Content Acquisition

Infection of smile is about one simple smile can trigger the smiles of other people around. "When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too." Smile is very important in our life, it can make people happy, encourage other people, bring hope to the hopeless person. Nowadays people are facing a lots of stress and unhappy things in life and most of them can't be avoid, smiling face are decreasing now. In cyberspace, social media platform such as Facebook are full of complains and unhappy things instead of smiling. The goal and aim for this project are to encourage people to smile more and "infect" the smile and happiness to the people around them.

Content Development

After a lots of brainstorming and precedence studies for ideas, I think it is time to combine all the ideas and decide what to do for the final output.

The main concept for this project is about influence smiles to others and give cyberspace a happiness tone. I think this is more to a experimental based project, experiment the "infection of smile" that happened real life (when a person smile, it can trigger the smile of another person), by moving it to cyberspace and achieve it using new media. If this could achieve, I believe it will create bigger effect on cyberspace rather than real life that maybe will just influence the smiles within a room, due to the characteristics/advantages of new media.

The final output should be a website that can really access online, targeting all country of people. The website should be done by flash, mysql database and php, for function such as webcam taking photos, gallery, leave comments etc. I had some sketches of the basic layout to help me in finalizing ideas:

I think I need to come out with a better title or maybe a logo for the website, and a tagline also, a good tagline can make things better. For now i come up with 4 main pages which is Home, About, Gallery and Join. For the Home page, it is something like gallery, showing a lots of smiling photos with different size, so that people can directly get the feeling and some thought when they landed on the website. Beside the photos will be some basic introduction of the whole things. Maybe the photos part can replaced with a video of introduction, or making a splash page before the Home page, show some animation for introduction.

Gallery page showed all the smiling photos, 3 top rated photos with bigger size placed on top to encourage people to share their "smile" and influence to more people. Click a photos in gallery will then go to photo details page as shown below.

Photo details page will show the original size of the photos and some description beside it. Also a "like" button and a "share" button for people to share the "smile" to more places such as facebook, myspace etc. The "like" button may change to "This made me smile" button, when the user saw the photos and smile, and click the button, it will trigger the webcam to take a photos, so that may get a photos that the user are truly smiling after saw other people "smiles".(but need to solve a problem which is the notification before access the webcam)
At the bottom is the comments, which can make the whole site more lively and interactive.

Join page is for people to taking their smile photos and join this "activity". People can directly access webcam and taking photos, after that they can choose to add effects to the photos or skip next stage which is save the picture into gallery for view. Add effects can let people show their creativity and make their photos more funny, included 2 kind of function. One is add in prepared graphics in the photos, another one is pencil tool for free writing and drawing. (If can make it, if not will put only 1 function)



Write out the flow for a clear mind of the actual things: (sorry for bad handwriting)

For the about page, I plan to introduce the basic concept, the goal and aim of this project, for people to have more understanding in order to encourage them to participate. Besides the basic part, I would like to encourage people to use the picture of "smile" which they taken in the website as their facebook or other social media's display picture. This will be a "flashmob" on cyberspace, which change their profile display picture to a smiling picture, and influence others to do this also, in purpose to make the cyberspace full of happiness. For this, I think need to come out with a sentences that can let people copy and paste in their status, included the link to this project website. For example, few weeks ago Facebook had a "campaign" that asking people to change their display picture to their favourite cartoon character in childhood and given a period to it (a weeks or so). The Facebook message: "Change your FB picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal is not to see a human face on FB until Monday (Dec 6th) Join the fight against child abuse & copy and paste to your status!". Their facebook page had 96,514 people liked about it now.

Precedent Studies - The Happy 2010 Sing-a-Long

I amsterdam: The Happy 2010 Sing-a-Long

To wish the whole world a happy new year, I amsterdam launches the Happy 2010 Sing-a-long. Everybody can make their own clip at http://www.iamsterdam.com/happy2010 and send it to friends or watch other people sing-a-long.

The video gallery page: http://www.iamsterdamhappy2010.nl/site/index.php

A combination video on YouTube:

This is a fun and non-profit project, all participants really enjoy singing and wishing the whole world a happy new year. When all the video put together and show as the picture above, there are very strong feel of the festival which can make people happy and smiling while watching those videos.

This project is very near to what I want to do for my FYP, while contain a gallery like the pictures showed above with everybody smiling to render the whole page to happiness feeling. Then people can directly access webcam using the function provided to join the fun, add themself into the gallery.

Precedent Studies - Happy Hunters

Desigual Happy Hunters - Is it possible to flood the internet with thousands of happy messages?

Spanish streetwear brand Desigual launched their new campaign at DesigualHappyHunters.com, based around the concept of digital happiness flashmob. And instead of jumping on the Facebook-Twitter bandwagon, it’s all about blogs and comments, sharing a happy reply on a participant blog to win your chosen item.

You can get the picture on the introduction video below:

Happy Hunters: We made internet a little more happy again!

Happy Hunters second wave has just finished with a huge succes. More than 3000 happy comments have surprised bloggers in Spain, France, UK, USA and Germany. Bloggers were astonished upon receiving an avalanche of unexpected comments in their blogs.

The idea behind the Happy Hunters was a challenge to our fans, to become hunters for Happiness. We wanted to spread some happiness on the web. 

As a start, by sending happy coments to blogs. Nothing more inspiring for a blogger than receiving lots of comments.

Desigual fans logged onto the campaign microsite, chose a garment from our new collection and waited for being informed to which blogs they were going to post happy comments.

The feedback was fabulous, as you can see in the blogs were all this happy comments landed. Many of them had the the blogger smiling and got their award.

This campaign or they calls itself a web-based flash mob, encourage internet users to comment on blogger post and limited it to happy comment only for good intention. They had prove that people will actually follow if you set a rules for good intention. So I think it's possible for me to set rules for my FYP application which is only allow to share the happiness to make the whole environment have a happy feeling.

Precedent Studies - Show your Smile!

YouTube Event - Show your Smile!

I don't know how to call this but I would prefer to call it as event. This event is organized by a YouTube users named DanielGardner. Below is the description of the video above:

Make a video reply with your smile: it can be a video, a picture, or a drawing.
No words or audio necessary - just SMILE. Show the world you haven't forgotten how.

Do it. Now. Because I told you so. ;)

Here's how to make a video with only a picture, using Windows Movie Maker:
http://video.about.com/desktopvideo/P...

Just as simple as this, he show his smile through video and asking people to show their smile also. Will you do it after watching this video? There are over 280 YouTubers have made video replies since DanielGardner upload his video.

This video is a compilation of 100 of those smiles:

Did you smile or gain some happiness from this video?

Some comment of this video in YouTube:

hey there :) unbelievable that u made so many people show their smile just by giving them one of yours' :) ...

I just posted my SMILE!! :D and yeah you have enough smiles to make a second video i loved the first one!!

i really like your smile! It made me smile as well! :)

I always watch this when I need to smile :)

All of them look good when they smile .In Arabic we say smile for life the life will smile for you

i smile all the time! i always encourage my friend Daniel to smile, but he doesntt. i made him watch this vid and for the first time he smiled! thnx ! this vid helped!~

This is such a wonderful idea! I'll show my smile when I have a new cam, I swear! <3

SMILE is my greatest weapon.... SMILE change my life.... SMILE brings me to the top.... SMILE makes me hansome.... SMILE is my best friend in facing the greatest problems in my life.... without SMILE i will simply die in sadness.... i discovered that i have a beautiful smile when i was 16 yrs old.... it changes everything xD.... now SMILE is my life a way life.... 

This shows that people like the idea, they like to see people smile and it can make them smile also. DanielGardner just posted a video of he himself smiling and asking for other people to join him also, then this event can get over 280 participants and over million views of the video. This is a good reference for my FYP due to the same theme which is smile. I believe by providing more easier and functional ways for people to share their smile using the power of new media such as function of directly record from their webcam, after record they can straightforward to edit it etc, the number of participants will be increase.

Precedent Studies - It's No Picnic

Cadbury's Picnic: IT'S NO PICNIC

"IT'S NO PICNIC" is a campaign launched by Cadbury’s Australia for their Picnic chocolate bar. The fully-integrated campaign directs people to official website www.itsnopicnic.tv where they can build their own television commercial. The website allows them to upload their film (or record themselves by webcam using the function provided in official website), edit their footage, choose one of 50 pre-recorded Voice Overs and personalise it by including their name, of which around 1,400 individual names were recorded. Once finished they submit their ad for approval, with the best ones being selected and aired on national television.

This campaign challenged its audience to eat a Picnic in the space of a :30 commercial break. The number of responses is usually linked to ease of participation, the equity of the brand and the fun aspect of the ‘act’ involved. Picnic chocolate bar is made of nuts, wafer, chocolate, rice crisps and caramel – quite a mouthful, so it's hard to finish in just 30 seconds. But when people trying, it will become a funny things for other people to watch especially when the film was added with funny voice overs. The website contain a gallery of all submitted video for audiences to browse through, vote, or share it to other social networking sites such as facebook, myspace and twitter, this helps in spreading the video around.

It's No Picnic TV Commercial:

This campaign inspired me in its "pre-recorded voice overs", which I can modify and add in my fyp. In my fyp, it may become ready made funny effects or graphics to be add in photos to make the smiling photos become more fun and happy. Maybe allow people to type in their own text in the photos also, for better use of people own creativity and customization. Another ideas coming out from this campaign is that maybe can taking photos while users viewing other photos in gallery, which may get photos of users laughing while viewing those funny photos, then they can edit the photos and save in the gallery, and generate the effect of "infection of smile".

Research

Why laughter is contagious

How many times has it happened that when one person starts laughing, it takes no time till everybody else in the group starts rolling too? And now, researchers have found clues behind this common phenomenon and have explained why laughter is so contagious.

Sophie Scott at University College London measured the brain activity of 20 volunteers in a functional MRI scanner while she played them laughter, squeals of triumph and moans of fear and disgust.

She also played a neutral, artificial sound that would have no specific meaning to the subjects.

It was found that all the emotive sounds triggered a response in the brain's premotor cortical, the area that controls the movement of facial muscles.

Inside the brain scanners, though, the subjects were not actually using these muscles.

To Scott, that indicates the brain is wired with "mirror circuits" that prime us to copy another's behaviour when we recognise their emotions.

The brain response was more pronounced for the sounds of laughter and triumph than the vocalisations of negative emotions, suggesting that the urge to copy is greatest when we hear another's delight or amusement.

That may explain how laughter is contagious, but the researchers wondered why should it be so.

One explanation stems from its evolutionary origins in rough-and-tumble play, where laughter sends out a clear message that the fighting is not for real.

"It might be important to have the whole group safely signal this so that a play fight does not turn ugly because someone ''didn't get the memo,''" New Scientist quoted Christian Hempelmann at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, as saying.

On the other hand, Scott believes that mirroring another's emotional state might ease communication and interaction.

Laughing at the same joke would help us to show affiliation with others, and this may be why it is especially contagious.

"Laughter is an incredibly binding thing," she said.

The study has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Article Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spirituality/self-help/Why-laughter-is-contagious/articleshow/6204379.cms


Spread Your Positivity Like a Virus!

Are you the only optimistic person you know? Perhaps that one person in the office who always says something can't be done? Perhaps your spouse or loved one who is constantly negative, the kind of person that would see one tiny cloud in the sky as an indication of a gloomy day. Or even a good mate who 'knows' the home team will lose because...well...because he just knows it. Or that one person in your drinking group that is constantly complaining about anything under the sun.

If you are in this situation and you're bursting with positivity and personal growth that just does not seem to be catching on with the ones you know, there are a few tactics you can deploy to get those negative bugs off. It's important to want to change someone's negative perception because sooner or later, their negativity can infect you! And that is the LAST thing you want!

SMILE
Always smile. Keep that frown off your face. A smile can spread on and on. When you smile you radiate happiness. When others see you smile, they have to return it. DO a test. Do a random smile test now. Right now! Just take a stroll through your neighborhood or at the gym. Smile at everyone that crosses your path. Chances are there will be more people smiling back at you. And when they do, even if they are having the toughest day of their life, just by smiling at you, a little positivity will seep into them. It can't be helped!

COMPLIMENT
Say something nice to the person whose pessimistic vibes are really getting to you. Compliments are a great way to make someone's day and occasionally, that good feeling will be a reminder for that person about what's good in their life. So give a compliment but one that's well meant and not just another cliche like "You look great!' Something specific like "I like it when you smile, it lights up your face." usually does well to inject some positivity into someone.

TO HELL WITH PUNISHMENTS
The worst thing you can do to a super negative person is to punish them. Let's say your child does not have much confidence and because of that negativity, he does not do well in school, punishing the kid won't do well for his esteem. Or if your friend is always late, teasing him or getting angry at his lack of time management won't help you one bit. In fact it might make him want to piss you more the next time. Punishments reinforce negativity, they don't elevate them. Which takes us to the final tactic.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
If you are stuck with a person oozing negativity, gently nudge them with positive thoughts. Instead of pinpointing on the things they do wrong, point out what they do right. Say your always-late pal, if he ever happens to make it early (or earlier than usual) one day, tell him how good it is that he made it on time and how much you appreciate it. Positive encouragements are baby steps to wonderful positivity. Or if your spouse says that she thinks she's not good enough the higher job position, don't say ' Well, if you think you can't you won't." instead say "You know what? I believe in you." It's a great way to instill positivity and motivate personal growth in any person!

Article Source:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Spread-Your-Positivity-Like-a-Virus!&id=4313557


The Many Benefits of a Good Laugh 

We’ve all heard that eating chocolate and having sex are two activities that stimulate those “feel-good” receptors in our brains, but did you know that there is another activity that falls into the same category? Yes it’s laughter! Simply enjoying a good laugh also causes the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the reward center of the brain.

Laughter raises our tolerance to pain (how exactly is not understood) but instead of watching the news the next time you’re on the treadmill, turn on a comedy show and see what a difference it makes.

• Up to 15 muscles are activated, just to make us smile.
• Heart rate and blood pressure go briefly up, but then below baseline, which is similar to what happens after exercise.
• The diaphragm, the large muscle just under our lungs, flexes in an out, pulling air in and pushing it out. This not only produces laughter as air rushes through the vocal cords, but also fills the blood with oxygen, which flows throughout the rest of the body.
• Blood flow to the face increases, giving us a happy glow and oxygenating the skin.
• A good laugh ‘till you cry is good for you, since tears (both the happy and sad kind) can reduce symptoms of stress.
• Studies have shown that laughter may help boost immunity by raising levels of disease-fighting agents, namely immunoglobulins and killer-T cells.
• Studies have also linked regular laughter with improved glucose levels in those suffering from diabetes.
• If we’re laughing hard enough, we can infect those around us – laughter is contagious, and it makes everyone feel good!

Article Source:
http://www.dietivity.com/how-to-stop-stress-eating-can-laughter-therapy-help-with-weight-loss/