GUY PROUX WEB VERSION -

THIS JUST IN FROM MARGARET GRISDALE, manager of the President's office --

(GUY PROULX)... graciously agreed to having his presentation videotaped
and provided permission for us to post it on our Web site. The posting
will be made as soon as our staff can edit the footage. Given that a
number of pressing projects currently under way, this may take a couple
of weeks. We shall endeavour to have it posted as quickly as possible.

Guy Proulx documentation // Kat's Machinima Shoot

Hey everybody --

Guy Proulx was fantastic! If you missed it, they did video the lecture last night. Call Eric Schwab at the library to find out about how to see this documentation. If he doesn't know, get back to me.

Kat is scheduling an SL movie production using Machinima -- Ian Ah and I will take part and maybe you can too

-- may be best for us to meet you on-world, then Kat can tell us who to log on as and give us instructions -- or she may be able to give us a "costume" as inventory then we could don the costumes and follow her directions. Ian will have suggestions on this -- Maybe we can find some in-world folk who'd like to participate

-- I will enjoy the experience! Meanwhile, I shall continue with machinima research.

-- I suggest that Kat post her SL "production time" on the blog and we can join in as virtual actors and extras if she'd like...

Jill - Virtual Community

Virtual Communities

A virtual community is an interaction between people or persons via internet, exchnaging information and ideas. There are many names for virtual communities; e-communities, social network, and online communities. Virtual communities can be small or big, they can also be with people you know in reallife or with people you have only met online.
Th internet is a growing media that allows us to publish and interect and exchange information digitally. The internet has also been dubbed the “Third world”
Virtual communities can be a passage way to develop a group that is far away from eachother or bring together old friends and family. People may have the same ideas and interests but may be half way across the world. The virtual community allows a connection between people.
There are so many communities out there. Some communities are art based, some are for intereactions with school like forums or online courses, also there is msn where you can silently talked to your added friends. Then there are others like myspace and facebook where you can customize a page that is your profile and where you can interact with other members of that site. I think though some people abuse virtual communities and post themselves. So many people have posted themselves by taking pictures and writing about their everyday lives. I think that is abusing the site because virtual communities are for sharing and not for gloating.
What is also interesting with virtual communities is the members that join them . There are different stages in being a member. The first stage is the peropheral stage here the person is not yet a member but is a viewer of the community. The second stage is called inbound also known as a newbie and this is where the person is investigating the community. The third stage is called insider or regular and this is where the person becomes a member of the community. Then boundary is the fourth stage which is where they become more involved and sustain their participation in the community. The final stage is called outbound and this is when the member decides to break off and leave the community. Every person is different and it might take a verylong time to break away from the community since its is what helps to define out profile on the internet.
I found an online community that organzies and catalogues family trees and your family name so you can add to your digital family tree as the years go by and add other historic information. It’s a memorial site and keeps track of your origins. You see where your family was first from and where it was circa 1920. Its quite a fascinating site that can help to presurve your family identity.
Virtual communities are becoming more and more popular. They can be used for school, social, leisure, and even work. They allow us to stay in contact with people or to allow ourselves to meet new people who share the same need to communicate in our busy fast pace world. Virtual communities can even get so big and great its own culture.
People who can’t identify or relate to preexisting communities go out and create their own. There are of course guidelines to creating your own online community. First there has to be a sense of usefullness. If the site or community is not worth connecting to then there isn’t really a reason for it to exist. So the creator has to be flexibile and allow for member’s input and make the community easy to contribute to and to access. You have to be open for change. Allow suggestions from members and to allow your knowledge to evolve. Then you have to allow your members to be credited and have to measure their contributions. Then finally to allow members to respond to other members.
Virtual Communities are a new phenomenon in the late 20th and early 21st centery and I think will just get bigger and bigger until the internet is no more.


Works Cited Page


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_communities

http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/sur/surc-K/surc-Kor/surc-Korgemagi

http://archive.ord/index.php

http://www.ourmedia.org/

http://www.akakurdistan.com/

http://www.nytimes.om/special/bosnia/

http://web.macam98.ca.ac.il/~horit_a/chkpoint.htm

http://www.drik.net/


Virtual Community Project – “Double Lives”
By Jill Korgemagi

For my Virtual community project I am doing an online do-over book. I was first ispired by the do-over book called “Pretty Little Mistakes.” It’s a book where you choose your own adventure but in this case its like a passage of your life. You get to choose where you want to go and your actions affect your decions. Usually in one sitting you can can read through your life starting after high school.

So my idea is to recreate this type of fantasy exploration but put it on the internet where you can create your own avatar and then have a profile where you can document your double lives. Other members can look at your avatar and can read about your adventures. For the stories themselves when the website is initially posted there will be a set amounrt of stories but then when people become members and have a certain amount of double lives they can add their own stories and passages, but they will have to be screened and approved by the website directors. You can’t just post any story they have to be okayed.

The format of my community can be considered to be sonic memory. It’s a website where people can share their own stories or post fictional stories to aid in the doublelive adventure.

The meaning of this project is for people to be able to go on imaginary adventure. I think istis a popular concept, many people do the same thing through books, video games like the sims or RPG games, movies, and other websites like Second Life. I think it would be fun to have your own avatar that could look like whatever you want and then you can have a proflile. The profile will post the picture of your avatar and you can add your friends or add stories that you like so you can tract their stories. It’s a media sharing and media swapping based community.

I think my audience will be very dynamic. I think it will attract young and older people. People like to have fun and with this community people will be able to see what its like to make other decisions in life and to see how else their life could be like, whether it be realalistic or fantasy.

I would like there to be different life categories. There will be different catgeories like fantasy, space, realiasic, historic, and even missions lives you can explore.

Assignment #5

Assignment 5 – Memory Architecture in Second Life

What would happen if myself or a family member started to forget the faces of their friends, family membes, or even co workers. What cold I do toeither help myself or help a faily member remember. Clear because Second life is an internet place where you can do anything I am going to use it to aid in this sort of memory loss. So lets just say that I am forgetting faces. Because I use the internet on a regular basis and I have an account on second life I will just make myself the one with the memoryloss. To aid in my dimentia I will produce a capsule that as an avatar I can enter and explore. It will be a sort of gallery where I can see pictures of my family, friends, internet friends and co workers. Using four walls and section each awall for each group of people I need to remember.
So I can interact with the people on secondlife but can teleport to the specific place to go visit the gallery if I need aid to remember someone.

Jill Korgemagi
2234177

Lynne Heller show - fun after class

Tomorrow after class Jim Ruxton and I will be walking to RedHead gallery to see Lynne Heller's mixed reality show at 401 Richmond -- it will be a fun little lunch walk together, followed by a great show with the artist in attendance. Lynne may even attend our class. Then, later this evening - Guy Proulx's lecture. Lots to learn and enjoy today.

GUY PROULX / BAYCREST lectures at OCAD

Tomorrow Night (Wednesday) PLEASE DON'T MISS - YOU'LL LOVE THIS TALK.

President's Speaker Series: Dr. Guy Proulx
The Aging Brain: How Art and Design
are Changing the Way We Care
Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 6:30 pm

OCAD President Sara Diamond invites you to attend a thought-provoking lecture by Dr. Guy Proulx, Director of Psychology at Baycrest. Dr. Proulx will share how art is a gift providing light and creativity taking dementia out of the darkness of pathology. In his words, "Memory has evolved as a wonderous time traveling machine that allows us to recapture the past or imagine possible futures. The power of art and environmental design can do much to reduce excessive disability associated with the aging brain and its related diseases. Confused minds are too often the results of disabling environments and crippling attitudes."

AVATAR-Show & Tell @ The Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity

PART I
AVATARAVATARAVATARAVATAR

On Thursday November 22, 2007, Researchers from the Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity at OCAD held a show and tell session for their weekly open house with the theme of, "Avatar," and I thought it would be beneficial to post my notes to the VC Blog. Shortly after the Avatar discussions, VC Prof. Martha Ladly presented her Masters thesis on mobile technology navigation, called "Park Walk".

So what is an Avatar?

Mark Poon, OCAD Alumnus and Researcher

• Synapse
• build us (humans)
• around us, therefore part of us
• reality
  

Terri, Researcher

• Non-permanent conditions of our existence
• medium of the emergent self
• Weild(ed/ing)
• "Avatard"
  
• Therefore, we must design for emergence
  

This is Fiona Chung, AKA Avah Greenwood

















Researcher
"Multiple Personality Order"

• Avatars are/give superpowers
• Context demands content
• choice/making; social matrix

Invisible Majority

• More visible vs. invisible

Who Are You Really?

• Outwardly, you are that person whom you project yourself to be
• Inwardly, you are more you
• ex. blogging- individual conversation with the/ your self
  

Researcher

• Avatars are "beautiful prototypes"
• Psychophysiological technique of facial electromyography to find the Avatar
• Phonesthesia
• Ancestor simulations
• Telecommunicate
• Ex. Marshall McLuhan- telecommunication theory
• Fractal Geometry as "supernatural avatar"
  

I think an Avatar is:

• Tools of extension; allow us to step into other realms without leaving our worlds
• Applications in:
• Play
• Education
• Production
• Social Psychology
• There is no straightforward answer to "What is an Avatar".

What is an Avatar?

Part II
Professor Martha Ladly presented her Masters thesis to the group at 3pm.







http://mobilenation.ca/mdcn

"Park Walk"






Some valuable information was shared, in regards to working towards a Masters Degree:

1. Generate a project concept: Create a user-friendly navigation-based application for mobile phones in High Park, Toronto.
   
2. Write out the methodology > see website for Park Walk
3. Apply and test > see website for Park Walk
4. During the creative process,
   
1. Think of the user----> Firmitas
2. Apply to the design (cell phone)---->Utilitas
3. Design (the interface)--------->Venustas
5. Important to note:
1. Documentation; storage of files in a library
2. Develop demos to present to committees and panels
6. Write the report
1. paper copy
2. digital copy on DVD

*There are probably many more steps, but this is helpful to know what it is like to go through the process of working towards a Masters Degree.

















In reflection, Martha states that her creative process during Park Walk was not free from barriers:

• GPS Drifiting
• cloudy
• rainy
• leafy
• Solution to this problem: Move the location to Grange Park; test and design.
  

Reflection on the experience of Grange Park:

• "I would make it less didactic and more mysterious"—M. Ladly

In conclusion, but not in-conclusion... Martha is moving on to explore other areas and interests (including, of course, our Virtual Communities class).

Check out these sites:
Android
http://code.google.com/android/index.html
TED Prize
http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/6
Buckminister ("Bucky") Fuller Challenge
http://challenge.bfi.org/
One Laptop Per Child Project
http://laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

—Bryn Ludlow, Nov. 23, 2007

U2 Concert in SL

really cool

Second Life Prision???

I found this article the other day too... forgot to mention it in class... I think the title of this post says it all....

Article about the Future of Interactiive Communities.... as promised!

Hi all,

Its a long article but very interesting!
Richard Bartle's predictions for the future of interactive communities...

on a side note: he makes mention of a software called "3d mailbox". I would check out the link if you want a laugh...

see you next week!

Lynn Heller's show featuring SL at Redhead Gallery

LYNNE HELLER’S ‘really [this show is rented]’
PREMIERES NOVEMBER 21
AT THE REDHEAD GALLERY IN TORONTO -- 401 Richmond St. W.

Lynne Heller enjoys the best of both worlds. In one life, she is a gifted multi-media artist, living in Toronto. In SECOND LIFE, an Internet-based virtual world, she is Nar Duell, a character or ‘avatar’ Heller created as a ‘resident’ of SECOND LIFE.

Beginning November 21, Heller and her intrepid avatar Nar Duell will construct a mixed reality installation at the Redhead Gallery. SECOND LIFE, the three-dimensional animated world, will face off with ‘first life’ – also known as the real world.

Everything in SECOND LIFE is garish, bright and two-dimensional. It’s a world built out of algorithms and fuzzy imported j-pegs. Nature clashes in the ironically flat 3D universe where trees are two-dimensional images intersecting at right angles to simulate the lushness of leaves.

A ‘garden’ in a SECOND LIFE gallery will be projected onto the walls of the Redhead Gallery. Visitors will be able to watch Nar Duell tend her SECOND LIFE ‘garden’ in real time. At the same time, Heller will tend plants in a live garden at The Redhead Gallery. Webcams will capture the action and, in a reiterative loop, video of gallery visitors will be streamed into SECOND LIFE to play on a wall in the SECOND LIFE gallery, also in real time.

James Elkins, the E.C. Chadbourne Chair, department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, says Heller “could be the one per cent or less than one per cent using SECOND LIFE this way. What is being done in these environments is new and doesn’t behave the way people expect art to behave.”

Heller’s interest in examining disparity is captured in ‘really’: “On the one hand, there are our desires and yearnings; on the other, reality. And in between there is a wide gap filled with our very human day-to-day struggles while we live, work, and play. Dreams and reality bumping up against each other… in odd juxtapositions, quirky coincidence and endearing fumbles. My current work reflects my interest in exploring our adaptation as we wander around – mostly lost – improvising in this rocky terrain. I love contemplating our humanity and finding beauty amongst the modest, ‘overfamiliar’ artifacts of our culture.” Her website: www.lynneheller.com/really

An artist and designer, Heller works in a number of disciplines. Principally known for her work in fibre, she has also created new media pieces, sound, websites and installations. She completed her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004. Group exhibitions include: The Stray Show (Art Chicago), Wide Borders: Heller, Roy &Thiessen (Burlington Art Centre, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Cambridge Library and Gallery). Solo exhibitions have been shown nationally and internationally in Havana, Chicago and Santa Fe.

really [this show is rented] runs from November 21 to December 15, with a reception on December 1, from noon to 5 p.m. Heller and Nar Duell will be present at the Redhead Gallery and the SECOND LIFE gallery throughout the show. The Redhead Gallery is located at 401 Richmond Street West in Toronto. Exhibition hours: Wednesday to Saturday, noon – 5 p.m.

Memory Avatar

Hi guys,

The avatar that I created was produced strictly from inherit emotional symbolic and semiotic aspects that I found interesting throughout my life using visual and auditory applications.

Various elements such as the color and features of the avatar reflect cultural significance from various elements of fantasy and reality. The avatar itself would have inherit audio capabilities which take the voice of people I've heard of (though that function may not be available due to my fear of these online banking systems) and in accordance, gesture that person.

These elements coalesce into a single unified being of tangible memory fragmentmentation.

The idea seems nightmarish in a Phillip.k. Dick sort of way but that's how I see it.

Now for something completely Second

Hi persons (engage political-correctness)

Some links I reference come from the Play behaviour and game design course that I'm also taking at OCAD in regards to Second Life immersion :

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huaC9fnUY7gEVtK-K8pt_5lorjaw
An interesting article about applying something called Brain Control Interface (BCI) as a means for paralysis patients to control a second-life avatar.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/12/second.life.irpt/index.html#cnnSTCText
What is regarded as news "in-world"? as the original poster mentioned, does this prove second life's importance or is it simply a means for corporate marketing ?

http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/csi_ny/
CSI:NY using Second life as a premise for a murder episode.

Art on Second Life

Hey everyone,
Here's a blog about art that's popped up on second life. Neat stuff, check out the title link.
~Kat

Speaking of social networks...

Hey everyone,

I found this article on wired magazine about some of the social networking sites that are on the web today. Pretty hilarious check it out.

Class on Wednesday Nov 21st

I will be in class after the break, and will look forward to joining you all then!
with best wishes
Florence Freenote

The Gallery of Memories

I believe that when we don’t know much about our past and our grandparents we have the same feeling as someone that has lost part of his or her long time memory. Both ask the same questions: who am I? Where have I come from?
My grandfather has tried to answer these questions for my family by documenting the story of his life and pictures of our past generation. He has documented all of those in his notebook. What he has done has provided me with a world full of memories that I can refer to whenever I want to recall these memories.
Second life has given me the ability to recreate this world in virtual format. It has given me the ability to present these memories in a way that will be interesting for visitors. I have presented these memories in a gallery like environment. I have relatives around the world that each of them can find their answers here. They can come here and visit the gallery and learn more about their past generation. The next generation will also have the ability to come here and learn about their aunt sisters.
My avatar is a representation of my grandfather who decided to document all these memories in his notebook and past them to the next generation as an inheritance so we learn from them and apply them to our life.

SL on Facebook, and other destinations that you've browsed

Hello,

SL is on Facebook in a group... I'm scared to join..haha- would you? I like the anonymity of SL as it is.

What are some destinations that you've visted on SL?

Check out this place in China:

Yaoi Province > 207, 31, 25

*there's a building called, "Fingerpaint" and artists post their work on the walls, much like a gallery, but SL version. The content is "mature", nevertheless, the concept is interesting.

"I am a man." —Clarence Thomas

People who seek to define themselves by race have experienced racial prejudice and are driven on anger to find their own identity—not the identity of their given label—and ultimately they will return to the beginning, more vulnerable than ever.

Race is not a project with a beginning and an end. We must be ourselves and live our own lives because it is the only life we will have.

-BL

Not including theories of reincarnation, does this argument/ statement make sense? I am also researching racial identity.

Race-The Floating Signifier

Race, the Floating Signifier: Featuring Stuart Hall
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=...
http://www.mediaed.org Arguing against the biological interpretation of racial difference, Hall asks us to pay close attention to the cultural processes by which the visible differences of appearance come to stand for natural or biological properties of human beings. ...

(In response to Andrew's piece on interracial identity)



(WARNING- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC ARCHIVAL IMAGES FROM THE SLAVE TRADE IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES SHOWING LYNCHING AND VIOLENT ACTS, AS WELL AS SWEARING. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.)