The Beast moves on top

[scottkleinman]

I've just pushed a change to master. Our friendly hippo now pops up in the centre of the screen instead of below the Zotero box.

A few changes and fixes went into this:

1. Removed a duplicate call to JQuery and added a call to JQuery UI.
2. JQuery is called from Google CDN with a local fallback. If there are no objections, I'll go ahead and do it for JQuery UI.

Please test as soon as heroku updates. The Beast is waiting for you.

[fontnerd]

This is awesome, Scott! I've seen the updates on heroku, looks good to me. Brian has suggested that I change the wording on the animated gif from "Feed the Beast" to "Feed the Machine". I will try to do this tonight and upload the new gif. If I have any trouble w/ Github, I'll give a holler.

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 8:59 PM, scottkleinman notifications@github.comwrote:

I've just pushed a change to master. Our friendly hippo now pops up in the centre of the screen instead of below the Zotero box.

A few changes and fixes went into this:

1. Removed a duplicate call to JQuery and added a call to JQuery UI.
2. JQuery is called from Google CDN with a local fallback. If there are no objections, I'll go ahead and do it for JQuery UI.

Please test as soon as heroku updates. The Beast is waiting for you.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122 .

[scottkleinman]

Glad you like it. The image I am using is 209w x 157h. If you pull it from Github, it is "feedthebeast.gif". The image you originally made is "feedthebeast-original.gif".

-S

On 5 August 2013 18:29, Amy notifications@github.com wrote:

This is awesome, Scott! I've seen the updates on heroku, looks good to me. Brian has suggested that I change the wording on the animated gif from "Feed the Beast" to "Feed the Machine". I will try to do this tonight and upload the new gif. If I have any trouble w/ Github, I'll give a holler.

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 8:59 PM, scottkleinman notifications@github.comwrote:

I've just pushed a change to master. Our friendly hippo now pops up in the centre of the screen instead of below the Zotero box.

A few changes and fixes went into this:

1. Removed a duplicate call to JQuery and added a call to JQuery UI.
2. JQuery is called from Google CDN with a local fallback. If there are no objections, I'll go ahead and do it for JQuery UI.

Please test as soon as heroku updates. The Beast is waiting for you.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub< https://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122> .

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22152902 .

Scott Kleinman Professor of English Director, Center for the Digital Humanities California State University, Northridge

[mialondon]

Or 'feed the hippo'? A larger point - did we ever settle on the language we're describing the magic/black box/magic moustache/serendipity machine with in the interface and other docs?

[fontnerd]

I agree this is a larger issue regarding language. Not sure if we can reach consensus on this but I would like confirmation on language before making a ton of changes. I think the larger question is:

• What role does the hippo play in overall identity + site? Is the hippo the beast in the machine? Is the hippo the machine? Is the hippo more like a mascot? Would be good to get some feedback / thoughts from Outreah + PMs as well since this crosses over to other areas.

On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 8:32 AM, Mia notifications@github.com wrote:

Or 'feed the hippo'? A larger point - did we ever settle on the language we're describing the magic/black box/magic moustache/serendipity machine with in the interface and other docs?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22175340 .

[briancroxall]

This is a good discussion and something that I was wrestling with a bit when I was firing up the Twitter account yesterday afternoon. I wanted to use the hippo with mustache as the Twitter avatar, which kind of suggested that I was tweeting from the hippo's perspective. But I don't necessarily see the hippo as co-equal with the Serendip-o-matic.

My own thought is that the Serendip-o-matic is the machine that is in the logo for the site. The Serendhippo, on the other hand, is the mascot for the project. I think it's separate from the machine, at least visually. My tweets yesterday don't draw this as a hard line, however.

I'd like to hear thoughts from others. @amrys @rpalin @JackDougherty @mfrazer

[rpalin]

I like Brian's distinction between machine and mascot and I therefore like the idea of "Feeding the Machine" much more than "Feeding the Beast." On a related note, when I was showing my two oldest kids (15, 13) the t-shirt ideas, they didn't get the hippo connection. "Feed the Machine" might be a good addition for any of @fontnerd 's hippo swag.

[mialondon]

So Serendhippo somehow lives in or around the machine (whether that's the Magic Moustache, black box, whatever)?

I'd been meaning to say, should the twitter bio include the name of the tweeters?

[mialondon]

Returning to the original question - looks good! Could it be a little bigger without messing up our device responsiveness?

And back to the hippo - we probably need to be a little less obscure about result items without images, and hint that the hippo represents documents etc without preview images. Do we want to do customised images for different result types (images, objects, books, documents)?

[scottkleinman]

We probably need a set of instructions (not that anyone will read them) which includes an explanation of the hippo in the about page. However, I think eventually we should have customised images based on item type. This will also help us develop some of the logic we need for filtering different types (see issue #126).

On 6 August 2013 09:21, Mia notifications@github.com wrote:

Returning to the original question - looks good! Could it be a little bigger without messing up our device responsiveness?

And back to the hippo - we probably need to be a little less obscure about result items without images, and hint that the hippo represents documents etc without preview images. Do we want to do customised images for different result types (images, objects, books, documents)?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22191561 .

Scott Kleinman Professor of English Director, Center for the Digital Humanities California State University, Northridge

[mfrazer]

sorry I'm weighing in a little late, but I agree with @briancroxall re the machine vs the hippo. Perhaps a hippo is the great and powerful Oz? :)

I also agree with @mialondon about the various pages/images, but I think Amy is on that in https://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/127

[rpalin]

Amy and I are working in CafePress and we need to know if the Serendihippo belongs there. Should it, in other words, appear on a t-shirt or a coffee mug? We want to open the store and publicize, but we first want everyone on the same page re identity. Thanks a lot in advance for weighing in on this. @scottkleinman @mialondon @briancroxall @JackDougherty @moltude @fontnerd @amandavisconti @mfrazer @erose @rlskoeser @amrys

[mialondon]

Is there somewhere we should be looking at options?

[rpalin]

You can go to http://www.cafepress.com/serendipomatic for an idea of the machine merchandise. Here's a capture of the potential hippo:

[fontnerd]

I'm not sure if we are ready to circulate the store yet, a few issues with the store template, fyi. Would love any thoughts / feedback on the hippo. Maybe a "feed the machine" speech bubble instead? Or it could be a front/back design... Again, I think this should align with our message of the Hippo as the mascot... On Aug 8, 2013 8:26 AM, "rpalin" notifications@github.com wrote:

You can go to http://www.cafepress.com/serendipomatic for an idea of the machine merchandise. Here's a capture of the potential hippo: [image: capture_hippo]https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/5123249/931176/b65fd636-0025-11e3-9173-ae8443c11219.JPG

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22319804 .

[mfrazer]

I do like "feed the machine" better as a tagline, and i love the hippo. i like both of the alternative ideas - front/back or coming out of his mouth. it should be like the hippo is saying "feed the machine"...but i think this image evokes that. thanks for all of your work on this, Amy and Ray.

[amandavisconti]

I also like front/back or speech bubble. Thanks for your work on this!

On Thursday, August 8, 2013, mfrazer wrote:

I do like "feed the machine" better as a tagline, and i love the hippo. i like both of the alternative ideas - front/back or coming out of his mouth. it should be like the hippo is saying "feed the machine"...but i think this image evokes that. thanks for all of your work on this, Amy and Ray.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22321166 .

[briancroxall]

I like the idea of the speech bubble. With the text on the 'Dhippo and its mouth open like that, it suggests that it is the machine. If it's coming out of the hippo's mouth, however, it might be seen as a call to action.

I kind of think of the hippo as the spokesanimal / caretaker of the Serendip-o-matic.

[fontnerd]

The Hippo's already the social media strategist, so it makes sense.

On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 10:15 PM, Brian Croxall notifications@github.comwrote:

I like the idea of the speech bubble. With the text on the 'Dhippo and its mouth open like that, it suggests that it is the machine. If it's coming out of the hippo's mouth, however, it might be seen as a call to action.

I kind of think of the hippo as the spokesanimal / caretaker of the Serendip-o-matic.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22371793 .

[mialondon]

Another vote for hippo as caretaker of the machine/mascot...

I love the t-shirts, and thanks Ray and Amy for your work on this! But should the hippo one somehow include the name of the project/tag line or are we international OWOTers of mystery?

[amrys]

Sorry to be so late in coming to this conversation, folks. I think the store looks great, and the merchandise even better! Thanks for all your work while I have been running around like a crazy person.

I, too, would like to see how it looks when the hippo speaks. Or, the "feed the machine" directive could be under the hippo. I agree that it is a little confusing when the text is on the hippo: is the hippo the machine? I support the idea of hippo as mascot.

The hippo shirt should probably have the name or URL somewhere -- perhaps this one could be a front/back design, if that is even an option. Hippo and feed-the-machine tagline on front, name of tool/URL on back?

[scottkleinman]

I somehow missed the cafepress link early, but I've just gone there, and it looks great. I haven't got much to add beyond what has been said. Labelling a hippo as a machine is a little confusing.

One other thought I had is whether it is possible to ad the "Let your sources surprise you" tagline on some of the items. It would make a nice alternative possibility. If we wanted to be really mysterious, we could do the hippo with the tagline beneath it. See also Amrys' suggestion about name/url on the back...

On 9 August 2013 04:52, amrys notifications@github.com wrote:

Sorry to be so late in coming to this conversation, folks. I think the store looks great, and the merchandise even better! Thanks for all your work while I have been running around like a crazy person.

I, too, would like to see how it looks when the hippo speaks. Or, the "feed the machine" directive could be under the hippo. I agree that it is a little confusing when the text is on the hippo: is the hippo the machine? I support the idea of hippo as mascot.

The hippo shirt should probably have the name or URL somewhere -- perhaps this one could be a front/back design, if that is even an option. Hippo and feed-the-machine tagline on front, name of tool/URL on back?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22389633 .

Scott Kleinman Professor of English Director, Center for the Digital Humanities California State University, Northridge

[fontnerd]

Hi All,

Thanks for input on the store. I need to update all hippo items w/ the new image of the hippo with a speech bubble. Note that the current hippo should be double sided (click on the item image) w/ URL on back. I like the idea of the tagline, maybe on back of a few other items.

Sorry I'm slow guys, anyone want to babysit for me? On Aug 9, 2013 11:17 AM, "scottkleinman" notifications@github.com wrote:

I somehow missed the cafepress link early, but I've just gone there, and it looks great. I haven't got much to add beyond what has been said. Labelling a hippo as a machine is a little confusing.

One other thought I had is whether it is possible to ad the "Let your sources surprise you" tagline on some of the items. It would make a nice alternative possibility. If we wanted to be really mysterious, we could do the hippo with the tagline beneath it. See also Amrys' suggestion about name/url on the back...

On 9 August 2013 04:52, amrys notifications@github.com wrote:

Sorry to be so late in coming to this conversation, folks. I think the store looks great, and the merchandise even better! Thanks for all your work while I have been running around like a crazy person.

I, too, would like to see how it looks when the hippo speaks. Or, the "feed the machine" directive could be under the hippo. I agree that it is a little confusing when the text is on the hippo: is the hippo the machine? I support the idea of hippo as mascot.

The hippo shirt should probably have the name or URL somewhere -- perhaps this one could be a front/back design, if that is even an option. Hippo and feed-the-machine tagline on front, name of tool/URL on back?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub< https://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22389633> .

Scott Kleinman Professor of English Director, Center for the Digital Humanities California State University, Northridge

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22401083 .

[scottkleinman]

Should this issue be closed?

[rlskoeser]

I think we still need an updated version of the animated gif on the website to match the new version of the hippo with the speech bubble & text that is on all the cafe press merch.

[fontnerd]

Will work on that tonight! Not enough hours in the day... On Aug 16, 2013 11:16 AM, "Rebecca Sutton Koeser" notifications@github.com wrote:

I think we still need an updated version of the animated gif on the website to match the new version of the hippo with the speech bubble & text that is on all the cafe press merch.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22772814 .

[fontnerd]

Just created an updated version of the animated hippo gif (w/ speech bubble). I'm not totally clear how to upload this into the master branch, so it's located in the OWOT Gdrive > Visual Identity > final logos + icons > feedthemachine.gif

@scottkleinman, can you help w/ this? thanks!

[rpalin]

Awesome, Amy.

[scottkleinman]

I'll pick it up and replace the current image.

On 17 August 2013 08:02, rpalin notifications@github.com wrote:

Awesome, Amy.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/chnm/serendipomatic/issues/122#issuecomment-22813339 .

Scott Kleinman Professor of English Director, Center for the Digital Humanities California State University, Northridge