In the previous iteration of Future Plans XIV we identified a long-standing problem with this website, that its inception and setup was dependent on media that existed outside the website, and was secondary to said media. While our articles and information should ultimately be secondary to content that delivers a narrative, the implementation of the articles, information, and website as a whole did not present a cohesive relationship between our focus and articles.
We have since reorganized the homepage so that it more clearly redirects both those who are new and those who are not, and reorganized the menu to support these changes. We have also modified the Plot-Arcs hub page and the subsequent page for the Before The Wind plot-arc to more clearly show the existing information we have on its characters and backstory. Additionally, we are in progress of publishing new writing for these currently established plot-arcs.
This brings us to what we formerly did not recognize as a major need: appropriate artwork to accompany text on book pages—this has since expanded to all articles and pages across the website.
In our efforts to more clearly present information, we have designed new article templates for each kind of article we have on the website: books, events, factions, fauna, locations, omneuttians, and other various templates related to Sentient Species articles. I would like to present one of our work in progress revisions:
We have reconsidered our practices towards internal links—that is links that go to some other article or page on the website—and found that most would be better as a list of references. We sill link within an article as needed, but we anticipate that most articles should be more concise. As we re-write every single article on the website, we hope that this process brings forward new information that might have been withheld or not considered for our previous writing style.
We also hope to increase the amount of visual media on the website, and to that end I am announcing that the Ajika will have a new member. You might be familiar with their work as they have contributed artwork to both of the Expeditions. A gallery of their work will be attached at the end of this post, but for now I will let Ankaya introduce themselves:
Hello! I am Ankaya yla Matekha. I have formally joined the Ajika to provide visual media as part of their our streamlining of the site. As Padi mentioned, I am the artist that produced the article headers for the previous Expeditions. I have enjoyed traveling across Omneutta in the past and hope that I will have the opportunity to continue that practice as part of my professional duties. In addition to making article headers, I will be providing long banner art, illustrations of omneuttians for articles, taking landscape photography, and running a new social media branch for the Ajika.
I grew up in The Hilt, and this informs my life as a fairly untraditional pori. As an omneuttian who can change the design and structure of my head at will, my first canvas was this. Out of professional courtesy I will do my best to keep my head relatively the same and only change the shapes in the front and back. As of late I have been obsessed with simple geometric shapes. I might post some self-portraits from time to time. On that topic:
I will be posting on the website instagram once each Earth day. When we return from Expeditions I anticipate my posts will be thematically related to our findings, and perhaps showing off artwork as articles are released and updated. Outside of the expeditions, I will be posting my various sketches, photography, and other visual media I find interesting. These posts will also be cross-posted to the facebook page, and Padi has told me that Ypx’s and Baic’s weekly posts will continue on that page. I am unsure if my daily posts will appear on our twitter stream, but when Baic posts articles that feature my artwork, you can see them there.
Immediately, I am going to get to work on producing the artwork necessary for the new article styles so that once Baic, Padi, and Rucu complete each re-write they can be published as soon as possible.
Skeli'n Studios 