well as seeing a stream of everyone else’s activity. It covers all of the heavy programming that would take an expert user months to create and enables me to have creative freedom on the way certain tasks are managed and styled.

I’ve been using WordPress MultiUser on That Design to great effect and this is just another step upwards. The idea is still very open at the moment but I’m feeling quite confident that I will be able to mould it into something with a direct approach.

GDNM itself is an example of BuddyPress, but it’s very much blog based. I’m looking to create something that is like a desktop of recent activity.

Today is a day of experiments. Coda is open, the juices are flowing and the files are flying! I will be uploading some of my web experiments to my web play area sandbox.joeallam.co.uk so check through the day to see what’s been added.

Since September of this year I have been keeping a total of how many drinks I have had, whether it’s alcoholic or soft drinks and whether they’re at home or out at venues. I’ve been doing it for a number of reasons: Firstly to see just how much I do drink (Alcohol and Dr. Pepper are the biggest concerns) and also as a way of seeing if I can stay on top of it and not forget to update it etc. I also have the plan to make some sort of information graphic to go with it at the end of the academic year.

It’s been pretty easy to stay on top of the list and has encouraged me to start to track all sorts of other pieces of data about the way I live but in much greater quantities. I’ve decided that from January 1st 2012, I will total a whole host of pieces of data and see if I can keep it up for a year; much like the photo of myself everyday that I did in 2009

View all the photos from 2009 in one quick paced video here

I’ve always been inspired by the work of Nick Felton and his annual reports and would like to work on something with a similar wow factor based on the sheer numbers within his statistics.

Back in 2009, Felton created a website called DAYTUM which allows invited users to create accounts and upload data in particular ‘Displays’. These displays would then create a visual graph of your data for all your followers to see. I had an account when it started but didn’t really stay up to date on it. Now that I’ve become disciplined in adding each piece of data when it happens, I’ve logged back into DAYTUM and have updated it with all my drinking stats from September.

You can have a look at my profile over on DAYTUM here.

That Design has been around for a little while now, but our website was always *Under Construction* and still very much in a testing space which is why we took the decision to make an official launch as a way of saying “We’re here and we’re ready!” Along with that, we also each made a poster that would commemorate the date of November 11 2011. You can view the launch page and posters gallery by clicking on the screenshots below.