Project Nº 4: “Links”

Students will collaboratively assemble, connect, and present a collection using Are.na as a CMS (Content Management System)⁠—and will then design and build an interface to explore and understand it, using its API (Application Programming Interface).

The goal of this project is to apply all the skills you’ve learned thus far in a media-based project⁠—connecting varied content, tools, and form together. You will collect and then organize items on a theme, before giving it shape and structure in the form of a website.

The site should contain all the contents of the collection, as well as an explanation of the organizing principle⁠—highlighting the connections between its items. The design of the website should reflect this theme in its interface⁠—and allow for interaction within it. We will introduce and use JavaScript to facilitate this, understanding how it meshes with HTML and CSS to dynamically render and manipulate pages. The final website will, of course, be responsive.

Assemble a Collection

Assemble a collection around a theme of your choosing. This topic should start from your own interest, but be aimed at broader use and collaboration from others.

Gather and link your items in an Are.na channel, taking care to edit the metadata it applies for each. (We should not see default, junky filenames and such as titles.) In the channel description, explain the idea behind your blocks and why they constitute a collection. As you curate this grouping, consider what brings them together⁠—what are their links to each other?

You should have at least 30 items, to start. They should include all the Are.na content types for a varied mix of audio, images, links, documents, text, video. We expect at least one of each type of media (not just images and links), but the best collections are more evenly distributed across all of the types.

Everything in your grouping should be collected⁠—that is, things you did not create yourself⁠—and there should be a clearly identifiable, cohesive theme. We’d also like some content to come in “fresh” from the web (creating new blocks), not just linking of existing blocks already on the site.

The collection is the foundation for the other steps! Be deliberate in your curation and metadata.

Here are some channels for reference and inspiration:

Typography and Interaction, Too
Our example channel showing different media types!
Eggs in Art and Design
Laurel Schwulst
How to Think About Thinking
Glenn Mendonsa
Ocean
Bryce Wilner
What Is a Digital Garden?
Sarah Holloway

Be sure the channel is set to Closed (not Private ) so we can see it! When you are done, submit a link to your channel.

Submission Form
Send us a link to your channel!

Due Jan. 28

We’ll unpack the rest of the milestones next week!