Kaleidoscope tunnel

Olafur Eliasson’s colorful glass tunnel comes to life when you stroll through it one way, but if you look back over your shoulder, the panels appear black. The mesmerizing, kaleidoscope-like tunnel is comprised of stained glass triangles held together with bold, black piping. When viewed from one end, the tunnel is a rainbow of purple, pink and yellow, but the interesting one-way effect masks the colors from the other side.The Icelandic artist is known for engaging viewers in nontraditional ways by inviting them to interact with his artwork. He is known to incorporate air temperature, moisture, smells, light and walkways into his pieces to help guests more fully experience his work. In keeping with this theme, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art billed the one-way tunnel as “intentionally simple in construction but thrilling to behold, sparking profound, visceral reactions designed to heighten one’s experience of the everyday.”

Writing for the Web Module #4 notes

  • Maintaining your living content
    • break up sections of website
    • every piece of content needs to be reviewed on an ongoing basis

 

  • Content strategy
    • define exactly what you’re going to do
    • new and current = good for SEO and encourages users to return and keeps website relevant

 

  • Content governance
    • who should own what particular pieces of content + parts of website
    • specify who is responsible
    • distributed accountability model
      • subject matter experts
    • centralised accountability
      • communications team
    • characteristics of good content:
      • timely
      • accurate
      • authority
      • quantity
      • quality
      • relevant

 

  • Style guide
    • logos, colours, fonts, typography
    • how you want content written
      • tone of voice
      • headings
      • langugae
      • reading level
      • terminology, abbrevs, acronyms
      • phrases
      • lists
      • any unique things to organisation
    • how will staff know an update has been made? = Internal communication

 

  • Managing stakeholders
    • web team
    • subject matter experts (SME)/content authors
    • senior management
    • managers of other channels
    • legal team, marketing, sales, SEO experts, etc

 

  • Other digital channels
    • microcontent/other channels = consistency over all channels
      • email/newsletters
      • social media
      • messages
      • instore: signs, cash registers, personalities, is it the same as the website?
      • advertising
      • call center
      • text messages
      • packaging + delivery
      • receipts + thankyous
    • seamlessness

 

  • Becoming a better writer
    • read and write more
    • get someone to edit your writing
    • get content reviewed
    • think outside the box
    • look at other good content, eg competitors + identify what they do well
    • test it with users

 

  • Checklist
    • prepare + plan
      • know your reader
      • know your business
      • know your purpose
    • write
      • plan
      • structure
      • relevant
      • useful
      • accurate
      • credible
      • current
      • consistent
      • findable
      • scannable
      • understood by our users
      • interesting
      • plain english
      • tone of voice
      • active voice
      • present tense
      • keywords = find them through users and analytics
      • headings
      • lists
      • links
      • visual/audio/graphics = to enhance
      • forms
      • messages: personable + informative
      • SEO
      • accessibility
    • review + maintain
      • spelling + grammar
      • all words necessary?
      • reviewed by another person
      • who owns which content
      • plan next 12 months
      • content governance
      • define style guide

 

Meet Dorothy:

Have you ever been stuck in an awkward situation, praying your phone would ring so you could politely extract yourself?  Of course you have.  That’s why we made Dorothy, a physical trigger that makes any dumb shoe smart. Dorothy consists of the “Ruby” (a small connected device that slips into your shoe) and a mobile App that allows you to trigger a call to your phone from a fake contact (your “boss”) whenever you tap your heels together 3 times. Dorothy can also send text messages to your contacts with a custom message and your current location, letting them know exactly where you are. Soon, we’ll be working toward summoning an Uber.

I can’t even fathom how important this idea could be, how life saving. How many people have been in a situation where a timely phone call could save them from a potentially dangerous situation?

Definitely keeping an eye on this one.