Final thoughts, and Rational

After presenting our site today in class, i am proud, and happy with how it all came out. As far as our design rationale went, it turned out completely different. WE first wanted to make an interactive site that the user could click images, and see certain sections of the zoo.

Instead though as a team, we made something that resembled more of a movie. It was still interactive and easy to get around, but we followed the simple, INTRO, HISTORY, OUR STORY,MORE INFO, and CREDITS. Along with the blog, we were able to put together a good story about the volunteers, and wayne at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.

Not only did we benefit by learning the software used, but also got the oppurtunity to go out and actually volunteer for the zoo. This gave us an in depth experience, to actually understand what our story was like. If there was one thing that I would do differently, it would be breaking up the work, and the amount of time we spent one particular sections. Although the errors we had were minor, we still did have to meet with roxanne twice for us to work out the kinks with the technology.

After doing this project, a visual essay, has become much easier to do and understand. I hope to that this can be a great piece for all of our team to not only have learned from, but also to be able to use later on after college is over, and we are in the real world.

Design Rationale..

So today is finally the last day of class and the day we present our site! The semester went by fast. We started off our project knowing from the first day that we wanted to work with the Roger Williams Park Zoo.
When we created our first storyboard we were a little confused, not knowing what direction to go in. We finally decided we would do a story and website on the volunteers at the zoo. We wanted interested people to be able to go to the website and get interested in volunteering. More than that though, we wanted to capture their attention with an enticing story.
We decided to go with Wayne, the head of volunteers at the zoo. Wayne was able to tell his story and point of view of the zoo along with how volunteer ism worked at the zoo. Wayne became the main story on our site. He was a great help answering all our questions, quickly responding to emails, getting us into the zoo for free, and sending us great pictures! Thanks Wayne!
Our team made two trips to the zoo, taking pictures, interviewing Wayne, and interviewing other volunteers. One interview I particularly liked was that of a boy our age who had been driving over a hour a few times a week to volunteer at the zoo. He came and worked unpaid and loved what he did because it is what he wanted to do when he was done with school.
We also got great pictures. We combined these photos and our music into sound slides. Along the way we had some issues with getting things on the site but Phil was able to figure almost all of it out... and in the end it all worked out.
From the beginning I think our team had a good vision of what we wanted the site to look like and feel. I believe we accomplished our goal. Good job to everyone!

Problem fixed

I was able to save soundslides onto a CD so we are ok. But the file does not start automatically nor does it have a title both which I had put on before saving so I don't know what happened.

problem with soundslides

I'm having a problem getting soundslides to work when I do the test run. All my pictures and audio has been loaded and setup but when I save and do a test nothing shows up. I'm not sure what the problem is here. Also when going back into soundslides to work I can not retrieve my old folder and have to start again. I have so many soundslides saved I'm not sure which is which anymore.

Our group was able to get a lot of things done today, with Phil's computer knowledge. Kevin finished the credits so those are up and running, and me and phil put together the pictures for the introduction page. Wayne sent Caitlin tons of great pictures from long ago that are going to be really good for the history page. It feels like things are really coming together.

See everyone Wednesday at noon...

Last weekend (too early in the morning) Tacy and I made another trip to the zoo. This time our focus was to video volunteers working with people at the zoo. We got lucky because the Boy Scouts of America were at the zoo and more than 50 stations manned by volunteers were set up. One video we taped was a boy who worked with the elephants for the last few years. He was our age and had been working at the zoo with no pay because he loved doing it and in the future wanted to have a career in animal care. Today Phil and I are uploading some more pictures to put on the website. We should be able to finish our site if we all sit down for a two hours and get errr done!

Pictures of Volunteers

We went to the zoo on Saturday and got some great pictures of volunteers. Sunday we are going to add the pictures to the website, and edit the audio we got the last time we went to the zoo of Wayne talking about various volunteer involvement.

In class today, we showed our website, the main thing we need to work on is getting all of our soundslides together. I'm working on the volunteer page, I believe the title name needs to be changed because it is confusing from what I got back from the feedback and the page is to long. we might put all the pictures in flash or do a soundslide of the various volunteers.

Come on

Hey guys,

I already assigned people to post on the blog, and it takes all but two minutes.

Since we havn't posted in over a week, i will give a brief blog. On sunday, a portion of our group got together and started to put together the website. We ran into some difficulties with putting not only graphics up on the web, but also installing some media. The graphics we got up and running with Roxanne on monday. The problem was the graphics that we had on the site did not have a folder set up in GOlive program. the media we are still having some troubles with, but will be sure to finish up and get ready for our final cut.

Everyone needs to come to class, there has been two classes now that our full group has not been there. Lets not forget we did pay for this class, and every day you miss, the more money you are losing. Also we should start to use the class time to put together things on the wedsite, and start to learn flash.

The three basic things we have to work on next are:

1. Putting up media on the website
2. Start to put together flash media, for the how to volunteer jobs, and the history.
3. Make media to put onto the website.

If anyone wants to get in contact with Wayne, and see if we can go and take more pictures that would be fine, but there is no I in group, and people have to start and have to learn programs such as GOlive, and flash.

Have a good week, and weekend, and i will see you all on class on monday night!

Okay, so on Monday we met with Roxanne during class about soundstream. She helped us cut our sound and put it into sounds slides. We have our web links working but are having trouble with all our images showing up on the pages such as the banner at the top of the page. The first cut is due tomorrow but we should be okay. We may have to meet with Roxanne if we do not get this figured out.

-Caitlin

Good job with putting together the slides. I was a little worried it wasn't enough, but after we went through the critique I was pleased. Roxanne and Mr. Foley didn't have much to say about us changing how we have it set up, so I think we will keep going with how we have our site set up. I don't know if they didn't say much because we were the last group, or just because we're so amazing (i'm guessing because we're so amazing).

The one thing that i believe we were going to change is the slide show about the different volunteer programs. I liked the first groups idea of making a "pictureview". This way the user has more freedom, and won't get bored with looking at three different slide shows. Other than that, we've been doing a good job so keep up the good work!

Also, i suggest that people take a look at the flash 8 book. we need to start to understand the program, and such.

audio tapes lead to ideas for pictures

Today in class we started listening to the recordings which Professor O’Connell provided for us. The material allowed us way to incorrupt pictures which we took from our visit to the zoo yesterday and other pictures to go back and take. We also started to edit some of the sound clips, which Professor O’Connell taught us in class. The website is really starting to take shape.

At the Zoo Plus More!

Yesterday, although very early, we finally made it to the zoo. as Tacy already emphasized, we now are able to start to put together our story. Wayne, put together an informal interview, that told us about him and his story. although we were not able to talk with other volunteers like planned, we did get the chance to here about the programs that the zoohas to offer.

Along with learning about the programs, wayne gave us the oppurtunity to volunteer at the zoo, and help us out with our service learning requirments. This gave us the chance to truly understand what it is like to be a volunteer, but also the ability to see what his service involves.

The only main problem with the pictures that we gathered, is that the pictures were taken from a distance. We wern't really able to get up close and personal pictures of the "docents" as they are called working, and communicationg with the animals.

I am hoping that with the pictures that Professor O'connell has will be able to fill this void, and any other candid's that we are able to get from the website.

Startubg monday, we will be able to use our mock-ups and take any raw material to try and edit together and make our flash website!

Good Job Everyone!

At the zoo

We went to the Zoo today for our interview with Wayne Wohlschlegel. He was very helpful in providing information about the various volunteer opportunities. We even got in on the experience by helping clean up a workshop space. Wayne discussed his history, what made him start volunteering at the zoo and how he became the manager of volunteer resources. We recorded the interview on Phil’s camera and have a number of great quotes to use of him describing the volunteer activities and involvement in the zoo.

We walked around the zoo and took pictures of the animals. It was cold outside so we did not see a lot of animals in actions many of them were sleeping in their warm shelters. We were lucky in seeing an elephant being bathed by volunteers. The footage which we have collected and the footage with Professor O’Connell is providing for us will make our project interesting and informative of the volunteer opportunities which the zoo has to offer.

In class Monday we will pick out the pictures which we will use in the essay and start cutting up the interview of Wayne Wohlschlegel. We will be using Flash and the non-designer’s web book as a guide during the class.

Visiting The Zoo

I sent out an e-mail to everyone, just to remind everyone to meet at North Campus on sunday at 9:00. Everyone is to bring any form of technology such as cameras, and things that are for audio. We should be able to get some good content, and start to get some good raw data for our story. Just remember this isn't just a regular interview, and we may even plan on visiting the zoo another day if there are other days we can get some volunteers in action. See everyone there!

project zoo updates

We have assigned a time to meet at the zoo for Sunday morning. We are meeting with Wayne, the director of Volunteers. Hopefully once we meet with him or another volunteer will help us get some great footage and audio for us to include in our site.

We also now have the template for our site, thanks to Tacy. Now we have a strong idea of what the site will look like throughout.

During class we looked through the Flash 8 Bible to get familiar with the software...it's pretty lengthy...it will really come in handy when developing our site.

Planning a trip to the zoo

We have contacted a volunteer at the zoo and are in the process of picking a date and time where we can all go and meet him. During the interview we will ask him about what he does and why. We are going to film the volunteer answering our questions. We also changed the format of our project from the map of the zoo to a simple storyboard where the user can click on an exhibit to learn more about it.
-kd

Lets Start to Focus

So that other members of the class can comment. I tried to post a comment to your blog but was prevented because of your settings.
Here is my comment:
It would be nice if when you say you were doing something wrong and now you are doing it right if you expanded on that a little... why was it the wrong approach? There needs to be more thinking and reflection in your blog... Also - it's March 3... You haven't posted anything since Feb 26. There should be several posts a week. Do not leave this to Mondays. There are enough of you to coordinate this.
- RO

On track

So I talked to the volunteer manager, Wayne, about working with a volunteer to cover our story. He suggested a boy, who is a senior in high school, and works 12 hours a week in animal care. Wayne said he would pass on our information on the project and get back to us ASAP. Hopefully he does! I will write more on this when he contacts me again. Today in class we finalized the markup. At first we did it totally wrong but after meeting with another group we redid it and finally got it right. As soon as we talk to the volunteer everything will fall into place :)

Saki Monkey

Here is my story based on a Saki Monkey's journey to Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI. It may not be good but here goes:

I hail from the large forests in the Amazon. I am a male, which you can tell because my face is disctinctly white. Females show white markings on their faces but do not have all white faces. I am also larger than females.

As the villagers cut down more and more trees our source of food and our homes dwindled. We get our fruits, seeds, buds and vegetation from those trees. We live in the trees. My mother and father were brought into captivity, since they were forced out of their home. I was not born in the wild, rather I was born at Roger Williams Zoo.

It is a good thing us Saki Monkeys are known to be so versatile. We are able to survive in a variety of habitiats. Luckily, there are a handful of other Saki Monkeys at my new home. I love to play with them and my mother tells me stories of being in the wilderness and having many close monkey families.

The zoo is fun, I have people to play with, many trees, always have food, and I will probably live to be 35 years in captivity instead of 15 years in the wild!

I hope you come play with me soon!

Caitlin Foley: Visual Media

Major problem!

The zoo will not help us with any additional information that we need. I called the public relations office of the zoo and spoke with Julie Gundy. She informed me that they can not help us with questions or materials which we will need for our project. Trainers are not available for interviews and do not have the time to talk with us. The zoo is under staffed and can not donate any time to helping us with our project. The zoo does not allow any behind the scenes footage to be taken which we were hoping to include in our site. This is a big problem, come Monday we may have to come up with a new organization, or think of a different way to approach the site. We may still be able to contact volunteers and get interviews and stories from them by talking to the volunteer office. This way we just have to change the target audience of the site towards volunteers. Hopefully after Monday everything will be worked out.

Tacy Chambers: Visual Media

Lets get moving!

Hello group,

Today in class we had to start brainstorming ideas, and start to think about how we are going to set up our flash site. The ideas that we have so far are:

~Video Interviews with the Trainers- What they do on a day-to-day basis, talk about there job
~Tell about some of the animals-If they have any hardships? what are the "star" animals/exibhits
~Volunteering, and the importance of this
~The different sections of the zoo
~A link with any news about the Zoo
~History of the Zoo
~Programs offered
~Contact Information/Directions/Price of admission/Hours
~Credits


We also talked about keeping the intro. short and simple, since some don't enjoy the intro, or in fact skip it.

Some ideas we are having for the HOME page is having the background be the map of the zoo, and if you click on certain areas then it will take you to a new page.

These are some great ideas! just keep on thinking, and keep on giving more ideas!

Finally, now that we have put together some really good ideas, we need to start to think about the specifics. We are meeting on Wed., where we will put together our purposal, and start to do the story board!

have a good couple days!
See Ya'll Wed. at 5:15 North Campus.

Phillip Yacouby-Producer

We Have a BLOG!

Hey ladies and kevin (haha),

I finally got this blog up and running! to get us started lets just go over the positions and who is taking care of them:

Producer- Phillip Yacouby
Researcher- Kevin Dittimier
Visual Media- Caitlin Foley
Audio Media- Tacy Chambers
Writer- Kylee Scotto

In our first meeting we decided on our client is going to be The Roger Williams Zoo. We have to start brainstorming, and putting together ideas which will go in to the production of the website we put together.

As far as this blog goes, this will help our group in three ways by discussing ideas, talking about what is done, and for problem solving. So with this in mind, when you are done with something we discussed as a group, go onto the Blog and write down what you did, tell about any problems or questions about what was done. Be sure to use this tool to our advantage, and put your thoughts down, so we can communicate to each other as best as possible!

Keep thinking of new ideas, and working hard!

Phillip Yacouby-Producer