Mobile tech, SMS, Virtual Communities/Communications LINKS

Some good resources to check out re- mobile tech and virtual communities:

http://frontlinesms.kiwanja.net/
Description
Since 2005, FrontlineSMS has empowered many grassroots NGOs the world over. Today, thanks to FrontlineSMS, development workers in Afghanistan are receiving daily security alerts. Hundreds of coffee farmers in Indonesia are being given access to new markets. Elections have been monitored by civilians in Nigeria. It was used to co-ordinate official election monitors in the Philippines, and human rights campaigners in central Africa are using the software to reach out to victims

From modest beginnings, the FrontlineSMS success story continues to grow

FrontlineSMS has been cited in many NGO and industry research papers, websites and publications. It was shortlisted in the 2007 Mobile Messaging Awards, named WSIS "ICT Success Story of the Month" for its use in monitoring the Nigerian elections (also reported in the international press), and recently received considerable funding from the MacArthur Foundation

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=110540

Description
Video and still images captured in real time have informed fire crews and local residents in the San Diego area about the location and severity of threats to life and property since fires broke out earlier this month. Accident investigators from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) have requested these images that were captured by the National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN).

You are Here!

I am fascinated with creating a need for today’s consumer. In 2006, only 8% of all products created a need whereas the reaming 92% filled our current needs. Apple has been at the forefront of creating needs for the past few years. Did you know you wanted your music in a small portable device before the Ipod was introduced? Today, portable devices are at the forefront of consumer electronics sales. Such devices are evolving quickly, and extra features are in demand. I believe that virtual communities are going to continue to get larger through the use of portable devices, particularly cell phones. New technologies are being added to cell phones regularly, including GPS location hardware/software.

Although not available on all phones yet, GPS is the future of cell phones. With the advent of Facebook, we are becoming more interested in our “friends” whereabouts. My interactive community is called “You are here”. It uses the GPS technology in your cell phone in conjunction with a Facebook-like website. When you enter a new place eg: a store, museum or restaurant, you cell phone will alert you as to what your friend’s opinions are of this location. It does this by communicating using GPS technology and the entries received by users on its website. Additionally, you can invite friends to your location by using your cell phone. Using their GPS tracking, they can find you and that location easily.

This is not limited to your own city, buy can be used around the world! The technology exists for this to happen. A device like the iphone would be ideal for this service.

“You are here” creates a need that has not been satisfied.

I tried to attach the file I created... but its too big. Will have to upload it when i arrive at school...

Your Spark is the story of my life

I've been inspired by social networking since it first hit the net with Friendster but it was not until the simplicity and addictiveness of Facebook, my involvement with the inspiring active community of TakingITGlobal -- alongside the the rise of blogging sites,YouTube's video sharing, Flickr's photo sharing, del.icio.us' bookmark sharing and other virtual communities that have made communication easier and more effective -- that I decided to pursue a thesis in designing a virtual community of my own; to use my skills as a graphic designer and observer for facilitating a process: using the Internet to enhance lives.

I came across Don Tapscott's Wikinomics shortly after I discussed my idea with my professor last year, which went on to prove that there is a lot of information on these sorts of matter and virtual communities are changing the Internet, changing lives and enhancing the way we communicate, help others and network. Wikinomics is the first book that talks about "mass collaboration" on the Internet and gives examples of all the different community websites starting of course with Wikipedia and open source information sharing. Some other highlights from his book are examples of "ideagoras": a marketplace for ideas from people who have the skills to the people who need their minds for innovation. The most successful website doing this is InnoCentive:

"In our Open Innovation Marketplace, Seekers- commercial, academic, and nonprofit organizations - draw on a global network of Solvers - more than 125,000 engineers, scientists, inventors, and business people - to meet challenging needs and move their organizations forward in the following areas:

• Physical Sciences
• Engineering and Design
• Chemistry
• Math and Computer Science
• Life Sciences
• Business and Entrepreneurship"

Pursuing my interest in social activism, over the past year I have also been researching social networking websites for people interested in social and global issues and non-profit organizations that need their voices heard. Besides the highly international and successful TakingITGlobal (which was also featured in Tapscott's book as an example for how Internet can promote activism) I looked into sites like idealist.org, igloo.org, design21sdn.com and was also really inspired by the philsophy and the amazing community of open-minded, like-minded people on zaadz.com which assured me that if you have a purpose, a heart and a strong mission with your site, you will attract the right minds and hearts, and your site will serve its purpose to connect others with the same goals.

My offline inspirations come from initiatives like ThinkTank at OCAD where designers from all backgrounds come together to discuss the potential for their skills in contribution towards community, humanity and sustainability. I'm also very drawn towards MIT's Comparative Media Studies (CMS) program that is designed for a multi-disciplinary education from literature, arts and media, history and so on to develop highly skilled students for the world that has yet to define jobs for their multi-faceted and informed minds. The head of the department Henry Jenkins has written quite a number of books and essays on this very subject about collaborative intelligence; he has been considered a living McLuhan of the 21st century. I'm inspired by the future and the potential for collaborative pursuits for defining that future...and Internet is the most amazing tool we could have ever asked for as species on this planet.

My life's story up to this point is really the main reason for this challenging undertaking. I've always had many interests that I've been passionate about -- sports, writing, reading, health, history, cultures, helping people, philosophy, nature, art, music and many other fascinating fields that provide endless knowledge -- and as a result of that I've met many inspiring people from various skills and strengths from different areas of profession. My community and group involvements have ensured me that I love to bring people together to inform and inspire eachother, as much as I like networking myself. I want people to see their potential through collaborative pursuits, and I mean that literally.

"JUST DANCE" - Everybody just dddddaaaaaaaannnnnnnccccccccceeeeeeeee!

Hey guys check out my virtual community called, "JUST DANCE." It's a community created for reggae listeners. Read a more descriptive outline of the website at JustDance.com Blog.

Virtual Wardrobe Coordination

finally posted..

Here it be~

In my research phase I looked at a place named NorSim (or The Lands of NoR) in second life. It is a roleplaying community, the environment looks dark and depressing but it is well populated and the residents seemed happy to be there. From there I found out more about roleplaying communities in general.

research

My virtual community prototype went in another direction. I wanted to solve a recurring problem I have with my friends, which is the need to coordinate our increasingly eccentric wardrobes when we partake in the many adventures that falls upon our otherwise normal lives. Usually this is done over the phone which never fully works out due to the lack of visual aid, none of us can fully remember every piece of clothing owned by each of us nor can our minds sucessfully render what we would look like when we all stand together. The other method is to have a slumber party the night before our adventures, thus being all in the same place when we wake up to dress. This method is immensely fun, however it is quite impractical (schedules, distance, the need to stuff entire wardrobe into suitcase and dragging it from Oshawa to Oakville, etc) and cannot be done every time.

My application will provide a solution to these problems. It is an online event planner and wardrobe coordination tool. The event planning part allows friends to figure out who is going to be at which party, this technogy already exists in things such as the 'Events' componant in Facebook. The second part of it will allow you to create an avatar. You will be able to customize physical appearence such as hair, skin colour, height, etc. After having a base avatar, you will be able to create cloths to put on. The idea is to have simple tools which allow you to create virtual replica's of the real cloths that you have. With all the cloths you create placed in an inventory, when you decide to attend a certain event, you will be aable to place your avatar into a space and dress him/her in the cloths from your, this space is a sort of virtual dress-up room which allows you and your friends to see what item will be worn when the event happens in real life, and from there you can choose to make adjustments as you see fit.

I thought about the possibility of collaborating with clothing brands to create a database of items, which would reduce to need for the members to actually create the virtual versions themselves. When they buy a new shirt, they can scan the barcode in to the computer and it would put a predone virtual version of it in your inventory. However I quickly had doubts about how much this would help me. My friends and I tend to wear our most obscure or heavily modified variety of items, and it would not be possible to cataloge every product from every brand around. Since this project is being built based on my needs, the corporate collaboration idea is scraped.

Anyways, in the file name I called it 'Eventor', but that sounds cheesy.. and the event planning component really isn't the main point of this thing. To say the truth I haven't been able to come up with a proper name... so I'll call it WARG

WARG


~ Marco.

[updated Nov 14 2007]Other, My Virtual Community

The virtual community I present to you is a deviation from your standard forum-based community. It's kind of a pet project for a family member. The goal originally was to create an e-zine reflecting interracial/mixed/etc.. or individuals or people who are affected including new couples, or people who like to contribute to the idea. The second emphasis was to establish a new cultural definition of 'mixed'.

The project was to help those who do not have a percieved societal notion of background or culture to connect to others who have the same disconnection to the proper notion to the societal definition.

Cheers,
Andrew

Newseum

My Report & Virtual Community

Hello everyone!
I still haven't fully recovered... but I -have- managed to get my report and virtual community online!
Check out the title link to see my report on the MyOCAD virtual community (which I hope no one else covered, but hopefully everyone is aware of) and a short write-up and link to my (functioning!) virtual community, SugoiClub!

Virtual Communities as a means for facilitating process

My apologies to everyone for my third absence of class.

I was a guest speaker along with co-founder of TakingITGlobal and great friend Jennifer Corriero in Keith Rushton's Think Tank class introduing TIG to the classroom and drawing connections between social issues and a virtually community of social activism that is one of the most active online communities of its kind.

The site hase over 165,000 members from every single country in the world. The target is informing, inspiring and involving youth to get involved in their local and global communities by using TIG as a resource to come together and use as a tool and networking method to reach others global and inspire others to take action. It's a pretty remarkable, extremely successful and very touching community online, which is why I thought it was very relavent for me to share my experience with you and my reason for missing class. It was a really eye-opening experience for second year Think Tank students -- they are going to be working in groups to problem solve and come up with some ideas for TIG and how we as designers can look at some of the challanges TIG faces and how we can provide growth, increase visibility and sustain this inspiring community of activism.

As I hope you are aware that my thesis project is about actualizing a virtual community that aims to bring together people (now I'm focusing on institutions and different departments) and facilititate communication, access and interaction amongst those fields of study and allowing people to communicate for the purpose of colloboration.

I have also made a huge connect with CEO of Octopz who has created an innovational online platform for project collaboration which I will use toward my benefit for the collaboration feature of my website and use an already existing platform and work with them to better engage the site and its members.

Lots of exiting things here and I will be sharing more visuals with you very soon.

-Ghazaleh

Create your own community

Virtual communities exist everywhere— on websites, scientific labs, mobile devices, in boardrooms, classrooms and in an imaginary world constructed by a child imagining bigger and better life experiences.
In this report, I chose to research the website, stumbleupon.com and have adapted ideas from this virtual community to apply them to my prototype website for Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault/ Artistes Canadiens Contre L’Assaut Sexuel (CAASA/ACCAS). With this prototype design, I hope to launch it in-time for the group registration at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
With so many websites available to the world today, it is hard to keep track of all of the valuable resources, while filtering out the obsolete. So StumbleUpon! Is a place where you can diverge from your favourite listing on your computer such as the popular site of Google, and you can click the Stumble! Button to navigate an infinite number of sites to find new and innovative templates for information and communications.
StumbleUpon! is therefore a networking system within a networking system, because it has a database of websites, but also has a database of other “stumblers” who contribute to the database by visiting websites, presenting their ‘thumbs up, or thumbs down’ rating to StumbleUpon! and add new sites to the StumbleUpon! database with the ratings.
The concept of StumbleUpon! is simple: anyone can stumble upon a good website, but this group has named the concept and created a virtual community out of it (www.stumbleupon.com). As members, or visitors to the website, you don’t have to contribute to the database and can just view the sites to gather research or to play games; however, the membership registration process is quick and easy and you do not have to disclose any personal information right away, compared to other membership registration-focused websites such as hotmail, facebook, SecondLife and so on.
If you do decide to become a member of StumbleUpon!, then the second phase of registration is to select the categories of websites that you are interested in studying, or visiting during leisure time. This is a good idea, because for example without the categorical selection process, an artist would have to view sites based on molecular biology and a scientist would have to view art history pages, when these people do not habitually enjoy, or need to focus on those areas (www.stumbleupon.com). The list includes subjects such as, “art history, photography, multimedia, computer programming, cyberculture to Buddhism and beyond. When the toolbar is set-up on your web browser, all you have to do is click the ‘Stumble!” button and a window will appear with a website that fits into one of the categories of websites that you’ve chosen. If you keep clicking “Stumble!”, you will view websites in a random order, but under the categories you’ve chosen at registration, and you can change these categories at any time.
There are so many benefits of having StumbleUpon! on your computer and setting up a free account. When you are feeling under-motivated and can’t concentrate or focus on the work you have to do, StumbleUpon! helps you to diverge and take a break by looking at other sites. A similar action that you may have taken in the past when writing with pen technology, is to go outside and take a walk, but this virtual community offers the techno-break of the 21st century. It is like mind-mapping, but without the map. With so much technology now, inspiration takes training and innovative ideas are not as easily developed. Creativity Coach and Psychologist, Eric Maisel states:
Artists have available to them two working states, absorption and concentration, and each feels qualitatively different from the other. When artists are absorbed they are lost in time and space and oblivious to their surroundings…[I]nspiration flows from it. Choreographer Maurice Béjart wrote, “When I start work, I have a total vision of the final work—this vision lasting but one second.” The absorbed mind sees whole books, whole ballets, whole movies in a flash (Maisel, 33).

In this case, inspiration is literally in the hands and the mind of the artist. For the filmmaker, the film is literally projected on an invisible screen before their eyes before it is produced and directed. For the artist, the canvas floats in the air above their heads like it is already hanging in the Louvre. If you are not the type to envision the completed piece from start to finish in your work, you may be the “concentration artist” which Maisel describes as involving, “[M]uch more of an effortful state (33).” I believe that artists shift between both phases during the process of creation and they are not static in the process; nevertheless, an artist as Maisel states, “[m]ust also be able to concentrate, to work in the face of distractions (33).” Through these processes of absorption and concentration, motivation rises and falls, and the artist in the creative process is faced with having to focus when they can’t, or having to be open-minded when they need to focus. For the artist in this situation, having a website such as StumbleUpon!, they can diverge away from focusing intensely or being open-minded when they need to focus and can visit websites which will not only be informative, but will also provide entertainment and perhaps inspiration to overcome the creative process block that they are experiencing.
Until StumbleUpon!, Professors and employers were the people to give you linkages to exciting and innovative websites, but now it is the StumbleUpon! community of ‘stumblers’, or average people who are providing the sites for you to browse and bookmark. This says something about the internet and online communities in that they are becoming more and more ubiquitous to society and with everyone in the know of the exciting websites, it begs the question of, “will the internet sustain itself?” Will people overcome the machine, or will the machine overcome people (Haraway, 517)? Do we need the internet? Will we need the internet?
StumbleUpon! began in 2001 with the idea to narrow-down searches online based on your personal interests, to present user-rated web content based on categories defined by the StumbleUpon! team. Their focus is on establishing and creating virtual communities, and the section on the site called, “About StumbleUpon!,” states:
Information on the Internet changes rapidly. StumbleUpon is a dynamic approach to keep on top of this ever-evolving pool of knowledge. StumbleUpon filters through the vast amount of information on the web to direct Stumblers to high quality web sites which are relevant to their personal interests. An obscure but interesting site can be immediately shared with other like-minded users. Old or low-quality sites can be removed if their ratings become too low. The participation of community members helps maintain a database of the most up-to-date and highest quality sites possible (www.stumbleupon.com).

This feature is so important to the virtual community because living in such a high tech world where practically everyone is online, instant messaging each other and sending email at home or on their way to work, social life has been altered due to the “invasion” of web-based technology. Content needs to be condensed to make browsing efficient. There seems to be an increasing amount of websites with the idea of the virtual community as the primary focus of the website. This can feel somewhat comforting to the average web browser, and they no longer have to feel alienated from their peers, or from the world. Anyone can network on StumbleUpon!; you can show your profile, your list of favourite websites, post your photograph and can send emails to other ‘stumblers’ to potentially meet in-person and form lasting relationships (www.stumbleupon.com). This idea is not new, but it is gaining increasing popularity as more people become ‘users’ and connect online and realize that the Internet is not something to be afraid of, but rather can be a place to collaborate, to dialogue and to network with the choice of leaving your living room, or to meet in-person.
My virtual community, Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault/ Artistes Canadiens Contre L’Assaut Sexuel (CAASA/ACCAS) currently exists as a community on igloo.org (www.igloo.org/caasaweb). It was initially set-up to offer a safe place for people living in Canada to dialogue about sexual assault issues in Canada and to gain support from other survivors; however, the site is under-used and readership is low. The first application of the idea for CAASA/ACCAS was established on Facebook.com and membership expanded to one hundred people within the first month. Marketing for the igloo site compared to the facebook site is taking much more effort because facebook has such a presence in media culture on the news as well as online and word-of-mouth. Nevertheless, the concept is there, and the support from current members is strong.
The igloo site is an excellent starting place for any non-profit organization, but it does seem to focus more heavily on the left-brain analytical and logistical research and development method of thought and practice, so for art groups to establish themselves and maintain their presentation as arts-based groups, igloo is not a lasting forum unless igloo adapts their marketing and design for artists (www.igloo.org/caasaweb).
The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) launched their formal application process and system for student groups last year, and for CAASA/ACCAS, this is an excellent opportunity to expand and to reach the arts community, while staying focused on the mandate and vision of the group. Colleagues on CAASA/ACCAS and I are in-process of applying for student group status at OCAD and are excited for the opportunities that OCAD offers to student groups, such as webspace on the OCAD server, free use of rooms and offices on-campus, student centre exhibition space, have the opportunity to participate in university events, are promoted through OCAD’s website and publications, and are eligible for student organization funds through the OCADSU grants policy (GetInvolved, Brent James, OCAD).
Using the design template of StumbleUpon!, CAASA/ACCAS members will be able to select categories in the area of sexual assault and the arts in Canada that interest them, or that they’re interested in learning more about. In design of the prototype for part two of this assignment, I have designed a user-friendly arts focused and informational website to be used as the OCAD student group website for CAASA/ACCAS. The site will act as a hub between the groups’ core site on igloo.org and the facebook site:

Structure of CAASA/ACCAS Virtual Communities:

www.igloo.org/caasaweb>>>OCAD student group>>>Facebook Discussion Forum/Advertising site

Using references to the StumbleUpon! web structure, the OCAD site will act as a community networking system and users will be able to “favourite” the categories that interest them, and will be able to access information about group functions and upcoming events. After the site is created and connected with OCAD, a goal is to send the coding and template to other institutions across the country to bring CAASA/ACCAS to their student, and staff populations and make the virtual community of CAASA/ACCAS at OCAD a national virtual community among other campuses in Canada. As a result, more people will have access to resources, art will be created and presented online in virtual communities as well as real life communities and the goal and CAASA/ACCAS mandate will be met. Violence will be exposed in art creations so stigma in society will be minimized. This will support a stronger foundation for victims of sexual assault to stand up for themselves with support around them to report perpetrators to police. Governmental systems will pay more attention to prevention of sexual assault rather than correctional services and penalties for committing crimes of sexual assault will be strictly enforced.
It is amazing how virtual communities can facilitate a place for change and growth by offering resources and safe places for people wanting to make these changes happen. StumbleUpon! is a starting point for the creative process, and it is a place of respite for those moments of techno-fading, or mind-blocks. Adapting the features of StumbleUpon! to the prototype design of the website for the student group, Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault/ Artistes Canadiens Contre L’Assaut Sexuel (CAASA/ACCAS) at OCAD will present an innovative method of searching and collaborating online and to meet in-person, thus balancing the use of technology with interpersonal communications. The result will be a great website, a motivating virtual community and a hope for positive change in society.

PASS IT ON

Hello Everyone,

The virtual community I created is called "PASS IT ON'. This online network allows people share to stories about their belongings and track their journey as they release into the physical world. People who find/claim this belonging are prompted to log on to PASS IT ON and also share their stories of how they found it and what experiences they had with it. In doing so, the website becomes a collective of stories documenting the history and journey of artefacts from our physical world. I wanted to create this online community because I think it would be awesome to look at an object and see beyond its superficial surfaces. I would love to realize the intrinsic value of an object based on where it came from, the lives it had touched and the places it had travelled.

Fiona

Lev's Assignment # 2 : My Virtual Community Called 'Buddies'

Click on the title to link directly to the blog I made for my virtual community.
Hopefully you all show up today - because I have Buddies CD's for anyone who does.
Lev,

My Visual World

Hi everyone
I have always paid attention to the world around me for inspiration. I have always tried to look around me and collect any visual piece that seems interesting and I have always tried to share them with my friends who have the same interest. From few years ago I have kept a journal which I decided to call “creative journal” and I’ve put anything that I thought can be an inspiration in it. I always wanted to share this journal with my friends and I have always interested to see what they have found. I thought that a virtual community can be a great way to fulfill this purpose so I decided to create a blog and call it “My Visual World”.
The blog and inspired me the most is a photoblog by Sam Javanrouh and the address is http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/
This blog will be a tool to show visual pieces that me, my friends and people in my career see everyday and think that they worth to share with others.

Thesis, The Digital Threads Network and the flu

Hey everyone!
Last week I attended a multi-day workshop with world-reknown electronic textile inventor/artist Joey Berzowska from XSLabs, and yesterday morning was my mid-term critique of my thesis... you might have noticed I've been sick for the last couple classes, even though I've been there, but I think I was just holding myself together for those two events. It seemed like the mment my crit was over, my flu took over my whole system. I haven't managed to finish my Virtual Community project for posting, and I'm really in no state to make it in to class - I'm sorry, I was really looking forward to seeing everyone's presentation!

I'll have my research paper and community prototype up on the blog befor enext class - but with how I'm doing right now, I'm not entirely sure when (just posting sitting at the computer long enough to post this is making me dizzy).

Please post your projects on the blog! I'd love to see what you're all up to! See you next week.
~Kat

Considerations and IDEAS for Assignment 2

Here are Prof Doyle's notes from our conversation regarding the considerations and ideas for Assignment 2 - Create your Virtual Community - just click on the title to download the document.

Both your research summary and your prototype are due in class this week, for presentation from the blog. Please also hand in your research in printed form. Looking forward to your presentations!

Virtual Communities in Depth

Here is my Virtual Communitites project


Jill 2234177

TED ideas worth spreading

I came across ted.com website in one of my classes. You can find lectures about many new ideas by professionals in here. On of the lectures is about weblogs. I found it interesting and related to our class.

check it out,

Goly

Lev's Research on Craig's List

Hey everybody - for that research thing I decided to cover the classified ad, and community network site www.craigslist.org. Not only is Craigslist important for being the 7th most viewed site on the english speaking internet, but I think the site deserves attention for becoming immensely successful without advertisements or typical commercial concerns of internet companies.
Here is the founder... Craig... (what did you think he was going to be named) Newmark, explaining his philosophy on why not-selling out was probably a really good idea.


Also another neat thing... here is a picture of their headquarters...



Not exactly what you expected, was it?










I think they seem like pretty humble people and not like your typical computer internet tycoons - and if I some day work for a company I hope it has similar ethics to www.craigslist.org/ . They seem to have realized that maximizing for profit gets in the way of breaking new ground - so cheers to them.
Lev

Jill's Audio BLog

Licensed Video BLog - Mini Assignment

http://web.mac.com/jiruhill/iWeb/Site/Jill%20K%20Audio%20Project.html





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

You only live twice

hello everyone,

just wanted to share something i came across. it's a documentary on second life airing on oct 31, on cbc newsworld. check out the above link.

Cheers
Fi.

all my Nuit Blanche photos

I didn't see much of the whole thing because I was tired and didn't go to all the sites.

View all my photos

Lev's Nuit Blanche Report

2006’s Nuit Blanche was a surprisingly awesome and engaging artistic experience. I was really impressed with the overall notion that I could never be quite certain if something was an artwork, performance, or just coincidence. The factors of this year, Nuit Blanche, 2007 were all set up to make up for a successful, if not better, follow-up to last year. However, unseasonably warm September weather, and a positive word of mouth regarding last year’s event sparked the curiosity of thousands of GTA citizens enticing them to take to the streets and see what all the fuss was about. This caused a crowd that was overwhelming in its massiveness and added long line-ups to nearly every event. Though this may have hindered my hopes to attend as many installations as possible – I still managed to take in enough to end the night feeling sated. Part of the intrigue of Nuit Blanche is not following any set plan. It is in the discovery of great things quite by accident and seeing how artists and their installations adapt to the continuous flow of viewers.

Starting off in Yorkville was probably not the wisest decision but the description of the sound installation located at the old Lower Bay Subway Station struck me as too interesting not to attend. When we arrived there was already quite a large line-up. Throngs of people wandered the streets of Yorkville, the SUVS blaring music and pushing the crowd out of their way did little to add to the enjoyment. While my friends and I waited in line, we watched a stunt man (with no apparent safety harness ) descend one of the office towers using a cable. Not exactly my idea of thought provoking art, but the crowd sure liked it. When we finally entered the venue, it proved to be worth the wait. It was entitled the Ghost Station, and it was by British Colombia artist Kristen Roos. The Lower Bay station is normally closed to the public, but on Nuit Blanche it looked great. The lack of any advertisements created a certain ambience that allowed the sound installation to become really effective.

Making our way to the University of Toronto campus, we witnessed the dance party going on underneath the recently renovated ROM. Like the stunt man in Yorkville, I did not exactly understand the artistic merit of this, but the capacity crowd did not seem to care, as they danced away to eardrum shattering techno. The next event we came upon was the Area 51 exhibit. Due to the misty cloud that hovered around the U of T campus, I initially mistook this for a repeat of the fog installation that engulfed this area last year. Last year’s fog was a mess, kids running around and slipping in mud, but it was also surprisingly disorienting in that it obscured your sense of the familiar. This year’s fog was much more controlled, and had a different and more theatrical purpose; to give the illusion of an alien autopsy being performed. The setting looked great, but it still had that feeling of being a little too much like an amusement park and less like a compelling art installation.

Around this time I started to get a little restless and the urge to see something that had some integrity and depth - or at least something to get my mind going – became pretty strong. So in a serendipitous moment unique to Nuit Blanche, I received a phone call from my sister– Emily. She gave me hurried instructions to meet her as soon as possible at the base of Trinity Bellwoods Park near Queen St. West. The artist featured there was a mutual friend of ours; Christ De Castro, and he required assistance from volunteers to construct giant paper cranes out of cardboard. It was fun to see something like this featured at Nuit Blanche - getting a lot of mileage out of a basically inexpensive idea. Everybody who was involved had a great time though. After the cranes where built - the artist and some friends proceeded to carry them down Queen St. - but myself, distracted by the events of the night and didn't follow them any further. By the time I had made it to the 6^th floor at OCAD, where the Second Life installation was set up, all of the computer monitors where turned off in the lab, except the large projection screen, which was being controlled by the Pilate’s ball. I had a go at it and enjoyed myself immensely. It was a relaxing alternative to the intensity of the crowds outside.

The events I have highlighted are only a few of the significant moments I experienced at this year’s Nuit Blanche. Although, in my opinion, this year’s event failed to live up to high standard set last year, I look forward to Nuit Blanche becoming a staple of Toronto’s art culture.

“Crowd” by Kristan Horton

Nuit Blanche installation review
“Crowd” by Kristan Horton

by Ghazaleh Etezal
10 Oct 2007

I got off the subway at Bay and decided to begin my exploration there and meet up with my friend. While waiting for him, I walked around the Yorkville area and saw a huge line up for something. It wasn't huge; it was gigantic and I had no idea what it was for. I was a bit disappointed to see that line; it wasn't something I had experienced last year at Nuit Blanche. I then found out that the lineup was for the Bay subway "ghost station" which was apparently really cool. I really didn't feel like lining up for anything for an hour. My friend arrived and we just started walking around. Both of us were tired that night and we had not thoroughly reviewed the handbook and didn't know exactly what the hot-spots were. We did remember that we had wanted to check out the Japan Foundation, since we're both very intrigued by Japanese culture. So, our first stop was there. Line up --again, but this one was short and it was for a gallery exhibition of a Canadian woman's paintings from her trip to Japan's rural communities of individuals with bright colours and Japanese influenced vibrancy.

I didn't find it anything spectacular...really. We were actually both expecting Japanese art since we were in fact in the "Japan Foundation". So, the first stop wasn't very exciting. We then passed by the ROM, which didn't have anything but a bunch of people standing in front of it and lights were being projected on the Crystal expansion. Nothing to see there and I was getting agitated because a: I didn't like overwhelming crowds and b: I was worried if the whole night was going to be like that and if I was actually going to enjoy an experience.


We walked down to the U of T and our first choice was to see the wolf and deer installation, but we couldn't find it and I think if there were actual wayfinding signs for the installations it would have been very convenient, but that's just my opinion.

U of T campus was...interesting? I don't know what the balloon was all about, or even the squash courts. I found them meaningless and not very engaging. I don't think public spaces were used enough at Nuit Blanche. Big fields could have been used more effectively, especially when you're dealing with a massive herd of people strolling through from site to site.

We were both getting disappointed but not to say that we weren't having a good time. I actually really enjoyed walking through the city of Toronto at nighttime. I would never go through the U of T campus or walk towards Queen's Park at that time of night without a reason and I really began to appreciate what the Toronto city landscape had to offer. The night was beautiful and the art I saw was the art of people coming together in a city at night to walk the city and engage through observation and experience. The art of people in a city environment was very beautiful for me.

We had a set goal to reach the "Crowd" installation at Queen's Park. I had marked it as a spot I really wanted to stop at when I read its description in the handbook. My friend assured me that that stop would be great and we would enjoy it and I would write about it (he senses these things quite well). We reached Queen's Park and saw a couple other installations before we hit my favourite part of the night: the "Crowd".

The night was about light. It was the technique of light, sound and space that I was looking to enjoy at Nuit Blanche and Kristan Hortan did a very well job of attracting my eyes, ears, full attention and engagement with his conceptual installation. Located at the south end of Queen's Park near College street, "Crowd" was what I would describe as an environmental sculpture designed like a stage / stadium structured with metal poles and illuminated by a number of positioned lights designed to encapsulate the essence of nature with light, camera, sound and people.
The official Nuit Blanche description of the installation was the following:

"“Crowd is an encounter of the alien. What is elsewhere is experienced here. What is “heard” is an orchestration of time and space. What is “seen” is the collective exposed within a colossal and immersive light environment. Crowd juxtaposes the stationary with the transitory, effectively setting the stage for a close encounter."

We found so much meaning, so much peace and so much power in Hortan’s piece that compelled us beyond our control to sit down and enjoy the experience in the park. I found it so interesting that the installation piece itself – as in the built physical element – wasn’t what drew people towards itself; it was the lighting, the trees, the loud speakers projecting sounds of music as if being performed on stage, and voices and sounds drawing connections to a certain experience – like a cockpit for example or happy whistling or even opera singing. It was about the atmosphere it created with the loud projection of sounds and music, amongst a stage of light that invited people to circle around and enjoy being a part of the piece, as if they were the essential elements for completion of the installation.

Horton is a widely recognized artist from Toronto who has had exhibitions around
the world:

“Kristan Horton was born in Canada in 1971. He studied at Guelph University and the Ontario College of Art and Design. He has had an international exhibition career since the late 1990's including Glassbox, Paris (FR), ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland, Inter Communications Center, Tokyo.”

His sculptures have been recognized for creating a fourth dimension using time and space. NOW magazine credits his work for having such quality:
“Horton scores big points for pushing sculpture brilliantly into theoretical physics.”
In Contemporary magazine, Toronto writer and OCAD faculty member Ian Carr-Harris reflects on another installation of Horton’s as collapsing “natural cycle and mechanized ambition in a form of reveire on distance”.

Horton seems to really have a strong sensitivity on how to engage, captivate and reflect upon the connections between senses and environments using time and space as his tools for design. He sure opened my eyes and ears to new possibilities with installation art in public spaces.


Sources

Carr-Harris, Ian. “Kristan Horton”. Contemporary 2006 Annual. 2006:67.

Horton, Kristan. Official Website. 10 Oct. 2007 http://www.kristanhorton.com.

Temple, Kevin. “The physics of sculpture, Kristan Horton's brilliant work takes form into a new dimension.” Now Magazine. November 24-30.

What are you?

Reflection within the ripples.
Pursuing an identity within a multicultural society.

Michelle Picard Project #2

Community Journalism- Bryn

"Violence both establishes and preserves the Law"—Naghat, 2005



Please consider joining CAASA/ACCAS in one of these groups:

CAASA Discussion Forum on Facebook

• For new members looking for support, to

connect to resources and to meet other members

CAASA/ACCAS Core Website Link

• For executive members and members from the discussion forum

to focus on organization goals, planning events and long-term development

Ceramics no more

Hello again,
Here's my series of podcasts on the dissolution of the Ceramics Program at OCAD.
I actually have another 3 interviews via audio recording, but I was really interested in working with film editing, as I'd never done that before. I found Final Cut Pro to be too complex, even after our in class demo, so I did all of them on iMovie. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I have a vague idea how to edit video in it now!

I did a series because it seemed that I was either without a 'story' of the 'interview' was too long... so I tried editing numerous different sets of film.

Enjoy!

~Kat

Interview with a silly vampire...

Marco has interviewed his friend Tiffany. She doesn't like being video'd or photo'd, because she's a vampire. I only got her voice.

I had a crap load of problems with the sound quality. Between not getting a clean recording and me converting it too many times... the result sounds like crap. I'm not very happy with it. ( x_x)a ...rawrgh...

>here it be<

~Marco < yup. that's my name.

The Distance

Hi
For the purpose of this project I have recorded a series of long-distance phone-call conversations that I had with my friends and relatives during this long weekend.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Nuit Blanche.. finally

did anyone else have problems with the blog this week?
( >_<)~ Rainy shall try one more time before class!

Yes.. Nuit Blanche experience finally...

















Excerpt from my review~

"The project in most basic terms is an amplifier. It looks like a series of brass instruments assembled in an oval. Around this oval are small mouth pieces much like those of a trumpet. By putting an earbud of their headphones up against one of these mouthpieces, music from their music player will be sent through the metal tubes and amplified to come out of the silver horns several times louder than from the headphones."

Full review here

Here's a little video... sorry for the crappy quality on this.. and the photo too... I went solo that night. Lack of friends causes malfunctions.

Community Project - OCAD Student Voice

OCAD Student Forum 2007: What's In A Name?

After some commotion at the last Town Hall meeting, it is evident that OCAD's renaming needs a lot more assertive debate and critical problem solving. There are many issues that have arisen with the OCAD administration's drastic decision to re-name and re-brand the school, without any genuine communication, research and discussion with the OCAD internal and extended community for the making of this decision.

A completely student organized event, this meeting is an opportunity for students, faculty, alumni and professionals to truthfully address their opinions, concerns, suggestions and visions for the future of this school. We have a lot to talk about. Wise action will not be made if we do not dig into the root of the problem here. It's time to bring our voices together and listen to one another if we want to make any change that is for the best interest of this thriving community.

This heated session will be documented and its recording has the possibility to be publicized. Make a presence, voice your opinion, listen and be receptive to people with perspectives different than your own. It's time to be realistic, intelligent and more importantly democratic about this decision.

These are questions that we will be discussing...

1. Is the renaming necessary? Why and for what purpose?

2. Is it wise for OCAD to put "University" in its official identity name considering its studio based education and current circumstances?

3. If the re-brand and renaming is an absolute, what thinking must we go through to consider a new name and identity? How do we problem solve with our creative abilities to embrace the education and community here at OCAD?


Here is the pdf I had projected for this meeting.

Here is the full Town Hall meeting that took place a week prior to this initiative.


Here is the second half of the Student Forum on audio

the mountain story

Hello Hello,

So i decided to interview my dear friend raphy. When it comes to romance he has lots to say and definitely a lot of stories to share. This particular audio captures him explaining his perceptions towards romance and if these perceptions have a place in this world.

Enjoy,
Fiona




















This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Lev's Audio Interview

Okay - so for my audio interview I decided to interview someone pretty close to me... It's my sister: Emily Cocarell - and she certainly had something to say. I let the tapes roll for about 30 mins and asked her a variety of questions about living in Toronto, Nuit Blanch, the night life, and what sort of community she thinks she is part of. I posted it on Myspace for now, so feel free to check it out, if the above link does not work just copy and paste this url: http://www.myspace.com/levesonandfriends

Note to Teachers:
The fidelity of the recordings seems to have gone down on the myspace stream - but my original recordings are much more hiss free. I will bring them to class on my USB port for you guys to have on Wednesday.

Enjoy,
Leveson Cocarell

Bryn's Txtual Healing Experience

Imagine walking along a street and a crowd of people stand before you, some laughing, some with their heads down and clicking away on the keypad of their cell phones. Speech bubbles are seen on a building wall above your field of vision, an artist hands you a thin piece of paper with a phone number on it. He says, "Send a text message to this address and it will appear on the wall above." The project is called, "Txtual Healing" and artist, Paul Notzold is the creator of this interactive, textual experience.


Click the link above to read more of my review of Txtual Healing by Brooklyn New York artist, Paul Notzold.

Nuit Blanche Review & Documentation

Click on the title to see 99 of my photos from Nuit Blanche, or read my review.

Sorry it's so negative folks :P

Leveson's Nuit Blanch Experience

Or as I heard someone call it that night: 'Newt Blanch'

That night I took a break from the swarm of people and found some peace at the base of Trinity Bellwoods Park near Queen St. West. All of the above photographs were taken by my sister, Emily - on her Polaroid camera. The artist featured is a friend of ours Christ De Castro, and he can be seen in the following photographs constructing his giant paper cranes out of carboard. It was fun to see something like this - getting a lot of mileage out of really basic (cheap) ideas. Everybody who was involved had a great time though. After the cranes where built - the artist and some friends proceeded to carry them down Queen St. -- but myself, I got distracted by the events of the night and didn't follow them any further.

I covered it more in my paper -

Lev.

Compelling Stories: Janet

Hey guys it's Alicia and this compelling story is about a single mother of two, who came from abroad to flourish in life despite her hardships. Her name is Janet and as you listen to her story all you can say is, "What an inspiration!"

I did my project as a video and chose to interview Janet because she's a living inspiration and motivation for me to never give up on what I want to do in life. Her story is one that everyone should hear especially students so everyone can understand that working hard and believing in yourself pays off in the most incredible way. You can find the video on my webspace.


Janet, CEO of AJ Dynamics Consulting


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

the "Crowd" at Queen's Park

The Apotheosis of the Shadow

Hi
Here is the video from The Apotheosis of the Shadow by Mario Martinelli at corner of Beverley and Dundas St. in Nuit Blanche.
Enjoy!

nuit blanche- what i meant to tell you...

Hey all,

a quick post of some picture from nuit blanche. Also, please visit link to see my interview the Ken.

Jill's Nuit Blanche Night Extravaganza

Here is my Facebook Album of Nuit Blanche

Jill