Tag Archive / Charles/TWP

• The Wilson Project – 20th Anniversary

  April 16th marked the twentieth anniversary of this site. Originally a portfolio site, it became a WordPress blog in 2010 which continues today. The current version, Delta, is called “Charles”.

  History/Site Versions

  Alpha

  Project Name – Alpha
  4/2001 – 12/2003
  Flash (primary)/XHTML (secondary) sites

  Beta

  Project Name – H3 (Name based on John Harrison “H3” marine timekeeper)
  7/2003 – 12/2003
  CSS-only layout/XTHML (started but never used)

  Gamma

  Project Name – Athena
  12/2003 – 1/2010
  CSS-only layout/XHTML/ColdFusion backend

  Interim

  Project Name – Regent
  1/2010 – 8/2013
  WordPress Blog

  The reasoning behind calling it “Charles” and “Regent” –
  https://www.thewilsonproject.com/2010/07/31/call-me-regent-or-whats-in-a-name/

  “Regent” views –
  https://web.archive.org/web/20100213190157/https://www.thewilsonproject.com/

  Delta (current version)

  Project Name – Charles (Named after Charles Darwin)
  8/2013 –
  WordPress Blog (HTML5)

  Link to “Charles”/Delta TWP design screenshots –
  https://www.flickr.com/photos/thewilsonproject/albums/72157618117542936

  https://www.thewilsonproject.com/2010/07/07/mental-steeplechase-hurdle-i/

  https://www.thewilsonproject.com/2010/07/11/mental-steeplechase-hurdle-ia/

• Long Live Charles.

  …a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms for into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

  Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859)

  The Wilson Project/Delta Version (8/2013 – ), “Charles” after Charles Darwin

• The Regent Is Dead.

  It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse;…

  Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859)

  Goodbye, Regent (The Wilson Project, 1/2010 – 8/2013)

• Post Ottawa

  Three months between posts. Sorry for the long delay. Been rebuilding…

  Conferences

  

  Earlier in the year, I went to the IxDA Interaction 13 conference in Toronto, Canada. I have two more conferences for this year.

  Next week, An Event Apart DC in Alexandria, VA (another serving…).

  Then, in late October, CSS Dev Conference near Denver, Colorado.

  Charles

  

  As of this entry, finishing contruction/testing of the WordPress theme. Will be writing blog entries related to the whole history/process of Project Charles. Debuting on Monday, August 5.

  August is going to be a busy month…

• And Now This Message From The Author…

  

  Sorry for the three month delay. Usually reasons: work, personal, and fencing. I would say that nothing has changed but that would be a bold-faced lie. As a matter of fact, more things will be changing in the next six months than the last year.

  Writing

  • Finally starting work on The Information Layer, with the first part ready Saturday, August 6th.
  • Writing a few more blog entries for CDG, one this month
  • One very important blog entry for TWP this month, currently writing now

  Conferences

  Going to a number of events during the last couple of months of this year. Two of the most important are in the month of October:

  • jQuery Conference in Boston (October 1-2. 2011)
  • An Event Apart DC (October 24-26, 2001)

  Exhibitions

  In short, been really too busy to go any art exhibitions in the last couple of months. However, there are a few that I am trying to get to before they close in September.

  • Designing Tomorrow (National Building Museum, Washington, DC) – about the world’s fairs in 1930′s
  • Talk to Me (MoMA, NYC, NY) – design exhibit about interaction between objects and people
  • The Allure of the Automobile (Portland Art Museum) – automobile design during the last century
  • The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art (Vancouver Art Gallery) – various works from the Surrealists

  Work

  As I mentioned before, many things will change. How much/what kind will be detailed more in the next TWP blog entry, called “A Love Letter.”

  Indirectly, eventhough Project Charles ended in April, the Delta version of this site will be completed by the end of the year (if nothing else drops from the sky…).

  Fencing

  Well, fencing will be…fencing. Practice three times per week, one competition per month. Still working out the schedule for 2011-2012 season.

  Music

  Due to my work schedule, missed out on attending Met’s performance of Berg’s Wozzeck. However, looking at the 2011-2012 schedule, will be marking my calendar for the following operas:

  • Satyagraha – Philip Glass opera about Ganhdi (November 2011)
  • The Makropulos Case – Leoš Janáček opera, based on a story by Karel Čapek (May 2012)

  Apart from the classical scene – Elbow comes to DC in September (Yeah!!!)

  That is that I have for the next couple of months…

  And yes, I will be taking a vacation. Back to the PNW (Portland, OR/Vancouver, Canada) for my birthday.

  What’s that sound? That’s the sound of my Google Calendar crying like a baby…

• First Preview of The Information Layer

  First notes from my Moleskin notebook (Project Charles – Volume 1), 5/10/2009 entry

  

  

  First sketch of new information model (same date)

  

  New information model (current view, comparing with previous model) – Basis for “The Information Layer” essay

  

• Endgame

  After two years this month, I have decided to end Project Charles in April. This will also mark the 10th anniversary of The Wilson Project.

  @iwilsonjr (4:59 PM · Mar 14, 2011) – https://twitter.com/iwilsonjr/status/47401561944637440

  Depending on the ever changing schedule, Project Charles will be ending this year, if not sooner. After a long two years, I should be happy.

  I'm exhausted.

  I've carried this thing around, weathering all the stuff that gets thrown at me in the course of human life. This project became the internal motor of change, reflection, and experimentation. And a number of people have really benefitted from the results.

  The basis of Project Charles was redesigning The Wilson Project with the state of the art techniques in front-end development. No, we are not talking about the dazzling canvas experiments and all the fireworks. It was about learning all this new stuff to be able, like an experienced chef, to use this wider pallette to improve their work. Well, I'm still doing that. But Project Charles brought about an urgency to the process.

  Well, that urgency has come full circle. It's at a point where this project needs to end in order to go further on with other things. And since The Wilson Project Site is a working blog (and soon-to-be) portfolio site, I needed to end this thing to start doing new projects. And basically, I just need this monkey off my back. So why am I writing this blog entry?

  Because I feel that the need to apologize [to myself].

  This project was started with the idea of using XSLT via Symphony CMS. It's a very interesting application that I am sure will grow and improve. The cast of characters over there are currently working on the third version as I am writing this.

  Now, I'm in a time crunch. I cannot, at this time, learn XSLT and learn a new CMS without some focused time and effort. Unfortunately, considering the numerous hiatus periods in this project, that will never happen. So I took the hard choice and decided to move the project back to WordPress to speed up completion. I'm relieved at be removed of this burden. But I also feel sad, as I made some sort of bad compromised to complete this project. I know I shouldn't, but I'll live. I may feel bad for not completing the project in the way that I wanted fully but I have to move on.

  The other reason for Project Charles was conceptual. The "residue" of studying and observing the work around me of interaction design and front-end development. Yes, I have a few ideas that I've squirrel away.

  It's called The Information Layer.

  Ideally, Charles would have been the best demo, especially with Symphony/XSLT. But with the external changes of the last two years, there is a real need to share something now and not wait further down the road for an actual demo model.

  So, I'm shipping now. Everything can wait.

  I need my life back.