Project Scribes (temporary name for identification) is an ambitious project being pioneered by the brand new Digital Media/Fine Arts club. The goal of Scribes is to provide an imaginative outlet for Canisius College students as well as the surrounding community.
The following post will outline what can be featured, how it can be accomplished, and why going digital is crucial for this project to succeed.
Main Features
Using Adobe Flash framework, Scribes will cover nearly all genres in the relations to the fine and media arts. These include editorials, creative writing, book samples, interactive games, music and videos.
Editorials
Anyone and everyone could have their own headline story. Whether it’s a report on the crisis is Darfur or a six page expose on the new Canisius printing policy. Speaking of nickle and diming, going digital saves on costly paper or ink. Likewise, editorials can come in the shape of podcasts as well.
Creative Writing (poetry, short stories)
Again, without the restriction of paper, Scribes can feature literally hundreds of submitted and creative commons content.
Book snippets (with permission, of course)
There are tons of undiscovered, criminally unread publications out there. Scribes could publish select pages to bring more awareness. I’ve already have the green light to feature Afro American society’s Nia News publications.
Interactive Content
Educational quizzes, video-games, crosswords, etc.
Music & Video Content
Scribe readers can take the magazine on the go. Dual burning format allows the CD work not only on a PC or MAC, but a CD player as well.
What Scribes can’t do
Despite the fact that going digital lifts an abundance of boundaries that print provides, it would be naive to claim that this magazine can do everything.
High Resolution images
700dpi images are a no-no.
HD Video, uncompressed sound
Save it for Blu-ray next year.
Huge abundance of video
No 160 minute documentaries or Joe Garageband’s 17 disc discography. But we can throw in short samples.
Taste, smell, and touch
Still waiting for Adobe Scratch-N-Sniff CS4.
Size doesn’t matter, sort of.
700mbs of CD space doesn’t seem like a lot, but clever compression methods can make stretch it a long ways. If every student in Canisius College wanted to submit one item (art, poetry, music, itty-bitty video clip), I strongly believe it’s possible.
Plan A: Dual Discs
Spanning the content on two separate disks. More space, but higher budget. Somewhat of an annoyance to change disks. This can be solved by reserving a genre for each disk. One disk for art, the other for video perhaps?
Plan B: DVD
Over 7 times the space of a single CD. Size really wouldn’t matter in terms of space, but the budget would be higher. On the other hand, a lot of higher quality visuals.
Plan C: Weekly/Monthly format
The original idea I proposed would see weekly/monthly distributions of the magazine. Each issue would have its own cover story (a submitted piece) with the entire interface designed around the featured work. Using this scheme, content would be spread over a semester (likely spring 2010), meaning higher quality content (few uses of heavy compression) and a true magazine “feel”.
That being said, the big drawback is it’s more expensive. Instead of a bulk 300 discs for one semester, we’ll have to distribute that amount EVERY month. That could take up the entire budget, which isn’t the goal.
Plan D: Website & Select Work
We create a separate branch website or sub-domain of Dmac and feature all of the submitted work there. We collectively as a group decided which pieces are featured on the disc. Each one chosen gets a special prize of some sort. The contest aspect will draw more submissions, but I feel it “nulls” the whole community aspect.
Plan E: Mr. Floppy
1.50mb of Floppy Disk power. Maybe a txt-file explaining what the art looks like? Welcome to 1989.
Technical jargon and cache reservation
In this section, I’ve laid out a basic blueprint for code and content layout. “Open” means that this is negotiable on a case by case basis, while “hard” means no wiggle room. We’ll start off with the actual file sizes.
Videos max size: 10-15mbs (open)
Images max size: 50kb (open)
Music max size: 1-2mb (hard)
Games max size: 10-20mb (hard)
Flash Frame Work (interface and programming): 20mbs (open)
The demo I showed in class a few weeks ago was only 2mbs, so this can vary. The design can’t be too snazzy or heavy, because some computers won’t be able to handle it. Also, take into account that scribes goes “both ways” (PC and Mac hehehe). The program might have to be written twice for each platform.
200mbs(open): Images
images are very flexiable when it comes to compression, it’s a delicate art of balance. Too much makes it look pixely, too little keeps the size big.
100mbs(open): Games
We MIGHT need original source files for flash games for compression purposes. I know giving out source is a big problem for a lot of designers, so this will be tricky.
300mbs(hard): Video & Music/podcasts
In the event we get something that’s completely gargantuan, the content will be cut down to a sample.
50mbs(open): Text, Written material
Very generous in my opinion.
20mbs(remaining space): Easter Eggs
Secret extras. Maybe we can film ourselves doing the thriller dance?
Again, a lot of this depends on how much content we receive and what type it is. If we receive a substantial amount of video and audio content, then adjustments will be made. Otherwise, this outline should hold steady.
Budget
Prices vary depending on types of casing, labeling, inserts, etc. The biggest deal breaker is the insert. Going with a color printed insert with pages raises the price significantly. I would recommend just a shabby pouch. Though not as fancy as the case, we save more and the CD is somewhat protected.
The average price for a 250-300 CD package rangers from $350-$600. The cheapest I found was Mix Tape Printing (www.mixtapeprinting.com). Their basic package starts at $350 for a few hundred CDS and a fold-out poster insert. However, it’s unclear whether or not they are strictly for music. I’ve contacted them and they haven’t responded, not to mention their site seems broken (uh-oh, shady…)
Cdman (www.cdman.com) prices are a little higher then Mixtapeprinting.com, but they’re a lot more reputable.
Other notable companies were Uline (http://www.uline.com/) and Pro Action Media (http://www.proactionmedia.com/). They service “big boy” clients such as small independent and software companies. Naturally, the quality will be excellent, but the lowest average price for 500 CDs was $600! (Ouch!)
Another option is doing it completely in-house aka doing it ourselves. I few weeks ago, Big Lots was selling 50pack CDRs for $8 bucks. Conveniently, the store was selling 30 pack jewel cases for a measly $10.00. Cd labels cost about $15 per 100 sheets and the front inserts can be done on any printer. The quality won’t be as good, 75-80 bucks for 100 discs isn’t that bad. A lot of work though.
Timeline Options
The proposed timelines are what I believe is feasible for 2 scenarios. Timeline “A” represents the current fall semester. Timeline “B” expects a launch date the following spring semester.
Timeline A
October 20th Submission Deadline
November 2nd Beta draft
November 20th Submission Deadline
Timeline B
November 1st Submission Deadline
November 2oth Beta draft
January 2010 Final
Final Thoughts
I’ve learned the hard way through my various freelance experiences that it’s better to embrace the obstacles rather than deface. While writing this, I jokingly thought “Why don’t we just buy a few hundred blank CD-Rs, burn the program, write the name of the magazine on each CD with a sharpie and just litter them around town”. I laughed, then said to myself “hmm, why not?”
Doing something like this can give the project a nitty-gritty, underground feeling. Image placing these in front of city hall, then recording how people react. I think it’ll get mainstream attention (which is good, because the artists get more awareness) but it depends if you guys are willing to do a few nights in the slammer.
As for the options I’ve proposed, I think Timeline “A” with “Plan D” is what I’m leaning towards for this semester. It can be done this semester, no worries about space and it won’t be a budget hog, one of the biggest fears I have. Feel free to comment below.
-mek
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