In the last months I worked with people from abroad or with big physical distances. The first time I thought, yeah that is not a problem. Everybody has got an internet connection and that is all what we need. In my old company the Liip AG - who I worked for - their whole project management and file management systems were almost accessible over an internet connection. For this reason I could work from everywhere I want. I thought, that would not change in my future time, because the internet has solutions for everything. Yeah, I have to say that is true. But it was not easy to find the right tools and services for exchanging ideas, files, time schedules and other stuff for free. My projects are not so big that it makes sense to implement this infrastructures by my own. I found some free or at least some cheap services which you can use for working together with friends or other small projects.
Idea Development and Sharing
Creating and developing ideas with people, who are not physical available, is not very easy. Maintaining and extending are also two not very minor problems. In the last time I found a very good workflow for me and my friends. We do a telephone conference via skype and in the same time we use the service Mindmeister (Online Mindmapping Tool) and the tool Balsamiq MockUp. At the moment our solution works good and it is totally free with some limitations. A more professional solution for idea development and exchange may be the Service ProtoShare. Unfortunately, there is no real free pricing model available, therefore I never tested this service. Read more...
In the last months I worked with people from abroad or with big physical distances. The first time I thought, yeah that is not a problem. Everybody has got an internet connection and that is all what we need. In my old company the Liip AG - who I worked for - their whole project management and file management systems were almost accessible over an internet connection. For this reason I could work from everywhere I want. I thought, that would not change in my future time, because the internet has solutions for everything. Yeah, I have to say that is true. But it was not easy to find the right tools and services for exchanging ideas, files, time schedules and other stuff for free. My projects are not so big that it makes sense to implement this infrastructures by my own. I found some free or at least some cheap services which you can use for working together with friends or other small projects.
Idea Development and Sharing
Creating and developing ideas with people, who are not physical available, is not very easy. Maintaining and extending are also two not very minor problems. In the last time I found a very good workflow for me and my friends. We do a telephone conference via skype and in the same time we use the service Mindmeister (Online Mindmapping Tool) and the tool Balsamiq MockUp. At the moment our solution works good and it is totally free with some limitations. A more professional solution for idea development and exchange may be the Service ProtoShare. Unfortunately, there is no real free pricing model available, therefore I never tested this service.
Planning and Schedules Services
Sometimes you and your project members have to make choices or just finding the best time for an appointment. The services Doodle and WhenIsGood solve this problem very easily. I like the service doodle very much, because you can use it without any registration and you can make different kind of choices (timebased or any other).
Project Management Services
To arrange meetings is not everything. In most and even in small projects you have a rough imagination of a time schedule. This time schedule should be accessible for every project member in technical and visual form. Additional to this time schedule every project has got some documentation papers and project member information. All this information should be managed by a project management tool. A couple of project managment services are available on the internet. I am using huddle at the moment and I am quite satisfied with it. It has one free pricing model and the features are good enough for small projects. The project management services Basecamp and activeCollab are looking more professional and delivers some useful extensions (e.g. a Mobile Client Software). Unfortunately, there is no free pricing model available, only a fix testing period.
Coding and design file Hosting
In my case, we did many visual coding projects. For this reason we are using Version Management for Coding and even a Version Managment for Adobe Photoshop files. Richard Davey wrote a small blog post about it. I think the very well known free services are Google Code, GitHub and SourceForge.net. Using the SVN service Beanstalk in relation with the PixelNovel (Adobe Photoshop Version Management service) is a very powerful and simple tool, I guess...
(Short) temporal data storage
Sometimes you have to exchange some data files. That could be a file transfer from your university computer to your home computer or sending huge files to other friends (or project members). For private purposes, the service Dropbox seems to be nice. For data, which should be only available for a short time and the data is not top secret for other people, I recommend to use the common upload file services (thx Hugo and Anca for the links):
http://www.filebox.com - 100 Gb
http://megashares.com - 10 Gb
http://www.filesavr.com - 10 Gb
http://www.filezzz.com - 10 Gb
http://www.yourfilelink.com - 5 Gb
http://gettyfile.ru - 4.7 Gb
http://qshare.com - 4 Gb
http://depositfiles.com - 2 Gb
http://www.2shared.com - 2 Gb
http://shareua.com - 2 Gb
http://uploadbox.com - 2 Gb
http://www.flyupload.com - 2 Gb
http://fileshare.in.ua - 2 Gb
http://www.badongo.com - 2 Gb
http://rapidshare.ru - 1.5 Gb
http://getfile.biz - 1 Gb
http://www.megaupload.com - 1 Gb
http://www.transferbigfiles.com - 1 Gb
http://usershare.net - 1 Gb
http://www.filesave.me - 1 Gb
http://www.storage.to - 1 Gb
http://www.sharingmatrix.com - 1 Gb
http://dataup.to - 1 Gb
http://www.uploadline.com - 1 Gb
http://dl.free.fr - 1 Gb
http://www.mystream.to - 1 Gb
http://filez.bz - 1 Gb?
http://filebase.to - 1 Gb
http://www.savefile.com - unknown
The End
I hope you liked my short list of collaboration tools and services. If anything missing for you, check these two articles Work Together: 60+ Collaborative Tools for Groups and 10 Free SVN & Project Hosting Services, and a very good mindmap, or check my links for collaboration and project management. And of course, feel free to add a comment. :-)
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During my master studies at the Interface Culture department of the University in Linz I visited the great lecture SENSEWARE - How to Create the Experience's Architecture by Hide Ogawa. In this lecture we learnt and discussed how we can integrate and reproduce emotions + experiences in our technical-based environment. Furthermore, we discussed the roles of the different interactive design disciplines - e.g. Product Designer, Industrial Designer, Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Experience Designer etc. - and how they work together in the domain of SenseWare products.
Read more...
During my master studies at the Interface Culture department of the University in Linz I visited the great lecture SENSEWARE - How to Create the Experience's Architecture by Hide Ogawa. In this lecture we learnt and discussed how we can integrate and reproduce emotions + experiences in our technical-based environment. Furthermore, we discussed the roles of the different interactive design disciplines - e.g. Product Designer, Industrial Designer, Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Experience Designer etc. - and how they work together in the domain of SenseWare products.
For a better understanding how SenseWare is implemented in each culture, we had got the task to give a 5min overview of SenseWare in our country. In my presentation I mentioned mainly the religion background of SenseWare in Germany. Nowadays I think delivering experiences in Germany is mostly driven by media institutions. See my slides here:
Senseware in the Germany Culture
The second assignment of this lecture includes a presentation of current SenseWare examples. For me it was obvious to mention the great SenseWare work of Stefan Ulrich (Funktionide and Liquid Wall) and the well-known digital handshake experience Poken. The other students presented also very astonishing projects: Corpora in Si(gh)te, Sakura, Wishlist, Lady K Bag, Magic Wand, Juice Skin, Ambient Umbrella, Big Shadow and so on...
Sense Ware Examples from Germany and Switzerland
The final assignment of this lecture was creating a concept of an own development SenseWare. During this design process we should consider the japanese concept of Mitate! Mitate is in my opinion a very interesting concept, which could have a big influence in the design process of technical devices in our future.
Anyway, my SenseWare concept tried to map the virtual abstract data and behaviour of social network profiles in real living objects. That sounds first very abstract and theoretical but I think my presentation slides shows my points very clear. So please have a critical look and I am looking forward about some feedback :-)
Virtual Charisma Garden - A SenseWare Project
At the end of the Hide Ogawa's lecture I was very happy about the new inspiration and approaches from a Japanese perspective. Even the fact that our group was very international oriented (ca. 15 people from ca. 12 different countries - Bulgaria, Australia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Greece, Iran, Turkey, Slovenia etc.) deliverd a huge inspiration for my mind. If you would like to add some more information of the topic of experience design and SenseWare, please feel free to leave a comment. Thx!
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During the first semester of my study Interface Culture at the University of Art in Linz I had to write some papers about interactive art. My first papers dealt with the history of interactive art and continued with some different art movements in this domain. In some cases I am more or less satisfied with my papers. Anyway, I think every 2page long paper contains some interesting points for Interaction Designer, Web Designer, Web Developer, Web Artists, Computer Scientists etc.. That is the reason why I want to share my written work with you.
Please consider that all my papers here were an assignment for the master classes of Interactive Art by Christa Sommerer. My papers don't meet the requirements of a scientific work despite the fact that the format seems to be scientific. All my texts represent partly more my own thoughts on the different art topics, so please interpret my papers as a short essay or summary. My thoughts are mainly based on the first and second references, which are mentioned at the end of each paper. I highly recommend to read these references, because they are a very good collection for delivering an introduction in the domain of interactive art. Thanks Christa for this great collection of references and the introduction!
Read more...
During the first semester of my study Interface Culture at the University of Art in Linz I had to write some papers about interactive art. My first papers dealt with the history of interactive art and continued with some different art movements in this domain. In some cases I am more or less satisfied with my papers. Anyway, I think every 2page long paper contains some interesting points for Interaction Designer, Web Designer, Web Developer, Web Artists, Computer Scientists etc.. That is the reason why I want to share my written work with you.
Please consider that all my papers here were an assignment for the master classes of Interactive Art by Christa Sommerer. My papers don't meet the requirements of a scientific work despite the fact that the format seems to be scientific. All my texts represent partly more my own thoughts on the different art topics, so please interpret my papers as a short essay or summary. My thoughts are mainly based on the first and second references, which are mentioned at the end of each paper. I highly recommend to read these references, because they are a very good collection for delivering an introduction in the domain of interactive art. Thanks Christa for this great collection of references and the introduction!
Paper: Report about the interactive art exhibition feedback
Christiane Paul wrote an essay about the evolution of feedback and interactive art related to the feedback exhibition. This paper summarizes the most important aspects of Christiane Paul’s article.
Paper: The Passage from Material to Interface
This article describes the transformation from material to interfaces in the artwork based on the text “The Passage from Material to Interface” from Louise Poissant. Louise Poissant wrote about the quality characteristics of material and the transformation of material to an Interface. In relation to this transformation we discuss the tree constituting poles of art. A further issue is the influences of language pragmatics for art movements. Furthermore the text explains the requirements which an artwork must meet to be an interface. Another argument in the text is the function set of interfaces. Based on these definitions we explore the tasks for new media artist for our future life.
Machine Art and their influences for the entertainment industry
This article explores the autonomous evolution in painting to machine art. Photography has influenced this evolution as one of the first machine-based art tools, which are able to create a picture. In this context the text dealt with the role of the artist in machine-based art. The examples of the Video Synthesizer and the Software Art project Sketchmaker shows up this relationship between the artwork, the machine and the artist. After that we explores the influences, which some artworks had for the entertainment industry. Sometimes these connections and influences are more or less obvious.
Paper: Interaction, Participation and Networking Art
This paper is a summary of the essay “Interaction, Participation, Networking Art and telecommunication” from Inke Arns. We explore how the spectator is involved into the artwork and how the participation of art changed in the last 50-60 years. Furthermore, this paper point out the evolution of art and which role participation plays in the art context.
Paper: Interaction between Perception and Memory - Art and Technology in Japan
This paper is a summary of the text "Interaction between Perception and Memory - Art and Technology in Japan in the 1990ies" from Yukiko Shikata. This text will mention a short overview of the evolution of media art and interactive art in 1990s in Europe and how this influenced the beginning of interactive art in Japan in the early 1990s. Furthermore we describe the progress of interactive art in Japan, and which the most meaningful artworks are in the realm of interactive art of the Japanese Culture. Which influences the big disasters of the Japanese economics, the great earthquake and the terrorist attack in Tokyo had on the interactive artworks.
Paper: Telepresence: Automata, Illusion, and Rejecting the Body
Telepresence unites three themes of our intellectual history: a) Automation and the search for artificial intelligence. b) Illusion in art. c) Rejection of the body in concepts of spiritual or mentalist concepts. In this relation we will explore the notion of artificial life for the point a), the aesthetics of virtual realities for point b), and precursors of telecommunications for point c). Furthermore we will discuss how these three points evolved nowadays. In this context I will mention some robotics developments, cinema 4d installations and some new wearable technologies, which belongs to the domain of telepresence.
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The last blog post Flash Indie Developer Part 2 dealt with idealism and requirements. In this blog post we will discuss the most dangerous risks for your daily life.
Risks-Mind Map (Flash) Interaction Developer
A smaller or a bigger problem could be
diseases. If you get sick you might not be able to work for short or longer periode. You have to pay some bills for the treatment and your income will normally decrease. You can reduce this risk with a health insurance. In Europe it is quite normal or it is even obligatory to have a health insurance. I think health insurances are the most important insurance you should have! For other important insurance please check some web-portals about "
how I should start my own company" or something
similiar.
Read more...
The last blog post Flash Indie Developer Part 2 dealt with idealism and requirements. In this blog post we will discuss the most dangerous risks for your daily life.
[caption id="attachment_628" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Risks-Mind Map (Flash) Interaction Developer"][/caption]A smaller or a bigger problem could be diseases. If you get sick you might not be able to work for short or longer periode. You have to pay some bills for the treatment and your income will normally decrease. You can reduce this risk with a health insurance. In Europe it is quite normal or it is even obligatory to have a health insurance. I think health insurances are the most important insurance you should have! For other important insurance please check some web-portals about "how I should start my own company" or something similiar.
OFF TOPIC: Everytime take care if the goverment would support your new business!!!
Furthermore, a creative trough can become also a serious problem. You as an (Flash) Independent Developer have normally a great creativity and this is one of your strong USPs compared to a normal Flash Developer employee. But what should you do if you run in a creative trough?!
Keep cool! It is normal to have lack of creativity for a moment
Relax! Do other things which don't have a strong connection to your work
Try and use some creative methods (Brainstorming, Roleplaying or Six Thinking Hats)
If you are still in a creative trough -> Keep cool!
Find other opportunities which generates a new income, for instance: doing lectures!
During the process of preparing a new income possibility, talk with many people.
I am sure your creativity will come back after a while!
For me it is totally normal to have high creative periods and very low creative periods It helps me a lot to write down all my ideas in a book, and everytime I have a creative trough I can look in my book of ideas and get some new inspiration. That is the reason, why I highly recommend to manage your ideas. In this way you will be able to use perfectly your high and low creative periods.
The last and in my opinion a very often underestimated issue is the topic of inefficient working. Nobody or no person put a real pressure on you, and because of this situation we can easily appropriate inefficient working routines. Especially, for doing a research in a special topic, we can easily lost in the huge space of the web. Another point is the managing your daily life. For instance, you have to go shopping (buy some food or something else), after this you do a sleep, because shopping was so exhausting ;-). After the sleep you are little bit tired and you decided to watch a movie or a episode of nice TV-serie. Finally, after all these nice chill activities you realize, that almost nothing is done and the day is also almost gone... That is one example, the pyramide of digital distraction describes very clearly one of our other biggest risk of inefficient working. I don't say that you should not use social communities or chat systems (skype, twitter), but please define a outline for you! For instance, you spend the first hour of the morning for reading blogs and answering / writing e-mails. Then you started programming or working on complicated tasks. After that you will go to lunch. After lunch you start checking your e-mails for 30-60 minutes ones more and after that you go ahead with your complicated or less complicated tasks... Porter wrote a nice blog post about being your own boss and the problems with the motivation. Please feel free to read it!
Thanks and congratulation, who stayed until this end of the blog post. The next blog posts discuss the really interesting topics of an (Flash) Independent Developer life. Therfore, the next article will discuss our product portfolio and what is possible with each product. The blog articles after this article describes the topic "how you can use these products for generating your income" in a more detail. So stay tuned!
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After the first blog post of the blog (Flash) Independent Developer was a little bigger, this article will be smaller and I will discuss the requirements for an (Flash) Independent Developer. These requirements are not very Flash oriented, they deal more with the idealism attitude of the new way and what do you have to consider in the beginning phase.
When you decide to work as an Independent Developer, you will risk a lot. And this high degree of risk is, of course, strongly connected with a high degree of uncertainness in your working life. You should be able to handle this risky life, otherwise you should not choose the way as an (Flash) Independent Developer.
Mindmap - Requirements (Flash) Independent Developer
Another very strong point , if you can become an (Flash) Independent Developer is, which degree of responsibility do you have?! Read more...
After the first blog post of the blog (Flash) Independent Developer was a little bigger, this article will be smaller and I will discuss the requirements for an (Flash) Independent Developer. These requirements are not very Flash oriented, they deal more with the idealism attitude of the new way and what do you have to consider in the beginning phase.
When you decide to work as an Independent Developer, you will risk a lot. And this high degree of risk is, of course, strongly connected with a high degree of uncertainness in your working life. You should be able to handle this risky life, otherwise you should not choose the way as an (Flash) Independent Developer.
[caption id="attachment_612" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mindmap - Requirements (Flash) Independent Developer"][/caption]
Another very strong point , if you can become an (Flash) Independent Developer is, which degree of responsibility do you have?! Do you have a family?! Do you have a loan?! Which kind of obligation do you have towards other people?! All these responsibilities could be some obstacles, but it is dealable. All the things you have to do, prepare you for this independent life and consider that your income and your spare time will be very very low in the next one or two years. So you should spare some money for this time and prepare your friends and family for this way. So that at the end of your preparation time all people in your familiar surroundings know what is going on in your life and expection not to much from you in your business start time.
Last point and in my mind the most strongest point is the degree of idealism. Do you really want to do it? Yeah, it sounds very cool to be an Independent Developer, but it is a hard life (and of course one of the interesting life forms in our digital age). You must have a very high degree of idealism and love the things you do, so that you survive the pressure of learning new things all the time and work a lot. Maybe your usual standard of living will decrease, a car can become a luxury good or other consum goods like a big Flat-Screen can as well as become a luxury good. I think the lifestyle of an (Flash) Independent Developer has lot of similarties with the german movement of digitial bohemianism (German Homepage).
I think or I hope the opening stages is the hardest time and when you pass this period, your life should become more stable. In general, I think you should have a few years (working) experiences before you start such a big project. If you are studying at the moment, try to get some experience and prepare your for this way. The years of study are very good, because you have an amount of spare time, you meet a lot of people (for doing networking) and you are familiar with a low standard of living. In this period of life it is easier for you to make sacrifices. ;-)
The next blog post will deal with the risks of an (Flash) Indepentend Developer life. We will discuss which risks exist and how we can manage these risks :-)
