When I am searching for information on the internet I always end up with a lot of tabs open, which can become quite irritating when the amount goes beyond the screen’s width, and I have to use the arrows to move through it all.  I end up with multiple search results and am not sure which pages are from which search terms.  An application could be created to organically track which results came from what searches, and which pages lead to which search terms.

For a recent project I was researching how to create an online drawing application in Flash and ActionScript 3.0, but I wanted quite specific tools within it.  This meant I had to take bits of information from various tutorials and forums.  The way I usually work in a situation like this is to cut and paste text and images from websites and compile a word document of all the relevant information found.  So when working on the project I can easily refer back.  This could be made a lot easier through an application that would allow you to select any information from a website, and compile it in to the application.  It would then automatically track what web page it had come from and what search term found it.

Within the application’s compilation you could customise the information to appear in any way.  So for my drawing application search I would have a boxes for text, ActionScript code, images and flash applications.

These boxes would be movable, so they could be resized or reorganised to suit however the user wanted to view them.  It could just be a list of the information saved from each webpage visited in a session, or by search term.  However tagging would allow for more specific compilations.  For my project I might have tagged some information as ‘line drawing tool’.  I would then be able to view all the information I had found on that subject, regardless of what search term it had been accessed through.  Or I could choose to purely view the ActionScript coding I had found for creating a line drawing application.

Obviously the way the information was compiled would depend on the subject matter.  So the application would be completely customisable.

This overall idea could be taken one stage further with people’s searches and compilations being accessible to others.  Before trawling through vast pages of irrelevant information, you could look through other people’s searches to find what they had found useful enough to save.  And look at the sections of information they took from the webpage, rather than reading the whole thing yourself.  You would be able to search through their search terms, tags and within the actual text they had selected.  This would make searching for information a lot more specific for very particular subjects.

Another problem it might solve is I often don’t know the technical name of what I want to do, so I know what I want to find, but don’t know what search term to type in.  This means I have to fish around for a while until I find what I’m looking for.  If you were searching through other people’s search terms, rather than what the website called it, it might make it easier to get straight to the information.

Whether this would breach copyright issues I am unsure.  No information would be passed off as the searcher’s own, and the original websites the information came from would be easily accessible and quoted.

Matt Cooper, senior designer at AIG, is a regular contributor to the interactive community Dynamo London.  He posted up a list of predictions for 2009 which I found quite inspirational.  Read the full post here.

-    Apple will release some sort of ‘Touchscreen-Netbook-Newton-Big iPhone-Thing’

Matt suggested it will be a combination of an A5 sized iPhone device with a MacBook - Nano.  The software would be managed through the app store, or wirelessly from another computer (as in the MacBook Air).

He also predicted it would be cheap, although I am not sure I agree with that, unless they initially sell it at a massive loss.

On a similar note, I have also recently read about the likelihood of a mass emergence of ‘empty’ phones or devices that you download software on to, to suit individual needs.

-    The commercialisation of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a fantastic resource, that has developed in to a complex mass of information.  But I think that a lot more could be made of it.

If it was commercialised it would undoubtedly improve its operating system and overall design, but it sparks the eternal question - would the improvements out-weigh the advertising and biased commercial influence?

-    Digital paper

Matt predicted digital paper will come and go.  This may indicate a lack of experience on my part in comparison to Matt, but I think it could revolutionise the online experience, to make it less ‘online’.  I think it could make the internet a much more integral part of our lives, a step further than the MacBook Air.

Online information could be viewed on the ‘paper’ with a wireless connection to a computer, or device that can connect to the internet.  The keyboard could be abandoned through a touch screen that would allow users to write search terms (or whatever) directly on to the digital paper.

To celebrate the festive season I created a folding snowflake animation, and posted out little snowflake decorations, which I designed and had laser-cut from bamboo.

If I didn’t send one to you, I’m sorry, but you can still see the video here…

I’ve had the thought for a while about a homepage to hold data from all the websites that you visit on a regular basis.  This would obviously be customisable to individual usage, but could contain email, blog feeds, ebay, itunes, online banking.

Using a living room as an example, the data could be presented on various objects within the space.

- The telephone could light up as new emails come in.

- Saved youtube videos could play on the television.

- Images from design blog feeds could appear in photo frames - a new image would appear each time the blog was updated.

- The bookcase could store webpages in a similar way to the way online bookmarks work.  Each book would contain a different subject.  Taking this one step further would be to make this in to more of an application, allowing you to highlight text from webpages or to cut and paste snippets of information, creating an online scrapbook.

- The clock could count down the time left on ebay auctions.

The user wouldn’t be restricted to using a living room.  The application would be completely customisable, and the data could be stored in any imaginable way.  Another possible example being New York City - the flame on the Statue of Liberty could light up as new emails come in, webpages could be saved in the windows of the Empire State Building.

Whether this concept would simply be a homepage or would be more appropriate as an independent application I am not quite sure, it would probably depend on how complex it became.

On a slightly deeper track, the idea of storing data in physical settings reminded me of the process of remembering information by mentally storing it within rooms, and creating palaces of memories.  This could very easily be created online, but needs a little more thought, as I think there could be more to it than the direct translation in to a virtual world.

It’s been a busy couple of months.  I recently completed a placement at Pravda Advertising and, although it’s not exactly what I’m looking to get in to, it was more experience within a creative studio.  I also managed to get a number of ideas through to the pitch stage which was encouraging.

I’ve had quite a few meetings over recent weeks, with some positive feedback and good ideas on how to progress.  One of which came from me being shortlisted for the Northwest Vision and Media digital internship scheme.

Currently I’m in the process of designing / developing my Christmas cards, so if you’ve heard from me recently expect something soon!

Following on from advice at the i-design portfolio clinic, I began to explore how I could add emotional content to the site.  I had already considered that I would like to include user-input.  By creating a community side to the site, users would be able to rate venues, and add tags to describe their experiences.  These tags would be uploaded in to a section called ‘emotions’, where a stream of the tags would flow across the window, allowing the user to choose the sort of vibe they’re looking for.

I recently did a few videos for U Ram Choe’s Opertus Lunula Umbra installation at FACT in Liverpool, with Sparklestreet who did the exhibition design.

uramchoe

An animation of one of Choe’s technical drawings for the mechanics of the installation, this is one of the simpler ones as they were quite file-heavy!

At the i-Design ‘08 conference Brendan Dawes, Creative Director of Magnetic North, spoke about how physical representations of ourselves are beginning to be lost to our hard drives.  CDs, usually on display in our homes are being replaced by downloads on iTunes.  When a visitor comes to our home, they will lose the sense of who we are.

I have wondered about this before, and although these new technologies are fantastic, we’re in some way losing our individuality.

As a response I’ve come up with a few ideas as how these new technologies could be visualised in our homes.

iTunes Objects

Physical objects in our homes could display music or films we regularly listen to.  A digital wall could display the last cds we listened to, lining them up as a block of their covers.  The same, in a cheaper format, could be a lamp, wired up to the computer.

Digital CD Shelf

Our iTunes collection could be digitally stored on a shelf, with touch-screen interactivity, so cds could be selected and sorted through.

Holographic Ornaments

Many of the speakers at i-Design spoke about growing online communities, and how technology was becoming more feminine.  Holograms of objects could be displayed in the home as traditional ornaments are, and different objects could be sent from friends.  If a relative went to New York, for example, they could send a hologram of the Statue of Liberty.