CPSblog: 13 September 2005
MERZ
The studio web server
merz is ready for us to use. We'll start on an informal basis and see where that leads us. These web sites will be online at least until the end of the semester. After that we'll determine what to do with them.
We will begin by opening things up for use and grow the sites by learning and sharing amongst ourselves. As we need to we'll cover parts of this in the studio through demonstrations.
The web server is turned on and is live on the internet. This is done simply by connecting the computer to an internet connection (in our case it is on GVSU ethernet but it works the same on broadband or even dial-up connection) and turning on Personal Web Sharing in the Sharing System Preferences. Mac OS X runs a version of "apache" web server which is an open source unix program that is widely used and respected.
The web address of the server is:
http://merz.art.gvsu.edu
To get set up you must first create an account for yourself on the server, Merz. This is the blue G4 that is sitting on the floor in the Studio.
Name: use your real full name
Short Name: use a short string of letters with no spaces. This will be part of your web address so make it easy to type and remember
Password: this is the password you'll use to get back into your account area on the computer as well as for uploading files via ftp (file transfer protocol)
As soon as you set up your account a home directory is created for you on Merz. This directory (folder) is created with a "sites" folder which contains a default web page (index.html) that you can replace with one of your design. The default page includes some description and instruction about how this works. You'll be able to update your web sites right on the server or by using FTP file transfer protocol to move files from any other computer with an internet connection. You also should be able to make a network connection to your home directory from anywhere on the GVSU network.
Your web address on merz will be:
http://merz.art.gvsu.edu/~urshortname
Once you put up anything of your own creation please add it to the
Merz roster.
There are many useful sites on the internet about designing web pages. When you find useful resources, please post them to this
web help page. Include a short annotation about the site that describes why it is good.
All computers in the Art Department have the web editing program Dreamweaver. The also have the FTP program Fetch. The FTP address is: ftp://merz.art.gvsu.edu.
Be sure to observe copyright law by only using things (image, text, music) that you own or have permission from the copyright owner to use. If you have interest in running extra things; cgi scripts, php, mysqul . . . . or anything else please email me at
wittenbp@gvsu.edu.
The idea of 'merz' comes from the artist Kurt Schwitters. Find out about this and share it with the class. You'll get a free "prize" from the prize cabinet.
