I Can Has Politics?!

Here you can find my blog about Canadian Politics which also features video blogs as well as links to articles I used as sources.

Final Project

In the later half of the class I began to focus my website on compressions and distribution of video over the Internet. In the end I created pages for different for compressions formats old and new and created videos that showcased the effects the compression formats have on video. On the front page of my site I wrote a statement that describes what I want to do with my website, This is a website about the texture of video and how the content of our video is always being altered and transformed by the format. I want to create video and animations that embellish the effects we get through compressing video and create content that speaks to tools used to share it. When using technology much of the process is incomprehensible and some times even unobservable, with the finally product being the only evidence of how technology is changing our video. There are many types of video formats and each of these formats contains a philosophy for how to recreate video. I believe video formats have a lot of personality; they have traits and priorities and favor things like movements over colour or fluidity over exchangeability. This website will be a mix of found videos I feels exemplify the characteristics of their format and animations of videos I create that play of the notion of compressions and embellish is to explore the personality of video formats. I feel that I have been able to carve out a small site that is starting to explore the effects of video compression in new ways and I hope to continue working on this website through the summer. I would like to both add more compression formats and pages to the site but I would also like to flesh out each page with more videos and writing on the format. I built my website with a friend using Dreamweaver, it was important to gain some experience building a website that I could see and adjust the code. I did not want to use a website like blogger or word press for my website, even though I think these websites are useful and have been used to create great websites I felt a website attempting to deconstruct the aesthetics of distribution should exist out side of the web we see on websites like blogger. I have learned a lot creating the website and hope to buy a domain and continue building websites for my art in the future. http://webspace.ocad.ca/~pm08kn/

~ OCEAN WAVE ~

Mandate and Exhibition Component (Arielle)

Ocean Wave was the name of the boat in which Bas Jan Ader carried out his final performance, In Search of the Miraculous (1975). The artist’s ill-fated voyage from Cape Cod to Amsterdam (Ader never did reach his final destination) echoes those of tragic heroes past. An element of myth is braided with Ader’s actions, just as likely a “sincere” attempt at encountering the sublime as it was a knowing framing of this trope using the methods of Conceptualism. More than thirty years later, the concerns that informed Ader’s practice figure strongly in the work of young artists. Our choice of name acknowledges this historical point of departure, the name of Ader’s boat taken from a centuries-old sea shanty.

The works included in Ocean Wave assess the contemporary moment using various and sometimes-contradictory means; Post-conceptual works take up Romantic concerns (the sublime, the melancholic, the cathartic, the fragmentary); an ambivalent irony is called upon to invoke the sincere, a quality that is supposedly transparent and outside of time; notions of techno-positivism and media-specificity are called into question in critical writing and provisional objects. Such questions are reiterated over three related components; a website, a printed book, and a gallery exhibition.

The group show will mainly feature sculptural works by participating artists. Proposed works include Kate Steciw and Gregoire Delaure’s paper-photocopy-objects Depth Mapping (The Mountain) (2011) and The Almighty Photocopy (2008). We have arranged to get hold of Bunny Rogers' embroidered jackets Long Day's Journey Into Night and Putting Away Childish Things (2012), manufactured objects that distill the themes of the books they refer to. Ethan Buller will also make his take on Bas Jan Ader's I'm Too Sad To Tell You into a physical object - a tissue box. Just as the web component will feature broswer and video works intended for online viewing, our selections for the exhibition are guided by similar concerns of finding the best forum for presenting each work.

Website Component (Mike)

The development of the website took place over the course of the whole term. We began with an idea of clustered articles and contributions on a map-style webpage. Eventually we decided this format was not intuitive to browsing (left/right and up/down scroll made the website clunky for traditional browser viewing) and decided to switch to a standard scroll-style website. Using Javascript, we implemented several codes to optimize viewing, namely a shadowbox code that reveals full articles when links are clicked on, and codes to stretch and shrink videos and images relative to the size of the browser. All links feature the title, author, a small excerpt of the article if possible, and an accompanying image. The top of the page features the tilde, which we have adopted as our logo (it reminds us of a wave) and link for an “INDEX”. This index will feature a list of all the articles, alphabetically by author, a link to the editor’s letter, information and contact information about the publication, and documentation from the IRL elements once they have been completed (print and exhibition.) Beneath the link is a sound piece by Steve Kado created for the publication, featuring the sound of running water, with a low sine-wave sound running underneath. One issue we encountered was the order of articles. We have decided to implement a system of randomized articles, so that each time the page is reloaded, the articles will change position. As always, there is ongoing discussion as we receive contributions as to where they will be best suited, but most of the text and video contributions will be placed on the webpage.

Print Component (David)

Since the grounding component of this project relied heavily on the development of the websit and the collection of content from each contributing artist, beginning the print did not take place until recently. That being said, the impetus for the print version of OCEANWAVE is informed by a critique of post-internet issues from a sincere and justified standpoint. This mostly came out of conversations with a few of the contributing artists including Steve Kado, Paul B. Davis and Jennifer Chan due to their expressions of anxiety stemming from relationships with the internet and online communities. These relationships, for Kado and Davis in particular, have been ongoing for a couple decades. They have witnessed and partook first hand in the ongoing developments of homogenization of the internet, as well was certain narratives of inevitability on the internet. It felt fitting that the print should reflect their issues with these online developments, and so through that we have been playing around with loose mock-ups of what the publication would look like. Firstly, the print will be made on legal document sized paper, so its size will be slightly larger thannormal. Using the folding method that was described by Judith earlier in the term, David has been arranging content from a small group ofr contributing artists over 8 pages. Since two of the pieces included in the print are unfinished writings by Paul B. Davis and Jennifer Chan, David has been using Lorem Ipsum as a dummy text substitute. The centerfold is a drawing by Bunny Rogers and the cover is our Tilde, which stretches over the front and back coves.
The mockup has been pretty minimal and text-heavy thus far, as the written contributions will probably be quite long. The text will be 12pt size and will be kept in 20pt wide margins, which should make it relatively easy to read and allow for an efficient use of space. David has also been considering including an image of each written works contributor. So, in the case of Paul at the bottom of his text will be a portrait that would be requested from the artist. Once the print is ready to be made, David will be getting the prints done by artist Jesjit Gill at his new printing project, Color Code Printing. The plan is to have the prints done with Rhizograph printing techniques using monochromatic color schemes (so, some are blue, some are yellow, red, etc.) These prints will be made and published in conjunction with the revealing of the online publication, as well as the aforementioned exhibition.

Contributor Bios
Jennifer Chan is an artist and curator currently finishing her MFA at Syracuse University. She lives and works in Syracuse and has previously been based in Toronto and Hong Kong.

Paul B. Davis is an artist and lecturer, currently living and working in London, UK.Paul pioneered the use of video game cartridges as an artistic medium and created the first hacked video game artworks. His Nintendo cartridge work was premiered in 2000, he formed the programming collective BEIGE shortly afterwards, and BEIGE members subsequently used his hacked Nintendo concept to create a distinct body of work that has been exhibited internationally. Currently Paul is a lecturer in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College and a PhD candidate at Central St. Martins.

Judith Doyle is an artist and educator based in Toronto. She is a founding member of
Worldpool, an organization of artists exploring early telecommunication
technologies from 1978-1981. Judith completed her masters in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at york University.

Caley Feeney is a Portland based artist and online friend who recently visited Toronto for a week long residency at DoubleDouble Land. Originally from Alaska, she moved to to Oregon and has since become a popular blogger and online presence.

Jamie Felton is an artist currently completing her MFA at the Tyler School of Art’s Rome campus. She recently completed her BFA in painting from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Abbe Findley is an American artist that exhibits work in both offline and online
communities. She is the founding member of artist residency Pequignot-Palace and currently lives in Northern Missouri.

Frieda-raye Green is a Canadian artist currently based in Berlin. Frieda-raye works in
video, web-based pieces, digital collage, sculpture, photography and other media. She actively maintains the internet image search aggregator Refine Your Search. Currently, Frieda-raye is dreadlocking comfort objects out of computer and cell phone cables.
Bethan Moonan Howard
is a British artist currently based in London, UK. She is a student at the University of Arts London where she will be completing her final year in 2012. Lili Huston-Herterich is an artist and curator based in Toronto. Lili completed her BFA in New Media at York University. She runs Butcher Gallery with Brad Tinmouth.

Steve Kado is a Toronto born artist that has lived in LA, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Montreal. He is one of the founding members of the Blocks Recording Club and The Talking Show. Steve currently holds an MFA from CALARTS in LA and currently resides in Toronto Canada.

Sofia Leiby is an artist and writer based in Chicago. She graduated with a BFA (emphasis in print media) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011, and is a contributing editor of the art and technology journal Pool.

Guillermo Ruiz de Loizaga is a student studying Philosophy at Kings College in London. Guillermo hails from Spain.

Jaakko Pallasvuo is a Finnish artist currently based in Berlin. He is a student of the Kuvataideakatemia in Helsinki, Finland.

Bunny Rogers is a New York based visual artist who is finishing her BFA at Parsons New School in Manhattan. Collaborating frequently with friends and
peers, she has recently completed her Sister Unn’s project that included
the leasing of a flower shop in Queens New York with her partner Filip Olszewski.
Kate Steciw is an artist currently working in New York City. She recently completed her MFA in Photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Britta Thie is an artist who works between Berlin and New York and has studied at The University of the Arts in Germany and Cooper Union in New York City.

Brad Tinmouth is an artist and curator based in Toronto. Brad completed his BFA in New Media at York University. He runs Butcher Gallery with Lili Huston-Herterich. Sarah Watson is an artist currently finishing her BFA in Photography at Ontario College of Art and Design. She is based in Toronto but has lived in Scotland.

The Cluster Method - Statement / Participation Summaries

Globalization is here. The ‘canon’ of the art world has exploded and name dropping has become harder than ever before. With over 7 billion people on this planet, the number of visual artists and the diversity they bring to the work they produce is continuously expanding. As technology advances, verbal and written languages are being compacted and/or eliminated entirely from aspects of daily life. Our attention spans are getting shorter, memorization skills are waning, and we are well on our way to becoming a largely image-based society.

The Cluster Method, developed by a group of soon-to-be graduating photography students at OCADU, is a proposal for a new method for dealing with this plethora of imagery. It is a way for us, as the creators, to hone in on our own curatorial expertise and aesthetic tastes to organize and reorganize inspirational works we feel that more people should see. At the same time, The Cluster Method serves as a visual segway for research, guiding visitors through images of contemporary fine art photography, photo-based, and mixed media works in a variety of ways. Images are organized by the user’s own navigation through both linguistic and purely visual systems of navigation. Each image posted is directly linked to the website of the artist or of the representing gallery, pointing them in the right direction to get the information they need.

Over the development of this project, we have looked at numerous sources to influence and inform our publication (noted at the end of this article). We have made use of Wordpress and iWeb as our primary platforms to build our site, in addition to consideration of the feedback we have gotten from various professors and students at OCAD University. Following is a breakdown of our individual participation in the production of this publication. 

For my personal role in this assignment, I assisted in posting images directly to the website as well as adding to the master list, clusters and compositions.. Furthermore, I helped in the creative process collaborating with my fellow group members on ideas to contribute to the development of the publication. I also worked on the email that will be sent to the many artists we reference in our site explaining the purpose of the cluster method. For the site we created several documents on Google that allowed us to communicate when we were not in class as well as organized meetings between class where we could run ideas and concerns past each other and work together to resolve any technical problems we encountered. I found working on this website a wonderful experience. I thoroughly enjoyed working with a group that was so dedicated, ambitious and productive in ensuring our brainchild could manifest itself into a working product by the end of this semester. Everyone in the group worked so hard to develop ‘The Cluster Method’ . I look forward to continue working on the site, as it is not something that will end when the class is over, but something we will continue to work on as we add more visual information to which the possibilities are endless.
-Meghan Vanderzwaag

First of all, I have to say that this has been the most productive group project I’ve ever been a part of. All four of us have been super involved and seem to have high hopes for our continuation into the future. Over the course of this semester, I have participated in a number of roles in this project: researcher, poster, editor, creative, brain-massager, debate-starter, and have done my best to translate our ideal image-based clustering method into the Compositions portion of our site. Working with numerous online Google documents, we were able to provide contributions to this project on our own time. Working in this manner has definitely enhanced our ability to collaborate effectively and we have a detailed history of process notes as a result. The end of this semester and final critique does not signal an end – Critique day is the day we launch our site, with hopes that we can begin to do great things for students and anyone, actually, who is willing to discover the amazing artwork we have to share. This semester I have been involved in an art education course, in conjunction with the AGO, which has definitely done its part to inform and inspire my participation in this project. I intend to pursue a career in education through the arts and see The Cluster Method as being well on its way to becoming a valuable resource.
-Sydney Taylor

The creation of ‘The Cluster Method’ has been the most positive and exciting experience from beginning to end, and by end what I really mean is the birth of our cluster baby; that which I feel we are all proud of how it has materialized thus far. I took part in researching artists, creating linked posts, adding to existing clusters and the organization and reorganization of the artists gathered into what we entitled “Compositions”. I participated in the creative process that got us to where we are now, which is a conjoined product of enthusiasm, productivity, and dedication from all contributing members. This included the many Google docs that were created and meetings outside of class time that we all attended, that were utilized for communication between us to figure out any glitches we may have come across. I also assisted with the email that in the near future we plan to send to notify and request formal permission from the catalogue of artists we have accumulated about our intentions with the site/publication (note the copyright information on the site). With that being said, I look forward to the boundless potential our project represents, seeing as we all plan to continue contributing long after the semester ends. It’s refreshing to have the opportunity to work with such creative, hard-working ladies on something we all feel has been beneficial for us; and hopefully will be useful to a vast roster of users, the more our site grows. 
-Tegan Tough
My role in the establishment of  The Cluster Method involves a lot of technical problem solving. I had some limited knowledge of Wordpress, CSS, PHP, HTML, and Javascript before enrolling in Digital Publications at OCADU. Working on this website offered me a wonderful opportunity to expand my technical skills. We knew that we wanted to create a photographically based index of inspiring art works that went beyond the usual classifications of portrait, or landscape.
I worked with my group members to discuss our goals for the design, interface, and lay-out of the website. I researched free Wordpress themes that lined up with our visual and interface goals for the website. Once we found a pre-designed theme that worked for our publication, I edited the CSS and PHP files to customize the site’s functions. We went through a few different Wordpress themes before finally deciding on the one we have now. I have added plugins that modify aspects of the site such as: search parameters, menu functions, tracking site data, logging user queries, and slideshow possibilities. I also set up official e-mails for our publications, each of us have an e-mail, ie. melissa@theclustermethod.ca. These small details present a professional, well designed site for our audience to experience.
We used Google Documents to discuss the site’s progress, and brainstorm ideas for our finished publication. These documents really helped us to collaborate and work together without being physically present with one another. Tegan, Sydney and I are graduating this semester. By using Google Documents, we are set up to continue collaborating after we leave OCADU. We have all worked together to create a website we are proud of, and passionate about. In the future we plan to continue improving the site by adding a catalogue of artists, contact artists we have featured, and more. I look forward to expanding my web development knowledge while we work on The Cluster Method as graduates of OCADU.
- Melissa Jean Clark

 

References:
Adams, Andy http://flakphoto.com/
Bram, David. Spees, Joshua http://fractionmagazine.com/
Brook, Pete http://www.americansuburbx.com/
Camp, Garrett. Smith Geoff   http://www.stumbleupon.com/
Currier, Danielle  http://www.noplasticsleeves.com/
Jobaon, Christopher http://www.thisiscolossal.com/
Hamada, Jeff http://www.booooooom.com/
Manovich, Lev http://manovich.net/
Rickard, Doug http://www.americansuburbx.com/
The Practical Art World http://www.americansuburbx.com/ __________________________________________________________________________
The Cluster Method Team,

Melissa Jean Clark

Meghan Vanderzwaag

Sydney Rose Taylor

Tegan Tough

http://theclustermethod.ca

My deliverables for the term...

trading card games (Where my project might be going)

I FEAR NO MANE (my humor based art publication) [+rough draft of zine+statement]

VVhording (revised, my first project, site map, etc.

- David Clark

heres my statement:

Originally I FEAR NO MANE started out as an idea for a zine, which was supposed to be about web art but has since evolved.  I FEAR NO MANE (a phrase coined by Andrew Power) is now a humour based art publication. The original list of contributors consists of Lucas Gordon, Andrew Power,  Manden Murphy, Theo Gordon, Corey Clark, Mitch Mcgoey, Daniel McNamara, Iain Mcphee, Al-Murray Lawson, Doug Back, Bijan Ramezani, Renee Dykeman and Myself. I have been in charge of pretty much everything since the beginning however I have recently passed on some responsibilities to Lucas Gordon Renee Dykeman and Daniel McNamara. Originally this first group of contributors were contacted because they all participated in the production of online art. As time went on we realized what we truly liked about their work was humour and thus came the shift in focus.

Jason Musson’s artist talk at the drake hotel was an extremely polarizing and revealing moment in the editorial process. We have adapted Musson’s theories and are using them as the framework for the publication. In short, he basically stated that “art doesn’t understand humour”, “simple ideas”, or “one liners”. He talked about how originally his Hennessy Youngman alter ego was created simply because he was “pissed about being in school”. We thought this was great because we were “pissed about being in school” also. The language people use in critiques and uber complexity  people approach art making with is what we are attempting to subvert with our humour.

We then thought that everything we were making seemed to have a sort of “political cartoon” or “meme aesthetic”. We were more about commenting on art then making art and so the next hurdle in our process was presented. We also were dissatisfied with the disorganization or work all being in one random pool. A model which we have decided on (in order to solve these problems) for this publication is a series of collaborative (and humorous) “projects” or “issues” which all address one idea . The first example of this is I FEAR NO MANE #1: Trading Card Games. (please see webspace.ocad.ca/~dc09fg/tradingcardgames.html for a sneak peek) the Trading Card Games issue deals with the concept of the commodity item and the dismal, yet intriguing Youtube trend of unboxings. Basically, the first component will be a site which contains a series of videos featuring various “collectors items” which eventually be lit on fire, hopefully enraging unsuspecting viewers. The second component will be a printed zine which features all of the best comments,  printed on the richest most deliciously textured archival paper which will hopefully become collectable  and contain some sort of stupid paradoxyl meaning. This is pretty much stolen from Luke Painters “K-Town” project so please see www.ktownart.com .

I’m thinking that the next issue might be a compilation of all the stupidest Facebook statuses we can find in between now and then and call the project Nobody likes this.

Sources:

Musson, Jason. Hennessy Youngman @ The Drake Hotel. Lecture. January 31, 2012.

Final Site: The Cluster Method

We (Sydney, Meghan, Tegan and I) have changed the design of The Cluster Method. It is private at the moment, but we will be launching it for our critique at 2pm.

Check it out (after 2pm!): http://theclustermethod.ca

Sneak Peek:

Final Project-- Liam Kirby

Final Project
Reading
teenfeelings.net/reading

            My project consists of a website, an application and an installation. The Publication proper exists as a two-part reading system, which presents a large, dynamically generated, piece of text at an accelerated speed. First an XSLT/PHP program generates text by on querying specific characters from 50 to 70 seconds of activity on the public Twitter feed (viewable at www.teenfeelings.net/tweet.php). This accumulation is then accessed by a lightweight application made in Processing, which allows a user to view said text on a word-by-word basis, rather than as a whole.

            The project was proposed as a system which would generate specific characters from Twitter and use them as unique access points to other open sources of dynamic information on the web. This became needlessly difficult, providing an extra layer of technical process, but allowing essentially the same result. My goal is to generate a piece of writing which finds its basis in both esoteric (specific use of initializing numbers and letters) and technical (the particular code and feeds accessed) logic, and using Twitter as the sole source of information fulfills both these categories. I am not particularly interested in technical systems which are impressive for being impressive technical systems. There is a general disregard for sophisticated or enhanced design throughout this project, from the lack of instructions to the default fonts (conceding, of course, that this is an affect in its own way).

            The PHP page came together fairly quickly. When approaching some kind of technical problem I try to steal as much code as possible from internet; starting with a set goal and then attempting to hack out a solution. There is no guide online for doing esoteric or generally useless tasks such as querying specific sets of characters from Twitter, but there is help for counting characters in dynamic text or some similar, utilitarian task necessary for running a normal website. It then become a process of making useful code less useful and more esoteric.

The reading application is something that would have been relatively easy to accomplish for someone with actual, hard-earned programming knowledge, but for me it was similar to bashing my head into a wall again and again. The program allows a user three options: reading text straight from the web, downloading text as a “.txt” file and loading a “.txt” file to read in the application. Once a text has been loaded (whether locally or after the 50-70 second load time) the piece is parsed and fragmented into individual sequential units separated by spaces, which are then cycled at a speed of 470 milliseconds. After struggling with the code for weeks I was able to get the application in what appears to be working condition, allowing for it to be downloaded and run easily as a distinct item on most computers (I am writing this before I have had a chance to test the program on any computer other than my own).

Both technological elements of the work present alternate views on what is, essentially, a coded reflection of a specific period of time. The webpage presents information as a dense accumulation of text, characters linked inherently to those surrounding, while the application forces a viewer into an immediate engagement with each new instantiation. As a publication (an object which has been both produced and released to some public) the work is inherently dated, offering a reflection or recollection on a period, rather than a prescient or dynamic experience. As the work is used, these temporal products begin to accumulate, allowing for a layering of physical signification. This is the key process of the work, the articulation of something larger, grasped from beyond depth.  This is a dialectical process beginning in my choice of esoteric numbers, extending to the limits and logics of PHP, Processing and Twitter and continuing into the users of said social network. Its use further complicates this process. This is why I view the publication as a tool or beginning for work, rather than an entirely compelling piece in its own right. This attitude also stems from a general mistrust of overly technical processes comprising the core of an artwork (after all, Mario Lopez says that technical logic is the logic of fascism).

The technical structure culminates in the installation, (hopefully, I’m not absolutely positive I’ll have a room to install in come Monday) which features two sets of work produced from two separate texts. Each element is positioned identically to its other. The methods developed in one set of work dictate the methods used in the creation of the other. This allows for dual tracts of sublimation, each processing separate chunks of temporal information. Importantly, the collections must be viewed in both general space and the contexts of art, forcing a puncture of implicit instrumentality (puncture, which assumes return). Ideally these structuring elements allow a floating play  of dialectic condition, ranging from the Gnostic to the technical.

            As a post-script I’d like to request that this text (blog post) not be used as description should we compile all the classes’ publications on a website or something. Like much the work itself, I’m not interested in extraneous explanation and, while the work is a publication, I have no expectations for it to be enjoyed by the public.  Enjoyed involving actual enjoyment here, not a euphemism for having accessed or witnessed or whatever.

Also, here's the code from the Processing application, in case anyone wants to do something similar and mess around with it. ::

String[] lines;

  int s = second();  

  int m = minute();  

  int h = hour();    

  int d = day();    

  int mn = month();  

  int y = year();

int i = 0;

int love = 0;

String file;

Button readbutton, loadbutton, savebutton;

PFont font;

void setup(){

  size(500,500);

  background(0,0,0);

  smooth();

  

  font = loadFont("Serif-30.vlw");

  textFont(font, 30);

  readbutton = new Button(350, 200, "Read");

  loadbutton  = new Button(100, 200, "Load");

  savebutton = new Button(100, 250, "Save");

  

  

}

void draw(){

 fill(0,0,0,255);

  rect(0,0,width,height);

  if (love == 0){

    loadbutton.draw();

readbutton.draw();

savebutton.draw();}

else{

  println(file);

  textAlign(CENTER);

   i++;

String completelin = join(lines, "");

  //println(lines[i]);

  String[] tokens = completelin.split(" ");

 println("before"+ i); 

  //fill(255,255,255);

  fill(255,255,255);

  text(tokens[i],250,250);

  

   //println(tokens[i]);

  println(tokens.length);

 if (tokens.length - 2 == i){love = 0;}

    delay(430);

}

}

void mouseReleased(){

  

  if(loadbutton.over()){

    println("load"); 

     file = selectInput(); 

    lines = loadStrings(file);

love = 1;

    

  }

    

   

  if(readbutton.over()){

    lines = loadStrings("http://www.teenfeelings.net/tweet.php");

    //file = "http://www.teenfeelings.net/tweet.php";

      love = 1;

  

    println("click");   

  }

   if(savebutton.over()){

      

    println("dl");   

    String[] downll = loadStrings("http://www.teenfeelings.net/tweet.php");

    

    saveStrings(s+m+h+d+mn+y+".txt", downll);

  }

  

}

class Button{

  int x,y;

  String label;

  Button(int x, int y, String label){

    this.x = x;

    this.y = y;

    this.label = label;

  }

  void draw(){

    fill(0);

    if(over()){

      

fill(255);

    }

    rect(x, y, textWidth(label), 25);

    fill(255);

    text(label, x, y + 20);

  }

  boolean over(){

    if(mouseX >= x && mouseY >= y && mouseX <= x + textWidth(label) && mouseY <= y + 22){

return true;

    }

    return false;

  }

}

Vlog: Video Blog

A blog is is a personal journal published on the web. It can be a personal online diary, or for the purposes of providing commentary, or it can function as online brand advertising of a company or individual.
The early 2000's were the start of the video blog. For example, blogger Adam Kontras posted videos along side blogs that documented his pursuit to show biz. His website is located here.

Steve Garfield, one of the first video bloggers declared 2004 the year of video blogging. He started experimenting with techniques and in 2004, released his own video blog. You can find his website here.

With the emergence of Youtube in February 2005, many blogging personalities were able to develop and be shared. Blogging personalities such as:
Jenna Marbles
SantagatoTV
Press For Truth
and notable activist Asmaa Mahfouz who, with her vlogs, aided in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Vlogging Organizations:

Vlogercon is a 2 day collection of round table discussions about the emergence of the future of the new medium created for meeting and learning from each other. Workshops are also offered at the conferences. The first video blogger conference held January 2005 in NYC. The vloggercon website also has an archive of videos from past conferences. You can find the vloggercon website here.

The Vloggies are award ceremonies celebrating achievements in vlogs and online video. The first ceremony was hosted in Sanfransisco in November 2006. Here is a link to the website.