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One of many tutorials to be found online. The use of this software for your Lightning Talk preparation requires you to compile image and text on 20 slides. These sort of basics are covered in first 3 pages of this tutorial. You will also need to change the "start transition" to automatic, and "delay" to 20.0 s within the Slide Inspector. I'll review this part in class, it's essential to automating the playback of slides. Education Technology Services "Keynote Tutorial" Accessed April 25, 2014. https://blogs.ksbe.edu/ksedtech/

Comparing the site in 2007 to the way the site is now in 2014, it definitely looks dated and like it is still in the process of being developed. The thing that sticks out as looking the most dated and out of place is the "ways to shop" menu on the left side column that features large and stylistically ill fitting icons with their category names. In comparison to the current version of Etsy that is designed and branded with aesthetics in mind, the basic homepage layout and awkward use of color and icons make it appear bare and the lack of style or design suggest the brand was still new and had yet to develop a distinctive style.

Yes, I see what you mean ---the old site seems a product of the Web 2.0 craze, a rather non-descript template, while the icons , older still, whiffs of geocities sites even! It's interesting to see the development of Etsy's brand as well as to speculate on what other factors were at play. Emerging in mid 00s, it might be fun to trace out other 'genres' of Web 2.0 that bear influence on Etsy's aesthetic genealogy---online auctions? social networks?

We can see that this website looks like it dates from the late 90s/early 2000s and targets a younger audience due to the style of text used in the header (the 3-D text and the star to dot the 'i') and the overall basic layout that makes use of a more generic type face. All of the information that can be found on the site is hyperlinked on the left side of the page, and when one hovers over each link a colored, square icon spells out the name of the link letter by letter. Compared to contemporary websites, this effect seems to be more of a glitch than a cool, new use of technology. Also to note are some of the terms used throughout the site, including "cool stuff" being listed as the first hyperlink in the left column of the site, as well as the small add for sweet16.com found in the center of the page. A less sophisticated typeface is used in this ad and we see a flower in place of a '.' between sweet16 and com. It is also described as 'The freshest place to party!'. There's only one picture on the right hand side of the text, of a younger Britney Spears in a lace up leather crop top (much different than the fashion style she wears today) and there's a tie dye like pattern in the background of the website that further emotes the style of the late 90s and early 2000s.

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis of the design elements --- as you describe, they seem aligned with visual trends of their recent historical context and also point towards a particular audience. The presence of ads is often a helpful hint when decoding the target audience of a website. It's interesting to me, as well, that this early website is identified as Britney's own "welcome to my official website," the use of language implies she is responsible directly for the content. ---more recently I suppose its implied that she's professional enough, or more of a brand than person, to rely on that sort of gimmick to connect with her audience (?)

Though the internet art we have been reading about is related directly to activism, I was trying to think of whether I can think of any modern internet art in any form. What came to mind first, at least in the main-stream(ish) realm is the fairly recent trend of google poetics. Basically the concept is that when you start typing a word or a phrase into google, it's suggestions will appear in a drop down menu. Often humorous, if looked at in the arena of poetry they can be awfully profound.

Thanks this was great example of internet based art in the age of Web 2.0,-- it echoes gestures by Cary Peppermint, Keith Obadike and is related via contemporary experimental writing, to Flarf, a sort of spam-based poetry

Write or Die is a browser based application that encourages the user to set goals when writing and achieve them, or else. The interface is relatively simple: the user defines how long they would like to write, the speed at which they intend to write, and the consequences for maintaining or dropping below these parameters. There are three basic modes: Reward, Stimulus, and Consequence. Reward mode displays positive reinforcement for completing your goals by displaying photos you happen to like in whatever frequency you think would best suit your Pavlovian response. Stimulus mode supplies nice, calming backgrounds and sounds as you maintain your words per minute, but if you drop below, they disappear. You can also include your own music, if you want the extra motivation to keep it playing. Finally, there is consequence mode. This mode punishes the user for dropping below quota by turning the screen bright, angry colors, emitting a horrible, grating tone, and finally slowly dissolving the vowels in your completed text. This mode isn't for the faint of heart. Supply your own corporal punishment! Good art hurts!

That sounds really terrifying and awesome. What would be difficult would be determining the sweet spot between pressure to work and a mental breakdown.

Tailorized Taylorism!

Along with my other post, this one goes hand in hand with that. I felt that including this one as well would be good and would help elaborate in the stages of prewriting and preparing for the first draft. I know out of experience and from others that simply getting started can be terrifying and quite frustrating. This link offers that aid for getting started and offers simple solutions like the basic structure for developing a solid paper. Prewriting exercises such as "brainstorming, free-writing, listing and clustering" act as the catalyst for developing ideas, or points and ideas at least that can be expanded later. As applied to this essay, you might start with different net.art pieces that you saw, made an impact, and then further refine and discover richer ideas you want to develop a paper around. It's helpful not only for this class but for writing in general! University of Maryland University College, "Prewriting and Outlining." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 3, 2014. http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/writingresources/prewriting_outlining.cfm.