| A daily webcomic randomly* snatched from the good people at Flickr™. |
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About
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Citrus Soldier is a daily webcomic based on a novel idea: the images used are chosen from a small, random sample of photographs uploaded by members of the internet-going public to the Flickr website. Here's how the process works:
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At a random time each day, I send the Citrus Soldier out on a scouting mission to retrieve the most recent twenty or so photos uploaded to Flickr which are listed under a Creative Commons license that permits me to adapt and redistribute the photographs. These are downloaded to my computer with no prior knowledge of the selection of photos I will receive.
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| 2. |
Next, I browse through this small list of downloaded photographs and choose one to write a caption for. If there are ever any bizarre, boring, or otherwise noteworthy photographs, blame it on this step. In order to maintain the semi-random nature of this project, I only give myself the choice of this small selection of the many thousands of photos uploaded to Flickr each day. In addition, I force myself to write a caption for one of the photographs each time I run the photo retrieval script. If I didn't, the Citrus Soldier might go on a shooting rampage, and nobody wants that.
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I make some small modifications to the photograph, such as making it grayscale and adding a border. Then I stare blankly at the photo until a stroke of creative genius (or the closest approximation thereof) hits me and I add a caption to the bottom of the image.
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| 4. |
After (not very thoroughly) checking for spelling errors, the new comic is ready to be uploaded to the website. I will make an attempt to keep a somewhat regular uploading schedule (probably between 4-5 A.M. EST), but I make no guarantees at this stage. I will guarantee at least one new comic a day, however!
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The Author
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My name is Norm. I write the captions under the photographs! I am a grad student in astronomy and I work on this comic when I should be working on my thesis project. If you'd like to contact me, drop me an email at:
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Licensing
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All the photographs I use for this project are listed under one of a few different Creative Commons licenses that allow others to redistribute and alter the original work under a few conditions set by the original author, the most restrictive of which being the by-nc-sa unported license.
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The photographers of the original images used in this project are given credit via a link to the Flickr page from which the photo was originally obtained. This link to the Original can be found directly underneath each comic.
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All of the comics on this site are then subsequently redistributed with a by-nc-sa license.
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The open-source mentality of Creative Commons licencing is what makes this website possible. Needless to say,this project couldn't be a reality if it weren't for the original photographers choosing to distribute their works in this way. Many props to them!
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Citrus Soldier writing and photo alterations by Norman da Gama.
normdg at gmail dot com
*See "About" for more information.
Some rights reserved.
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