Week 15 has been dedicated to the specific circle of hell that is web layout. I naively assumed that documenting the project would be the easy part compared to the physical computing.
I was incorrect. I spent days fighting with CSS grids to make the website look professional. It is a different kind of making. The materials are virtual but the frustration is very real.
I am currently finalizing the Catalogue of Making. I want to ensure that the technical details like the specific 10M Ohm resistor value and the JSON array structure are clearly communicated.
WEEK 15
Virtual Materiality
Fighting with layout engines proved just as difficult as soldering. The goal is to make the site a resource, showing the how and not just the what.
Systems Failure
Printed the booklet before finalizing the URL structure. A lesson in transmedia design: physical and digital must be built simultaneously, not sequentially.
Chaotic Coherence
Looking back from the failed NFC tags to the working Piezo arrays, the line of inquiry is finally clear. The documentation is the container for this chaos.
I also encountered a classic error where I put the cart before the horse. I designed and printed the physical booklet only to realize I hadn't finalized the URL structures for the QR codes included in the book.
This led to a scramble to ensure the website architecture matched the printed codes. It was a lesson in systems thinking. In a transmedia project the physical and digital must be designed simultaneously and not sequentially.
I want the website to be a resource and not just a gallery. It needs to show the how and not just the what.
As I wrap up the documentation I am exhausted but satisfied. Looking back at the trajectory from the failed NFC tags to the working Piezo arrays I can see the line of inquiry clearly now.
The website is proving difficult to finish but it is slowly becoming a coherent container for a semester's worth of chaotic discovery.
