Submission

The final one page summary is now complete and the project ready for submission. This isn't the end though. I plan to add to and upgrade this site frequently using more innovative concepts and experimentations in online textual content and design. It's been a most rewarding process!

Home Page: http://www.falconastrology.com/syn.html

One Page Summary:

Cyber Media Project: Synchronicity: Meaningful Coincidence or Chance?

Form:This project is an educational website consisting of 1 introductory page, 1 animation page, 4 sub-topic pages, a printable version in .pdf, a ‘references only’ page in html, a glossary of terms in .pdf , a site map in HTML, 30 pages of in-text definitions, images and sounds in HTML, and 150+ external links. The site also includes a discussion forum with 5 separate discussion boards.

Content: The content is a combination of story, information, entertainment, infotainment, and educational material. It offers introductory concepts, tools, links, and further study, guiding the viewer with current information and a broad spectrum of insights by many authors. The extensive references, links, contacts, and ‘about the author’ allow viewers to assess the content for merit from both the position of ‘storytelling’ and ‘peer reviewed academics’. Modeled after G21, the content includes hyper-text non-sequential writing, visual and audio story telling, flash animation, academic references and interactivity in the form of links, ‘start’ and ‘stop’ buttons, ‘continue to next article’ links and further readings on and off site. Images and sounds have been included to explore new textuality and will continue to be added as the site developed further.

Audience: The target audience includes students, both formal and informal, whose discipline explores the concept of synchronicity. This includes psychology students, particularly those studying Jungian Analytical Psychology, as well as viewers interested in or researching mythology, folklore, astrology, parapsychology, tarot, Psi, philosophy and sociology, and theoretical quantum physics and its relationship to myth, dreams, shamanism, divination and non-corporeal experiences of consciousness, consensuses and non-consensuses reality. The use of Meta-Tags in the of the HTML allows search engines that use this function to rank the site effectively. The inclusion of a site-map also supports SEO (search engine optimization) and helps insure the audience can find the pages. Already on google.com, typing in the key works ‘synchronicity + meaningful coincidence’ brings up the site in the first 6 pages out of 57,500!

Design

Visual – The style and layout are similar to my original site to provide continuity. Viewers coming from my main page will know they are still in my domain. With hints from G21 and from articles and lectures in this unit, I have included more images, animation, audio and hypertext links to facilitate a non-linear display of information and a more holistic online experience.

Sound – I have included an audio component primarily in the flash animation and several of the hypertext links. As I develop the site further, I will incorporate my own voice in the story of Eris, the Uninvited Guest and add audio to more of the hypertext links. I have experimented with this in the ‘As Above, So Below’ page by recording the occult maxim to play when the page opens.

Navigation – The navigation of the site is extensive and user directed. All links are clearly marked with consistent and traditional color changes for visited and non-visited links. Pages are titled for easy identification and a site-map is included if anyone ‘gets lost’. Interactivity consists mainly of hypertext links, playback control of the animation and a viewer discussion forum.

Functionality – The site is easy to update with site-wide link changes now that the structures are in place. The site supports IE 5, 6 & 7 on Windows XP SP2, Firefox 5.0, Mozella-all versions (Windows and Mac), Netscape 7.2 (Windows and Mac), Opera 8 (Windows and Mac) at all screen resolutions from 800 x 600 to 1600 x 1200. It functions for 98% of web users (from browser stats http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp ) Downloads in the form of printable versions of the ‘text only’, glossary of terms and references are included.

Solutions to Playback

Playback Solved!

I've implemented a solution to the playback issues in the flash animation.
Instead of buttons which use javascript and are read differently in different browsers, I've opted for simple 'stop/back/replay' symbols in the form of arrows which have html hypertext links--no javascript.

These arrows support viewer controlled interactions and are visible without scrolling in all resolutions 800x600 upward, functioning as intended in all browsers.

I like the ancient stone-etched quality of the design. It suits the motif of the fairy tale well.

With my .pdf files updated I now have only to finalize the draft of the one-page-summary. I will post links to all aspects of my assignment here in the next few days.

Again, this cybermedia project has been an educational and rewarding process from the standpoint of theoretical concepts, design and storytelling. Also, it's been quite fun!

Final De-bugging

Completed Tasks from Last Week:

• solve screen resolution issues in all main pages
• write draft of one page summary

To do:

• solve new issue with play back control of animation
• expand glossary of terms--re-save to .pdf and upload
• revise glossary in print version--re-save and upload
• finalize draft of one-page-summary

Playback again!

New issues with the playback control for the animation appear in Internet Explorer. This browser is not reading the 'play' button and refreshing the page as intended. It is reading 'Play' the same as the other buttons and jumping back to the main page. From there, the animation can be re-started but in Firefox the 'play' button refreshes the page as desired. I will google this problem and see if I can find a workaround for IE before the assignment is due.

Glossary of Terms:

When I had a friend proof read the content, they listed several words they did not recognise but couldn't find in the glossary of terms: Numinous, Parapraxis and Chairos. I have added these words to the glossary and created hypertext pages for them. They are now clickable and in the 'print only' version as well.

Plans for the future:

For me this site is a work in progress. I will continue developing it over time. I plan to add more pages, exploring further the ideas touched on in the initial articles. I also want to offer more animations and stories that exemplify synchronicities of all kinds. Particularly, I want to incorporate more of the concepts of 'new textuality' and a non-linear approach to the site. Experimentation in this direction is next! It has been a most rewarding process so far!

De-Bugging

Here is my current 'completed' and 'to-do' list.

Completed from Last Week's Tasks

• Initialize 'Site Wide Search' Link
• Final Proof of content
• Add Audio Plug-ins to some pages ('Matter' & 'Scarabaeid')
• Check on all browsers and screen resolutions (esp. Mac!)
• Check all links
• Solve playback control issues on Flash animation
  

To do

• Debug for resolution 800 x 600
  
• Write one page summary

Feedback

I received some excellent feedback from several viewers this week, including my colleague Melissa.

Forum: LPW503 - Discussion Group

Date: Tue Oct 31 2006 13:39

Author: HUGHES, MELISSA SELINA

Two main issues consistent with Melissa's observations were the overlap problem with low resolution (800 x 600) of the global navigation links and the lack of playback control on the flash animation. I have solved the playback dilemma by moving the .swf flash to its own page with a 'start animation' button on the main page and a 'stop' and 'return home' button on the animation page. Now the main page can be refreshed (returned to) without the animation starting up again, and again!

This choice was made after extensive research of options re playback control:

Animated content can greatly enhance the experience provided by multimedia content. However, media content that changes unexpectedly - by scrolling, flickering or flashing, or otherwise moving around, can also cause some people significant access problems. The solution is not to stop providing animated content, but to allow as far as possible options for users to control animations, and at a minimum be able to slow down, freeze or turn them off. http://www.skillsforaccess.org.uk/howto.php?id=112

The overlap problem at the resolution of 800 x 600 is proving more difficult to solve. At first I thought, who uses such a low res anyway? I 'googled' for an answer and found that plenty of people do!

The most popular screen resolutions on the web in the world are:

1.	1024 x 768	56.15%
2.	1280 x 1024	15.79%
3.	800 x 600	12.04%
4.	1280 x 800	4.09%
5.	1152 x 864	3.90%

http://www.onestat.com/html/aboutus_pressbox43-screen-resolutions.html



To the left is a screen shot of the page viewed on a friend's PC at 800 x 600.

The title bars overlaps into the search function and the global links disappear behind the main content. Compare this screen shot to the one below.



Following is a screen shot from my computer using my preferred resolution of 1154 x 864 (curiously the least popular res world-wide).


Here there is no problem with overlap but to make the page consistent and functional for all viewers, I'm going to have to shorten the global links. I'll eliminate the 'quantum theory' links altogether, drop one link per heading and use a smaller font. (80%)

I'll post a screenshot of the results when complete.

Finally, here is the screen shot of the page at the low resolution of 800 x 600.


I have eliminated some of the global links to avoid overlapping and taken out the 'quantum' links altogether.

Now there is no problem with the global link 'research' overlapping into the 'search' box or the drop down links disappearing behind the content page. Now to fix the other 4 pages!

And then on to the summary.

Timeline Update II

This week has seen great progress on the project. The updated timeline of Completed and to do items is below:

Completed

• Concept Proposal
• Project Plan
• Research
• References - in text and list
• Content - 5 pages & notebook pages
• Flash Animation - tested in Windows: IE, Firefox, Netscape
• Web-Design - 5 main pages & 30+ Notebook pages
• Addition of missing links
• Solution to Flash audio fade-out
• SEO and Meta tags
• Final edit of content
• Final print version in .pdf
• References only in HTML
• Create Forum
• Build Site Map

To do

• Initialize 'Site Wide Search' Link
  
• Debug on Server testing all links (150+)
• Check on all browsers and screen resolutions (esp. Mac!)
• Final Proof of content
  
• Write one page summary

A successful solution was found to the audio fade-out in the flash animation by extending the last frame another 5 seconds.

The preformatted text for the html reference only page was problematic--I had trouble keeping the table width under control when I added the hypertext links to the online references. Very frustrating. I persevered though and now have a 'clickable' reference page that is true to APA Referencing styles, complete with hanging indents.


The site map came together fairly easily using links to all pages on my site as well as anchored links within the map to direct viewers to the various sections.

I created a forum using "Pro Boards" as a free host. There are 5 sections that correspond to the 5 pages on the site, offering visitor a chance to discuss, comment on and share relevant information on various aspects of synchronicity. I imagine it will take a bit of time to attract a participating audience though I think it will be insightful and fun.

I have used the meta-tags 'Title', 'meta name'='description' and 'meta name'='keywords' in the 'head' of the HTML for search engine optimization. These tags insure that search engines that recognize them will utilize the information and rank the page higher--equating with greater exposure and increased traffic.

My final tasks for this project focus around proofing, getting the search function to work (troublesome), testing and writing the one-page summary. I'm ahead of schedule and pleased.

Timeline Update

The following is an updated time line--what is complete and what is left to do.

Complete

• Concept Proposal
• Project Plan
• Research
• References - in text and list
• Content - 5 pages & notebook pages
  
• Flash Animation - tested in Windows, IE, Firefox, Netscape
• Web-Design - 5 main pages & 30+ Notebook pages
  

To do

• Addition of missing links
• Find solution to Flash audio fade-out
  
• More 'notebook' image links if time allows
• SEO and Meta tags
• Check on all browsers and screen resolutions
• Debug on Server testing all links (150+)
• Final edit of content
• Final print version in .pdf
• References only (page or .pdf?)
• Create Forum
• Build Site Map
  
• Write one page summary

I'm happy with the flash animation. (see screen shot on left) The only problem is that the audio at the end, although designed to 'fade out' is not fading out. Given the time restraints, I am going to work further on higher priority tasks--complete the project--and then return to the Flash-Audio dilemma. I think I need to make the animation itself longer to allow for the fade out but I am aware of it becoming too large a file--too lengthy to load.

Other concerns include finding a Mac to test the site. I will post a query on the discussion board next week to see if any of my classmates use a Mac and ask them to check the site. Also I'm not certain how to offer the 'reference only' text. .pdf is easiest and most universal though I know for myself that being able to cut and past references can be a great asset. At a minimum, the online reference links need to be active. I may put them in a 'notebook style' page with pre-formatted text so the hanging indents keep the APA reference style true. This should be simple though the CSS for pre-formatted text can be temperamental. I will work on that this week, along with the other tasks on the 'to-do list.

All in all, I am very happy with my project thus far.

Content & Design

The content for this project is 85% complete. I have broken it down into 5 different pages:

• Synchronicity--an introduction and short flash animation.
• Cause & Effect--an unravelling of how synchronicity evades a mechanistic world view.
• Myth & Meaning--how mythology contributes to our understanding of synchronicity.
• Dreams & Divination--a close look at the relationship between mind and matter.
• Quantum Views--Explores synchronicity in relationship to quantum theory.

Each of these pages link to simple 'notebook' style pages that elaborate on terms or offer definitions.


This complicates navigation enormously. Originally, I had the 'notebook pages' linking back to the main page until I realized that the reader may click on this hyperlink from a different page, say from 'Cause & Effect' and then click 'back' to find themselves on the main page and not the one they were reading! I have used the solution of 'click your browser back button to return to article' and also provided a 'home' button.

I am compiling the text only content of each page into one document that I will 'print' as a .pdf and link to my 'printable version' of the site. References, which are becoming extensive, will be in this document as well as in a 'reference only' link for those not wanting to view the .pdf but do want to check a reference.

Word count, surprisingly, is becoming a worry. If I include all the 'notebook' definitions (but not reference) it is climbing up to 5000 words with still the 'Quantum View' to be written. (about 1000 words) I'm not certain how to resolve this, as the website is actually an addition to my webpages. I could eliminate one of the topics (to conform with word count) but this would involve changing every menu bar on each page and then changing it back after the assignment was assessed. Another option is to offer my tutor the choice of reviewing 3 of the four sub-pages that interest her the most.

Writing CyberMedia Content

My content for this CyberMedia project is focused on the nature of synchronicity and will by necessity overlap other disciplines such as the notion of psyche and soma, mind and matter, the philosophy of quantum theory, mythology, folktale, intuition, Psi, divination and the collective unconscious. To keep each page relatively brief and still cater for viewers who may not be familiar with some words, concepts and symbols, I will be making extensive use of hypertext links. Linked words will open a 'notebook' style page with an explanation, definition and links to further study. I'm not yet certain how to incorporated these links into the 'printable version' which will be all the synchronicity pages in one .pdf document. Perhaps a glossary of terms? References will be included in the document though I may need to link to them specifically as well. I want the content to be easy to navigate, easy to understand and easy to use. The operant word is easy!

Mark Berstein offers an insightful article on 10 Tips for Writing CyberMedia which I have adapted to suit my project:

• Write for a Reason--to explore the concepts of meaningful coincidence from a multidisciplinary approach.
• Write Often--although the project will be due the end of November, I don't see it as static pages. Updating links, adding information and creating new pages will be part of the ongoing 'upkeep' of this project.
• Write Tight--This is a site for students and those interested in understanding the concept of synchronicity. It's not a mini-novel. I am editing for unnecessary words (especially adjectives) and looking to keep a consistent and scholarly voice.
• Make good Friends--solicit the aid of a critical friend for feedback, link to other sites of interest that may link back to me and offer a discussion forum for viewers to meet.
• Find good Enemies--readers do want to hear divergent approaches, disagreement and controversial theories. Present them, linking to well written sites that question my thesis.
• Let the Story Unfold--this may not seem applicable to a non-fiction project yet I do want to build, through the linked pages, an understanding of our current knowledge of synchronicity in a crescendo of non-linear writing, not a straightforward information dump.
• Speak Out--one of the consistent criticisms of my non-fiction writing in the past has been to take on a holistic approach such that the reader has no idea where I stand. I want the work to reflect current knowledge AND my orientation to that knowledge (as apposed to hiding in a diplomatic portrayal of everyone else's work.
• Be Aware of Cultural Bias--where in my work are issues of gender, race, ethnicity or educational-socio-economic background impinging? I need to read carefully against the text to test for lack of bias and judgement or to point it out where theories contain such bias.
• Use References and HyperText Intelligently--Many students have complained of getting lost in G21 or various assigned readings on the WWW. Navigation is important but also making certain, for this project, that links make sense, are easy to return from and add to the overall pages, not detract, confuse or diverge.
• Use an Authentic Voice for the Audience--I want to 'tell the story' of synchronicity in a way that brings insights and understanding through both visual, auditory, hypertext and textual mediums. I want to do this with a scholarly voice that is also warm, poised and intriguing. This last point on the list is probably my most challenging.