CT101 – Digital Storytelling students at York College are always up for the challenge!
(Screen the video above first and read the articles below, its context, it helps!)
Further, then, do an internet search for “Are memes ART?” See what you discover.. Oh, you will be surprised. No matter how you cut it, memes are here to stay…is this good or bad for Art? Is this good or bad for Education? Is there context for memes and appropriate application in your course or courses? If so, where and how do you start? We wanted to investigate, and so we did.
We would like to know what you think. And by all means, share you favorites via URLs, and or create your own as a reaction..
Please leave your reactions in the comments section below. We dare you!
The gallery below is our spring 2020 first iterations of Memes that express a simple contemplation: “How do you feel about your CT101 class so far? (After week #4) The gallery speaks for itself.
By the way, students were also introduced to adobe photoshop. The memes were created as an introduction to basic design layout and applying text to an image. Typesetting is a skill and learning how to apply type to unify a composition takes a lot of practice. Practice, practice. 🙂
This fall semester my students at CUNY York College collaborated on the annual GIF the Portrait project.
CT101 is the energetic digital storytelling course that introduces, exposes and installs the awareness of a multitude and application of digital tools! All whilst simultaneously creating a digital identity on the Internet at large! We blog, a lot!
CT101 has two sections each semester. We have 40 awesome students on the roster. Although this project is not mandatory, (students can select from a myriad of creative assignments) each student was asked to write an individual post about someone who greatly inspires and motivates them. They were asked to share why and add contextual links for further clarification. (these individual posts can be found in the main feed on the ct101 website) Using the portrait of that person selected we learned basic electronic image manipulation skills with adobe photoshop. Students also made some basic sequential motion graphics with those manipulated images. Then, they were asked to extract one single still-frame from their individual animations to contribute to the animations above. The result is a fast moving collaborative sequence of portraits. The portraits quickly morph and fragment into a series of animated iterations. Does the word ENERGY come to mind? We hope so (along with a little glitch aesthetic, we hope for that too). After the first animated collab was published, we began pushing the pieces further by “examining the potentials of what else may happen?”
Students are now working on screen grabbing the consolidated GIFs and pushing them forward into “various otherness” using the mobile apps below.
Would you like to remix one? What is stopping you?
The GIF the Portrait project is an open project promoted by the NET-ART website here on the academic commons. Would you like to join in and submit? Lets chat!
Project Title – “The Cross College, Campus, Course ZINE Collab Project!”
Participating Courses & Campuses:
Professor Michelle McAuliffe’s :: – ART255, Digital Photography Class – Galluadet University, Washington, DC
Professor Ryan Seslow’s :: – CUNY York College, NYC, CT101, Digital Storytelling Class, CUNY, BMCC, NYC, Foundations of Digital Graphic Design Class, Touro College, Graduate School of Technology, NYC, Foundations & History of Design Class.
(4 different participating courses submitted works in total)
Description –
Welcome! This project is a collaborative open education exploration using design, digital tools, the creative human potential and the Internet. It is our intention to generate, discuss and fuse together disciplines through visual communication.
The “The Cross College, Campus, Course ZINE Collab Project” project synthesizes the disciplines of communication technology, graphic design, and digital storytelling courses across multiple campuses. Each course is given the same information and assignment (below) to complete from the perspective of their class content and personal experiences.
As individual courses, we are interested in knowing how traditional design principles relate and contrast with the medium of visual communication and storytelling (and vice versa). We want to understand and share how the use of integrated software applications and web tools translate when applied and presented in a public space. “Public space” has an interesting context both physically and virtually. We wanted to test both.
What will the results be both digitally and non-digitally-(Analog)?
How will the immediacy of publishing to the Internet and the contrast of using public library spaces to experience the same content effect the overall generating and receiving of the works?
What kind of dialog would this create? (This is the short list of questions, we have many more!)
This project begins today 11/12/2019 by introducing the specifications of the project and publicly inviting other professors, students and courses to join in! Are you interested?
PART 1 – Design
Design Specifications – Lets simulate, You have been selected to contribute 1 page to a collaborative magaZINE that produces a rare publication in both a (DIY) Do it Yourself printed edition and an online digital version.
*Your submission to the publication will creatively communicate an illustration that displays how:
“Technology and creativity are powerful tools for fueling communication, inspiration, digital-storytelling and design.”
You have the creative freedom to produce and generate your contribution with full autonomy as to how you experience or define this statement above, however, your final submission should display an integrated composition of imagery (use of layers and opacity) along with descriptive verbiage that has been typeset creatively.
*Size Requirements – 8.5″ X 11″ inches vertical, please. (What is the potential of a rectangle?)
Usage of Imagery – Participants should NOT randomly use images that are simply just found on the Internet, especially with-out proper attribution to its creator. Please refer to this resource page and work from the numerous repositories of public domain images and creative commons sources. (Yes, you can make your own images and use your own art work!)
Software Skill Showcase – Over the past weeks we have all toggled through learning various techniques and methods working with adobe photoshop and related design tools. All image related composing and manipulations should be generated in photoshop, or another image-making application that allows for a saved out-put as a .jpg or .png file.
Completed Submissions –
1. I would like to ask all students and participants to publish their completed pages as a blog post describing the process and meaning of your completed page / contribution. You may write the post as a tutorial that maps your process from start to finish. You can then share the link to your individual post when you comment about the project below (in the comments area).
2. Students will save all of their design work and submit one file (.jpeg or .png image file) for both the digital zine publication here on the NET-ART website as well as a printed copy for the print version of the Zine.
( E-mail this file to me – rseslow@york.cuny.edu or rseslow@bmcc.cuny.edu )
The Galleries:
Professor Michelle McAuliffe’s – ART255, Digital Photography Class, Galluadet University, Washington, DC (below)
Professor Ryan Seslow’s – CUNY York College, NYC, CT101, Digital Storytelling Class, (below)
School children (8-10) in front of map
Professor Ryan Seslow’s – CUNY, BMCC, NYC, Foundations of Digital Graphic Design Class
Professor Ryan Seslow’s – Touro College, Graduate School of Technology, NYC, Foundations & History of Design Class (below)
Part 2 – Commenting & Dialog
In the comments section below: all students and participants will respond and react to both the project as a whole (yes, in the comments space directly below) and individually to each other’s submissions. You can click on an individual image in the gallery in this post on the piece that stands out to you and add your comments. (As submissions the come in they will appear starting the 1st week of December 2019).
The Academic Commons is a public platform and space for CUNY and beyond, the C.A.C commons community will also be invited to participate in commenting and creating dialog here. Feel free to invite others!
Please consider addressing the following questions in your comments:
*What common threads or similarities do you see between the submitted works?
*What differences do you see?
*How does seeing all of the works organized into one “space” enhance or disrupt your interpretation of the project and its outcome?
*How will apply this experience into your life? Where will this knowledge transcend for you?
*How do you think the general public will appreciate the project viewing it as a tangible object (the printed ZINES) rather than an online experience? Do you prefer one over the other? Please explain and describe your answers. The printed zine will be donated to the NYPL’s Zine collection at their 5th Avenue & 42nd Street location – DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
as well also being available at the Libraries of each participating campus as of mid-spring of 2020.
*Due dates –
All ART work Submissions must be received no later than Thursday December 5th, 2019.
All comments, reaction and discussion submissions must be completed below by Thursday December 12th, 2019.
Carrying on the CT101 tradition, Digital Storytelling students at York College expressed their feelings towards their CT101 class by investigating and generating Internet MEMEs. Students were introduced to working with Adobe photoshop, applying images from the web and adding a text overlay.
Art MEMES ART?
Well, this is broad question, individual blog posts were generated by each student on the ct101.us website to answer and adress the question. This collection continues the tradition on the Net-Art community platform!
Be sure to click anywhere in the browser window and see what happens!
My good buddy and CUNY York College colleague Michael Branson Smith, AKA – MBS, has learned some serious javascript and web design skills that I have been admiring over the last few years. A few years ago we collaborated on projects such as GIF FIGHT & Animating Transit.
“A long overdue project”, you may say, but alas, here we are. When you arrive at MBS_RMS_NET-ART_COLLAB Feel free to click on the graphics in the collage windows as many a great surprise compositions await you! Enjoy the iterations!
This project begins in html but lets see how it develops! This project is completely generated in the “pass the buck” style.
As of 5/19/19 it is MBS’s turn to add to the html file, publish it on the Internet and then send it back to RMS for more additions!
CT101, the YORK College Cross Course Collab Part II
This fall semester the students at CUNY York College collaborated on the annual GIF the Portrait project.CT101 is a digital storytelling course that fosters the understanding and application of digital tools while creating a digital identity on the Internet at large!
CT101 has two sections this fall semester. Whilst learning some new blogging skills each student was asked to write an individual post about someone who inspires and motivates them. They were asked to share why and add contextual links for further clarification. (these can be found on the ct101 website) Using the portrait of that person selected we learned basic electronic image manipulation skills with adobe photoshop. Students also made some basic sequential motion graphics with those manipulated images. Then, they were asked to extract one single still-frame from their individual animations to contribute to the animations above. The result is a fast moving collaborative sequence of portraits. The portraits quickly morph and fragment into a series of animated iterations. Does the word ENERGy come to mind? We hope so (along with a little glitch aesthetic, we hope for that too). After the first animated collab was published, we began pushing the piece further by “examining the potentials of what else may happen?”
Students are now working on screen grabbing the consolidated GIFs and pushing them forward into “various otherness” using the mobile apps below.
Would you like to remix one? What is stopping you?!!
The GIF the Portrait project is an open project promoted by the NET-ART website here on the academic commons. Would you like to join in and submit? Lets chat!
Welcome to the CT101 Digital Storytelling Gallery of Vapor Wave Aesthetic.
CT101 is a Digital Storytelling course at CUNY York College.
Inspired by this blog post previously published by professor Michael Branson Smith we set off to explore and experiment the genre as a class. The intention was to run through a series of class tutorials and then go off independently to generate images. Vapor Wave is a vast and unique community! The musical aspect is huge, and the accompanying visuals are so attractive and contagious. The possibilities of how and where the aesthetic can be applied is even more expansive than we thought! You might ask yourself, why haven’t I heard of this before? Good question! It all seems to start with getting your feet wet with these two videos below, a little history really helps.
The image gallery above is an energetic series of our first static outcomes! These pieces above set a tone for what is possible, and how we can push ourselves further. CT101 students are new to many of the software applications used in the course. We learned and applied a ton of new skills with adobe photoshop to create the digital collage works. Importing files, creating graphic assets, working with layers and gradients are all a part of the process. Saving files and exporting various file formats for the web were also explored and tested.
I want to make some Vapor Wave Art too! (right?)
A great way to get started is by doing your own research and finding a tutorial that you can follow along with. I suggest these two below:
The tutorials are great to work along with. But alas! What if you don’t have access to adobe photoshop? Is there an alternative? Indeed, you can use web browser applications like:
If you are looking for pre-made vapor wave elements, content and graphic assets you can easily grab a series of transparent images from doing a quick search that simply reads: “transparent vapor wave graphics“. The vapor wave community is proactive in sharing and uploading transparent graphics making it accessible and immediate for anyone to get involved.
Like what you see? Jump in and submit your work to the Vapor Wave gallery!
York College CT101 Students GIF the Portrait – March 2018
My CT101 Digital Storytelling students rocked a series of digital portrait manipulations learning the ins and outs of image manipulations with Adobe photoshop. Many of the students are first time users of photoshop. What better way to experiment with something new than to work with a subject that inspires you?
Students were asked, who inspires you and why? Tell us about your connection to this person and how they influence and motivate you. They were asked to write individual blog posts for the class website over at ct101.us about their experiences and also working with photoshop.
The end results: each student produced a series of manipulated images and brought them together to form a stop motion animation. This brought the static to life so that basic animation skills were also learned.
We then submitted one single frame from the series to produce a collaborative portrait animation for the popular GIF the Portrait project here on the Net Art site for the commons.
Want to create a collaborative portrait GIF with your class? Reach out – Rseslow@york.cuny.edu
Im happy to finally publish and share some of the results generated from the fall semester of 2017. The works were submitted by my CT101 -Digital Storytellingstudents at York College specifically for the NET-ART website on the Commons. Both sections of the course contributed to two collaborative projects. The process for these pieces are generated quickly in an energy of immediacy as students were asked to work intuitively to generate their results. Part of the process is to simply ALLOW what one feels creatively impulsed to do, and not block or judge the process as good or bad. It is not an easy feet in a world where we have so much control over the way we use, receive and send communication via our mobile devices. Students suspended their judgements and engaged in the curation, composing, expressing and publishing of their works using various web tools for both desktop and mobile. These are the first iterations where results were produced. We used these pieces as the stepping stones of assessment and contrast.
1. Above, students experimented with creating Vapor Wave style net-art works using selected fragments of Internet culture, graphic assets and digital media from the web. Multiple skill sets were learned and applied. Both Desktop and mobile applications were experimented with (all of which can be found here on this website). The Vapor Wave pieces were contributed by students after screen recording their work using quicktime and converting the short videos into animated GIFs. It was decided upon by the class to show the works in a slide show format.
2. Below, Students participated in the GIF the Portrait project by first creating individual portrait GIFS. They were then asked to extract one frame from the sequence of manipulated frames that makes up the whole animation. They worked from people (fictional characters included) that inspired them. Students had to alter each portrait and remove the background contents to create a collaborative sequence of layers in a constant flow of change and transition…with no time delays of course.
Both projects are an introduction to converting static images into motion graphics and animations. Once you start, you can never stop!
Would you or your class like to participate in a project on the Net-Art site? Get in touch – rseslow@york.cuny.edu
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