"Do not be afraid to walk into the unknown."

Three nominated posts

2008-11-03T14:39:00.003+11:00

http://nt2101.blogspot.com/2008/10/im-ing.html

http://nt2101.blogspot.com/2008/10/l337.html

http://nt2101.blogspot.com/2008/10/production-project-b.html

Rationale

2008-10-31T16:17:00.005+11:00

For Production Project B, I choose to do option one, Data Visualisation. I chose to visualise two images, 1) my current music library, and 2) my music trends over the last five years. The project was quite simple: chose a design, collect data, and then display it.

Design
I had spent a while researching on the internet for a program that was collect data from iTunes and then produce it into a visualisation, however, could not find any that would display the data the way I had wanted it. I then found wordle, the application was “a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.” (http://www.wordle.net/). Soon after playing around on it, I found that it was not that useful for the type of visualization I wanted.

Collection
The current data was collected through my iTunes database and iPod. The second images were collected by comparing the music on my old computer and my current. The data was composed by entering the data in to excel file and then producing figures and charts.

Display
The formatting of the project was based on Nicholas Feltron’s Annual reports. This visualisation section of the assignment was produced through Photoshop CS3. Very simple. The sizes of the images were 1440x900. I had used brushes and texts to display the information and also making it look more appealing.

Finished

2008-10-31T15:06:00.007+11:00

Production Project B, Nhu Tran, u3025470

Rationle

really really bored: l337

2008-10-31T14:42:00.008+11:00

7h!5 6109 w!11 63 wr!++3n 1n 7337
This blog will be written in leet

1'v3 633n v3ry 5+r3553d 7h353 ph3w d@y5. 700 /\/\uch 455355m3n+. 7h3 p@55 ph3w 73<+ur35 7h@+ 1 h@v3 633n 90!n9 70 w3r3 v3ry 1n+3r35+!n9. ph0r 3x@mp13, 73h 4|>! 73<+ur3. 1 d!dn'+ kn0w 7h@+ 7yp3 0f pr09r@m5 3x!5+3d. 73h ph1!ckr 4p!'5 1n+3r35+3d /\/\3h 73h /\/\05+.

i've been very stressed these few days. too much assessment. The pass few lectures that i have been going to were very interesting. for example, the API lecture. i didn't know that type of programs existed. The flickr api's interested me the most.

production project B

2008-10-15T17:42:00.009+11:00

i've been researching around for different forms of data visualisation. http://mashable.com/2007/05/15/16-awesome-data-visualization-tools/ There is alot of interesting formats and programs in which i could do my assignment in.

after a while searching i found wordle.net.

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

i think i will will do my assignment using wordle. The following is a visualisation of the artists/bands in itunes:

IM-ing

2008-10-08T14:55:00.004+11:00

Messenger proves six degrees of separation

August 05, 2008 09:41am

A SOCIAL graph derived from billions of instant messages validates folklore that there are about six degrees of separation between any two strangers on the planet.
A research team at US software giant Microsoft studied 30 billion instant messages sent by 240 million people in June of 2006 and determined that, on average, any two could be linked in 6.6 steps.

"We've been able to put our finger on the social pulse of human connectivity - on a planetary scale - and we've confirmed that it's indeed a small world.'' Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz said.

"Over the next few decades, new kinds of computing applications, from smart networks to automated translation systems, will help make the world even smaller, with closer social connections and deeper understanding among people.''

A SOCIAL graph derived from billions of instant messages validates folklore that there are about six degrees of separation between any two strangers on the planet.
A research team at US software giant Microsoft studied 30 billion instant messages sent by 240 million people in June of 2006 and determined that, on average, any two could be linked in 6.6 steps.

"We've been able to put our finger on the social pulse of human connectivity - on a planetary scale - and we've confirmed that it's indeed a small world.'' Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz said.

"Over the next few decades, new kinds of computing applications, from smart networks to automated translation systems, will help make the world even smaller, with closer social connections and deeper understanding among people.''

Mr Horvitz and colleague Jure Leskovec estimated that the Microsoft Messenger chats they studied amount to half of the instant messages sent worldwide in June two years ago.

The researchers stressed that they were not privy to the contents of messages and that information indicating people's identities was removed.

"Messenger data gives us a unique opportunity to study distances in the social network,'' the researchers wrote in a paper detailing their work.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time a planetary-scale social network has been available to validate the well-known '6 degrees of separation' finding.''

The "6 degrees of separation'' premise stems from an oft-cited 1969 study by Stanley Milgram and Jeffrey Travers.

Mr Milgram and Mr Travers asked nearly 300 people in the US state of Nebraska to send a letter to someone in Boston through acquaintances.

People were considered one degree apart from a friend, two degrees away from a friend's friend and so on.

While most of the letters didn't make it to the designated recipient, those that did arrived with an average of 6.2 degrees of separation from senders.

The results were not considered scientifically reliable, but inspired a play, a film, a game, and a charitable sixdegrees.org website launched by actor Kevin Bacon in 2007.

"We used a population sample that is more than two million times larger than the group studied earlier and confirmed the classic finding,'' Mr Horvitz and Mr Leskovec concluded.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24130825-5014108,00.html

the week that was....

2008-10-01T15:03:00.007+10:00

this weeks lecture was very interesting, data visualisation. it was interesting that data could be constructed so visually such as films and could have 'instant replays', lol.
i might do project B on this topic A, Data visualisation or B, photographic tour. the two topics will be interesting when i get a start on the assignment...

What are you waiting for?

2008-09-19T13:57:00.006+10:00

Wishing on a shooting star
But dreams alone won't get you far
Can’t deny your feelings anymore
The world is waiting right outside your door
What are you waiting for?

Come on, here’s your chance
Don’t let it slip right through your hands
Are you ready for the ride of your life?
Your dreams are riding on the wind
Just reach out and pull them in and
Get ready for the ride of your life
The ride of your life

In your heart, you know what must do
You've only got yourself to answer to
Don’t let fear of fallen hold you down
Your spirit's flying high above the clouds
You're glory bound

Come on here’s your chance
Don’t let it slip right through your hands
Are you ready, for the ride of your life
Your dreams are riding on the wind
Just reach out and pull them in and
Get ready for the ride of your life

You are on your way no looking back
There’s no future living in the past
You’re free at last yeah
You’re free at last

Come on here’s your chance
Don’t let it slip right through your hands
Are you ready for the ride of your life yea
Your dreams are riding on the wind
Just reach out and pull them in and
Get ready for the ride of your life
Ride of your life

Come on, come on get ready
Yea, yea, yea
Your dreams are riding on the wind
Just reach out and pull them in
Get ready for the ride of your life

John Gregory | Ride Of Your Life

project A...FINISHED

2008-09-05T13:50:00.008+10:00

Monochrome Photography (Black & White Photography)

Nhu Tran, u3025370

Introduction
I have always been interested in photography as an art form. All through high school I was doing art, but, it was the boring - draw this bowl of fruit - art. However in Year 10, I chose to pick up some Photography, and love it. How to take photos, how to process it, I even loved all the theory behind it. For the end of semester major art work, we had to create an art piece using photos. We were given the opportunity to use black & white (b&w) or colour film. I chose the b&w, and just love it.

Production Project A Rationale
Format
The project was made on blogger, however, has the utility of a website. Blogposts have the functionality as different pages within a normal for website.

Licensing
There were two types of art forms within this project – videos and images. The images where obtained from Flickr. It was explained in the sidebar that all the images where not mine, and that clicking on the image would transfer the user to the original image on Flickr. The videos were all obtained on YouTube. The videos were placed within the sidebar, which also had a note at the bottom explaining where the videos were from and also how to find the source of the videos where.

Organisation of Site
Each image was placed within a blogpost which was categorised into groups – people, architecture, nature, objects, urban, and animals. Splitting the images into different pages, creates less delay for the user as opposed to a usual blog which has many blogposts within a blog.

Tools
In the home page, a blog was created to imitate a menu. An image from each category was placed in this blog with a rollover image; explaining what the category the image was from. A lot of HTML coding was just to format the whole exhibition, for example, linking posts together and creating the rollover images. Because the exhibition has been made similar to a website, it has a functionality for the user. A user which is not familiar to blogs, would be able to access the exhibition with much more ease.

production project A

2008-09-03T02:12:00.003+10:00

for this assignment i chose to do question no. 2: an online exhibition of Black and White Photography. it has a very simple design. it is a blog, however, will function very like a normal website. so far i think it is all under control.

go and hav a look....

Gaolled Pigeon!

2008-08-27T15:42:00.005+10:00

Drug-smuggling pigeon thrown behind bars

August 22, 2008 03:18am

BOSNIAN police have impounded a pigeon after discovering prisoners used it to smuggle drugs into one of the country's highest security jails, an official said today.

"The guards suspected the animal might be involved in drug smuggling once they noticed four prisoners visibly intoxicated shortly after the pigeon landed on a prison window," Zenica prison official Josip Pojavnik said.

All four inmates had tested positive for heroin, said Mr Pojavnik, adding disciplinary proceedings had been launched against the inmates.

The drugs had probably been stuffed into tiny bags attached to the legs of the carrier pigeon, which one of the prisoners had previously been allowed to keep as a pet in his cell, he said.

"We suspect that the pigeon carried the drugs from Tuzla," a town around 70km north-east of Zenica in central Bosnia, he said.

The pigeon had been taken into custody by police, who have launched an investigation aimed at identifying those who had loaded it up with the drugs.

"We do not know what to do with the pigeon, but for the time being it will remain behind bars," Mr Pojavnik said.

The incident had prompted the prison administration to consider closing down a prisoner pigeon-breeding project established in a ward of the jail as part of a rehabilitation program.

Mr Pojavnik insisted those birds had not been involved in the incident.

A similar case of carrier pigeons being used by prisoners was reportedly uncovered earlier this year at a jail in Brazil, where the birds were being used to deliver drugs and even mobile telephones.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24222611-401,00.html

Cartwheels Banned!

2008-08-27T15:37:00.002+10:00

Outrage as school bans cartwheels
By Kathleen Skene
August 26, 2008 09:45am

FORGET smoking or bullying - at a Townsville primary school, doing a cartwheel in the playground can get you suspended.

Belgian Gardens State School has banned all forms of gymnastics during breaks, including handstands and somersaults. Even the humble forward roll has been given the flick, the Townsville Bulletin reports.

Mum Kylie Buschgens was dumbfounded when her daughter Cali, 10, was told she could no longer do cartwheels, even on the grass.

Her friend was busted and punished by the cartwheel cops this week.

"We had to practise for a play and she did one on the grass," Cali said. "Two teachers took her upstairs and she had to sit down for the rest of the day and not do anything."

Ms Buschgens met with school principal Glenn Dickson and was told gymnastics activities were a "medium risk level 2" that posed a danger to children.

After making her own inquiries, Ms Buschgens found gymnastics was indeed listed as a level 2 risk – when performed in class – along with cricket, soccer, tennis, netball, touch football and other sports. Those sports have not been banned at lunchtime."

I said (to the principal), 'What if she keeps doing a handstand?' and he said she'd get into trouble," Ms Buschgens said.

"I asked what would happen if she was a repeat handstand offender and he said that would be defiance and it could lead to her being suspended."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24242908-13762,00.html

the week that was....

2008-08-13T15:02:00.005+10:00

nothing much, per usual... right now im in a very, very boring law lecture, however another lecturer from the anu is coming to talk about policing and criminal law, will b here in a few minutes. hoping it will get a bit more interesting.

on monday, i had dinner with my friends at the hellenic club. it was a fun, catch up time, just chill-relaxing.

and tomorrow i hav an excursion to the magistrate courts to watch boring court proceedings for an assignment.

hope sumthin more excitin will happen this nxt...

Mouse Potato...

2008-08-04T20:00:00.006+10:00

"Someone who spends all their time on the computer surfing the net or playing games". by urban dictionary

i have spent many, many hours procrastinating on the internet, either watching youtube clips, msn, facebooking, wikipedia, myspacing, facebooking, lolcats, maybe studing, cyanide & happiness comics, facebooking, news.com.au, did i mention facebook?

well, now i have added another, blogger... its a simple platform to blog, fun, and esay to use ...not much to it...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2008-07-31T23:32:00.002+10:00

woots, cant wait

WYD SYD

2008-07-30T22:58:00.004+10:00

the greastest week of my life.

In the Beginning...

2008-07-30T17:44:00.003+10:00

hi,
i'm nhu. i have a very simple life ... of sleeping ... going to uni ... occasionally going to work ... at home spending my whole time on 'net ... and then more sleeping.

this blog is my first. hope it will be a good one, for all to see.