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My Experiences with Korsakow

After finishing up the course, this is my review of Korsakow. 

The software has potential. I have no doubts about that. However, its uses are, in my eyes, restricted. It can be used to make a "make your own story" type video, and it can be used to convey a scatter of unrelated information. But that's about it as far as I can see Korsakow going. I feel like the way we used Korsakow in this course went against its intent and as a result, the experience was horrible. We had plenty of issues and we had to rethink our ideas into ways we didn't like. As a result, I feel that our project didn't come out as well as it could have if we made it in anyway we saw suitable. 

My other gripe about is from a UX point of view. Many "simple tasks" were made unnecessarily difficult because of Korsakow's UI. For example, relocating all of our videos made it hard for Korsakow to find them. As a software developer myself, I understand how this can cause issues. However, it wouldn't be that hard for Korsakow to implement simple tools like picking a folder for all of your videos and changing that folder. Instead, our group had to painstakingly go through each individual video and find it again. Secondly, Korsakow is meant for visual communicators -- people who like to communicate their ideas by making beautiful projects. I think that if you're making software for people like that, the software should embody those principles. Korsakow doesn't. Simply put, it looks like it was made for Windows 98 -- not something for Macs and Windows 8. And while that may seem trivial, for people that like art and visual design, an ugly piece of software is off-putting. It builds a natural wall against the software. Finally, there were loads of bugs. I spent almost a week exchanging technical emails with the developer of Korsakow because of some simple bugs. Similarly, Taylor had issues with the export. After using Korsakow for this long, I can honestly say that it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to make this software in a proper and reliable manner. 

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So recently our group slightly shifted the focus on our Korsakow Project. Previously, we were doing our project on the word "interaction" and had collected a number of SNUs on this. However, as we progressed, we started to notice that this was starting to look more like a random collection of videos than a carefully selected aggregation focused on specific things. After some discussion, we decided to make our project based on word association. Basically, one idea leads to another (usually through literal interpretation or a second meaning of a word). Now, our project seems much more focused and is definitely more fun to make!

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Internet

As of now, I'm doing my project on the keyword "Internet". The reason I chose this word is because connection revolves around it in today's world. Because of the internet, you can communicate with people across the world in real-time. Furthermore, you can be creative in whole new ways. Previously, making digital art was a lot harder (especially if you had to learn how to do it). Now, you can simply look up hundreds of tutorials on just about anything. 

Basically, my point is that nowadays, the Internet is at the heart of everything. Even with traditional crafts, the internet helps the creator gain fame and sell their products.

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Thoughts on Chapter 4 of Making is Connecting

In this Chapter, the part I found most interesting was the half about YouTube. In my previous post (on chapter 3), I mentioned that I thought that digital productions should be considered craft as well. This chapter addressed exactly that. In fact, this whole chapter seemed to reflect exactly my thoughts on social media and YouTube. The only disagreement I have with the author is the part about the non-professional quality of the videos. The author says "The online community seemed to be pretty forgiving about formal quality issues -- and I had to remind myself that being a perfectionist isn't actually a good thing". While I agree that not all videos need to be made with professional quality, and that perfectionism isn't necessary, there are a high number of videos made with such bad quality that they become nearly unwatchable. While this is possible to overlook if I really want to watch a particular video, if I find two similar videos on the same topic, I'd most likely watch the one with the stable camera, less background noise, better lighting, proper narration, etc.

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Thoughts on Korsakow

After experimenting with Korsakow a little, I've started to understand how it works a little more. I think it is an interesting platform that has the potential for some very interesting media. For example, making a "choos your own path" movie would be quite easy in Korsakow. I feel like this allows for a whole new dimension of storytelling. As see in class, we can also use it for documentaries, and try and cut out the boring parts of the documentaries so you are only left with what you like. 

However, I also see some limitations. After watching some more premade Korsakow projects, I notice that many of the authors try to force their videos to fit a format which doesn't work. For example, some of the Korsakow projects were rather random seeming with no theme from one clip to another. And while some projects may do this intentionally to create a collage of sorts, I saw a few projects which didn't do this intentionally. Using a different platform (not necessarily timeline based) could have suited those projects much better.

Overall, I feel that Korsakow is a new medium. Almost on the same level as words vs. video, Korsakow deserves its own class. Used correctly, the potential in this program is amazing.

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Thoughts on Chapter 3 of Making is Connecting

After reading chapter 3 of Making is Connecting, I have a couple of thoughts. First of all, the way the author, and his interviewees, define craft. They define craft to be the process of making something physical and exchanging it for another physical object. However, I disagree with limiting the domain of craft to physical objects. Making on a computer is just as rewarding. For example, making a digital painting, writing a computer application, creating a video -- all of these give that same rush that you feel when you finish making a physical project. 

On Gauntlett's definition of creativity, he says

Everyday creativity refers to a process which brings together at least one active human mind and the material or digital world, in the activity of making something which is novel in that context, and is a process which evokes a feeling of joy.

I agree with this definition to an extent. Creativity should not be defined by how "new" an idea is. It should be defined by the creator and the audience. Creativity has a different meaning to everyone. If someone decides that creativity is based on the novelty of an idea, then they can consider creativity to be novelty. However, if someone else decides it is what brings joy, then so be it. Making a blanket statement is difficult when dealing with highly subjective matters. 

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Korsakow Accounting

Trying to combine 12 videos into a single, longer video proved to be a challenge. The most difficult part of this task was figuring out what to make the video about. When I first started to create these thirty-second videos, I had no idea that I would be merging the videos. As a result, these videos didn’t have a common theme or any sort of relationship with one another. With one of the topics, I couldn’t think of an idea for the video so I made it almost like a slideshow. Because all of these videos were completely unrelated, it made it extremely difficult to combine them. In the end, I sat down for an hour, and came up with a plot that worked reasonably given my resources.

  When I tried to move on to Korsakow, I had, and still am having, issues getting the software to work. Nothing happens when I run the program. I’ve been through hours of perusing the software and through dozens of emails with the developers of Korsakow – all to no avail. Hopefully, the software will start working soon so that I can get used to Korsakow before we start the major project for this class. 

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Morris' thinking was well ahead of his time

In reading chapter two of "Making is Connecting" by David Gauntlett, we learn about a man named Morris who believed that art should be brought by the individual -- not all art should be made in the hopes of gaining fame or money. However, Gauntlett also discusses Morris' visions: "We should have a library on every street corner, where every body should read all the best books, printed in the best and most beautiful type" (Gauntlett 36), and a few other visions that describe his concern for environmental conservation as well as his prediction of this wealth of knowledge that everyone has access to. We now call it the Internet. The fact that Morris was able to predict these major advancements shows how as humans, we are starting to realize the power of knowledge. We are starting to realize that allowing everyone to watch, learn, practice and contribute has immense value to society as a whole. Not everything should be based on trying to gain fame or fortune.

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Square Objects

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Round objects

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