User talk:The Transhumanist/Archive 17

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Just a heads up to everyone reading this page...
I thought you might like to know that the Awards Center page has been deleted, along with its newsletter. :(

So, where do we go from here?

To new and even more interesting projects, of course!

I've been preparing to co-coordinate a large collaboration/competition called Around the World. It was going to be run at the Awards Center, but since that no longer exists, the collaboration will be hosted somewhere else.

Around the World will begin July 15th as planned - it's location will be announced soon.

It'll be a blast. In the competition, participants will be helping to develop over 200 pages (drafts, which will be moved to article space once they are ready), using advanced tools to edit every single one of them!

This is going to be interesting.

And the event shall have awards which are being created specifically for it as we speak!

If you would like me to keep you informed of this and other interesting collaborations I'll be working on and/or organizing in the future, please drop me a note here on my talk page, and I'll be happy to keep you in the know.

I look forward to your replies.

Sincerely,

The Transhumanist 21:50, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the World
If you are stuck on a place to put the your contest, it would be cool to put it on a subpage. I'd love to help you with it, in fact, if you want, we can host it at User:IMatthew/Around the World. =] Anyway, leave me a note if you'd like any help with it. -- iMa tth ew  T.C. 21:55, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the offer. The location is taken care of, but hasn't been announced yet in case we find an even better alternative.  By the way, would you like me to keep you informed about Around the World and future projects?  The Transhumanist 21:58, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Definately, but is there anything I can do to help? Also, what is your location? -- iMa tth ew  T.C. 22:05, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I've posted a request for help on your talk page. The Transhumanist 22:28, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I see, I think that maybe I can get the page started. I can format the page, add all of the info, and getting the page ready. I don't really want to work on the barnstars, but I'm willing to do anything else. -- iMa tth ew  T.C. 22:51, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * It's a contest, not a page per se. ;)  The event will be announced and the instructions posted on the relevant WikiProject pages.  There's no need to design a page for it - that's already being taken care of.   The Transhumanist 22:58, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Seems like you have a good hold on this! So can you explain to me, just how this is going to work? -- iMa tth ew  T.C. 22:59, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the World
First of all, I'd like to issue my......uh..... something that involves being sorry for AWC to be deleted. I was about to contribute to the MFD but it was closed. Oh well.

I'm glad that Around the World is still alive though. I'm just asking what kind of topics would be covered by it. I hope it doesn't get killed by MfD. =) Anyways, it seems really interesting and...I NEED DETAILS...please! Anyways, I congratulate you on continuing your contributions on Wikipedia despite the fact the AWC was deleted, and hope you continue to make good edits. Around the World will be very fun, and Good luck!(on organizing it, I mean) P.S. Will there be barnstars! =) Just kidding DA PIE EATER (talk) 22:04, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'll be sure to keep you informed. Thank you for your interest.  By the way, there will be awards...


 * For each participant who "goes 'round the world" (that'll be explained in the instructions) :) there's an award ranked by how many times they complete the gauntlet, and there will be a medal awarded monthly for the one who performs the most "trips" around the World during that month, and the reigning champion will get to display our World Champion trophy on his or her user page (until someone sets a new record of course). :)


 * I hope you'll join in when the fun starts.


 * Sincerely,


 * The Transhumanist 22:17, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

RE: Just a heads up
Yeah, I'd like that. (Sorry for buggering with AWB xD) weburiedoursecretsinthegarden 22:20, 26 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry to hear the AWC was deleted. (Well, kind of; I actually supported the deletion or at least the revamping of it. It was a good idea, and it worked well for a while, but it just spawned too much harm at GAN and such.) I like this Around the World idea, though. Lemme know the details on that when they come in. I'll be happy to help organize it, if you need the assistance. Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone  00:39, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Alright, I'll see what I can do. I read up on Malinaccier's talk page, and it appears the current tasks at hand are easy yet tedious. I must warn you, though, I can't get AWB to download, and I don't have Firefox. However, I could substitute with Huggle and Twinkle which do roughly the same things. I'll also be away starting tomorrow for a couple weeks, but I should be back by the 15th, if not earlier. Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone  01:31, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the award-seeking World
Good day, I've taken a look at your Around the World project and I'm quite concerned that some aspects of the "contest" are fostering the same problems the Awards Center had. I know you are acting in good faith&mdash;I have never doubted that&mdash;but I implore you to abandon your focus on deadlines and awards. By setting and pressing deadlines, you are encouraging your participants (many of whom are children and will view this as "cramming" like they do in school) to focus on volume and speed instead of quality. Don't you see that was part of the Awards Center problem? I'm putting the ball in your court. I encourage you to act to remedy the issue. -- Laser brain  (talk)  14:30, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

One other thing: Can you direct me to a central location where all this is being planned and coordinated? Transparency is badly needed here so the community can see what's going on. I'm afraid if you suddenly unleash this on WP, you're going to wind up with a lot more problems than an AN/I post complaining about mass page moves. -- Laser brain  (talk)  15:36, 27 June 2008 (UTC)


 * What about having awards for the best edits rather than the most? Really need to find a way to concentrate on quality over quantity, I think this was the basic problem with the AWC.  Also, you really need a homepage for this, even if it's just User:The Transhumanist/Around the World, to concentrate everything. :-) -- tiny plastic Grey Knight &#x2296; 15:42, 27 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Laser_brain, I understand why you are concerned. You've seen awards under development, but you do not know what they will be awarded for or how they will be awarded (that hasn't been announced yet).  You've seen a contest under development, but haven't read the instructions (they haven't been posted yet).  And you've  learned about a collaboration that intends to do a great deal of work (and there's been no mention of what quality controls will be in place).  If I wasn't the one designing the thing, I might be concerned too.  :)


 * Quality is the primary focus. This will be reflected in the statement of purpose, the contest instructions, the way the awards will be presented, and in the awards themselves, and even in the approach of the entire project...  To ensure that only quality results are added to the encyclopedia, this project deals entirely with drafts.  All work will be done on a set of drafts, and the pages will not be moved to article space until they are ready.  All of the participants will be working on all of the drafts, and so everybody's work will be apparent to each other.  Shoddy work will not go unnoticed by the overall team, and won't be awarded.  Awards won't be granted hastily.  There will be a one week evaluation period to give other participants the opportunity to see the work that each person has completed.  And tasks will be assigned to each participant one at a time - a participant can't move on to a new task until a coordinator has checked the previous task's work and assigns a new one (that is, awards won't be granted for work that wasn't assigned).  This limits problems to one data-type at a time.  Also, the coordinators are hands-on as well.  They're working on the pages before the event begins, to familiarize them with the project, and they'll be fixing problems that arise throughout.  The awards are to add an element of fun, but it's the collaborative nature of the project that most participants will get a kick out of, I think.  But it should be interesting, nonetheless.


 * A contest page will be posted as soon as there is a contest to post. I won't be starting any contest until the set of pages to which the new pages will belong has been renamed - the current name is the Lists of basic topics.  Nor will it begin until everything is ready.  There's more than 2 weeks left, which will give plenty of time for input.  I'm very happy that you are interested.


 * If I've missed anything, please feel free to ask questions. Thank you.  The Transhumanist 17:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm also a little concerned about the impact of this. Given that we are getting close to your go live date, do you not think it would make some sense to have some central discussion somewhere to seek a consensus on what you are going to do and whether the arguments that led to the deletion of AWC are going to impact on this project_ If it goes live and these concerns are not addressed you might easily find some serious resistance and disruption ensuing and drastic G4 action following in its wake... Spartaz Humbug! 17:48, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * There will be some awards involved, but that's where the similarity ends. The AWC was a centralized awards department.  This will be a WikiProject-based collaboration focused on developing a very specific set of draft pages.  Therefore, G4 won't apply.  I'm not even sure we'll be ready by July 15th.  The contest may be postponed anyways, since there are a few other things that should probably happen first, like a rename of the set, which will itself require a community-wide discussion.  The Transhumanist 19:42, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Response to messages
Sure! I'd be happy to join. Is there something I need to install for it? I'm completely new to this, so I will be asking a couple of questions. I'm also sending this in response to the Around the World happenings thing. I'd like to get that, too, whatever that is. I'll be offline for a little bit, but will be back on later today, and hopefully starting the graphics process. --LAA Fan 16:04, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the World
Hey, I'd like to be kept in the know. If you need any help setting this up, I'd be happy to oblige. --Gimme danger (talk) 20:44, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the World
I was sad to see the Awards Center go, please keep me informed of your Around the World Competition. --Captain-tucker (talk) 21:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Hey you wanna... 2
Well when you have the chance then can you? Demon Hunter Rules (&mdash;) 23:57, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I won't get the chance. To the contrary, I need others to help me complete the work I've started here, and this may take years.  The Transhumanist 02:43, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the World
It was a pity it had to be deleted :(, I was not even aware of the problem as I was on wikibreak!! Anyway, Ill sign up for the Around the World thing. Sounds intresting! Fattyjwoods  Push my button 00:44, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Reply
view my talk. -- penubag  (talk) 01:24, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

x2-- penubag  (talk) 06:57, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

World Traveler
Hey there Transhumanist! I saw your post over at the awards talk page requesting a graphics designer for a new barnstar. Do you still need it done? I'm not sure if I would consider myself skilled, but I've done a little graphic design, and the barnstar you want looks like an interesting challenge :) -Samuel Tan (talk) 10:21, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
 * In response to your reply on my talk page :) I have adobe CS3 (InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator), so I should have all the tools you need. I'll take a closer look at what you require once I'm done with a few edits for my latest article. Cheers! -Samuel Tan (talk) 03:13, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Hey I've taken a closer look at what you need and I think I can help (or try to).


 * Medal - yes I can work with layers and I'm willing to give this carving a shot. Send me the layered file?
 * Trophy - I can definitely help with the texture of the sphere, although it won't be perfect without some sort of 3D editing software. Do you know anyone who does? I have a free version of the Daz3d software but I've never found the patience to sift through the maze of menus to learn it :/ And I think light continents and dark oceans will look better, but it depends on the lighting and perspective. What I won't be able to do is the pedestal, 'cos I'm terrible (read: absolutely horrendous) at making real-life-looking objects from scratch.-Samuel Tan (talk) 03:57, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Made a rough draft (below). Something like what you had in mind? I erased the black symbols on the original globe, added a continents layer and airbrushed it to make the shading similar so the shadows won't look odd. Problem is that the continents may be a bit hard to make out if the overall image is small. (edit) oh and i put in a "rocky" texture

-Samuel Tan (talk) 06:21, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Hey there! In response to your comments about the draft, I'll be away for a few days this week on training with my company (audit training - I'm mentally preparing myself for boredom), so I won't be able to work on this for a while. I'll take another look at your comments when I get back to see if I can do it. If you find some really pro graphics designers to help you in the meantime, feel free to let them handle it :)--Samuel Tan (talk) 23:59, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Hi Transhumanist! I've decided not to work on this Around the World project for now, until my work gets less heavy and you post up some details about the competition. In particular, I want to rest assured that this new project doesn't have the same problems that AWC had. thanks :) --Samuel Tan (talk) 15:11, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the world
Hi. As I am (regretfully) no longer likely to be highly active, I probably won't be able to help with the awards. Best wishes, ~ A H  1 (TCU) 21:30, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Around the world
I am willing to help out with the project, although I probably won't be able to do as much work for it as I would like (but isn't that the way it is with everything?). I, unfortunately, will not be able to do any GIMP work for you. Anything as far as managing the competition... that looks good. -- Sharkface T/C 21:34, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I make no promises, but I will see what I can do as far as GIMP goes. Seeing as how you guys probably used Google image search initially to find a globe stand, I'll see if I can find one using other means. -- Sharkface T/C 04:48, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Around The World

 * I'm sorry to see the awards center go, however, keep me informed of your "Around The World" project. Thanks! --Grrrlriot (talk) 02:38, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Response
Okay. I can do that. How do you upload the photo, though? I wish WikiZorro was still here, he would be able to help me with this, but since he's gone, I'm asking you. --LAA Fan 16:15, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Images


I found these photos while Google searching. I didn't upload them; they're actually on Wikipedia Commons, except for the last one; which is off another wiki. I'll try to find more--LAA Fan 16:33, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Spot check
I know this doesn't meet the requirements yet, but how's atlas' general appearance so far? Is this what you had in mind? -- penubag  (talk) 05:31, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
 * He's oversaturated. Pull back on the brightness a bit.  He should be gold, not glowing!  :)  The Transhumanist 19:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Here's an idea for a pedestal that should be easy to make look real: and upside down pyramid. Not only will Atlas be holding the world on his shoulders, but he'll be performing an incredible balancing act as well. Just like us Wikipedia editors! The hard part will be to get the perspective right. If the pyramid is drawn in its final perspective, then getting the shape right will be the hard part. Just my guess.

The point of the pyramid should rest directly upon the bottom edge of the image.

For the globe we need to build it from the ground up.


 * We need a golden sphere, with shading and lighting to match the lighting and shading on Atlas. Inkscape can create spheres.  I think its lighting will carry through to the puzzle globe when the latter is overlayed.


 * Then the following can be overlayed onto the sphere: Image:Continents from globe.png


 * I'm not sure which would look better: lighter oceans with darker continents, or darker oceans with lighter continents. Both should shades of gold, of course.

Someone worked up a rough-draft from the rough-draft I made:

The continents look pretty cool raised up like that, but they don't stand out because the oceans aren't a different shade. The marble texuture doesn't work, because this is supposed to be a shiny gold metal trophy, not gold-colored rock. Stone texture could be used on our pedestal to great effect, though (not gold-colored though). The puzzle layer should be on top rather than covered up by the continents.

I'd like the world puzzle-ized, without the black symbols.

To do that you'd generally stack the puzzle globe layer on top, with its opacity reduced. Here's the puzzle globe with the symbols removed:




 * If you have time, you could carve the symbols into the surface so we could see what that would look like.


 * The finishing touch on the globe:

Once the puzzle pattern is overlayed, Then the part of the sphere and continents that fill in the missing part of the puzzle globe need to be erased, to complete the puzzleglobe effect.


 * Remember, this is the size proportion to shoot for between the globe and Atlas:



We can't use the above pic because it has the wrong lighting/shading on the globe, unwanted symbols, no layer data, etc. Not having layer data is the biggest problem, because we need to be able to swap these pics back and forth while retaining optimum manipulability. When the layers are merged, it makes the pics much harder to work with.


 * Atlas

Some things that need to be cleaned up on Atlas are the water marks. (On his right shoulder and chest). It looks like you figured out how to remove those on your rough-draft above. You're also on the right track on making him look like shiny gold. The oversaturation needs to be corrected though.

You're definitely better at this than I am.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with next.

The Transhumanist 20:35, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

P.S.: For the globe, I think the most crucial part is the golden sphere that needs to be created to place the continents on. Be sure to keep each of its elements in their own layers, so that we can adjust them as needed. Here's an example in Inkscape's documentation.