Or-i-hon

Goopymart on your mobile

2007-08-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

After trying ROK Comics the other day (and being quite disappointed - but that's another post) I figured I'd try my hand a making a mobile version of an existing comic using or-i-hon. Being a long-time Goopymart fan I didn't have to look very far for some excellent content that I could use, especially as many of his works are released under a Creative Commons license.

3 Short Stacks by Goopymart (Flash Lite w/source)

Distant Early Warning

2007-08-02T10:52:00.001-07:00

When I first began working on or-i-hon I spent some time looking for some really nice examples of what I imagined microcontent could be, and in doing so I happened to stumble upon this Flickr photo set of playing cards created by Marshall McLuhan. I have to admit that given McLuhan's thoughts on media and culture I simply couldn't resist making a mobile version of this card deck.

"I think of art, at its most significant, as a DEW line, a Distant Early Warning system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it."

Marshall McLuhan

Enjoy. The medium really is the message, no?

Distant Early Warning Card Deck by Marshall McLuhan (Flash Lite w/source)

Introduction Or-i-hon

2007-08-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

After working with Flash Lite (and mobile) for a few years now I can't help but notice the plethora of YAWNS (Yet-Another-Weather-News-Sports) applications that are released on what feels like an almost daily basis. Don't get me wrong - I do appreciate up-to-the-minute news, weather and sports content as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day I'm often left asking myself, "Is that all there is?".

Of course not. Simply wander around any bookstore, peruse the magazine rack at your local newsagent or even pick up a copy of The Big Issue - there's a lot more to life than simply more news, weather and sports. We're complex individuals damn it!

If you're anything like me (I made or-i-hon for me) you probably wander around with a mobile phone, perhaps an MP3 player, probably a laptop and at least a couple of books (in case you finish one, or one is absolute rubbish). Now let me tell you a secret - books (and magazines) are HEAVY and tend to require excessive backpack (or briefcase) space!

Thankfully, this isn't a new problem. For centuries people have had to figure out ingenious ways of shuffling bits of information about without having to transport large tracts of dead forests in the process. One particularly interesting breakthrough was that of the orihon (folded book) that seems very well suited to our modern, mobile lifestyles. In fact, as Cory Doctorow has recently made a PDF mini-comic available in a similar (folded) format - I figured that was as good a place to start as any.

In short, orihon is my humble attempt at making well-designed, microcontent for mobile devices.

Orihon at Google Code
Printcrime by Cory Doctorow (Flash Lite w/source)