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vampireqrow-moved · 4 years ago

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hey so I agree with a lot of the stuff in your post about the transphobia involved in the origin of the pansexual label, but I just have one question: what are the actual impacts of people with good intentions calling themselves pan? If you don't hate pansexuals and consider them bi, why type up a paragraphs long manifesto on the harms of the origin of the label if it means the same thing in the way that most non transphobic people (your audience) use it? a lot of identities can be used in transphobic ways (like bi and lesbian and anything really) and plenty of valid identities from problematic roots and evolve over time as people use them differently (queer, transsexual). so how is a person with good intentions using a not-perfect label in a way you don't like a threat to the community? if someone is using the label pan transphobically, wouldn't their bigotry exist independently? if pan people do not act in transphobic ways besides using the label pansexual, realistically what is changing if they call themselves bi beyond holier-than-thou aesthetic activism? plus, a blog on the internet isn't going to get everyone to stop identifying as pansexual, especially considering multiple prominent celebrities ID as pan. so why spend all that energy quibbling on semantics because some bi people use a slightly different word when you could be worrying about Literally anything else? just feels like you want to find something to argue about lol. extremely disappointed that I had to break a mutual

im going to respond to each thing you bring up chronologically- im not trying to nitpick or prioritize certain things you say ill just forget things if i go out of order and i dont want to miss something important. ALSO! i will be typing less formally (like keysmashes and shortening words n stuff) in this response than my og post bc its 1am as im starting to type this so im tired but i want to be clear that i am like. taking this seriously and im not like. mocking u in anyway if it could read that way?? i hope not but just in case anyways here it goes!

in terms of actual impact people with good intentions identifying as pan: honestly im not sure the full scope of the impact this has, so ill only be speaking to what ive personally seen which might not be all. but like... id argue my younger self has good intentionals iding as pan. i wanted to support trans people, even if i didnt understand a lot of the nuance involved. as a result of this, i developed a sense of superiority over other bisexuals and a mentality that bisexuality was a primitive and lesser sexuality. that mentality is harmful, and although im not sure if it affected bisexuals around me (of which there are many most of my friends are bi ajfjfjf) its still a harmful mentality and can easily hurt people even if i specifically didnt. also using it even with good intentions, which i know many people have, still spreads and further normalizes a label that imo can not be separated from its transphobic origins. this effect is not as extreme as other forms of transphobia and biphobia by A LONG SHOT. the bi community faces a lot of other issues but that doesnt mean this one isnt worth addressing if that makes sense?

if i dont hate pansexuals: ik this is part of a larger point which i will adress but i specified this in my post bc i see a lot of other posts that are negative towards pansexuality have "i hate pan ppl" somewhere in it or a close equivalent. i do not shame these ppl for their anger, i just wanted to be clear i think a lot of pan ppl are bi ppl with good intentions choosing a label they dont fully understand based on a misunderstanding of bisexuality.

why write a paragraphs long manifesto on the harms of pansexuals origin: ok 😭😭 the real reason here is that im literally just bad at summarizing. like thats literally it. i also like talking, its a bad combination. plus ive been thinking abt this for like. over a year im not even kidding and just like i have a lot of thoughts and figured if i was going to bother making my own post instead of rbing someone elses that i might as well get everything i wanted to say off my chest. ALSO BTW i literally got an ask like a week ago that was several paragraphs long asking me to explain my thoughts on why pan was harmful and some other stuff so like. this is partially responding to that and partially just me wanting to air my grievances ? idk if thats the right expression 😔😔

why write the post if my audience of people who identify as pan arent doing it in a transphobic way ? again sorry i didnt really understand the phrasing so i hope this is a vaguely correct summary!! um but like... again imo i think pan cant be separated from its transphobia and like. again imo iding as pan is like. a transphobic action/choice? obviously one transphobic thing does mean someone necessarily is like officially a Transphobe (it CAN be depending on the action but i dont think that applies here) but that doesnt mean there arent problems with what they did. this is like very complicated, but like. someone doing something harmful without the knowlege that its harmful doesnt make that person a bigot by any means it just means they didnt know. and i feel thats the case here? a lot of ppl (myself included until recently) know next to nothing abt pansexualitys origins so a trans inclusve sexuality might seem like a safe and good bet just because they dont know too much abt it, and like? i cant hate those people cause that was me for 5+ years and djgjfjdj you just dont know what you dont know!

basically i think iding with a transphobic label is inherently a singular transphobic action that doesnt make the person transphobic by itself, but is still a transphobic instance.

a lot of identities can be used in transphobic ways like bi, lesbian, etc.: this is true and a point i attempted to make on my original post, but i might not have clear enough. my issue with pan is specifically that it is a transphobic response to a preexisting identity. lesbian isnt an attempted trans inclusive indentity that replaced an identity that already existed (which have many trans ppl identifying with the og label). transphobes can use whatever labels they want, but transphobes using a label vs a label having a transphobic origin is very different. bigots use inclusive and supporting language for their bigotry all the time but language that originated with that bigotry is worse.

many valid identities stem from problemstic origins (like transsexual and queer) but the words evolve: ok my paraphrasing is a little weird there. anyways. the thing here is that. those are slurs. reclaimed slurs that can be empowering to many people, yes, but slurs nonetheless. reclaiming a slur is taking a harmful word and wearing it as a badge of pride. first off, pansexual is not a slur (ur not implying that in anyway just. saying) and it isnt being reclaimed when people dont treat it as having harmful origins. transsexual is the way some people identify but ppl acknowlege its a slur and originates from transphobia. ppl love to act like queer isnt a slur, which is an issue in and of itself, but just. factually it has historically and is currently being used against ppl with the intent to hurt them. pansexual isnt on the same level as these and other words like the f slur, d slur, etc. pansexual originates from trans and biphobia WITHIN the community and not outside of it, and most pansexuals dont see themselves as reclaiming the title because they dont think anythings wrong with it in the first place. and reclaiming it just seems unnecessary considering its history? theres no empowerment from using pan as a label as opposed to queer or transsexual, and it just divides the bisexual community for no reason.

how is a person using a not-perfect label a threat to the community? ok i dont think its a threat but still an issue if that difference makes sense? id like to reiterate a few things ive said before, but for me personally, it made me look down on bisexuals and see them as lesser, and it made people around me see pan as the "trans inclusive" sexuality as opposed to bisexuality, and basically its usage just leads to further biphobia. is this the worst of biphobia? no!!! but its still biphobia and why not attempt to target and minimize that? i have no way to singlehandedly stop biphobia, but my post might get through to my friends who id as pan and that small thing is better than nothing.

if someone used the pan label in a transphobic way, wouldnt that bigotry be different from people using it not transphobically?: someone claiming all bi ppl are transphobic and only pan is the acceptable label is obviously a lot worse than someone iding as pan and saying bi/pan solidarity but again, the second isnt not an issue because the first one is a bigger issue, its just a smaller issue in comparison. i wouldnt say the bigotry is different, one is just worse than the other, but it still has the same problems.

if pan people dont do anything transphobic other than id as pan then what changes with iding as bi over pan other holier-than-thou activism: its just one less person using a transphobic label? which isnt that big but it might lead to their friends stopping iding as pan and cause fewer people around them to see bi as a transphobic identity. which is small scale stuff, i wont try to blow it out of proportion, but thats still a step in the right direction and hopefully more people follow with it. its not terribly huge or lifechanging but something small that may only affect the people close to you is still something rather than nothing.

a blog the internet isnt going to get people to stop iding as pan: oh absolutely not. honestly i expected to get unfollowed/blocked more than change peoples minds regarding the pan label (im surprised i only lost two followers so far honestly) but again, someone literally asked me to do this and i wanted to be clear on my stance on the label, since in the past ive been supportive of it. im not expecting the post to get more than five likes, its more directed to my followers rather than the internet as a whole. im not expecting a large impact, im hoping to change the minds of my followers and friends who id as and support the pan label. thats it. if something bigger comes from it- great! but thats not what im aiming to do.

prev point + many prominent celebrities id as pan: the first name that comes to mind is someone im not a fan of for separate reasons but thats irrelevant. i mean im repeating myself a bit but some celebrities in the past validated and made me feel excited abt my identity as a pan person when they came out, and it justified the label to me, even when i had doubts. i have never interacted with a celebrity and do not plan to change their minds abt their identity. again, my post was for my friends and followers and maybe who ever was scrolling through the biphobia tag and decided to read my post.

why spend that much energy worrying abt the pan label instead of something else: ive spent waaaaay more energy thinking abt a singular meme i didnt like regarding my favourite rwby character so like. maybe i just overreact to things lol. maybe i have a lot of energy and since i cant talk my friends ears off abt my favourite fruits or the different voting methods i learned in my math class or what would dreams taste like, then i gotta put my energy into something. idk. i have a lot of energy and honestly? this didnt take that much. but i felt it weighing on me as my friends talked positively abt the pan label, when i felt guilty for the superiority i felt over my bi friends INCLUDING my best friend and favourite person in the world so like. i spent enough energy worrying abt it, and like. in hindsight since its been over 12 hours since posting it, im thinking abt it less. i was more worried abt feeling dishonest with my friends than actually worrying abt pansexuality, but i figured i owed them an explanation for why my feelings around it had changed.

just feels like you want to find something to argue about: okay i DO love arguing but im not pulling this out of my ass for fun. its in response to posts ive seen on my dash, asks i recieved abt pansexuality, and my way of letting people know my views have changed and why since i know at least some people are curious.

i am sorry to lose a mutual as well, and i genuinely hope things go well for you, but uh yeah thats that.

again, if people have further questions im willing to answer them i just might take a while bc i have school and other stuff 2 do but uhhh yea sorry if im clogging ur dash sjfjfkkf

#asks #long post #anonymous #pansexuality #biphobia #transphobia #my post

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hatari-translations · 6 years ago

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Female dancers in Hatari and their role - translation

Sólbjört’s research project for her degree from the Academy of the Arts is a 21-page essay (plus sources) on the role of the female dancers in Hatari, containing reflections on the band, feminism, the concept of the backup dancer, and a very interesting description of the process of planning and staging the May 23rd Gamla bíó concert that I attended! Below, I’ve translated and/or summarized the entire essay. It’s a really cool look into her mind and the thought behind the choreography.

I ended up quoting and translating probably the majority of the essay, but I did summarize some parts that were repeating points already made elsewhere or less interesting or relevant to fans of Hatari specifically. To avoid any confusion, I’ve presented the actual quotes in Tumblr’s quote format:

Quote

Anything not in an indented quote is my summary of the bits that I’m not quoting directly, with possible added commentary, etc.

Female dancers in Hatari and their role

The feminine and empowering woman

Introduction

Sólbjört begins by talking about the role of movements accompanying music - how it's commonly seen to be merely a decoration or a cherry on top, but she believes it often serves a much more important role.

There's nothing more satisfying to me than to experience movement controlled by music, or where the movement is slave to the music and follows it, beat for beat. Therefore, I find it extremely appropriate to use dance and movement on the concert stage, where the music is emphasized. The dance and movement becomes a visual medium that both enhances the experience and elevates the music and lyrics.

I have used my interest in the relationship between music and movement to create choreography for Hatari's songs and stage it on the concert stage. This is a study of the role of the female dancers in Hatari, and how lipstick feminism, a subcategory of the third wave of feminism, is used to support underlining the importance of the strong, feminine woman who moves on the concert stage. The primary emphasis is on showing the audience this strong woman who is both empowering and full of feminine qualities, without being accused of being submissive.

Hatari

Sólbjört talks about Hatari, "an anticapitalistic performance art band that nonetheless defines itself as a multimedia project". She explains the band as consisting of Matthías, Klemens and Einar but that this core of people works with many others who serve many different roles in creating the project. She explicitly delineates Klemens as the composer, Matthías as the lyricist and Einar as mixing and arranging the music as well as playing the drums.

Hatari decided to make a change in 2017, when they got the idea of adding dancers to their live shows. They offered me the role before their gig at [music festival] Sónar at the beginning of 2017. Erna Gunnarsdóttir and I got together and started to consider the choreographic possibilities for the music. Some of the possibilities that we saw at the beginning of this process were obvious. Hatari's music belongs to the industrial electronic music (IEM) genre. IEM developed from a mixture of electronic body music (EBM) and industrial music around 1985. EBM has a simplistic structure and production but IEM is more complex and layered. Hatari's music is rhythmic and asks the listener to dance on the very first listen. [...]

Now, in 2019, there are three dancers, two female dancers and one male dancer. The band has had two female dancers ever since adding dancers in early 2017, but the male dancer was added for Söngvakeppnin in 2019. At first, the band wore considerably different costumes from what they do today. The dancers were clad in black overalls or worksuits decorated with reflective tape. The boys were dressed in jackets and accessories, in many ways evoking fascistic World War II military outfits. Now, as is well known, Hatari's costumes in some ways resemble costumes used by the BDSM subculture: leather/vinyl/spandex suits, leather straps, spikes, chokers, etc.

Hatari's lyrics are in Icelandic. The lyrics are characterized by blunt, sharp social satire, anticapitalistic messaging and elucidation of the scam that is everyday life. The Hatari boys' subject matter is less than lighthearted and includes death, the overthrow of human capitalist society, cosumerism and the pretentiousness of existence, doomsday, fake news reports, political undertones, statements that contradict each other and more along those lines. These subjects have followed the band from the start. Everyday life is a relentless scam, say the boys, and they seek to unravel it in their work.

She quotes the first two verses of Spillingardans as an example.

These lyrics are highly relevant to the spirit of the times. Western life has turned into a dance of corruption that everyone takes part in, consciously or not. Corruption is visible everywhere we go, and wherever we look, people take part in overconsumption and in that way feed into capitalism and keep it aloft. People are possessed by avarice and hedonism, which drives modern society.

Hatari is a performance art band known for satire and societal criticism of all kinds. Much of what Hatari does is either performance art, lies, satire, an unconventional presentation of a message, or an aesthetic toeing the line between appealing and unsettling. The band critiques everyday life for what it is, a relentless scam, where image is bought and sold, and the boys create a deluge of news media, misinformation and forgeries.

Backup dancers

Sólbjört draws up an image of how backup dancers are everywhere, performing in sold-out musicals, on the biggest TV shows and on tour with the most popular musicians in the world, but go largely unnoticed and are paid pennies.

But there is nuance to the term 'backup dancer'. Backup dancers come in all shapes and sizes: male, female, nonbinary; short, tall; and so on. There are backup dancers whose sole role is to dance and are 'just' dancers, dancers who only follow the instructions of the choreographer or artist. Other backup dancers serve other roles, such as the role of choreographer. There are backup dancers who are so-called dance captains and have the role of maintaining the coherence of the choreography, which was originally the role of the choreographer, both creating and practicing it.

She points out the role of Beyoncé's dance captain and co-dance captain, Ashley Everett and Kimmie Gee, who have to perfect the choreography for every show and dance and sing and rapidly change costumes throughout the show just like Beyoncé herself.

To be a backup dancer is to be a dancer, actor, singer, model, athlete and more. It takes incredible tenacity to stay in this business and perform your role as well as possible. You have to know everything, and know it well. These dancers are usually subordinate to some other person, and are often not named at all, as with Beyoncé's dancers who are on contract during tours but have to find work elsewhere when the tour is over. These dancers are artists, even though their name isn't at the top of the poster in the biggest font.

She argues that the term backup dancer is dismissive and prefers the term supporting dancer, because their role isn't just to be a backup but to provide vital support for the performance as a whole, and finally posits that supporting dancers play a huge role in the art world, and dance is increasingly used as a visual artistic medium, with Hatari being no exception.

Lipstick feminism and the third wave of feminism

She begins this section by talking about feminism's long history and how it means different things to different people, but most women experience discrimination based on their gender and being criticized for the way they dress, for being too attractive, for not being attractive enough, etc.

The third wave of feminism began in 1990 and is still underway. Lipstick feminism seeks to celebrate the traditional concepts and qualities of femininity, including the sexual empowerment of women, alongside feminist ideas. Unlike previous campaigns and movements within feminism aimed at fighting for the fundamental rights of women, lipstick feminism aims to affirm that women can be feminists without denying or rejecting femininity, that women can for example speak openly about sexuality and sex without being called sluts. This particular feminist believes, very literally, that one can wear lipstick and still call oneself a feminist, because feminism is about so much more than what individual people look like and whether they wear makeup or not. Some feminists have criticized this brand of feminism as they believe that it's contradictory to talk openly about woman as a sexual being while advocating for women's equality. These people sometimes even seek to make women like men and eschew everything feminine, believing that it's impossible to be feminine and have power at the same time. Some women (hopefully most) find it empowering to to celebrate their existence as sexual beings and want to retain their femininity. They believe that honest discussion about these issues is very important, and that the cause is necessary to all kinds of feminism. It's not enough to free a woman from the oppression of the patriarchy; she also has to be able to be proud of being a woman, with her feminine qualities. One of the primary goals of this type of feminism, I feel, is to reclaim words that have been used to denigrate women, such as 'slut'. Some believe that these feminists are simply reenacting old-fashioned ideas about women and their sexuality, and that by talking bluntly about women as sexual beings, they are objectifying the female body in a negative way. Other women believe that by owning their own sexuality and celebrating femininity, whether it's wearing makeup or pole-dancing, women become stronger and more powerful.

The biggest criticism of this type of feminism is that it's difficult to criticize the objectification of the female body, such as advertisements obviously selling sex in the form of women's bodies in print, while some women sexualize their own bodies.

Owning your own sexuality

Sexy isn't the same thing as sexy. What I think the word sexy conveys is to be comfortable with oneself in one's own skin. For many it's about something sexual, but it depends heavily on how the person thinks, their experiences, religion, and other factors. I believe the word sexy means very different things in different cultures and religions.

The choreography of the female dancers in Hatari is not written to serve sexual ends. We are not trying to be as sexy as possible by performing our choreography. Different viewers have to make up their own minds on whether or not they consider us sexy. There is a lot to read into in the choreography: we are women, white and blonde, of child-rearing age, in tight vinyl suits, on heels, in straps, with contacts that cover our eyes completely. For some people women are automatically sexy, and some have particular opinions on the woman and what is and isn't sexy. For still more people, all of these elements make the woman on stage even sexier. The woman checks boxes and is marked with a certain stamp based on people's societally influenced opinions. But this is simply the opinion of individual people, and not a fact about the choreography or about us as the dancers.

Why is it so sensitive, taboo and sometimes negative to be sexy? Why is it sometimes forbidden? Are we offending people by by being the way we are? Can't we be sexy when we dance because we're women? Does that automatically make us sluts? Can't we just do it, because women have fought for the general rights of women, including the right to own themselves? Don't we own our own sexuality? Can't we be sexy because we could provoke sexual longings and thoughts in the more privileged sex, men? Are we automatically selling ourselves and opening our bodies up to scrutiny simply by being feminine? Simply by being women?

She quotes the Urban Dictionary definition of sexy, which focuses on the effect sexiness has on others, to drive the point home: someone or something which is sexually attractive, causes a stirring of sexual feelings and/or thoughts in others, is arousing. people can be described as sexy due to their physical appearance, behaviour, personality and other stuff.

The role of female dancers in Hatari

Sólbjört talks about how the rhythmic music of Hatari makes it appropriate to employ dance and movement in its live shows. She notes that the female dancers have been referred to as backup dancers in the foreign media, which, again, she feels is a negative portrayal. She quotes another Urban Dictionary definition: Backup Dancer: A person who isn't important. A person who hides in the shadow of someone else. A copycat.

I would not call the female dancers of Hatari backup dancers, even though they do usually dance behind (but also in front of) the main members of the band. That opinion comes from myself, one of the female dancers, and reflects how I feel when I stand on stage with Hatari, and my experience and self-image both as a dancer and as a Hatari dancer. In the development of the female dancers of Hatari, it was important to us that the woman on stage was strong and empowering, secure in herself, her sexuality and her femininity. The female dancer on the stage is not there simply for decoration.

Sólbjört goes on to quote a widely-shared newspaper article from Stundin from February 23rd 2019, shortly before Hatari's victory in the Söngvakeppnin final. This article, by dance critic and playwright Nína Hjálmarsdóttir, accused Hatari of being problematic in various ways: that their intention to protest the treatment of Palestine in Eurovision was a kind of white saviour complex, that the costumes evoked fascism and white supremacy, that they're appropriating BDSM culture (a prominent figure in the Icelandic BDSM society responded to this article pointing out that for the record the entire BDSM society adored Hatari and that they use their symbols respectfully and beautifully), and positing that "I had a hard time ignoring when they later added two female dancers to the stage, whose only role was as decoration to intensify the experience. The boys had taken on the appearance of power, while the women were shown as submissive, robotic and voiceless." It's clear that this last contention especially raised Sólbjört's hackles. She quotes an interview from news site Vísir where she responded to this accusation:

On the other hand, Sólbjört strongly disagrees that she is submissive, voiceless or decorative in her art. The presence of the female dancers in the act is strong and blunt, as it always has been in the staging of Hatari's concerts. She says that there is a great contrast between the costumes that makes the combination of music and visuals an interesting experience for the audience. The staging raises questions and can mean a lot of different things.

She then adds:

[...] I am of the opinion that the female dancers are not submissive or voiceless, though sometimes we are robotic, as seen by our movements. Nína calls us submissive in a negative sense in her article, and to publicly call a woman submissive and voiceless is in my opinion always an insult towards her. I am clearly biased, being one of the female dancers and a choreographer for the band, but the intention of the choreography and staging is not and never has been either submissive or voiceless. [...]

She talks about how movements can say a lot more than can ever be put into words, how Hatari places a rich emphasis on the visuals and uses the dance as part of the narrative, and how movements can either be in harmony with the music or clashing with it. She is fascinated by the relationship between music and movement. She's very conscious of her role as a female dancer and choreographer, but she is neither submissive nor voiceless and she is not decoration, and this is reflected in the choreography that she has created with other dancers. Although the dancers are playing characters or alter egos, those alter egos do reflect their real selves, and she feels that the characters as staged "radiate an incredibly strong yet feminine energy" that's empowering.

The word ['submissive'] in no way describes what the female dancers of Hatari do on stage. The dancer is not submissive to either Matthías or Klemens, even if the dancer doesn't play the primary role on the stage. And yet - each person should judge for themselves. The female dancers are incredibly empowering in their choreography and have a high status on the stage.

She points to the bit of the choreography for "Hatrið mun sigra" where Ástrós and Sólbjört hold Klemens' arms as he bows his head forward and raise him up.

The movements and the stage presence

Along with Erna Gunnarsdóttir, I began to develop the movement vocabulary for Hatari in early 2017. We worked with robotic and sharp movements, inspired by Beyoncé's choreography as well as the typical hand movements that backup dancers and singers have employed in Eurovision and at concerts in general. The choreography is in constant development, and over time we've included more and more feminine and empowering movements. It has always been clear to me what fits into the choreography and what doesn't, but the greatest inspiration for movements is the music itself and the feelings that it evokes in me. The movements were and are usually on beat with the music and have the ability to spice up and enhance the experience of the music. It's a kind of cycle; I don't think that it needs to be clear whether the music or the dance has the upper hand. After all, it's up to the audience to resolve the ambiguity and judge which is dominant.

The movement vocabulary includes a lot of standstill moves, as there is often limited room for large movements on the stages of many concert venues. The dance numbers are characterized by static, blunt, sharp movements, choreographed steps around the available space and large, prominent but minimalistic hand movements. We frequently work with poses, which we like to repeat and juxtapose with choreographed steps on the stage.

The presence on stage and intent of the dancer influences how the movement affects the audience. The presence and intent have to change in order for the movement to look different. If the dancer's character and intent on the stage for example go for submissiveness, that's what the movement will look like. The intent of the female dancers cooperating with Hatari has never been to paint the woman as submissive or voiceless, but to grant her the freedom to retain her feminine qualities and her sexiness while being empowering.

Contradictions in staging

There are contradictions underlying many aspects of the staging of Hatari's concerts. For one thing, there is a certain disparity between the costumes and movements. As one example, the costumes to some extent reference BDSM attire, as previously stated. The movements don't have a literal sexual motivation, but some of them are feminine, likely because they're performed by female bodies. The costumes are feminine and sexy, while some of the movements are simple steps, backwards or forwards, which are not exactly feminine or sexy movements. On the stage, therefore, there is a confluence of many factors, music, costumes, movements and so on, which evokes an emotional reaction in the audience that might be (for example) feminine, sexy, empowering, submissive, etc.

She points out that in the "Hatrið mun sigra" staging at Söngvakeppnin, the movements are not very sexy but are juxtaposed with costumes that she and many others would consider feminine and sexy.

The staging should provoke a lot of questions, and can mean a lot of different things. Hatari's staging contains nuances and opposites, and it in itself can always have infinite different meanings to the audience, whether we consider the lyrics or not. Klemens sings in a beautiful, high voice and is submissive to Matthías, who screams his lyrics. Einar is a drum gimp who never gets to speak, as he's dressed in a spiky mask. The female dancers are empowered women. The third dancer, Andrean, who is male, is the submissive one, which was a conscious decision for everyone in Hatari. If we consider the opposites and nuances of the staging of Hatrið mun sigra, there are several. Andrean represents the repressed soul of Matthías, and is like his dog on a leash. The drum gimp is stuck up on a platform, drumming to the rhythm of the song. Klemens is submissive to Matthías, but the female dancers are there to support him, singing and dancing with him, simultaneously empowering and feminine.

Hatrið mun sigra - Hatari's homecoming concert, May 23rd 2019

I, along with Ástrós and Andrean, continued to develop a choreography for Hatari's songs for the Gamla bíó concert. Some of the songs' choreography remained intact, other songs were altered completely, and new songs and thus new choreography were added. The first half of the rehearsal process went into teaching Ástrós the choreography and getting her into the movement vocabulary that I have used. The choreography is very sharp and rhythmic and the two female dancers should be completely in sync. We practiced old choreography, altered and improved and created new choreography. In April, we showed our instructor a near-complete choreography for the homecoming concert. It was interesting to receive critiques and comments on what I'd been doing from professional dancers, rather than devoted fans of Hatari. For example, we discussed whether it would be interesting to try to make the two female dancers' movements subtly different, even if it's only the position of one hip that's not quite the same. We also discussed the possibility of spicing up the choreography and adding in small details, such as changes to the rhythm and deviation from movements that follow the music beat for beat. In this process, I was firm in my opinion that in this context, it looks best if the female dancers are completely in sync and completely identical, that the choreography is either the same or mirrored down the middle of the stage. My dream would be to work on a performance art piece in collaboration with Hatari, where I would be willing to consider the discussed changes and spicing up, as there the audience is better able to focus on the visuals.

The concert began with an intro where the dancers and the drum gimp were in the foreground. I think it's an appropriate opener for a concert like this to not start with a traditional song, as it straddles the line between concert and performance art. After that came a few songs without the female dancers, until the start of the song Spillingardans, around the middle of the concert, at which point the female dancers came back in and remained on stage until the end of the concert. I think it's important to have a buildup over the course of the concert, so that you don't have dancers for every single song. I believe this because I feel this way the movements carry more weight and get more attention when they are present. The choreography for the song Klefi/Samed (Hatari x Bashar Murad) was created a few hours before the concert, as the song came out just after the concert. That was a real challenge, and we did not manage to be totally in sync on stage and had to improvise a bit.

It's always a challenge to get on the concert stage only a few days before the concert, more often than not on the day of, and place the movements in that space. In this case, we came in the day before the concert to check out the stage. Once we were up on the stage, we had a certain choreography ready and it was time to plan out exactly where on stage it would be best to place the dancers, for each song. For us, the female dancers, our positioning was at the edge of the stage on the left and right. Ástrós and I were on either side of center stage, which was where Andrean was when all of us were on stage. When Andrean was the only dancer on stage, he could use the entire stage. He used both planned improvisation and scripted movements. His character on the stage was developed and discussed by every member of the band, but his choreography is mostly carved out by himself very late in the rehearsal process, so I will not discuss it further. Andrean is the total opposite of the female dancers. He has created a character on the stage that is the most submissive of everyone there, while the female dancers have a very high status. The audience experiences Andrean's soft and submissive movements as a contrast to the blunt and often robotic movements of the female dancers.

We managed to do pretty much one quick rehearsal/sound check for the concert. In my work with Hatari, we've never managed to do more than that before a concert. It has been extremely educational to develop choreography for concerts, but I've also found that music people are a lot less organized than dancers and have different priorities, which is to some extent understandable since their expertise is in music. To me it's very important to be able to at least step onto the stage before the concert and feel the size and volume of the stage, but sometimes all we get is a half-hour sound check that's only good for going over a maximum of two or three songs. This summer, we'll go on stage for a few music festivals and will probably not even get a sound check. This time we had more time than we've had before on the stage, but that was because this was a concert dedicated to Hatari, rather than Hatari playing at a music festival where many bands need to do a sound check on the same day. This Hatari concert was the most complex one yet; for example we had a 20-person choir, a solo singer and a pianist, where choreographed stage entrances and exits are necessary. On the stage, which is not big, there was an extensive set, with a great effort put into setting up the lighting and screens for the visuals, and there wasn't a lot of room for the movements of three dancers. Personally, I would have liked to have one more rehearsal to perfect the staging, but I think it went very well, considering.

As for the technical aspects, we decided that we the dancers would not be wearing earpieces, but rather would use the onstage speakers to hear the music. In retrospect, earpieces would have worked better, as the cheering of the audience sometimes drowned out the music to the point it was hard to hear the rhythm in a few spots during the concert. There was a lot of cheering, and it's always incredibly rewarding to dance at a concert where the audience really gives the energy back.

Conclusion

Throughout this research and rehearsal process, I've found it's very important to me that the female dancers of Hatari are not interpreted as submissive and voiceless women. The process has given me confirmation of the awareness I've always had of the staging of the female dancers in Hatari, which I've occasionally doubted, especially when I receive negative commentary on the choreography. The research and the work with Hatari has made me a more confident choreographer than before, and it has taught me to stand by my own creative decisions.

I have tried and will continue to try to the best of my ability to communicate this empowering and feminine woman with movements alongside music on stage. Femininity is strong and beautiful, and it's very important not to sideline it just to avoid being accused of submissiveness. You can be a feminine feminist who celebrates sexuality. I could try to describe and analyze further the reaction that I'm trying to evoke on stage through movement, but in the end every viewer has to judge for themselves. When it comes to us, the female dancers, I try, as I've stated repeatedly, to give us an empowering role and evoke strong emotions in the audience about the woman who is dancing. The role of the female dancers in Hatari is important, and it's about being a visual medium intensifying and enhancing the concert experience.

#hatari #hatrið mun sigra #sólbjört sigurðardóttir #translation

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charterhunter529 · 4 years ago

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Family Sketch

Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG [adapted from the author’s article in New England Ancestors 8:3 (Summer 2007):41–42, 45]

Do you have a thick file or a notebook full of information you’d like to write up for your family? Or even boxes and boxes of it? Maybe your data is in Family Tree Maker or some other program. Or maybe you’re just in the beginning stages of your research. In any case, whether you just want to write about your grandparents or compile a whole book, the basic building block is the family sketch, treating a couple and their children in an organized and interesting way. Word processing, extremely flexible, is a wonderful tool for genealogists. Remember the old days when we had to cut and paste and retype, perhaps introducing new errors as we went along? About twenty years ago, NEHGS sponsored a seminar held at the Museum of Science here in Boston. My only memory of the whole day is Alicia Crane Williams saying, “As soon as you get a little information, put it in Register style. This is part of the research process.” So I went home and on my quaint little Apple IIe began transcribing old family group sheets crammed with information. My descendants might just take them to the dump! What is a family sketch? It’s just a story with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning is the first paragraph that contains the vital information about the parents — all of it. So, if the reader later wants to check back to see just when your great-grandmother married her second husband, it’s easy to find. The middle is whatever you want, usually a biography in chronological order. It could include funny stories or a serious analysis distinguishing between your grandfather and another fellow who bore the same name. At the end is a list of children with their vital data. You may have mentioned each child as he or she joined the family, married, or died, in the biography above, but it’s still important to have a straightforward list of children at the end. Children for whom there is a lot of information may be continued in their own sketches. You can begin with just shreds of information. I started one sketch with my mother’s memories, her grandparents’ names and the recollection that she would sit on her grandfather’s lap and braid his side whiskers — plus the fact that he was a Congregational minister. Then I listed her mother, her aunt, and her uncles, using “Conversation with . . . ” and her name and relationship in footnotes. On the other hand, I have many folders of notes gleaned in the ’70s and ’80s, b.c. (before computers). It’s fun to open one, outline the family structure, and start adding information almost at random as I go through the file. As I work, I can see where I need to bolster a statement with pertinent analysis or where I could undertake more research. Before starting to write, you might read some sections in Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century,[1] especially the pages that diagram the different elements of the parents’ and children’s paragraphs. There isn’t space here to discuss all the fine points, including numbering systems.[2] Many other matters, such as whether to use abbreviations, are really your own personal preference. Generally the fewer the abbreviations, the smoother the reading. Complete sentences, rather than lots of semicolons, also make reading easier. Now you can just start writing. But here’s a suggestion: if you are going to start from scratch (as opposed to creating a “report” from your genealogy database), go to AmericanAncestors.org. Click on the Publication tab, then on theRegister, and then under Side Links, on “Download a Register Style Template for Microsoft Word.” Then “Download the Template!” If you have Microsoft Word on your computer, a document that can function as a template will open. I won’t repeat all that the template says, but it will help you format your sketch, especially those pesky children who appear in hanging paragraphs. This template contains all the “styles” that we use in the Register, everything from title to footnotes. The word “style” here does not refer to Register “style.” It is a word-processing term that refers to the format of each paragraph. When you open Word, you will be in “normal” style, but this paragraph is being written in “body text indent.” The only difference is that the first line is indented. Hanging paragraphs for children are more complicated. These paragraphs line up roman numerals on a “right tab.” There are even styles for quotations and grandchildren. If you’ve already arranged some material and want to use that template, simply copy your work into the blank template. First select your whole document and make sure it’s in normal style. Go to “Format,” then “Style,” and select “normal.” Delete all tabs and spaces you added to format the children. After pasting your work into the new document, save it under the name you want to use. Then review the text and select the “style” for each paragraph by placing your cursor in the paragraph and choosing the style from the Format menu. There should be a little window on your toolbar that lists the styles and offers a quicker route. You can select many paragraphs at once. (A technical detail: if you want to edit the style in any way, say choosing a different font or left-justified text, go to the Format menu, choose “Style,” and click on “Modify.”) In the Register we generally use “normal” style for the first paragraph where the parents’ vital data appear. Then we switch to “body text indent” for the biography. We introduce the children with a “kid’s intro” style and then choose “kids.” When you use that style, hit tab, then the first Roman numeral and a period, then hit tab again. Both tabs will then appear, and you can start typing the child’s name. Small caps are very elegant here. Notice that we include the surname for each child. Then there’s no doubt about the surname and indexing is easier. If you want to list grandchildren, you’ll find the “grandkids” style works a little differently. No tabs needed. Just type the arabic numeral and a period. Then two hard spaces help the names line up nicely [use Control-Shift-Space]. In the Register we use italics for grandchildren’s names. Even the footnotes and footnote references have their own styles. We encourage you to cite your sources for everything. Footnotes are much handier if your readers will really use them, but endnotes may seem less intimidating. The basics of citation format are not difficult. Look at issues of the Register for examples. A current guide is Evidence!,[3] good to have at hand, but the Register often uses simpler formats. The Chicago Manual of Style is also helpful.[4] It saves time to enter the notes correctly the first time. (By the way, the footnote reference number goes after the punctuation.) A further hint about writing style: try reading your work out loud. Are you using empty phrases you would never use when talking? Can you say something more concisely? Are your sentences really sentences? Passive voice — “The ball was hit by the boy,” rather than “The boy hit the ball” — deadens the tone. And proofread, proofread, proofread. You’ll improve your sketch every time.

All the best Family Sketch Images 38+ collected on this page. Feel free to explore, study and enjoy paintings with PaintingValley.com. As I look toward shifting to a different family line in my own research, I think I’m going to take the time to write a bio sketch for the main ancestor I’ve been researching, George Washington Adams (1845-1938) before I say goodby to him for a little while. I think it should be a fun exercise. 93,432 family sketch stock photos, vectors, and illustrations are available royalty-free. See family sketch stock video clips. Family future plan group of sketch family people walking in the garden building a family sketches of future family design interior family sketch color family and money family with money thinking wall.

Finally, for the “icing on the cake,” dress up your sketch with illustrations! Insert photos, autographs, pictures of houses and gravestones, the ship on which your ancestors crossed the ocean, maps — whatever you can find. Your final product should be elegant and attractive, not just to your children but to their grandchildren and beyond.

Sidebar:

A few little tips

Commas and periods go inside a closing quote; semicolons outside.

Footnote reference numbers come after the punctuation.

Titles of published books should be italicized.

Titles of articles and unpublished materials need quotation marks.

Titles of sources such as land, probate, and vital records do not need italics or quotes unless they are published.

Proofread on another day.

Try reading your prose out loud!

Sidebar 2:

Polishing that database reports

In word processing you can discuss all sorts of nuances of dates, places, and identities wherever they seem to fit. Such additions are not so easy when working with a genealogy database. There are quite a few differences between what we consider Register style and the quasi-Register-style report generated by most genealogy programs. If you are using one of these programs, here are some things to consider.

Once you have generated a report, it will carry its own set of word-processing “styles.” You can just accept them, or eliminate all of them by selecting the whole document and putting it in “normal” style as described above, then copying it into a blank Register template. If you do so, eliminate any sex designations for the children first. (You can easily comment on any unusual name in the text or a footnote.)

Family Sketch Clipart Black And White

You should make some other changes as well. First, consider the order of the information. Do the wife’s name and vital data appear after the husband’s notes, with notes on her following? Move information on the wife into the husband’s paragraph and integrate her notes with his. Next, did you document those notes with citations in parentheses? All citations need to be moved into footnotes (or endnotes if you prefer). Multiple footnotes for the same piece of data should be combined into one note, with semicolons between the different sources. You must also consider the format of names, dates, and places. Small caps are good for names, but your report will probably have a mixture of lower and upper case. Capitalizing names of the parents of husband and wife would be distracting. Place names don’t require a county or state after first use in each sketch, but it’s helpful to the reader to add “County” where appropriate. Postal codes are also distracting. In the Register we spell out the names of months and states in the main text and abbreviate them (except those with five letters or less), with periods, in the children’s paragraph

Family Sketch Picture

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). 2See Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). 3Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997). The introductory sections of this book are especially valuable. 4The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2003).

Cartoon Drawing Of A Family

This book publishes, for the first time in full, the two most revealing of Mark Twain’s private writings. Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets. These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing. Mark Twain began to write “A Family Sketch” in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household. His record of the childrens’ sayings—“Small Foolishnesses”—is next, followed by the related manuscript “At the Farm.” Also included are selections from Livy’s 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of Susy’s biography of her father, written when she was a teenager. Newly edited from the original manuscripts, this anthology is a unique record of a fascinating family.

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jaegermau · 4 years ago

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Interactivity Essay Re-Exam #2

Jaeger Ehrenbeck

Interactivity

11/30/2020

An Exploration of Design Contexts for Embodied Interaction and Button-based Interaction

This essay seeks to explore and compare two different approaches of input and their effect on the impression of the output within the context of interaction design in general. The aforementioned approaches being compact interactions, and embodied interactions. Both of these different interaction approaches can be highly customizable and tuned for different design contexts with regards to parameters such as expression, joy of use, utility, and control and nuance. This essay argues that the design context is the most important factor for the application of each approach rather than any inherent characteristics of either respective approach and explores through examples why one approach is suitable for its context.

For the sake of this essay my terminology will be defined before any comparisons and explorations are made in order to add some clarity to what I am really trying to describe here. This essay is more focused on exploring how movement and control affects interactions and what design contexts these parameters might be more suited towards. While the term embodied interaction is a broad label for interactions which incorporate the body in some capacity. In the context of this essay, it is used to describe interactions in particular where there is movement that is not strictly limited to a parameter, for example, the movement a body tracker could allow to initiate an action versus the movement a switch allows to initiate an action; examples of the embodied interaction described in this essay could be the movement allowed by a digital art tablet, an Xbox Kinect, the interaction of driving a car, or operating another vehicle. For lack of better terminology interactions that do not allow for the level of movement described above will be defined as “compact interactions,” as a lot happens during those interactions and they do not allow for a large degree of movement. Some examples of these “compact interactions” could be switches, buttons, dials, levers. etc.

Compact interactions are an excellent way to attain efficiency, Buttons provide a good example, simply press and the action is performed. The idea of button-pressing being easy and efficient is so well known that the English language even has idioms such as “as easy as pressing a button.” Though compact actions such as buttons, seem quite simple, several states occur during the press of a button. The user is offered an affordance by seeing the button, the user actuates with the press, causing the button to move, which simultaneously provides feedback, and then it typically either reverts back to its original state, or stays indented. Compact interactions may seem quite bland since they are often associated with mundane tasks such as pressing an elevator-button or flipping on a light switch, while compact interactions could be thought of as perhaps bland there are plenty of counter examples against this, the best perhaps being a synthesizer. A synthesizer often contains many buttons in the form of keys and these buttons can be so expressive that their very function can be changed via settings such as “poly” or “mono” synthesizer engines, which change the very dynamic of the buttons themselves allowing more than one synthesizer “voice” to be triggered by the oscillator than one. Compact interactions also use the sense of touch, and there is even an embrace of the sense of touch in some of these, namely ones utilizing haptic feedback or requiring a rhythmic action from the user.

As mentioned previously, buttons tend to be very dense inputs, a lot occurs in a very brief span of time and because of this a lot of the nuance is tightly coupled towards that particular action, whereas embodied interaction has less constraints in movement, and because of this has more of a propensity for control. A lot of how we perceive the world is through the senses, it should also be noted that individuals vary on this, there is a dichotomy between an internal and external locus of control which naturally depends on the individual. Generally speaking, however, individuals use their senses to “feel” the external world and then that is picked up internally where the individual can process what that particular tidbit of sensory information fits within their individualistic interpretation of the stimuli. Compact interactions provide this sensory information, there is no doubt about that, but compact interactions are sometimes not the best suited for certain design contexts. Flying a plane (the pitch and yaw namely) calls for a very different set of actions than what compact interactions can provide. The external world that the plane traverses is obviously not privy to the plane’s system, the plane exists externally to it, which means it must be adaptable to the nuance of the landscape. A switch may help you set a mode within the plane but the control required to shift 12 degrees to the left is much more easily accomplished by a center stick which is more embodied in the sense that you are finely tuning it with your arms. This is also the same case with the experience of driving a car which Fogtmann (2008) mentions is a good example of kinesthetic interaction.

In project M1, we worked on creating an expressive interaction where the voice was used as a finely tuned instrument to create a highly coupled way to interact with the prototype. The prototype was an exploration of how sound could be used as an input. What we created was an interface which could generate “bubbles” and manipulate them through a series of embodied actions. In order to generate the bubbles, a low frequency hum would emit them, from there whistling made them move sporadically, and snapping was a way in which to “pop” them. After we created the final prototype, we were able to test what the full experience was like. The overall feel was that you were more involved in the interaction, and it felt more internal because of this. We also designed it in a way to mimic the actions of the actual real-life experience of blowing bubbles. Humming is low frequency and feels gentler, which you would be if you are blowing a bubble, if you blow too hard it will pop, or bubbles will sporadically fly everywhere. The second action we mimicked was popping the bubble, which we decided snapping would be the most logical thing to do, snapping has an underlying societal connotation of making something brief, people (rudely) snap at each other when they want something and fast, but also snapping has an inherent association with on/off, you are either emitting the sound of a snap or you’re not, thus, it imitates an on/off function. Lastly, the action of whistling has the inherent feeling of something being sustained. If an object is moving in a linear fashion, it is being sustained by some sort of force acting upon it, so by whistling you are acting as the “force” in this scenario. Now, consider all these actions were performed in a less kinesthetic, embodied manner, such as compact interaction, which we tested personally through buttons. We had to be thinking in a more external manner about which button we would need to click in order to perform the desired action, meaning we became more subconsciously focused on that and not in really becoming a part of that experience which using one’s voice feels more akin to, which eliminated much of the expression of the overall experience.

In the case of my personal design work during M2, we created an anthropomorphic “creature” that you could interact with through a number of actions with some even being conditional to the level of light. We created the “creature” in a box that housed the innards of the design and allowed for a bit of mystery as to what is inside. The very structure itself allowed interaction, depending on how open or closed a small door on the side was it would change the propensity to “scare” the “creature.” While this overall interaction does include some compact interactions, such as the sensor in the box which is triggered by tapping (essentially a button), it is the manner in which the box is comprised in its totality that makes it embodied. The design is very structural, so while interacting with the box the user is walking around it touching it and reaching within it which creates the movement I describe for the definition of embodied interaction within the context of this essay. The structural qualities of this prototype are what make it expressive; there is a sense of connection to the artefact since there is a lot of direct touch and play centered around changing the structure itself. Had compact interaction been used in this, for example a board of buttons that replace all the interactions described above, the box might feel a bit distant and less engaging. A lot of this prototype is focused around touch, and using compact interaction might erase the sense of interaction with the “creature,” if someone where to play fetch with their dog via a button-based system that would somewhat obstruct the emotional feel of that interaction and be very mechanical.

As mentioned early on in this essay, the context of the design is the most important factor for which approach should be chosen. Compact interaction and embodied interaction can both express the same qualities such as utilitarianism, expressiveness, joy of use, and nuance and control. So, when evaluating which would be more suitable an array of factors must be considered. Should it be expressive? Which is more efficient for the action? must be weighed as well. Another design context to be considered for utilizing either compact interaction or embodied interaction would be the workplace, namely technical fields, like the sciences or some sort of utility work. Under the lens of utilitarianism, it is perhaps best to perform the action that conserves the most energy to allow for more productivity, rather than one which is the most expressive, or brings the most joy to the user. That is not to say that society should not strive for a more enjoyable workplace, but when utilitarianism is the aim of the context the efficacy of the action should be paramount to the evaluation. So, the aim of the design context is obviously the biggest evaluator for whether to choose embodied or compact interaction.

Interaction design, again while contextual to the design scenario of course, should also account for the user’s enjoyment for the sake of enjoyment, and not always efficiency. The focus in some scenarios should be the joy of the user if it is to be placed in their home, of course this depends on the individual, but why should turning on a lamp be done in the most efficient way as opposed to the manner that is most expressive and maybe takes a half second longer? The interaction does not even necessarily need to be complex. It could be as simple as having a lamp that you must twist or shake which creates a mesmerizing effect, or something else that is expressive as a byproduct, as opposed to switching on. The interaction can be simple, but still give more joy to the user through movement than a compact interaction’s limitation of movement may be able to provide.

A counterpoint may be made that embodied interaction can always be made more efficient by being replaced by compact interactions because of how much of the interaction occurs in such a brief period of time, but I would cite the work I did in project M1 to disprove this notion. We tested at one point the same interaction with buttons as it was quite easy to implement through the code, and we found that the cognitive load of looking for the correct button made the interaction take longer than performing it with the voice, which also felt more natural and made it easier to perform the actions.

In conclusion, there is a time and place for both inputs and it is difficult to accurately pin down where each should be utilized, as it is highly contextual to the particular design scenario; though certain lenses can be utilized to ascertain which might be more suitable, such as nuance and control, expression, utilitarianism, and joy of use.

Works Cited

Fogtmann, M. H., Fritsch, J., & Kortbek, K. J. (2008, December). Kinesthetic interaction: revealing the bodily potential in interaction design. In Proceedings of the 20th Australasian conference on computer-human interaction: designing for habitus and habitat (pp. 89-96).

#interactivity

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abqhouseholdservices · 4 years ago

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Exterior Painting Services Near Me

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: Exterior house painting service Whether you’re simply looking to paint your home and freshen up its appearance or you wish to try something brand new, painting the exterior of your house will make it instantly stand out from the neighbors. If you’re looking to sell your home, painting is the fastest and most efficient way to raise the value of your house.

But an exterior paint project is a difficult process. If you’re not an experienced house painter, you may run into some issues. Eppley Handyman Services exterior painting services are unmatched in their ability to provide a quality paint job that also gives you access to ongoing support and expert painters.

Exterior Paint Colors

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: When deciding to paint your house, often one of the first steps is to choose your paint color. There are many elements to consider when choosing which color to paint the exterior of your house.

● Landscape – Your environment will influence which paint colors you wish to paint on the exterior. If your house is covered by a lot of shade, you may consider a lighter color. However, if you wish to blend into the trees, you may want a darker color. It’s critical to think about how you want your home’s exterior to complement its environment.

● Architecture – Perhaps you have a Victorian-style house or a traditional colonial. They are both very different architectural styles with different peaks and accents. However your home is built, colors can help draw attention to specific architectural details.

● Existing Colors – Your roof, your driveway, your gravel, your mulch are not going to change colors when you paint. Consider how you want your exterior house paint colors to accent these features of your home.

Exterior Painting Project

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: exterior house painting service There is a lot that goes into painting the exterior of a house. It will likely take longer than a weekend. So if you aren’t prepared to handle the following, you may want to hire a professional to handle all of your house painting needs.

● Wash – Before painting, the exterior of your house will need to be washed. You can use a pressure washer to do this. It’s best when you start at the top so all of the dirt and grime will go down off the siding and trim.

● Scrape – Next, it’s important to scrape any loose paint off of the siding of the house. It’s important to have drop cloths below where you work so these paint chips don’t land in the grass.

● Sand – Sanding is a necessary step to smooth the exterior surfaces and create an ideal surface for the paint to adhere to.

● Patch – If there are any remaining areas that need repair, they’ll need to be patched up before the exterior is primed.

● Prime – Next the surface will need to be primed. Each prime is different. The paint manufacturer will indicate how many coats are needed.

● Caulk – Seal all of the cracks and corners so no moisture will seep through.

● Paint – Finally, it’s time to paint the house in the color of your choice.

Residential Painting

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: There is no denying what a fresh coat of paint can do for any home. It improves the overall appearance of your home and gives it curb appeal. Even if you own an older home, you can benefit from a fresh coat of paint that could help improve the appearance of your home. At Eppley Handyman Services Omaha NE we’re prepared to take on the job of painting your home for you. With our affordable rates and highly skilled painting contractors, you can have whatever you like. If you have been putting it off for some time now, what are you waiting for! Our Omaha NE painting services are just a phone call away and we are ready, willing and able to provide you with any of the residential painting services that you need.

Eppley Handyman Services offers:

● Superior Workmanship & Products

● Our expert residential painters are licensed, bonded, insured, and only use the best quality of paint products on the market

● Free Estimate

● We provide our customers with an itemized estimate so that they can see what they are being offered and for what rate. Our residential painting services are competitively priced.

● Promotions

● Occasionally, we offer promotions, which may vary from location. Contact us to find out if the same promotion is being offered in your area.

● Meet or Beat Pricing

● Although we already offer competitive pricing, we are still willing to either meet or beat the competition's pricing. Just give us a call and let us discuss the extent of the work that needs to be done.

● Convenient Scheduling

● We understand that you can’t always be around when the work is being performed. Our painters will work around your schedule and we’ll try to complete the work as quickly as possible without compromising quality of service.

● Cleanup

● We won’t leave you with a mess to clean up once we have completed our work. We handle every aspect of the cleanup process.

● Budget-Friendly

● We’ll work with your budget no matter how modest it might be.

At Eppley Handyman Services, it is clear that we want your business. We will do whatever it takes to gain it and to keep it. When you allow us to take care of your residential service needs, you’ll be able to see for yourself just why our professional painting services are preferred to the competition.

How Residential Painting Process

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: Once we have discussed your painting needs, we’ll assign a project manager to your project. They will meet with you to discuss the work that you would like to have performed and provide you with an estimated time of completion. Once the work has been completed, someone from quality control will inspect to make sure that the work that was performed, meets our standard of quality. Most importantly, they will make sure that you are happy with the end results. It is only after this has taken place that we will ask for a final payment. We value your business and do everything in our power to show you just how much by offering you the quality of service that you want and deserve.

Commercial Painting

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: The best way for a Omaha NE commercial business to put their best foot forward is to make a good first impression. The Omaha NE Painters is capable of helping businesses, big and small in Omaha NE, do this. If you have an operating budget and you’re trying to fit in some cosmetic services, such as painting, give us a call. We are accustomed to working within a specified budget to meet the needs of our customers. While we are always happy to provide potential customers with a quote, sometimes it makes more sense for you to provide us with your operating budget so that we can develop a plan within your budget. You’ll be able to choose from a variety of commercial painting services when you rely on The Omaha NE Painters, as we provide a host of beneficial services to commercial business in Omaha NE.

Efficient Omaha NE Commercial Painting Services

If someone recommends a painting service to you, no doubt they were happy with the services they received. When the services of The Omaha NE Painters are recommended to you, we hope that you will consider our reputation, as we have worked hard and diligently to solidify our reputation as the most efficient commercial painters in Omaha NE. We offer the most affordable and efficient painting services in the city, which is often why so many continue to recommend our services. With our high standard of quality services, you get your money’s worth and more at The Omaha NE Painters.

TIPS

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: One of the tricky parts of owning a business is getting the perfect look for your building. You want to appear professional and interesting in order to differentiate your business from your competition. Take the right steps to get great results from your commercial painting project to enhance the look of your building and your business. Here are five tips for getting better results.

Choose the Right Colors

While you want your business to catch the eye of potential customers, be careful to select colors that will attract attention without being overpowering. Having one bold-accent wall can really make a statement, but remember: less is more when it comes to very bright colors. By selecting a calm color palette, you can avoid overwhelming your customers. Adding bold color through pictures, pillows, and other small elements are temporary and less expensive ways to add a pop of color.

Take the Time to Clear the Work Area

When commercial painting companies start a job, you won’t see them start applying color until the room is fully prepped. Before a contractor can begin prepping the room, they will need your employees to clear their work area. The best thing to do to expedite your painting project is to clear off work stations, remove art from the walls, and push light-weight furniture to the center of the room. By doing this yourself, you can save money on prep time (a cost of hiring the painting crew).

Use Primer

While some individuals may think that primer is an unnecessary step, many professionals say otherwise. Having that barrier in between the wall and your new layer of paint can prevent the color from turning dull once it dries and it can also help it to last longer. This problem often occurs because the compound used to fill holes and imperfections can pull the moisture right out of your freshly applied paint. If you are painting over a bright or deep color, primer is a good way to protect the integrity of the new color.

COST

How Much Does a Gallon of Paint Cost?

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: A gallon of paint costs $15 to $40 and covers about 350 square feet with one coat. Designer varieties can run over $100 per gallon. Your contractor pays 50 percent less than what it runs in a home improvement store. You’ll also need to spend another $20 to $100 on supplies like brushes, rollers, masking paper and plastic. A professional will have these items on-hand.

Gallon of Paint Prices

● Pint* $5-$50

● Quart* $10-$80

● ½ $10-$25

● 1 $15-$40

● 2 $30-$80

● 3 $45-$120

● 5 $60-$220

How Much Is a Can of Paint?

A one-gallon can is about $20. Prices range from $15 to $40 with designer brands exceeding $100. You’ll usually save a little on per-gallon pricing when you buy in 5-gallon or larger bulk sizes.

Interior Paint vs. Exterior Paint Per Gallon

Some brands charge up to 25 percent more for exterior varieties. These price differences can add up to $50 per 5-gallon bucket.

Custom Paint Prices

Custom paints run $100 or more per gallon. Many accent types, like metallic and textured, come in smaller cans, like a pint or quart. You’ll pay anywhere from $10 to $80 for these smaller containers.

Professional Painter Prices

Most professional painters charge $2 to $6 per square foot of paintable area. Less commonly, they’ll charge anywhere from $20 to $50 an hour. In some areas with high costs of living, you might even pay upwards of $100 an hour. Most of this is for labor. Ask your pro to break out prices in an estimate into materials, labor and paint.

Professional's total cost:

● Paint and other supplies: 15%.

● Labor: 85%.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 45 percent are self-employed. More information regarding rates and associated factors is included below.

Painter Cost Per Hour for Labor

Hiring a painter costs $20 to $50 per hour. In some locations, you might pay as much as $75 per hour or more. More commonly, they’ll charge per square foot at $2 to $6.

How Much Do Painters Charge Per Day?

You can expect to pay a pro $200 to $500 per day. Most don’t usually charge a per-day, or per diem, rate. More often, you’ll find they either charge a per square foot, hourly or project price.

Price Per Square Foot for Painting a New Construction

You’ll pay anywhere from $2 to $4 per square foot for new construction. However, your general contractor takes care of all subcontracting needs. Unless you’re acting as your own general contractor, you won’t need to worry, it’ll all be included in the total home price.

Residential Painters Cost Per Project

Painting residential projects costs anywhere from $1 to $6 per square foot or $150 to $4,500 for the project. Pricing varies between jobs. Consider the amount of time each takes.

Common home project pricing includes:

Painting a home interior room and walls costs $1,000-$2,800 total or $2-$3 per square foot. Obstacles like stairwells and kitchen cabinets might increase prep time and thus cost.

● Painting home exterior siding costs $1,700-$4,000. Up to 25 percent more than an interior.

● Small home project painting costs $350-$1,100. Might include one accent wall, a door, cabinets or paneling.

● Painting a mural or trompe l’oeil costs $800-$1,700. Consider the artist's cost and fee structure, and the size of the space.

Ceiling painting prices: $150-$350. Cheaper if included with a whole home project.

Paint handrail for porch railing costs: $1-$5 per linear foot. Highly detailed rails might run twice as much.

● Cost to stain or paint fences: $700-$4,500.

● Deck staining costs $500-$1,000.

● Deck waterproofing or sealing costs $550-$1,200.

● Trim painting costs $500-$1,500 or $1-$3 per linear foot.

Painting an Apartment or Home as a Renter

If the responsibility is yours, you’ll pay $1,000 to $3,000 on average to repaint an apartment. Some buildings and landlords have pre-selected painters, while others will contract companies on an as-needed basis. If your landlord or building doesn't have a regular pro, see if you can DIY it to save up to 85 percent on labor.

If you're moving in and selecting a non-neutral color, understand that your landlord may require you to redo the walls the original color when you move out. Be ready to make that investment down the road.

There are cases where apartment complexes allow you to choose from a color wheel of neutral hues before you move in. Some charge a fee for calling in a handyman or other pro to do the walls, while most offer it as a benefit of signing a lease.

Commercial Painting Costs Per Square Foot

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: Commercial painting costs $2 to $6 per square foot. Exterior jobs on multi-level buildings might run you twice that much due to setup time and accessibility. Commercial and residential projects are priced similarly.

Affordable Handyman House Painting Prices

For small jobs, you might hire a handyman for $20 to $25 per hour. Always hire a pro who does nothing but paint for any delicate or detailed work that you want done correctly.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Residential House & Commercial Painting Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

Painting Services and Cost in Omaha NE: In an effort to extend our friendly customer service online to our commercial and residential customers in Omaha NE, Eppley Handyman Services has compiled a frequently asked question list to answer your questions conveniently. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Eppley Handyman Services directly with no further obligation.

Q. How soon do you begin my project?

A. Eppley Handyman Services performs services on a first come first serve basis. Once we begin your project we will continually work on your service until it has been completed.

Q. Who supervises the service?

We have fully trained and knowledgeable crew leaders with field experience and expertise to supervise every service conducted. Customer satisfaction is important to us and we assure a job well done.

Q. Can I ask for references before committing to you?

Absolutely, our references are available upon request. Our reputation is our greatest asset; with thorough new-hire screening process and detailed background check, you can rest assured our crew is perfect for your project.

Q. Are you fully insured, bonded, and licensed?

Yes, we have all necessary credentials to provide our authentication and our technicians are included as well.

Q. Can Eppley Handyman Services perform additional services besides painting services?

We offer a number of selected services to our customers that can get your home or business upgraded and re-mastered in high quality additions; ask for more details.

Q. Does a resident of the home have to be on the premises while the work is completed?

That is a matter of your preference; as far as Eppley Handyman Services is concerned, you do not have to be home while our crew is hard at work. With our high morals, in depth screening and background checked employees, you can trust in Eppley Handyman Services to work without resident supervision. We are very professional and can make arrangements for your convenience.

Q. What are my preparation requirements before work begins?

We only ask our customers to move the small knick-knacks, pictures, and light window treatments, and curtain type items before we commence. Our crew will do all other prep work including moving and protecting furniture and other such duties. Following the completion of your project, we will replace the furniture to their original location.

Q. How often is interior paint application recommended?

There are a few contributing factors: 1) the quality of the paint used. 2) Daily abuse endured. 3) Presence of smokers in the home. 4) Regular use of a fireplace. Though the circumstances surround the time an efficient paint job lasts, with regular care and maintenance your paint should last between 6 and 10 years.

Q. If there is existing drywall damage, do I need to get that repaired first?

Eppley Handyman Services specialists are more than qualified to perform any minor repairs and replacements to the drywall, ceiling, trim. Baseboards, and molding as needed. We want the paint to look crisp and precise, damaged drywall will hinder the outcome.

Q. After painting is completed, how long do I need to wait before cleaning windows?

Waiting 30-days before allowing any cleaning agents to come in contact with the new paint is recommended. Even though the paint dries in a matter of a few hours the curing process takes longer.

Q. Do I get to keep the leftover paint?

We leave you with the option to keep any leftover paint for touch ups down the road if needed. Paint will stay fresh in a well-sealed can for many years.

Q. What is involved with a paint consultation?

At a consultation service, we discuss the services you want for your home, expenses, process, estimated time, and if needed the color selection, style, and application. The consultation is designed to answer all the questions you may have and help you feel confident in our abilities. We have painting consultants that can help you find a trendy new style, or optimal ways to incorporate traditional paints and methods.

CALL FOR US:

● Painting Services Near Omaha NE

● Painting Services Cost

● Home Painting Services

● Professional Painting Services

● Home Painting Services

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● Cost of Painting A House Per Square Foot Omaha NE

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BEST PAINTING SERVICES IN OMAHA NE

EPPLEY HANDYMAN SERVICES

REQUEST MORE INFORMATION. CONTACT US NOW!

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hduarte1 · 8 years ago

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10 Facts About Jeddah Tower, the Soon-To-Be Tallest Building in the World

Construction has been delayed on the soon-to-be-tallest building in the world, Jeddah Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Originally slated to open next year, it is now projected for completion in 2019, according to Global Construction News.

Once complete, the building will stand at least 3,280 feet tall, and was designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture of Chicago. It is part of the larger development, Jeddah Economic City, and will be the first structure in the world to reach the one-kilometer-high mark (the original design was to be one-mile-high (1.6 km), but the geology of the area was not suitable for that height).

The project comes with a (literally) high-minded pedigree: Adrian Smith designed Burj Khalifa while at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. And like the Burj Khalifa, the final height of the project is undisclosed. This recalls the height wars in New York City in the last century, when the top of the Chrysler Building was kept hidden until its final debut, in order to beat out the Manhattan Trust Building.

Height wars aside, we've gathered some top pieces of trivia that illustrate why Jeddah Tower will be truly awe-inspiring once it is finally complete, and more than just a big building:

1. The structure, formerly known as the Kingdom Tower, will be home to the world’s highest observatory. It will also have a separate, 98-foot-diameter outdoor balcony, which was originally intended to be a helipad.

See related images

2. The building is so big they are unable to show it realistically in one rendering. Only elevations and birds-eye views can contain the entire project. Imagine those construction drawings...

3. The foundation piles are about as large as a small room at 10 feet in diameter, and can reach up to 360 feet in length.

4. Its shape is functional. The narrowing silhouette has to fight wind as well as gravity, so the three-sided shard is designed to be aerodynamic. The taper also helps maximize usable/rentable area. It offsets the large core size on the lower floors by widening the base, while the shape also narrows the core overall, making it less space-consuming at the top.

See related images

5. Its form is interesting for a tower of its size. The "three petal" plan allows separate extrusions to nudge against one another, while the profile is inspired by folded fronds of young desert plant growth. Gill-like indentations add another scale of visual intrigue.

6. It's on a plinth! But joking aside, the building does meet the ground in a nuanced, thoughtful way. Transportation routes crisscross around it, and the plinth melds it with its urban surroundings.

See related images

7. It has 59 elevators and 12 escalators, and five of these elevators will be double decker. The lifts will not reach the speeds of normal elevators, as the change in air pressure at those altitudes would cause nausea. Three sky lobbies will prevent any one elevator from having to go all the way to the top, eliminating the need for excessively huge cables.

8. It has high-tech features. A high-performance exterior wall system, including low-conductivity glass, will minimize energy consumption by reducing thermal loads.

See related images

9. There are super-cool patios all along its three sides. Each side features a series of shaded notches where outdoor terraces offer extreme views of Jeddah and the Red Sea.

10. The massive structure will contain 80,000 tons of steel. Parts of the core will contain concrete that is several meters thick.

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ecotone99 · 5 years ago

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[SF] A History of Galactic Drug Trade

Graphed by Dr. Knoll Sage, PhD, University of Fenrir

The purposes of this assignment is self-evident. I feel it is a large and nuanced enough history to be worth understanding. Given the majority of my intended audience shall be human, I shall use the human calendar. However, due to my own personal background, we shall start at the very beginning:

2052: Kayzhourians make first contact with the Grays. Soon thereafter, the Kayzhourians declare war on the Grays, promising to eradicate the entire species. However, this did not deter a certain individual: Brucklore Pho’Locor. The Kayzhourian drug market had always been a vibrant one, in spite of the late empire’s insistence that it was under control. The drugs Dilluniu, Filiage, and Qer were brought in large shiploads behind enemy lines. Dilluniu proved to lethal to Gray’s more or less immediately- it made their skin fall off and their blood turn to crystal. Filiage had a soothing effect, similar to cannabis in humans or, ironically, Dilluniu for Kayzhorians. Even more ironically, Filiage has been called, somewhat justifiably, the Kayzhourian equivalent of cocaine, but I digress. However, Qer had the highest demand immediately: while the blue liquid has a similar effect on its inventors as alcohol does in humans, it has a hallucinogenic effect on Grays. It proved popular, and was, for obvious reasons, immediately outlawed by the Gray Coalition. Dilluniu was repurposed by the Kayzhourian army as a chemical weapon. Brucklore Pho’Locor died a wealthy man.

2099: Humanity makes first contact with the Grays. Shortly thereafter, they enter the Gray-Kayzhour War. Shortly after that, humans are allowed to try the only socially acceptable Gray narcotic: Garda Root. While known to be relaxing to its inventors, Garda root turned out to be a powerful opiate when ingested by humans, comparable to heroin. Illegal Gray drugs, such as Wensten Powder and Silver Lining (1), proved instantly lethal when ingested by humans. Once again, the Kayzhourian army soon began using this for the purposes of chemical warfare.

2103: the first known instance of human drugs in alien bodies is discovered. A young Gray university student was found dead, killed by an overdose of acetaminophen. Despite backlash from the Gray Coalition, a market for legal human drugs soon opened up in Gray territory. Their effects on Gray physiology proved difficult to predict. Acetaminophen was akin to opiates for Grays, alcohol was akin to cocaine, tobacco akin to LSD, and cannabis akin to painkillers such as morphine. Meanwhile, morphine had no effect on Grays at all. Harder drugs smuggled through intangible (2) borders often had similar effects to tobacco or alcohol. The lone exception was the act known among humans as ‘freebasing cocaine’, which proved to be an odd combination of aphrodisiac and marijuana for Gray practitioners.

2113: Kayzhourian narcotics begin making their way towards human space. Unsurprisingly, many of them proved lethal immediately upon ingestion. The lone exception proved, yet again, to be Qer. In the common parlance, Qer is considered an ‘upper’- humans have been known to go months without sleeping after taking it.

2152: after 100 years of sustained warfare, an armistice is reached between all three participants. However, this period is commonly referred to it as the Galactic Cold War for a very good reason. All trade between the three species was banned, and considerable sabre rattling occurred along borders. However, this did not stop the Kayzhourian Syndicate, which continued to smuggle drugs to both species and brought narcotics to the dwindling Empire. Offices were set up in Gray space and Human space, but selling or purchasing from humans proved increasingly difficult as the Human Unity fell apart, eventually cloistering into the numerous independent states we now know it as.

2208: human scientist Joseph Johnston invents a new hybrid narcotic by combining strains from other species, most notably Garda Root and Wxlistrix (3) with cannabis plants and mushrooms. The result is classified as an entirely new species: Starlight. Named as such for the enchanting blue-white light it emits, it is the only known narcotic to affect Humans, Grays, and Kayzhourians in an identical manner: it produces what is thought of as a pleasant out-of-body experience, a sensation of euphoric unreality with mild hallucinogenic flourishes. Its legality varies, but its popularity is, dare I say, universal. It is rumored that its effect on Species 4 is identical to its effect on the rest of us, but for obvious reasons this is impossible to verify. Johnston’s success skyrockets his cartel to the dominant drug supplier in the galaxy, leading to the castration and eventual dissolution of the Kayzhourian Syndicate.

2387: The Gray-Kayzhour War begins to burn hot once again. The majority of human governments rejoin with their Gray allies. Starlight sales dwindle among civilians, but its usage among soldiers on all sides skyrockets- it was often found in the corpses ofveterans, or even fallen soldiers on battlefields.

2391: the incident known as ‘The Great Starlight Extinguishing’ occurs. Named as suchby sociology Professor Mnlona B’a’lo (4) of the University of Samarium, it refers to an incident near the Battle of Tezcatlipoca, itself located at a shallow indent into Human Space and located very close to Species 4 space and Gray Space. While the war raged close by, one of the Johnston Cartel’s freighters was caught sneaking across Species 4 space by Gray military officials, in direct violation of the Right of Isolation Treaty (5). As punishment, the entire freighter, its cargo of over 12 metric tons of Starlight en route to Kayzhourian Space, and its crew of two dozen, were sent directly into a nearby sun. It remains a controversial incident to this day.

2439: the War finally ends in earnest. Poorly enforced trade routes and marketplaces in shambles result in Starlight, among other drugs, being shipped across the galaxy en masse. The subculture around the drug, already present, begins to gain prominence in the wider public consciousness. Known colloquially as ‘lighthuggers’, those who use the drug regularly proved equally liable to be found in isolated rural areas as urban centers. The Baldur Provinces of Human Space feature the most rampant usage, with lighthuggers often forming communes in less inhabited planets. Indeed, that its legality is determined on a province-to-province basis (6) is still notable today. Several artistic movements are known to have emerged from lighthugger culture, most notably the art of Liminal Storytelling and the genre of music known as Neo Transcendentalism (7).

2451: While socially unacceptable in all but a few human societies and one of the Kayzhourian States, and illegal in the majority, it is estimated that recreational drug use is more popular now that it has been at any point in the history of all three species. Indeed, Starlight has been dubbed ‘the Galactic Unifier’ for this exact reason.

What are we to take from all this? The drug trade is a constant amongst all known forms of sentient life. Each of our starfarring societies, including, I would hazard to guess, the enigma of Species 4, has produced and sold its own recreational narcotics throughout its existence. For not-insignificant stretches of time, drug trade has been the most profitable and even sole consistent source of international trade in our galaxy. All in the name of escape. Perhaps that is the truth of the matter: we all desire escape. A human author, Shirley Jackson, wrote that no living creature can survive in a state of absolute reality forever. Perhaps she was on to something.

Notes:

For clarity’s sake, I shall use the human rendition of this drug, as it would take too long to spell if rendered in its native tongue.

The border disputes, particularly between humans and Grays, play a role here. For further reference, see my essay on the subject: “Hot War, Cold Corners; Cold War, Hot Corners: a Narrative History of Galactic Border Feuds.’

Considered by Kayzhourians a harmless variety, at most an occasional nuisance to gardners, it proved comparable to Garda Root for Grays and Peyote for Humans.

For clarity’s sake, I shall be using the human, specifically Americana English, rendition of Gray names.

Signed on July 28, 2104, by all Four of the Sentient Species to acknowledge Species 4’s isolationist, neutral stance in the War. It stipulated that no other species was to enter their small but apparently quite precious territory under any circumstances.

It is currently legal in 16 of the 21 Human Provinces, and decriminalized in two more.

Noted in particular for its interstellar popularity.

Works Cited:

“The Gray-Kayzhour War: A History�� by Alexander Armitage. New York University, 2443.

“Soul Music: Starlight and Art” by Isao Okondu. Akkorokamui College, 2445.

“The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. Viking Publications, 1959.

“Johnston: An Empire” by Isabella Valenzuela. Forseti College, 2417.

“The Declassified Brucklore Pho’Locor Files” by Various. Released by the United Kayzhourian Council, 2449.

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sheminecrafts · 6 years ago

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Twitter opens applications for its ‘prototype’ program, first tests to focus on fixing conversations

They will include a new design for replies to make it easier to follow a conversation; rounded shapes on reply tweets; indents to follow responses; hiding engagement and sharing behind a tap to bring out the content of replies; and introducing colors to add more context.

We got an early look at these features when we saw the “beta” app in January (which is now referred to as a prototype rather than beta effort); read on for more on all the features.

Improving the look and feel of how Twitter works is a tall order, to say the least. Many have pointed out, and the company now admits, that back-and-forth tweets are too hard to follow. Given that Twitter’s core premise is that of a platform for conversations, that not only limits the product’s usefulness, but it potentially puts off newcomers as well.

These issues recently came to a head when Twitter’s own CEO Jack Dorsey attempted to participate in a tweet-based interview with journalist Kara Swisher. As their conversation continued, Twitter’s failings on this front were on clear display. Despite the use of a public hashtag, people were confused as to how to track the reporter’s questions and @jack’s answers.

“This thread was hard,” Dorsey tweeted at the end of the interview. “Need to make this feel a lot more cohesive and easier to follow.”

While interviews with major tech execs aren’t an everyday occurrence on Twitter (yet?), longer conversations with threaded replies are, and they’ve perhaps become even more prevalent after Twitter doubled its character count from 140 to 280 in late 2017. That change allowed people to share their expanded thoughts with more nuance, which in turn prompted more thoughtful replies.

Around the same time, Twitter turned “tweetstorms” into an official product, allowing people to tweet out a series of connected thoughts, each which invite their own related series of responses.

With all these changes, tracking the growing amount of back-and-forth has become overly complex, especially when a conversation has a lot of participants.

That’s the problem the new testing program aims to better understand and eventually solve.

“It’s kind of a new take on our thinking about product development,” Sara Haider, Twitter’s director of product management, said in an interview in January. “One of the reasons why this is so critical for this particular feature is because we know we’re making changes that are pretty significant.”

Within a separate, standalone app, the company will roll out experiments that allow the Twitter community to more directly participate in the early development process. At launch, that means fixing conversations. But over time, Twitter aims to use this platform to try out new ideas before they make their way to the public product.

Fixing conversations could be one of the biggest changes to Twitter to date, she noted, which is why it’s critical for the company to get it right.

“We need you to be part of this process, so that we know we’re building the right experience,” Haider said.

Above: the development build at CES; the new product will look different, we’re told

Like the build TechCrunch previewed in January, the soon-to-launch Twitter prototype will feature an entirely new design for Replies where the conversations themselves have a rounded, more chat-like shape and are indented so they’re easier to follow. It won’t be the first time it has tried this, but softer edges, it seems, are thought to look more human.

The company isn’t yet sharing images, but says you can imagine the Replies look more like the chats you see in Direct Messages — that is, they’re more rounded, but not exactly speech bubbles.

Engagements, sharing options and other tweet details, meanwhile, will also get hidden from view to further simplify things. You will have to tap on the tweets in order to view them, Twitter says. Again, the aim here will be to put the focus more on what’s being said, not to act on it. This is actually an interesting shift, since so much in social media has been focused around engagement. Now, Twitter’s going to see if taking away some of those engagement nudges will, essentially, keep people around longer.

Above: Engagements are hidden on the development build seen at CES

Making conversations color-coded to highlight the tweets from the original poster as well as those tweets from people you follow is a straight play at giving more visual cues to the reader of a conversation.

“Reader” might be the operative word here. One of Twitter’s big issues with conversations is that they can be too noisy when too many people get involved. One solution to that might also be to try to think of how that might get limited, either so that only certain replies are seen (which is something that Twitter is already doing to some extent, by putting replies from people you follow at the top), or perhaps so that not all people can reply — an idea that the CEO himself has teased as a possibility. Both position Twitter as a reading-first, not engagement-first, experience, which is why making those replies easier to read is so important.

In the development build we saw last month, those colors were overly saturated for testing purposes. In the prototype, they’ve been dialed down. Now, people you follow will be in blue and the responses from the original poster are gray.

The reply highlighting is now just a shadow line along the reply, as opposed to the entire reply being colored, Twitter tells us.

The company says it will only accept a couple of thousand testers into the program. But unlike many beta programs, which are closed, testers aren’t under NDA. Instead, they’re encouraged to tweet about the test and discuss the changes with the broader Twitter community so more people can weigh in with their thoughts.

In addition, testers will be able to submit feedback through a closed form or they can just tweet to Twitter’s teams.

The tweet-and-reply system has been a thorn in Twitter’s side for years. Because Twitter was originally designed as a short-form, SMS-like platform, it never anticipated how it would evolve into the discussion platform it has become today.

The company has tried in vain to figure out how to simplify things for users for years. For example, it added connecting lines between tweets and responses, made @usernames in replies a part of the tweet’s metadata and even changed the Reply icon itself. Recently, it added an “original tweeter” badge to conversation threads, too.

The company says it will mostly invite English and Japanese speakers to the testing program. Participants must follow the Twitter Rules to be invited. However, they don’t necessarily need to be longtime Twitter users. In fact, the company tells TechCrunch it aims to have a range of people involved, from those who don’t use Twitter often to those who use it consistently.

Those interested in applying to the program can do so from the tweet posted by the @TwitterSupport account or can use this link. If accepted, users will receive an email informing them of the next steps.

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readersforum · 6 years ago

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Twitter opens applications for its ‘prototype’ program, first tests to focus on fixing conversations

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