This section documents my experiments with digital collaging. Embedded sites can be experienced on this page, those that could not embed have be represented using screenshots. I have also included my proposed site journey, which helped me to develop my final prototype.

Reviews of each software can be found in the 'Software' section.

WIX

SQUARESPACE

CARGO COLLECTIVE

SITE JOURNEY

& VISITOR ENGAGEMENT

The visitor will access the archive via html link (www.dontaskjustcome.com). The landing page is a pop-up box with a short introduction to the archive, in English and Japanese. The main page is visible but blurred behind it. The title of the archive Don’t Ask, Just Come will appear at the top of the box in a red font with a border and textured overlay, emulating a familiar document stamp. The pop-up box has a stark white background to emulate the bright light of archive rooms and provide a contrast to the main webpage. An ‘enter’ button will be available after the introductory text, which closes the pop-up box and allows for visibility of the main page.

The archive is contained on the main webpage, with no extra pages, aside from clickable ‘About’ and ‘Glossary’ buttons. The ‘About’ button will reveal an overlay (or lightbox as it is known on wix.com) which provides the Department H context, curatorial statement, contact and ethics information and special thanks to a list of contributors. The ‘Glossary’ button will reveal an overlay providing a list of relevant terms and their definitions/short explanations. The terms will be hyperlinked to the definition/explanation source. This list will be updated regularly.

The archive itself takes the form of a large collage on a black background, to recreate the feeling of immersing yourself in a box to retrieve an item as well as to hint at the atmosphere of the Department H event. Only a section of the entire collage is visible on the screen at any one time. The visitor can scroll upwards, downwards and sideways, as well as zoom in and out. The accessions are varied and inclusive of video, audio, photography, digital art, illustrations, etc. Visitors to the site are able to move each accession independently from others, again to recreate the spontaneity of a physical archive. The digital residency artworks will be contained amongst the other accessions, and subsequently removed when the next artist-in-residence is ready to exhibit. Direct engagement will occur on this main page through self-directed interaction with accessions. The visitor is invited to browse the archive via any route they please, in the same way a physical archive functions. They can read about any accessions that immediately interest them and ignore the ones that do not. Engagement is not dictated. Thus, the visitor gains understanding of the archive materials on their own terms. In the same way archive research would allow visitors to piece together accessions to form their own narrative.

To differentiate between accessions and art, more information about the provenance is revealed when they are hovered over. They are not clickable but will reveal information such as date, photographer/artist/contributor, performer names, etc. The hover function is not available for video accessions as they are clicked to play, and the video link can be followed if further information is needed.

Indirect engagement with the archive will occur via digital marketing on social media platforms Instagram and Ameblo. Dedicated accounts on each platform will post content from the archive (with direct permission from the contributor), which will direct followers toward the www.dontaskjustcom.com website. More information on this will be provided later in the proposal. Further to this, the formation of a community derived from the digital residency programme will provide further engagement, as the artists-in-residence will have the opportunity to virtually meet with willing Department H community members to develop their artistic practise. Artists-in-residence will also be encouraged to communicate with predecessors and nominate successors, which it is hoped will organically create a sense of community amongst all of those involved. Again, more information on this will be provided later in the proposal.

The first mock-up of this can be downloaded by clicking here.