Ramona's first blog

2005-12-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Today was our last session of the work shop. Fransesco and I just finished the last bits and pieces of. Wendy was again a great helping hand. On the whole the web page is a success. All the features and links are working. Fransesco did a great job and I am glad that at the end I was able to contribute more to the project. However, evaluating the group project I argue that it would have been better if every indivual had his or her own part. The others did their part very well since they were able to work individually and attended the meetings to discuss development. It was rather difficult to work on the web site with francesco together because he had all the data on his laptop and it was just difficult to work together. In the workshops I did not know what to do because he did most of the things. I am not complaining because he did a very great job. What I also realized is that I am more familiar by working with the code and not with icons. As we did the gallery, we had problems in connecting the web gallery with the template of our web site. I believed that we are not able to connect it by clicking icons rather we had add the code of the web site in our template code. In fact, we have tried to copy the code and add it to the template code but it was still not working. As a result I emailed Wendy and asked her for help. We had to do the gallery in Tuesday workshop session together and it is finally working.
In conclusion I did enjoy the course and although I should have contributed more to the group project, I think that I have tought myself the basics in Dreamweaver and Flash.

Wednesday meeting

2005-12-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

Francesco, Christy and I have met today after lessons. Francesco showed me the web site and explained that there are problems on the web site which have to be resolved. The problem, which he cannot resolve, is that certain sites do not have the same colour as the others. The programmes do not let him change the colours and he does not know why. I am going to do also some research on this and maybe I can give him advice.
Christy finished editing the pictures but mentioned that I might have problems with one or two images. I am trying to change the format of the gallery I do not want to have the pictures on the left hand site I want them to be placed in the middle of the page.

Doing the gallery!

2005-12-06T04:17:00.001-08:00

Finally I am doing the gallery for the web site. My task is to do the gallery which is pretty simple. Wendy has showed me how to do it. For the gallery I am using Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks. Starting with saveing the pictures in a folder where I can find them easily. From there, I have to open Dreamweaver and click on 'site' followed by a click on 'manage site'. Then another window is opening and I have to click on 'new' and 'site'. After click on 'site' another window is opening which is called 'site definition on unnamed site'. From there I have to click on next until I get the request from where the pictures are taking from. Clicking on the folder symbol I can choose where the pictures are coming from. Click on 'next' and on the request how to connect it to which network server and click on 'None' and then finishing it off by clicking 'Done'. Firework transforms all the pictures into the website and automatically and provides it with links to view the previous, next and home pictures.
I had no problems doing my test gallery but not with the pictures Christy has given me. The format was wrong and they did not look nice in the gallery. Tomorrow after lesson we have planned to meet again and to change the format of the images.

Last Friday we have taken a few pictures of our group. I think they are quiet cute :-)

2005-11-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

This week I am unable to write much about my personal evaluation regarding this week improvement. The day before I was in hospital and I am still recovering from the side effects from the Antibiotics I have taken over the last week. Fransesco is not very happy with me and so am I. I wished I could say that I have done more for the project but I did not. I also believe there was a lack of communication. However, I have tried to communicate and always emphasized my willingness to learn and to contribute to the project.
Maybe I can use this week to write about the blog. In my personal opinion the blogger site is not as good as I expected it to be. It is difficult to use and does not have the features which the msn blog offers. For instance, I am unable to add a personal music list and I cannot create a gallery. The pictures are listed directly on the blog but there are only three options how to place them. The msn blog on the other hand, offers various versions on how to place images. One can either create a gallery or can place them directly in the blog. A nice feature is that the images are changing automatically on the msn blog but not on blogger.
On the whole, I believe that the msn blog has a better layout and functions. However, at university we have problems in opening the site at all times. Hence, I had no other options then creating a new blog!

week 7

2005-11-29T11:07:00.000-08:00

So far, I have improved using Dreamweaver but I have still problems in using Flash. The problem I had with Dreamweaver was simply that I have used frames and it made it complicated. It was confusing for me to link all separate parts with each other. Wendy explained to me that I should not use Frames and that I should try using header and links only!
The group project is going fine. All the group members are doing their work. Francesco is very industrious. However, I hoped to take more part in web design and it is difficult contributing work while he did most of the work himself. The web site layout is very nice and well organized. The hands of the 'The Vitruvian Man' will be linked to the various sites. However I believe that I have not contributed productiveness to the project besides of practicing Dreamweaver and Flash.

Sickness is slowing down my contribution for the project down...

2005-11-16T01:33:00.000-08:00

The last weeks I was struggling with a very bad flu and unfortunately my uni work had to suffer from it the most. However, I have contiunued my research on my personal project. As I have published last week information about Martinique and its culture and history I also want to publish photos which I have taken during my stay.
So far I have collected information about Martinique and divided it into certain section. It was difficult to find information because all the tour guides and internet sides are providing the same information and using the same words. However, I enjoyed reading about the culture and music.

Our group project is going very well so far. The girls are very well organized and Francesco is doing lots of work for the web site. I wished I would have more impact. The communication is going fine between the writing team and the images. Unfortunately I am still doing not much for the web site and Fransesco seems to be in control. It is good to see that he is enjoying the web site but now I realise what Wendy has mentioned at the beginning of the course that it is difficult to do the web site together and that it is a rather individual task. He seems to have far more knowledge compared to me which is for the group a big bonous!!!!I am still struggling with flash.

2005-11-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

Today I am using again www.w3schools.com . I realised that I still do not really know how to use dream weaver. I have never studied HTML and I believe it would be a benefit if I can gain more knowledge about HTML. I will see how things are going with my first web site. So far I created my website where I put different Menus to open various pages. Well, I had no difficulties in the first place but now it seems like I cannot connect things together. My problem is that I have forgotten how to open the different frames and connect them with each other. Maybe Wendy can help me on Tuesday.
Our group project is going fine so far. All the members are doing their parts. We have to meet up and discuss improvements together.

Martinique

2005-11-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

Slowly I am able to bring parts which I have learnt during the weeks together! I have been practicing Dream weaver for quiet a while. I have created a simple web page and connected links with each other. I also used Internet pages such as www.w3schools.com to exercise.
Francesco and I are starting soon with designing and programming the web site. However, I have little knowledge about other Macromedia software programmes. I have tried to use Flash but found it very difficult to use.
Margherita and Tola are doing the research and have divided their worktable is focusing on TV programmes such as Star Trek and on relevant links. Margherita, on the other hand, is doing her research on film, discussions and literature. She is also aiming on relevant links for the web site.

Besides of our group project I have written the content for my individual project. I am focusing on Martinique and its history and culture. The reason why I have chosen Martinique is because I had the opportunity to visit the island and stayed with locals. My friend is from Martinique and we have spent our holiday together this year.

Martinique History

Between 5000 years before Christ, and the beginning of our era, several waves of migrations of Arawaks Indians coming from the Basin of Orénoque migrated to the West-Indian archipelago. In Martinique, about sixty Arawaks sites were inventoried showing the existence of true villages inhabited since the IInd century of our era.
These Indians survived and lived mainly with agriculture. They could not read or write but they had their own system of leaving messages on rocks. However, the intrusion of the Caribbean Indians, coming from the area of Guyanes, involves in the Xth century the collapse of the Arawak reign in all the Lesser Antilles.
June 15 1502, Christopher Columbus landed on one of his travels to America in Martinique. He discovered these people that he called " Indians " or " red skins " because of a red dyeing (the rocou) used by Arawaks to paint their body against the mosquitoes. He gave the island the name ‘Madinina’ (the island of flowers) or Mantinino (the island of women) by its inhabitants.
France colonized the island in 1635 by Pierre Belain d' Esnambuc, a noble from Normandy (western France), settles down on the Western coast, near the current city of Saint Pierre. The Compagnie des Iles d'Amérique (American Islands Company), founded in Paris, in 1626 by Louis the XIII th's Prime Minister Richelieu, decides to exploit the new French colony. In 1664, repurchased by the Company of the Western Indies in 1664, the island becomes a colony of the kingdom in 1674 and Colbert institutes the blacks trade.
Martinique lived as a French colony producing tropical trade goods such as cane sugar, coffee, rum or cocoa. African captives were brought from West Africa to form the slave population who is at the origin of most of today's population.
Martinique was the birthplace of Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was not black, but the offspring of colonial slave-owning aristocrats. The remnants of her parent's plantation, La Pagerie, can still be seen at Les Trois Ilets, across the bay from Fort-de-France.
In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte restores slavery, efficiently represented by his wife Josephine de Beauharnais, giving rise to ceaseless wars between English and French.
The abolition of slavery in the British West Indies, in 1833, will invigorate the movement, while the French abolitionists, headed by Victor SCHOELCHER, develop an active lobbying. The French Revolution of March 1848, ending with the reign of King Louis Philippe and marking the beginning of the Second French Republic, has a wide echo in West Indies. Victor SCHOELCHER being the Minister of Colonies and helped that more than 70.000 slaves are released. However, cheap labour was followed by an arrival of Asian labour which contributed to mix the races.
Slavery left an indelible mark on the Caribbean world. Its culture, a synthesis of Native American, European and African elements that met all around the Caribbean Sea, bears its scars: social inequality, omnipresent racism (with different expressions), as well as plastic arts, music languages and oral literature.
On May 8, 1902 Mount Pelée, a volcano on the island erupted, destroying the town of St. Pierre killing over 30,000 people. That time St.Pierre was the main city of Martinique where all its cultural events and politics were held. Only one resident survived the blast — a prisoner by the name of Ludger Sylbaris, who was protected by the thick walls of his cell.
Martinique became an overseas département of France on March 19, 1946. This means it is treated equally to every other département in France and has full representation in the National Assembly and Senate.
Being a part of France, Martinique benefits progressively of many social and economic laws. The general context is changing: cane sugar is no longer competitive, the public administrations recruit large amounts of educated people, primary education tends to be general and the service industry dominates widely.
Despite a superficial wealth, unemployment is massive, mostly among the young. In 1963, the Bumidom (Bureau of Migrations from Overseas Departments) is constituted, in order to send annually 10 000 people to continental France. There, they mostly occupy the lowest functions in hospitals and public administrations, progressively constituting an important, yet unorganized community. About 400 000 people from Martinique, Guadeloupe or Guyana live around Paris.

Marinique Music

The former French colonies of Martinique and Guadeloupe are small islands in the Caribbean. Despite their small size, the island has created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Its origin comes from the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially from the Martinican couval bwa and the Guadeloupan gwo ka, as well as from the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition.

Couval bwa

Chouval bwa is a kind of Martinican traditional music, featuring percussion, bamboo flute, accordion, and wax-paper/comb-type kazoo. The music originated among rural Martinicans, as a form of celebratory holiday music played to accompany a dance called the manege (which translates as merry-go-round; chouval bwa is a Creole version of cheval bois, which refers to the wooden horses seen on merry-go-rounds). Chouval bwa percussion is played by a drummer on the tanbour drum and the ti bwa, a percussion instrument made out of a piece of bamboo laid horizontally and beaten with sticks; the most traditional ensembles also use accordions, chacha (a rattle) and the bel-air, a bass version of the tanbour. Since its development, chouval bwa has diversifed into genres like zouk chouv, which includes electric instrumentation and has been popularized by Claude Germany, Tumpak, Dede Saint-Prix, and Pakatak.

Gwo ka

Gwo ka is a family of hand drums used to create a form of folk music from Guadeloupe. There are seven basic rhythms in gwo ka, and multiple variations on each. Different sizes of drums establish the foundation and its flourishes. Gwo ka is often accompanied by another type of percussion instrument called twi ba as well as vocal elements. The singing usually guttural, nasal, and rough, but it can bright and smooth with uplifting and complex harmonies and melodies. Rural Guadeloupans still use gwo ka drums in communal experiences called lewozes, while a more modernized version called gwo ka moderne add new instruments ranging from djembe drums to electric bass guitar. Gwo ka modern artists include Pakala Percussion and Pukoutan'n, alongside more pop-influenced musicians like Marcel Magnat and Ti Celeste, while Gerard Hubert and others have fused gwo ka with zouk.
Rural Guadeloupans still use gwo ka drums in communal experiences called lewozes; this is the most traditional manifestation of gwo ka in modern Guadeloupe. Gwo ka is also played at Carnival and other celebrations. A modernized and popularized form of gwo ka is well known on the islands; it is known as gwo ka moderne

Carnival

The carnival is certainly the best-known and most animated annual festival.
As in Guadeloupe, la Trinité, Rio de Janeiro, or Nice, the carnival has a great success in Martinique. It was the beginning of the catholic Lent, the beginning of this fast takes place during the last " fat " days.
Music plays a vital role, with Martinican big bands marching across the island, and Guadeloupan gwo ka ensembles travelling and performing music (mizik vidé) in a manner akin to Brazilian samba schools.
Carnival in both islands declined following World War II, the tradition began to anew in the 1980s, when large marching bands of fifty or more people became common, including a number of horn players, percussionists and dancers. Both islands feature participatory, call-and-response style songs during their Carnival celebrations.
These large bands, known as groups à pied, are each identified with a neighbourhood. Biguine vidé is participatory music, with the bandleader singing a verse and the audience responding. Modern instrumentation includes a variety of improvised drums made from containers of all kinds, plastic plumbing, bells, tanbou débonda, chacha, tibwa and gwoka drums. Aside from the biguine vidé bands, Martinican Carnival includes song and costume contests, masquerading and zouk parties. Traditionally, Carnival includes dances of African origin, including laghia, haut-taille, grage, calinda and bel-air [2]. Traditional instruments include the chacha, makyé, boula, tanbou chan and tanbou bas drums.
It begins on the last Sunday of the Epiphany with an explosion of cheerfulness, and ends with the burial of Vaval, on Ash Wednesday. This day, devils and she-devils dressed in white and black parade in the streets of Fort de France, dancing and singing with the sound of the tom-toms, the beguines of the Grand Vidé. At the end of the day, the effigy of Vaval called " Bois Bois ", is burned in an incredible hubbub and thrown in the sea under the cries and the lamentations of the crowd. " Vaval mô, vaval mô (Carnival is dead). Vaval Pa quitté nou (Carnival, do not leave us)".
During all the period of the carnival, disguised children traditionally go to crossroads everywhere in the island to request candies and money from the drivers.

Popular music

Though Martinique and Guadeloupe are most frequently known only for the internationally-renowned zouk style, the islands have also produced popular musicians in various updated styles of traditional biguine, chouval bwa and gwo ka. The world-famous zouk band Kassav' remains easily the most famous performers from the island. William Flessel and Ti Celeste are well-known artists in the gwo ka moderne style, while the Guadeloupan Carnival band Akiyo has become the only group in that style to record commercially. Chouval bwa has diversified into pop genres like zouk chouv, which includes electric instrumentation and has been popularized by Claude Germany, Tumpak, Dede Saint-Prix, and Pakatak. Germany is the most traditionally styled of the popular zouk chouv performers, while Marce Pago of Tumpak is particularly influential, and is also known for coining the term zouk chouv in 1987.

Biguine

Biguine is a Martinican form of clarinet and trombone music which can be divided into two distinct types:

* bidgin bélè or drum biguine - originates in slave bélè dances and characterized by the use of bélè drums and tibwa rhythm sticks, along with call and response, nasal vocals and improvised instrumental solos; has its roots in West African ritual dances, though ceremonial components do not survive in Haitian biguine.
* orchestrated biguine - originates in Saint Pierre in the 18th century, highly influenced by French music though vocals are usually in Creole.

Evolving out of string band music, biguine spread to mainland France in the 1920s. Early stars like Alexandre Stellio and Sam Castandet became popular. Its popularity abroad died relatively quickly, but it lasted as a major force in popular music on Martinique until Haitian compas took over in the 1950s and mini-jazz artists like Les Gentlemen and Les Vikings de Guadeloupe became popular in the late 1960s. In the later part of the 20th century, biguine musicians like clarinet virtuoso Michel Godzom helped revolutionize the genre. Biguine moderne, a pop form, has maintained some pop success in Martinique, especially artists like Kali, who fuse the genre with reggae.

Kadans

In the 1970s, a wave of Haitian immigrants to Martinique brought with them the kadans, a sophisticated form of music that quickly swept the island and helped united all the former French colonies of the Caribbean by combining their cultural influences. These Haitians drew upon previous success from mini-jazz artists like Les Gentlemen, Les Leopards and Les Vikings de Guadeloupe.

Zouk

Zouk music from Martinique merges West African-influenced indigenous drums and percussive instruments with electronic instrumentation. Indigenous instruments such as the tambour (large drum and lead instrument), chacha (tin can filled with stones), and t-bois (thin bamboo sticks) are paired with guitars, horns, synthesizers, and a drum set. The French Creole tongue of Martinique and Guadeloupe is an important element, and are a distinctive part of the music. Generally, zouk is based around star singers, with little attention given to instrumentalists, and is based almost entirely around studio recordings
The band Kassav remains perhaps the best-known zouk group. Kassav drew in influences from balakadri and bal granmoun dances, biguines and mazurkas, along with more contemporary Caribbean influences like reggae and salsa music. Zouk live shows soon began to draw on American and European rock and heavy metal traditions, and the genre spread across the world, primarily in developing countries.
Performed at fairs, carnivals, and in local discos, zouk music from Martinique merges West African-influenced indigenous drums and percussive instruments with electronic instrumentation. Indigenous instruments such as the tambour (large drum and lead instrument), chacha (tin can filled with stones), and t-bois (thin bamboo sticks) are paired with guitars, horns, synthesizers, and a drum set. Topped off with a large vocal chorus, the communal joy of zouk music celebrates life amid the strains of poverty in Martinique.

Gwo ka moderne

A more modernized version of gwo ka is gwo ka moderne, which adds new instruments ranging from conga or djembe drums and chimes to electric bass guitar. These styles all use the same fundamental seven rhythms as folk gwo ka. Zouk legends Kassav' played an important role in the modernization of gwo ka, giving urban credibility to a style that was seen as backward and unsophisticated; they initially played in a gro ka format, using songs from the gwo ka Carnival tradition of mas a St. Jean and even placing an homage to traditionalist drumming legend Velo on their earlier albums.
Gwo ka moderne artists include Pakala Percussion, Van Lévé and Poukoutan'n, alongside more pop-influenced musicians like Marcel Magnat and Ti Celeste, while Gerard Hubert and others have fused gwo ka with zouk. The most famous modern gwo ka performer, however, is William Flessel, whose Message Ka in 1994 became an international hit.

Martinique Culture

The richness and the plurality of the cultures of Martinique proves the fact that something always takes place somewhere, in the campaigns or within the cities and villages.
The Local Fairs, the Cockfights, the Cultural Nights, the " Lewoz ", the Funeral Watches, the Indian Feasts, the pulling oxen races, are as many occasions which will be offered all year long, to appreciate the vitality of the traditions of our islands.

The Creole

Despite the ubiquitous French influence on Martinican culture, French-Indian Creole traditions dominate the island's cuisine, language, music and customs. Although French is the official language, most Martinicans also speak Creole. The Creole word comes from the Portuguese 'crioullo'. It indicates, at the origin, the whites born in the colonies of the Americano-Caribbean zone and of the Indian Ocean. It also means a " speech ",
which grew out of the pidgin that early setters used to communicate with each other, and which also bears the traces of the many tongues spoken by African slaves. The mixture of the language origins from several languages, which are French, Spanish, Portuguese, English with native (the Caribbean) and African languages.
The Africans brought to West Indies were separated from their ethnic relatives, in order to prevent conspiracies. Facing the necessity to communicate with each other, they invented a new language, with some elements of French vocabulary and an African syntax.
The Creole is spoken in the West Indies, from Haiti to the Grenadines, with only nuances from one island to another. Thus the inhabitants of French, English or Dutch islands, with different official languages, separated by thousands of kilometres easily manage to communicate.
It is through oral literature that Creole gives its best. Songs, stories mixing European and African legends, jokes and riddles express the everyday life. As a spoken language, Creole is more than a language, it is also a way of life, and the history of people, evoking at the same time Africa, slavery, but also dance, music, islands, feast... Creole is definitely a living language. By the way the creolity is a movement initiated by authors such as Patrick Chamoiseau, Raphaël Confiant and Jean Bernabé, whose literature is also history sociology, the reality and conscience of people. In the beginning, other authors such as Aimé Césaire and Edouard Glissant created the bases of the creolity while insisting on the importance of the whole Caribbean culture. The West-Indian authors want to defend and promote the Creole.

Informations were taken from :

www.lonelyplanet.com
www.travel.yahoo.com
www.webcaraibes.com
www.wikipedia.org

2005-10-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

It is our third week and finally we have decided how we are going to organize our group assignment. Francesco and I are doing the web site together and he has already ideas for the layout. We had a few difficulties in organizing a meeting but on Friday we are trying to get together again! In fact, Margherita has been very industrious and she has started her part of the project. Whereas I have more difficulties in presenting work to the group. I am practicing on Dreamweaver. However, I feel that I am not progressing as much as I would like to.

The group assignment

2005-10-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

This week our group has decided which projects we are going to work on. Our chosen topic is
'Human-Tech Interface'. We decided to choose this topic because Fransesco argues that there are lots of information we can find in literature and the internet. My personal opinion is that the choice of topic is well chosen and group members are able to find material to write about. Suitable images and other media material are plenty available. So far, we were talking about images such as from movies and science fiction artists. In the following weeks we have to agree on the amount of information and start to select the material for our project.
Francesco also thought about ideas for the web site. He suggested keeping the web site simple and effective. I am very happy with his suggestion. I believe that for us it is better to create a web site which is working and which is easy to understand then trying out various designs and end up in a disaster.

Ramona's first blog

2005-10-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog which I am doing for the Multimedia Project Module at the LCC .
In this module we have to work in small groups and will be learning different aspects of multimedia. I also want to use this blog to write about my own interests.
Our task is to summarize our weekly approaches, project's progress, ideas, sources and skill development. To start with our group. We are five members(Tola Adeyinka, Margherita Calabi, Christy Qin, Fransesco Pagano and myself Ramona Buchner), each of us doing a different part of the project. Tola and Margherita are doing the context,material research and writing. Christy's responsibility is image finding, collections, research and preparation of digital photography. And finally Francesco and I are doing the web site.