The Waste Land Tarot - Thesis Links Page

These are links to some of the sites and images that I found to be helpful and/or inspirational (In no particular order)

Here are the Major Arcana cards of the Tarot
http://steel.lcc.gatech.edu/~nfunk/WasteLandTarot/arcana.htm

This site is concerned with experimental poetry
http://www.ubu.com/

Benjamin’s essay on art http://web.bentley.edu/empl/c/rcrooks/toolbox/common_knowledge/general_communication/benjamin.html

This site, part of the University of Wuppertal (Germany) program in Computational Design, offers some ideas about visual design and its relation to semiotics. http://www.code.uni-wuppertal.de/uk/computational_design/who/nadin/publications/articles_in_books/onthemea/onthemea.html

Heine, H-Ray. “Thought Generator v.2.3” (February 2001)
http://www.digitalsouls.com/2001/g2001_h-ray_heine.html

German-American fluxus artist H-Ray Heine's digital media work Thought Generator presents the viewer with an amazing series of randomly generated sentences that include Haiku poems, advice, if...then... and simple statements.

H-Ray described this media work as "a kind of semantic Tarot deck crossed with a Poetic Rorschach test."  Due to the randomness of the generated sentences, the work produces a different output each time it is run.  The generated sentences range from apparently profound observations to surreal utterances that would seem adequate for any techno/dada manifesto.

The work, which was first shown at VITRA Gallery in San Francisco in October 2000, is presented as a 283 Kb Flash 4 file and features an audio architecture that includes audio files created by H-Ray's long time collaborator U.Do Hanten.

Johnson, Cliff. “The Fool’s Errand”
http://www.fools-errand.com/
A text and puzzle game for the Mac, featuring Tarot cards personified as story characters.

Memmott, Talan. “Self-Portrait(s) [as Other(s)]”
http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eiareview/tirweb/feature/memmott/spo_Memmott/index.html
I just like the style of collage that is used here and the way the information is presented.

Objective Tarot
http://objectivetarot.free.fr/objective
A traditional French card game similar to Bridge, using a Tarot deck that resembles standard playing cards.

Scoville, Thomas. “Silicon Valley Tarot”
http://www.svtarot.com/

TheophileEscargot, “An Overview of the Tarot”
http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2002/8/19/34242/5888

A web site that looks at experimental ways of exploring poetry. http://www.poetrymagic.co.uk/experimental.html

The TLT Group, an organization involved in using technology in post-secondary education. http://www.tltgroup.org/about/index.html

Tiny bit of info about Edna Coffin, who created “Talking Poetry” a multimedia pedagogical application for teaching Hebrew poetry. http://www.umich.edu/~proflame/talk/coffin.htm

Here’s an excerpt from an article I found about the design process. I’m including it here for myself because I think it’s helpful for outlining the strategy of the project.

http://designforum.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=_getfullarticle&aid=887415

Written by R Brian Stone
Published on November 14, 2004.

“Process

Once these similarities are recognized and understood, a meaningful design process can be outlined. The overall process is typical, but there are key elements from product design and interior space design that visual communication designers should consider. A typical process model is as follows:

1) Identify the problem/ needs

2) Research past & present solutions

3) Planning / concepts

4) Develop prototypes

5) Acceptance Test

6) Choose and refine

7) Usability Test

8) Refine

9) Implement

10) Evaluate

At the forefront of this process must be an understanding of user needs and expectations. Identify what specific tasks a user would be interested in, i.e., information retrieval, comparison, exploration, transactional, etc. Additionally, environmental factors must be defined, for example, are users interacting with a program in the office, a public space, at home, standing, sitting, on a laptop with a track pad, etcetera.

The “planning” stage is also a key thread from product design process that can be applied to interactive multimedia design. In both situations, a thorough road map must be constructed and used as a model throughout the development process. Whether a workflow diagram for a computer based media project or one for the development of a new product interface, it is extremely important that ideas are explored on paper prior to the visual design development.

In this planning stage, research will continue to serve as guided intelligence in the design process. This research will emerge at various levels depending whether the project is entirely new or a necessary redesign. Prototype development will typically evolve from thumbnail sketches and mockups in the “concept” stage to demonstrate both visual and functional items, mapping of buttons, and content structure. Functional “prototypes” can then be quickly generated to a high level of realism.”