This week we have continued to make good progress in our project. At the start of the week, Antonia and I continued to upload all of our videos from the last project into the Google MyMaps software. That is more or less where the project is now: it has 13 markers/clips, awaiting some fine tuning and for some more clips to be added. But for now, it looks good! There is something really exciting about seeing all of our videos all over the map, as it shows the diversity of locations in the story.
We also set up a google form for the content submission (and simultaneously the release form). Originally we were going to ask for a youtube link, but in Thursday’s class, we worked out that we could allow file submission within the google form. This is much better- as people can just submit the audio file and image, rather than having to edit them together and put it on YoutTube, which could easily be seen as too much effort, consequently reducing the number of people submitting content and generally lowing the success of the project.
Something else we are doing to ensure success is adding more content before we release the project publically. This means we are all getting three more videos/stories before Monday, so then when we put it out to a larger group of people it looks popular and more enticing to contribute to. I suppose one of the main questions that we have going forward is, how are we going to get people to contribute to the project? Especially if we are not asking people specifically, but just trying to market the project to the public generally. Ultimately, it is important that we identify what are people going to get out of contributing to the project?
Jackson discussed the project he had found for our group research, Out My Window. This project, which I have mentioned previously, focuses on life inside highrise buildings. Its interface allows you to pick a window as to enter someone’s home (in a highrise), where you are presented with multiple media elements (360 video, image, text etc). As explored in the research article Jackson found, users of Out My Window can “find other links that may lead them to discover further personal details of the character’s life story”. Every media element leads the user on a deeper path through the story the documentary is presenting.
This idea lead Jackson to the idea of creating a Facebook group and linking it to the project so that after people had either contributed to it or just viewed it, they would be able to be taken down another, more personal avenue of the theme. Originally he thought of a group on Facebook which contributors could join, and discuss their travel experiences further and give tips to one another. The rest of us liked the idea but suggested it could be less intimate- potentially just a page that people can like, as people are probably going to feel more comfortable liking a page than they are joining a group.
And so was born the Crash Course Facebook page. Still in development, what this page will function as exactly is yet to be determined. There are a variety of options, including a place to share more informtion about the stories from the project or a place where people can post travel tips and the like. As we get more content in the following weeks we will develop this page accordingly to make sure it is suitable accompanying material to the project.