I just had a somewhat novel idea. What if we had a live collage showing the total archive of past e-Voxes along with a background image that would add input on the subject discussed in the e-Vox? It could still work over email if we had a script that read and interpreted the data sent in the email. Something like this would be the format to an email sent to input@eVox.org or a similar central hub email: -------------------- <from, to> <link to background image> <uploaded audio file> -------------------- <delta, cW> <i.imgur.com/rNdmUrL> <eVox12.wma> -------------------- The data would be interpreted by a script, uploaded to a VPS server, then grabbed and displayed on the website, displaying as: Please excuse the quick sketch.
This assumes you host the audio file on your own server. This is an example of a single tile in what would be an arrangement of tiles that you could browse. The gallery would be displayed on a page with the newest tiles at the top and the oldest at the bottom. When clicked, the tile would stream the e-Vox audio to the listener. A link to the audio would be sent to the recipient of the e-Vox via email.
This is a most intriguing prospect, delta. I'm definitely up for giving it a shot. You are envisioning the option to add a pictorial element, almost like achieving a vid podcast quality to the vox? I want to build avenues that encourage person to person conversations, but why not incorporate a collective, collaborative element as well? I'm wondering: won't lines of conversation quickly fork and exponentiate in a collective setting? Or have I missed a key detail? Forgive me, despite my recent tiny and faltering foray into learning Ruby, I'm still completely out of my element as far as building sites/platforms is concerned. I do have space/server via a web host, and can definitely allot pages/bandwidth to such expansions of the project. I have concerns that anything of scope will quickly outstrip my total bandwidth though. Maybe not though, if we were to use imgr/soundcloud. But free usage of these has severe data limitations. I have been wondering whether we could incorporate our google drives/dropboxes/etc. to solve the space problem. Does that sound helpful? What do you think? Also, b_b, wasoxygen, mk, humanodon, insomniasexx? I'm outta my league here ...
You could easily sort the conversations by the parties involved. This should solve any conversational confusion. As for programming knowledge, I would encourage JavaScript. It's what I'm currently learning and it would be very capable to execute a project such as this.
You are envisioning the option to add a pictorial element, almost like achieving a vid podcast quality to the vox?
Now that I think about it, this would complicate things. I think I would ultimately settle for plain color backgrounds for the tiles. The array of tiles (I'll throw together a sketch of what I'm envisioning soon) would simply allow for a colorful, more unique browsing experience compared to an ugly wall of text.
if we were to use imgr/soundcloud. But free usage of these has severe data limitations.
I could pay for a VPS server if needed. I would much rather control my own data than a third party controlling it.
Yeah, the simple tiling would definitely reduce data needed and make it seem less like it was trying to compete with face time or skype VM, or what have you. Preserving the beautiful simplicity is pretty important to me. I may have the server space necessary for this. Here's the crucial question: let's say I put this together and a million people start using it (good kinda problem). How would I make the project sustainable in terms of cost of data storage/transfer in a task/service which can and should be free? This is the conundrum I can't quite wrap my head around. Perhaps I should start building, and see if the kinks can be worked out as I go.
The way you could do this is putting non-intrusive ads on the site and/or setting up an account for donations. These are the two ways that would keep the simplicity and create revenue. Your web host may allow upgrading your plan by buying more disk space and/or bandwidth is needed. Who do you use?