4mations
Encyclopedia
4mations is a website made for people to upload, view and share animated films and games. The site was founded in 2008 by Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

, sponsored by Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...

 and Lupus Films. As the site is targeted to adults, risque animations are often featured.

History

Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 commissioned the project, backed by Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...

 and Lupus Films and it was in development fot two years before its launch. The project team then sent out a call for submissions to commission some animations and the beta site launched in August 2008. The main site launched in September 2008. In November 2008 the site was taken down by Channel 4 in order to remove some adult content from the site.

The site relaunched on the 1st of June 2009 as an animation blog featuring director interviews, user-submitted clips and news and reviews from the animation world.

User accounts

The free user account
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...

 includes access to upload animation films and games as well as viewing and commenting on other user's content.

Uploading films and games makes users eligible for a £250 prizefund which is awarded monthly for the most viewed content.
  • Profile: Each 4mations user has their own individual profile page which displays their username, a description (written by the user), a URL, their videos/games and the content that they've marked as favorites.

  • Groups: 4mations allow the creation of user groups between users with something in common (for example, fans of an experimental films, a genre of animation, or membership of another internet forum). Any user may start a group and invite members. Each of the members of the groups can initiate or contribute to a discussion.

  • Friends: Users are able to create friends lists with whom they can share animations that they upload or find on the site.

  • Messages: The site provides the facility for you to send a direct message to one or more 4mations user. Depending on how the users have set their preferences, this will then send an email to the user's private email address, prompting them to check their 4mations account.

Tags

From launch, 4mations supports user-end tagging
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...

 or labeling of films and game to create a site-wide folksonomy
Folksonomy
A folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging...

 of animated content. Users can browse via tags
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...

 enabling users to play content that has been tagged a certain way. This tagging can be by genre, mood, creator, or any other form of user-defined classification.

Categories

Videos can be viewed by selecting the most discussed, the top rated, the most watched, featured videos (which are highlighted by the 4mations team) or the newest to be uploaded. Alternatively users can determine the category they wish to look at by channel or format.

Games can be viewed by selecting the most discussed, the top rated, most played, featured games (which are highlighted by the 4mations team) or the newest to be uploaded. Alternatively users can choose a category of game they wish to play.

Subscription

A user can choose to subscribe to either a tag or specific user, which are then displayed on the "subscriptions" page. Alternatively, users can choose to receive these subscriptions via an RSS feed.

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External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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