G-RAD: September 2007 Archives

Performance Widget (.ZIP)

Hello Again, UB3: The Den,
To facilitate your enjoyment of the TEAM G-RAD Live Webcam performance that will occur in just under 2 hours, we have prepared a "Dashboard widget" that can be used with Dashboard in OSX on Apple Macintosh computers. Please download and install the OSX widget by clicking the icon above.

For non-Apple Macintosh users or do not wish to deal with a .ZIP file, you may enjoy the performance by clicking on the following this link.

Please find a .PDF reference legend to aid your recognition of the various Grand Rapids icons included in this performance. You can print the legend out and follow along with the performance by clicking on the Adobe .PDF icon below:


Legend: Grand Rapids Icons (.PDF)

♥ TEAM G-RAD

Dear UB3: The Den,
TEAM G-RAD is pleased to announce the release of its first UB3-related book POST-LOG: An Experiment in Paper Blogging - Available at a The Den near you. This text compiles the results of a participatory physical blogging experiment conducted simultaneously between September 16 and 17 in Grand Rapids, MI and Philadelphia, PA. First editions include an exclusive forward by internationally renown cultural critic Suzanne Dimanche and is freely available in the following Adobe .PDF format. Please follow the directions below:


Part One (.PDF - 18.9 Mb)


Part Two (.PDF - 16.3 Mb)



PRINTING
(DISCLAIMER: Exact methods may vary from printer to printer, but for us...)
1. Print Part One PDF
2. Feed back into printer by reversing order turning upside down and flipping
3. Print Part Two PDF
4. Reverse order and check page numeration
5. Fold in half

BINDING
You basically have three options here...



Option A: Handsewing
1. Make a Jig with one half of an 8 1/2 x 11 paper
2. mark 8 lines one inch apart at 3/4 inch from the left
3. use the jig to poke 8 holes
4. thread your needle with heavy linen thread and knot one end
5. sew across binding
6. when all the way through, knot the thread



Option B: Sewing Machine
1. Sew along the fold approx 1/4in. from the spine (we used a zig-zag stitch)

Option C: Staple
We recommend sewing

If you would like to check out the paper posts without printing your own book, feel free to peruse the ub3paperblog tag on flickr.

♥ TEAM G-RAD

PS: we encourage you to upload a picture of yourself with your copy of POST-LOG to flickr and tag it "ub3paperblog."

Kudos to Justin in Philadelphia for taking his participation in this paper blogging experiment to the next level! Following the directions posted below, Justin made his own satellite module and posted it up at his school! WE CAN'T WAIT to see the results!! So Exciting!



Thanks Justin! We love you!
♥ TEAM G-RAD

Hi there UB3: The DEN!

In a previous post, we mentioned devising a Mobile Paper Blogging Module to assist us in this challenge. There are many ways you can go about creating a one of your very own. This is how we did it:

First:


If desired, please consult this handy .PDF Module layout template when making your own Mobile Paper Blogging Module.

Step One (1): Collect the proper materials



For this module we used:
1 Sharpie Marker, bold
1 Sheet poster board (we used Ghostline, because they came pre-cut at 11"x14")
3 Pads post-its, 3"x3"
Rubber Cement

NOTE: Though it is pictured above, we did not use school glue.

Step two (2): Lay out module elements



Identify the key elements of your desired module, and lay them out on the posterboard.

Step three (3): Add copy



It helps to work out the appropriate text over multiple rough drafts, trust us.

Step Four (4): Attach Post-Its



Apply rubber cement to the back of the the Post-It pads and to the front of poster board in the desired location. Place pads on poster board and press firmly.

Step Five (5): Admire your handy work



Voila! It is complete! Now to find the perfect location to post it...

It's that easy!

♥ TEAM G-RAD

Hello again UB3: The Den!

While we love this season of Ultimate Blogger, one thing that we find definitely lacking in comparison to other seasons is intra-competition communication. It feels like we interacted with contestants more when before we actually were one ourselves! We find this sad, because to us, UB has always really been about getting to know cool new people from all over. In an effort to break this wall of communication, we propose a secondary participation challenge: THE WORLD'S LARGEST ULTIMATE BLOGGER 3 GROUP CHAT!! EVER!

Contestants, judges, audience members, people only abstractly related to or interested in UB3: please join us in this epic chat - the first of its kind any time, anywhere - tomorrow night (Tuesday, 10/18) at 10:00pm EST (7:00pm on the West Coast, 10:00AM in Taiwan, etc.). Simply point your AIM chat client (iChat, Adium, Gaim, whatevs) at the group 'twlUB3gc' tomorrow night when the time is right.

See you there!
♥ TEAM G-RAD

Hi UB3: The Den!
For this second challenge we have been working our local community over here in G-RAD. But, now we would really like to open it up to the UB3 family at large! Since even before this contest began we have been thinking a lot about blogging as a medium and how it can be abstracted and taken into the "physical world." To wit, we are conducting an experiment in participatory paper blogging at our favorite coffee house in downtown Grand Rapids, Four Friends. We made a poster (or as we have taken to calling it: a mobile blogging module - because that is funnier for some reason) and posted it in the back of the shop for people to stumble upon on their way to the bathroom, or out the back door. The poster prompts the potential participant to take one of the post-its provided, write a "paper blog entry" and literally post it back on the blog. We are really excited about the people who will just run across it and participate, but we have also put out a plea for participation on the front page of G-RAD. Sadly, many members of the G-RAD community no longer live in the Grand Rapids area, or have difficulty working in a trip to Four Friends into their busy schedules. Realizing this, we are accepting online submissions of blogs posts written on paper that are scanned or photographed and then either e-mailed to us or uploaded to flickr and tagged "ub3paperblog." We would love it if you guys participated as well!!

Criteria? There is no criteria! We are interested in anything you can give us! It can be a drawing, or a story, or something that happened to you today. even something you have found on the street. Anything you would consider blogging online we would like you to consider committing to paper and sending it to us! The only limitation, really, is that we need your submissions by tomorrow (Tuesday 10/18) at 9:00pm EST. That way we will have enough time to get each of the pieces worked into our final product. Yeah, that's it!

We look forward to seeing how you guys blog offline!
Love,
Team G-RAD