January 9, 2008

The project has been going strong the past few months, and although a series of unfortunate events (ahem) have had the website portion of the project offline for a bit, we're now back online. About a month ago the site crashed hard after an update. We had been working on several improvements to the site design, including a few new features, so when 1mile.org went down I made the decision to spend time focusing on the new site rather than fixing the old one. As a result, you got to meet Mr. Slumber on the maintenance page.

As you might notice from a quick tiptoe through our tulips, the site still has a few gaps here and there. We are working hard to get these spackled over as soon as possible (especially now that they're out in the open where folks can see them!) All of the work here is done by two people who also work full-time to support the project and themselves, so please add that to your mild contempt when you see the caution tape.

For those of you whoare familiar with the project, you'll notice a few additions to the menus. In the comings weeks, the site will see the addition of an online store, an expanded social networking area, more ways to participate in the project and other new resources to help spread the word.

Also, the past month or so has been a development period for the design of the workflow involved in making this mile-long screenprint. As drawings are received, they are scanned into the computer, added to a database and the digital files are cropped, toned and otherwise prepared using Photoshop. The files are then converted from pixel data to vector data and brought into Illustrator where they are assembled onto a segment dummy 100-links long and archived for later use. Four hundred such segments will be needed to complete the mile. These are the files the printing negatives and screens will be burned from, and we are working on showing an online version of the print based on these source files as well.

Many thanks to my database buddies, you know who you are, and the screen-printing savages at TickTick for sprinkling juju (and technical advice) on the project during the production design.

So, that is about it for now. Much needs to be done and my day off is rapidly dwindling.

Thanks for supporting the Mile Project, check back often, and hey, send me a drawing!

Joe Hudak

joe [at] 1mile [•] org