New #WebGradEngine V2

A week on from the first release of The Web Grad Engine and I'm already rolling out V2.

Presenting http://www.webgrad.co.uk

What's new?

• More Twitter keyword searches integrated into one feed for better results
• Facebook Like button
• A designated Twitter account for your suggestions - @WebGrad
• It's own domain name - webgrad.co.uk
• More results from feeds. No 50 results per feed
• More RSS feeds from other websites included
• A deeper explanation of the project found under 'Info' tab

Hope you like the improvements!

For more updates on the Web Grad Engine follow @WebGrad on Twitter

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#WebGradEngine V2 In The Making

Today has been the release of The Web Grad Engine V1 and I'm already buzzing with ideas for V2 which will be the next update. The reason for V1 being so limited in gathering information is because I wanted to get the ball rolling. Now it's a case of adding to improve usability and scope in the information it provides to the user.

Some notes I wrote down last night for V2 include the following -

Merging different Twitter searches into one feed

Although merging these Twitter feeds will remove their avatars, just provide the user with a link to that particular Tweet, it might provide users with better quality of information. Last night while keeping track of the Twitter feed I noticed a Twitter user tweeting back to those who mentioned they 'need web designer.' This user would then tweet 'Hey, I here you need a web designer.' This would trigger my search to pick his tweet up too resulting in a mass of reply tweets. In merging the three it would break these mass reply tweets up.

Styling & Extras

Maybe some custom colours relating to where the information has come from for the RSS feeds. May be a little difficult as it will all be coming from one feed.

Adding in some more social media connections, for example, a Facebook 'like' button and Twitter stream for updates and developments on the Web Grad Engine.

More columns for more information to be displayed. These columns will have vertical scroll bars to hold more results but not increasing the page length.

Contact form for suggesting improvements, more RSS feeds sources, etc. Also a deeper 'About' page explaining the reason for creation and the face behind the product.

Further Expansion Ideas (V3+)

Although not a key aim of the project yet, I have considered adding in some adverts relating to the subject of web design and job hunting as this could act as a source of income to keep the project going. I have however postponed this part of the project as I want to aggregate quality content, build up visitors, Twitter followers and general website assets then go on to selling ad spaces.

Adding in location based real-time results with Geolocation or post code/city being inputted manually. This would then improve the quality of the results.

For more updates on the Web Grad Engine follow @WebGrad on Twitter

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The Long Awaited Episode 10 is Here! Sit Here, Be Cool - Episode 10

The long awaited Episode 10 is here to introduce The Web Grad Engine!

The Web Grad Engine is an aggregator for Graduate Web Designers jobs through the using the power of Twitter searchers and RSS feeds.

If you're interested in it why not check it out for yourself at http://webgrad.cityandwool.co.uk

For more information on its developments follow it on Twitter - http://twitter.com/webgrad

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Introducing The #WebGradEngine - The Graduate Web Designer's Aggregator

Over the last few days, and as my graduation has got closer, I've wanted to increase my job searching capabilities. What better way to do this than through a single page that updates in real-time!

Using a custom search in Twitter and multiple 'Web Design jobs' RSS feeds combined into one RSS feed, I'm creating some sort of a custom TweekDeck for job hunting.

As I slowly develop it into including more RSS feeds and better custom searches through Twitter I hope that this will be a product that can help any type of Web Designer looking for work.

Being released as Version 1, I know it's not perfect but the information it's gathering is so I wanted to be able to share it as early as possible.

Feel free to add suggestions of RSS Feeds or particular Twitter searches you might use. I am wanting to add in multiple searches like 'need web & designer' being one, 'want, web & designer' being another and 'hire, web & designer' being a third. These are ones I've used in the past and have worked.

I've also considered a Freelance section and a Professional section. Freelance being more small jobs picked up through Twitter, then Professional being more permanent job related.

Well, here it is for you're enjoyment...

The #WebGradEngine found at http://webgrad.cityandwool.co.uk

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Introducing The #WebGradEngine - The Graduate Web Designer's Aggregator

Over the last few days, and as my graduation has got closer, I've wanted to increase my job searching capabilities. What better way to do this than through a single page that updates in real-time!

Using a custom search in Twitter and multiple 'Web Design jobs' RSS feeds combined into one RSS feed, I'm creating some sort of a custom TweekDeck for job hunting.

As I slowly develop it into including more RSS feeds and better custom searches through Twitter I hope that this will be a product that can help any type of Web Designer looking for work.

Being released as Version 1, I know it's not perfect but the information it's gathering is so I wanted to be able to share it as early as possible.

Feel free to add suggestions of RSS Feeds or particular Twitter searches you might use. I am wanting to add in multiple searches like 'need web & designer' being one, 'want, web & designer' being another and 'hire, web & designer' being a third. These are ones I've used in the past and have worked.

I've also considered a Freelance section and a Professional section. Freelance being more small jobs picked up through Twitter, then Professional being more permanent job related.

Well, here it is for you're enjoyment...

The #WebGradEngine found at http://webgrad.cityandwool.co.uk

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Personal Research Project on QR Codes and Augmented Reality - Final Presentation

prp_final_presentation_2011.pdf Download this file

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Artefact 6 - Evaluation

Due to the complications of the previous artefact I strayed away from heavy code and opted for further research into projects that are trying to replicate what I'm trying to do. I then came across Daqri. Daqri is currently a beta service that provides users with an easy non-code-heavy way of producing QR Codes that link to information on a user specific web page. It also provides the user with an Augmented Reality feature to add 3D models to the QR Code. The only problem with this is that the AR feature only works through the Daqri application, currently only on iPhone and iPad.

Having been in contact with the developers at Daqri, I've managed to suggest for them to add a feature similar to my last artefact in adding an Augmented Reality video plane as adding video in this way increases its interactivity and the users engagement than just a plain 3D model without animation. I also had a few problems with their mobile as it wasn't optimised for mobile devices and was slow to load.

In testing Daqri's functionalities it does work brilliantly however there are some areas that could be developed and improved. Ultimately the product did what I set out to do which was seeing if QR Codes and AR could help us share information, which it does. My only reserve is that the development of Augmented Reality is slower than QR Codes and it will take a little longer for the full potential of AR to be realised and users create applications for AR to be visually impressive and useful to the user. Nevertheless over the next year I can see a huge increase in the use of QR Codes on advertising and self-promotion items as it is a brilliant way of sharing information quickly.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Multimedia Exhibition Images and Profile Text

Here are my five catalogue images for my final year Multimedia Exhibition in June. I'm also adding in this short profile to describe myself -

Dan is a well-motivated, hardworking and adaptable individual seeking employment in the web industry. He can effectively convey ideas and concepts visually and through written or verbal communication. He also enjoys taking pride in the quality of his work. Using the skills and knowledge he’s learnt in HTML5, CSS3, PHP and WordPress, he can successfully design and develop creative, standards-compliant web solutions that fulfil the requirements of the brief within the time constraints.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Getting Your News Through Social Media

Four hours ago the news of a possible stabbing incident/hostage situation at Nottingham Trent University Clifton campus library started to emerge on Facebook and Twitter.

The big tweet that kicked it all off

I then wanted to keep up to date with any developments so started to follow the situation realtime through Google. This was done by using some keywords to narrow the search.

Within an hour of it hitting Twitter @FlyFM_News were on it! Various tweets from a collection of tweeters then followed as the real details emerged of the situation.

This then resulted in a full press release from the Nottinghamshire Police to clarify on what actually happened.

 

Due to students using Twitter and Facebook the news was 'escalated' but it also reminded me of a story I came across about five journalists planning on locking themselves away in a French farmhouse with access only to Facebook and Twitter to test the quality of news from the social networking and micro-blogging sites. This was back in January 2010.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any outcome to the experiment either.

I then stumbled upon this interesting article that referred to the French experiment as 'flawed' and highlighting that social media is a conversation, not a newswire.

To add to that, tonight I've seen an interesting side to news and Twitter. Although you can get one off tweets that people could start taking as fact, you also have the conversation that develops from that which brings out more clarity to the situation. In hearing murmurs of a shooting, stabbing, kidnapping or any sort of situation you can always rely on journalists, which in this case were our very own Fly FM team, that are ready to explore the credibility of the initial statement.

For me tonight has highlighted the power that one tweet can have in sparking conversation, but it has also highlighted the importance of testing the credibility of statements before taking them as fact. Within 3 hours a short tweet gets put straight by a Police statement. A crazy night for news through social media.

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The Culmination of my Personal Research Project on #QRCodes and #AugmentedReality

qr-ar-poster.pdf Download this file

If you're not sure how to scan the QR Codes, find out here

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Testing #Daqri Features on an iPod Touch - Artefact 6

Live testing of Daqri.

Things are still in beta so the vCard doesn't work at the moment.

Auto playing the AR didn't work either although I did select it in the settings.

Nevertheless, the AR on the QR Code does work brilliantly!

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Logo Development For Our Multimedia Exhibition 2011

Some logo's were submitted in the group meeting today which I attended. We collectively wanted to develop the logo further by integrating certain ideas. Here are my alterations to the images submitted by Tom Edson. Final logo will be decided on tomorrow.

Forgive it's roughness.

The two hand-drawn, scribbled fonts used are PaintyPaint and SF Zimmerman 1.0

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Logo Development For Our Multimedia Exhibition 2011

Some logo's were submitted in the group meeting today which I attended. We collectively wanted to develop the logo further by integrating certain ideas. Here are my alterations to the images submitted by Tom Edson. Final logo will be decided on tomorrow.

Forgive it's roughness.

The two hand-drawn, scribbled fonts used are PaintyPaint and SF Zimmerman 1.0

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#Daqri May be the Answer - Artefact 6

Introducing Daqri.

I'm currently testing it as a beta tester.

It works really well with the integration of the QR Code and Augmented Reality however it doesn't work with video in the way I'd hoped it to.

Although my particular augmented reality business card plays the video automatically on a manipulative plain, with Daqri you have to select to play the video within its own video player as it doesn't play automatically.

If only the Daqri could play a selected video above the QR Code (See example below) It would be brilliant!

I'm going to play more with the service over the next few days as it has some augmented reality features for using models which I want to look at.

Also another problem I have is that I don't have an iPhone or a new iPod Touch so I'm borrowing the use of one while waiting for their Android app to be released.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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I'm Spitting QR Codes

qr-mouth-print.pdf Download this file

A few weeks ago I spotted this video and thought it was a brilliant idea. I've therefore create my own, Version 1, to hopefully develop into something that I can use for real. So far it's just a short video but I would like to develop into a proper introduction. I may also use this idea as one of my exhibition images once developed further.

Also here is another example of the same technique being used in a magazine -

If you're not sure how to scan the QR Code, please see this previous blog post - http://blog.cityandwool.co.uk/how-to-scan-quick-response-codes-with-your-sm

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