Floating Island

Overview

Because my project deals primarily with ideas and policies, I think it will probably be best served by a static text-dominant approach, with a number of hyperlinks pointing to outside sources, with some photos and possibly interviews as well, to create a more interactive experience for the reader.

Text/Photo

As both Foust and McAdams point out, it is often difficult to read long portions of text online, so I would follow their suggestions to write in shorter chunks, breaking my project down into a series of short “issue” pieces. Each piece could be accompanied by one or two independent photos or other graphics (maps, charts, etc.) to illustrate the main ideas of the text.

I may break down the text by different subject categories within the arts: film, visual arts, dance, theater, and music. I would then examine the impact of Hong Kong’s arts policies and the influence of mainland China within each of these areas.

In terms of layout and design, I prefer a simple, straightforward look (no flashing graphics or surprise pop-ups, please). This would reflect my personal taste and create a site that is easy to navigate.

Audio

It may be useful to have some audio clips of interviews with relevant people involved in Hong Kong’s arts scene, such as a gallery owner or museum curator, artists, a festival organizer and/or policymakers. In developing audio, I would want to focus on a few interesting voices who can add a unique perspective. In using audio, I will be interested to see whether, as suggested by Storm, I will obtain more intimate commentary than by using video.

Video

At present, I don’t plan to incorporate video. Although it would be nice to include some relevant clips of interesting performances around Hong Kong, I might run into copyright problems with using such footage. Apart from performance clips, I don’t think video would contribute much more to the project, as I’ll be concerned more with the relatively stable issues of arts, policy and cultural identity. Video would be more suitable to dramatic stories, particularly those that involve interesting characters.

Interaction

In terms of interactivity, I am happy to allow comments and will link to bloggers who write on similar topics. A resource page may be especially useful in pulling together the various sources and references for further reading, as well as to provide a better picture of the arts and culture in Hong Kong by including links to relevant websites. Since the project will appear on a class website, other students should also be allowed to contribute to the project, adding their text, images and other media.