Journal

Mike - Home for the Elderly
What associations do you have with the word 'home'?

I took this picture at a home for the elderly in Bangkok. An old woman, apathetic despite the presence of the camera, sitting on a thin plastic mattress in a dark cell, which is not larger than maybe two square meters, looking through the net into the other empty cell, shielded from the light of a bright sunny day, grunts of other people and the smell of warm urine in the air. The floor is relatively clean, but this is an old building, the decayed walls tell. It looks cold although it is thirty-one degrees; there is no air-conditioner. The heavy sliding door is open, but the woman won't come out and take a walk, or just talk. All she does is clap and sing the Thai national anthem with a smile on her face, over and over again. The woman is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and will spend the rest of her life in this cell, because there is no family to take care of her. She was put into the hands of strangers, and what's even more striking: She doesn't even realize because of her disease. Maybe that's the reason why the inmates in this ward receive only minimal attention.

The woman once had a family. She worked. She was someone. She lived. Now the circle of life closes, she needs care like a baby because she can't do anything herself, just like all the other elderly in this department. Her whole life is now restricted to two square meters. Eating, sleeping, washing, defecating, all in this cell. Her home.

Not only is this picture iconic for the way our society changes. The younger generation loses their connection with the senior members of our society. What's almost the norm in Western countries becomes more and more apparent in Asia as well, which therefore sees the stereotype of a caring extended family being weakened.

This image is also look into your future, which makes you think once you leave the state of speechlessness. Anyone could end up like her. There is no guarantee that someone will take care of you later. And what have you done?

Mike - Take a Look behind the Scenes of the New Shadowness
Yesterday Meng, the Shadowness guy, gave me the chance to check out the design of the all-new Shadowness 8. In return he forced me to interview him and post the interview uncensored. Let's take a look behind the scenes and discover the concept, the technology, what's new and how Meng's brain is wired. (ok Meng, you can take the gun down now XD)


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In a nutshell

"The idea of followers is very essential to the new version. You follow because you subscribe, and you build your fan base which is the most important thing for an artist."

"The new concept is an open and promotional-driven portfolio community. Everything will be by the power of the users."

"We offer micro blogging for artists; collections will serve as a platform to gather resources and post as a blog or microblogs. RSS-driven. Users will be able to submit updates across websites: multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook, RSS."

"I just want to offer the best and easiest to use tools and anticipate ways to promote as much as possible. The biggest deployment is to open it to Twitter and have a language/format that bloggers, Facebook and Twitter understand, making it easier for artists to share their posts."

"The beauty of the new Shadowness is that you don't have to post images. You can post links, and credit to other people's work, create a collection for yourself. You don't have to be talented to be interesting."

The site will go live "hopefully in a month."

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Mike: When I see the screenshots, Shadowness 8 reminds me of Twitter. Take the expression 'followers', for example. Is that intended?

Meng: The idea of followers is very essential to the new version. You follow because you subscribe, and you build your fan base which is the most important thing for an artist. A lot of communities use that now. Twitter is directly integrated to Sn, it wouldn't be wise to change concepts.




What's the concept of the new Shadowness?

The new concept is about open and promotional-driven portfolio community. Everything will be by the power of the users. Focus on our strengths, but be very open. No longer will it be a closed community like any other art community. Instead, it will be very RSS-oriented, following-based, quality content and promotional to personal sites of artists.




How can you assure that its quality content? Will there be a rating system or pre-approved elites?

No, there will be report/flag. But essentially, I want to promote simplicity through "liking" or not liking. Should be as simple as that, follow or unfollow.




The screenshots suggest that you can sign in with your Twitter account.

Yes. The new Sn need to make sense to the simple-minded users like your mom. Borrow languages from generally adopted social communities like facebook and twitter and also make sense in real life like to people who don't understand computers all that much.




Back to the roots, nice and simple.

Yes. It's all about the artists and the artworks. How he performs, how he promote himself etc. That's why there is a link to his personal website everywhere.




So if you want to sum it up, what are the unique features of SN?

Micro blogging for artists, collections will serve as a platform to gather resources and post as a blog or microblogs. RSS-driven. Users will be able to submit updates across websites: multiple twitter accounts, facebook, rss. Still portfolio-oriented. Simpler customizations but more efficient. easy to organize collections and exactly how they want to to showcase their portfolio.




So its all about building a fanbase and keeping your fans up-to-date?

Yes, that and the promotional aspect. Because posting to twitter and facebook will generate much traffic and attention. There's a third role. A bit more secret right now.




Any chance of getting a sneak preview? For my fanbase who'll read the interview ;)

The third role is: no ADs and offer tools to go more commercial. Like hotlinking to your store from your artworks. Selling royalty, building stocks collections.




Helping you dragging clients to your own sites.

Yes. Like i said, it's not gonna be a closed community. It's gonna be very open.




So its like yellow pages for artists?

Yes, possibly. Artworks will be linked to the artist's space. And he controls his navigation up top. From there, you can also follow that artist because his badge is present everywhere.




Will you display similar artworks from other artists on the artwork page ("you might like this one as well...")?

Probably not. It's the artist's space but it's something to think about.




Maybe that's something for the admin to choose for a box on the homepage, like promoting less-popular but good artists.

Yeah... So, what do you think of the design?




It's the classic sn colors, it looks neat. Clean and simple for my mom. And unique I think.

Cool. It's the first time I'm planning all the features ahead and so for the design as well.




But users will be able to customize the profile pages?

Yes, the background image, eventually themes and the artworks background image as well as the badge.




Back to the feedback: I think its a solid site. Not overpacked with features where it takes a long time to get used to, I like that. Maybe a good feature would be a resizer, where people can resize/rotate/adjust an artwork to use as a wallpaper on their desktop or cellphone. So the artist uploads only one high resolution image and the users customize it for download.

Good point. I was going to do that. There will be "buy" or other options to the artist's discretion. Btw, we bring back the concept of subscriptions. No ads, subscription for more options and visibility. And I emphasize on VISIBILITY.




What do you mean by more visibility?

Like customizing your badge is a visibility. Posting your artworks and it shows bigger than others, customizing your artwork background, have special options to sell etc., and of course, host larger images.




Will there be the classic SN homepage with latest pictures, features, news etc?

Yes. The likes page actually to show the top. But in term of newest, it's gonna be in "updates".




Will you have a page with recent activities? From all artists?

Yeah in "updates", you can filter there. "Updates" or should it be called "posts" is like a public timeline of everything.




Because i was just thinking, if you don't have a fanbase yet the artworks should be displayed on a "browse" page or so, otherwise people can't find you

Oh, there will be a Find people. Import from gmail etc. and also, when you start following people, they naturally will follow you back. Hopefully like on twitter. Because that's how it gets friendlier.




But then people have to actively search for that user.

Oh, people won't search. it's right in their face ;) Likes, collections, updates. Can't be clearer to search for amazing artists to follow.




So SN doesn't have the classic frontpage of an art community? (like, compared to dA)? More like twitter?

Deviantart's problem is the home page for logged artists. It should be deviantwatch. As for new users, in the home page, we have "likes" posts. People will be wowed by 1) the size of the artworks 2) the ability to scroll down in an iPhone or blog style.




What would you say to a "shadowness universe" where all (and i mean all) artworks are displayed as very small thumbnails and you can browse one huge wall of images randomly? Like a mosaic?

Thumbnails view is for power users imo. For your mom, you want to see the biggest size possible of interesting posts. Like i said, the brain has a hard time to capture everything at once. And by doing so, you also limit participation. By having a scroll view, you focus on one, go to the next, or stay and comment/click. Like on facebook, you know? Or on twitter if you will or on blogs. You don't read blogs squares by squares. You read from top to down. But that doesn't mean we can't have a mosaic view for power users.




I don't know how other users think about this but sometimes I just want to browse like in a museum but not be limited by the amount of thumbnails. I just want to see it all, and find interesting things. I also dont like clicking "next" buttons lol just a wall of stuff that loads automatically when you reach the end.

That's a good point.




One question that a new sn user will have: How can I build a fanbase? The way you said sounds like the users themselves have to become active.

By following, and importing contacts, obviously posting and commenting. The beauty of the new Sn is that you don't have to post images. You can post links, and credit to other people's work, create a collection for yourself. You don't have to be talented to be interesting.




So you can build a fanbase by sharing the collection with others?

Yes. Collections are not exclusive to the artist's, just like blogs aren't always about the blogger. So people will get more followers if they post interesting things.




Not just images but collections, links, blog entries etc.

Yes. You got it. It's an open community, that's the concept of open.




Yeah you know I'm like my mom :P

Well, this site is tailor made for you :p




So the community members promote themselves.

Yes sir.




Now I ran out of questions.

I just spent an hour with you. You better have something awesome to write about ;)




Oh right, the technical aspects. Whats the technology you use

php/mysql/ajax/jquery/moo/prototype javascript, rss obviously.




Where do you see the new SN in terms of community size?

I don't think too much about it, I just want to offer the best and easiest to use tools and anticipate ways to promote as much as possible. The biggest deployment is to open it to twitter and have a language/format that bloggers, facebook and twitter understand, making it easier for artists to share their posts.




Will there be something like a facebook application?

Yes if i know how. But yes, Mike is gonna write it ;)




My mom :P

Yes. And Matt Parkman from heroes will write my iPhone app.




Awesome. Yeah that's another point: So there will be an iPhone app. Any other platforms?

No, just apple and facebook and twitter. The iphone app and facebook app will come later though. Focus on a GOOD social utility first, then expand.




Apart from images, will users be able to upload other artworks as well? Like videos or flash?

As "Credit" yes. Videos embed from youtube as "Link". So essentially like facebook.




When do you think will the site go live?

Once i finish the wireframes of all the pages I want to do and actually start working on it i will know. But, hopefully in a month or so for everything.




Oh another question.

Damn, you're a curious one.




If you sign in with your twitter account then all your followers will also be imported? So you don't start with 0 followers on sn?

I don't think you can import followers, so no. You can invite them though through gmail, hotmail, yahoo, aol/aim.




A question for more emotional readers: how do you feel about the new sn? is there any difference to when you designed the other versions?

The fundamental difference is in the planning and confidence in my work. I have never planned the features this much ahead. same for the design and the usability. As an artist grown into user experience designer as a career, i feel very passionate about the common sense behind the use of social websites and interface design. There's a sense of confidence and peace in this one that I've never felt before. the passion remains, but i've wised up!




What would you say is the most important thing you have learned from the other sn versions? What's the most valuable experience?

What I learned from shadowness is passion in your work, listen to your people. how i wised up is basically take the time to plan things well -- always look for better ways to organize and inspire yourself. Artists are known for being a bit more moody and chaotic than the usual type. I think with time and experience, they learn to organize themselves and become better designers of their environment and the way they pose themselves to other people -- commercial or not.




Whats the most valuable piece of advice you ever got from an sn user?

Simplicity is god - Chris Dang




Has sn changed your life? It certainly has changed mine...

I am where I am thanks to Sn. I built my career and confidence on top of it. I became an entrepreneur, a user experience designer and most importantly, I knew people that changed my life forever. In fact, most of my friends and real life friends came from Sn and they are amazing people -- people who I admire and cherish most after my family of course.




Is there anything you want to say that I haven't asked yet?

If I had, it would be an hour ago ;)




All right, then I want to thank you for your precious time and giving me the opportunity not only to take a look behind the scenes of shadowness but also inside the head of its creator. Do you think that's a good round up?
Yeah that sounds awesome.


I bet I delayed the launch of sn for one day lol
I'm really eager to read the interview. And don't censor.
Never.
Ah, now I have to rethink of my launch date hehe. Just keep in mind it's a work in progress.

Mike - Honeymoon on the Maldives
Yesterday Adia and me just came back from our honeymoon, which we spent at Chayaa Reef Ellaidhoo resort, North Ari Atoll, Maldives (almost four months after our wedding in Germany and two months after the Thai wedding ceremony lol). As you can imagine we brought lots pictures as souvenirs for you guys :D I uploaded the first ones (some are in wallpaper format) to my gallery already and many more will follow.

In the meantime, check out the (smaller) ones I uploaded at flickr. There you'll find underwater shots of the reef, photos of the islands and of Malé, the capital of the Maldives.

For the ones who want to know where the place is exactly I also uploaded the pictures to Panoramio. However, Google Maps/Google Earth seems to have an outdated map of that area because the resort looks totally different now with water bungalows and a new restaurant as well as some other new buildings.

We also shot a couple of underwater videos, which we'll submit to Youtube once we've finished processing them.

Enjoy :)

Mike - Wedding in Thailand
After a lot of work in the past two weeks ~adiar and me finally found the time to upload some pictures from our wedding in Thailand, where we tied the knot even tighter on February 21st :D

These were taken during the wedding reception at the Amari Atrium hotel in Bangkok.

Mike - Wedding
All we can say now is that the wedding yesterday was awesome! Here are some pictures:



The castle where we got married. Sunshine but still -6°C (that's because there were a lot of cool people) XD



Last preparations on the way to the castle.



The room in the castle where we got married. Adia, me, two witnesses, the interpreter and the officer.



Adia and me on the way out of the castle after the marriage registration.



The flower decoration of the wedding car.



Appetizer: Roasted duck with Thai vegetables. The menu included wedding soup, roasted pork with potato dumplings, roasted roe deer with cowberries and bread dumplings, and an ice-cream buffet. Later we had a midnight buffet with salmon, cheese, buns, bread, fruit, and yogurt.



A special creation between the courses: champagne jelly with a mint leaf and chili threads.



Ice-cream cake part one.



Ice-cream cake part two.



Bride and groom dancing. Check out the playlist here



Two entertainers dressed like a famous German folk combo. The real singers are actually fat like this! See them here



The wedding cake. Chocolate figures for chocolate addict Adia XD



The gift from my best friends: a treasure chest containing 10-cent coins. However, we had to work really hard to open it...



Figuring out how to open the chest.



When we arrived at the restaurant we had to hammer nails into a wood chop. Each nail that goes in straight stands for a happy year in our marriage, and each crooked nail stands for a bad year (fortunately we didn't have any crooked ones :D). What we didn't know was that my friends hid the key to the treasure chest between two slices of wood that we nailed together. So after we received the chest we had to remove the nails again with some special tools lol.



Adia and me.


Here's a selection of songs that were played at our wedding yesterday.

Mike - Wedding Tomorrow!
Tomorrow is the day of days.
The people dance, a combo plays,
There's ice-cream and some tasty cake,
Lots of flowers (none are fake),
And all because two souls are hot
And are prepared to tie the knot.
Should some of you feel generous,
With name or just anonymous,
We set up a donation site
(The URL is on the right ----> http://www.glossyart.com/wedding/ ).
Thanks in advance for your support,
for wishes, messages of any sort :)

(You do not have to donate much--
Just click some ads and keep in touch :D)

Mike - Thailand Graduate Fashion Week 2008
Awe-inspiring ideas are among the significant factors to move the vivacious non-stop fashion industry. In order to discover the striking and unique designs of aspiring fashion students, the Thailand Graduate Fashion Week 2008 (TGFW) was initiated. The event is held at CentralWorld, Bangkok, to offer an opportunity and a stage to countrywide BA fashion design students who graduated in 2007. Students from over 20 universities present their talent and work, e.g. Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Silpakorn, Srinakarinwirot, Kasetsart, Burapa, Rangsit, and Bangkok University (just to name a few).

The event includes the following (locations in brackets):


TGFW Academic Catwalk Shows (Theatre A and B)

Fashion Academic Showcase: Exhibition showcasing outstanding designs selected by nationwide fashion students (Atrium)
TGFW Fashion Talks: Seminars and talks by fashion veterans
Education Days: In small booths, nationwide fashion institutes present their curriculum and students' works (Eden)
TGFW 2008 Awards for the most talented students
College Flea Market (outdoor area)

Here are some impressions from the Thailand Graduate Fashion Week 2008. Click an image to open it in full view:


Education Days in the Eden area: Each university presents itself in a small booth.


Tourists enjoying a live concert. Live bands and the MET107 DJs are rocking the crowd at the Central Court zone.

















All images can be found at http://www.glossyart.com/tgfw08/

Mike - Model Workshop with Kae
A Thai top model and a host--what else could one want at a model workshop? Here's how it went last Saturday at "The Style by Toyota"/Siam Square, Bangkok:


Chollada (her nickname is Kae; Thai เก๋ ชลลดา ), one of the most famous models in Thailand, explains the posing 101.


Kae has been a model for eight years now.


One time she even smacked another model accidentally on the catwalk. The other model fell off the catwalk but she had to act as if nothing happened.


The expectations have changed over the years. Since the focus has been shifting from the model to the clothes, nowadays models are even allowed to smile.


Kae was first discovered by an agent while she was shopping at Siam Square.


However, she actually started modeling when another agent met her at a concert.


Kae tells the story of a needle that a n00b stylist left in her dress. Modeling can be quite painful sometimes...


Talking about painful--OMG she is bleeding!! No one knew why, but luckily her assistant was quick enough to put a plaster on her foot...



But the show must go on! The host cracks a quick joke and the presentation continues.


After the talk it's finally time for some volunteers to show off what they have learned. Kae gives last instructions and complains about the music--after all, if you want to present a futuristic sportscar you should choose some fast beats.


But not everyone is excited about what's going to happen...


Kae explains how to move and how to present the car effectively and elegantly. While watching her the host seems to seriously consider switching back to the straight side. And the music is finally getting better, too.


The car is more important than the model. Touching is allowed, sitting in the car is not. Always keep eye-contact with the audience.


Time for the first model to come down the stairs, walking around the car and posing for the camera.






Showdown: All "trainees" gather for debriefing.






There can only be one winner.


And here she is!




A few shots to make everyone jealous... XD

Mike - Arrival in Bangkok
Since yesterday Adia and me are finally not separated by distance anymore. I arrived in Bangkok yesterday morning, and today we discovered Meng's secret business--did you know that all his coding and designing in Canada is only fake and he's actually running a restaurant in Bangkok? XD

Mike - Hardstyle Holidaze 2007
You love Christmas holidays? But you also love hard trance beats? Then DJ Octavius has exactly what you need. For this time of the year he's just released his new mix called Hardstyle Holidaze 2007. And the best thing is--it's FOR FREE! You can download his mix by clicking the CD cover on his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/007octavius . (It might be, however, that you have to add the file type ".mp3" manually--or just play it with the media player and ignore the error message.)

For some of you the CD cover image may look familiar--that's because it's based on my image "Life on Mars" http://www.shadowness.com/art/12189 :D

Mike - Words for our Modern Time
Some days ago when I was lying in bed I had a "creative phase" and wrote down the following words:


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Nothing tells you more about someone than the way he hates others.


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The Little Stone

Once there was a little stone who was tired of being stuck at the same place forever. When a bird came flying by the little stone asked the bird if he could grab him and fly away with him. But the stone was too heavy and the bird could not hold him. When a salamander came by the stone asked the salamander if he could carry him on his back. But the salamander's skin was so slippery that the little stone fell off again. Finally, a dwarf walked by and saw that the little stone was very sad. Out of pity the dwarf said he wanted to take away the sorrows of the little stone by granting him one wish. The little stone thought about hopping around, eating juicy green grass and exploring the world. He said to the dwarf: "If there's one thing I can be than I want to be a rabbit." The dwarf nodded, and in a pink sparkling cloud the little stone changed into a little rabbit. The rabbit was very happy and wanted to thank the dwarf but the dwarf was gone. So the rabbit decided to see other places. After a few hops the little rabbit was grabbed by a fox and never to be seen again.

Mike - Psychology Exam Survived
Phew... the psychology exam went well today; at least I had an answer to all the questions lol. The exam started at 8am but we had to report there at 7.30 already. The exam was divided into 6 sections with 2 questions each. We had 4 hours for the exam. We were to choose 4 sections and answer 1 question out of each of those 4 sections. I chose the following 4 questions:

1. Name the processes and characteristics of one model of the memory. What's different between "good" and "bad" students in terms of previous knowledge, elaborative strategies and metacognitive thoughts?

2. Describe two models of motivation. What can you do as a teacher to stimulate motivation in class?

3. Two cliques in class are hostile to each other. How can you spot cliques in class and--based on empirical findings--what can you do to unite these two cliques?

4. Some parents came to you and complained your oral exam was not just. What could this complaint mean? While preparing the exam, what can you do to easily refute such complaints later? Which scientific-empirical arguments would you use against the parent's complaints?


Psychology is--together with education science--part of the educational studies for the Staatsexamen (literally: "state exam"; that's a special degree here in Germany that you need for becoming a teacher or doing a PhD and it's about M.A./diploma level). The other parts are the subjects you're going to teach later and your final thesis. In my case, that's English and German. The next exam will be German linguistics on August 13, then German literary studies on August 16. The English exams will be in September.

Mike - Neighbors' Houses on Fire
Yesterday at 3.30pm two sheds burned down in my neighbors' backyards--and that pretty fast, since my neighbors had stored wood, gas, and other inflammables in there. The cause of the fire is not clear yet. Since both sheds are located right next to a forest the fire could have easily turned into a devastating inferno, had the firemen not arrived so quickly. They had the fire under control just a few minutes after they arrived. After extinguishing the fire in the sheds they sprayed water on the ground of the forest and the trees and they also put foam on the sheds in order to extinguish the last pockets of embers. Fortunately, nobody got injured but it was funny to see that only a few minutes after the fire brigade arrived people from all over the town gathered in our street to watch the "show". Check out the full article and the images at my deviantART journal.

Mike - Two Steps at a Time
A short update... As you might know I study at the university for becoming a teacher of English and German, and hopefully, the next two weeks will be the last ones that I spend in classrooms as a student. Yesterday I checked the dates of the final exams (I have to take 17 of them; 6 written/4 hours each [English: text production, English-German translation, linguistics; German: linguistics, literary studies; Psychology], 11 oral/30 or 20 mins each). The period of written exams is from August until October; the oral exams will be between October and December (the specific dates are to be announced). The first exam will be Psychology on August 8th. I think we have to study Psychology so that we can brainwash our students and hypnotize them so that they do what we want. The exams in German will be in the middle of August; English exams will be taken in September.

That means that right now most of the time I spend at the library or in my bed reading stuff for being able to graduate within 8 semesters instead of 9 (which would be the standard period of study).

Btw I know this journal entry sounds complicated but the whole procedure is complicated as well lol