Weather permitting, we'll plan on presentations of the games in their respective places, and maybe play a game or two. Games that cannot be played will be presented in class.
In the event of storms, all games will be presented in class.
Here's what folks need for Monday's class on assignment 4:
Step 1 Following our reading of Delaney's Territories, groups will research and observe a specific, accessible location on or near campus. Choice of place is important - it should be a site that involves some kind of regulated interaction, exchange or behavior between individuals who are in it. It also needs to have describable borders. Try finding your place through constructed derives - explore places with no intention other than to observe and make notes about things that appear interesting. View common places as if they (and the way people behave in them) are new to you. With your group, decide on one defined territory.
Step 2 Each member in your group should conduct observations about the chosen location. You should be able to answer at least the following questions: 1. What are the borders of your territory? And how are they defined/marked/known? 2. What kinds of interactions between people and the site are there? Are there objects or architectures that govern how the site is/can be used? 3. What kinds of interactions/encounters between people are there? (is it competitive, collaborative, monetary, familiar, etc?) 4. Are there distinct roles that people play within the territory? 5. What rules seem to govern these interactions? And how are the rules known? (Are they implicit or explicit)?
I will be 1/2 hour late for class due to a conference presentation I am participating in that ends at 1:15. So, we'll start at 1:30 and pick up where we left off with Processing.
Just a reminder that first drafts/rough cuts of the video prototypes are due Monday, April 12, and we will crit them then. Following these presentations, groups will have 1 week (until April 19) to upload final edits for evaluation.
Some more examples of video prototypes for locative media projects:
To reiterate what the first steps in completing assignment 3 are:
1. Get into teams of 3 (there can be teams of 4, but more than 2 are required - this is important as these assignments are based on a methodology that requires cooperation and the distribution of skills/tasks)
2. (re)Familiarize yourselves with the examples of locative media and the requirements of the assignment as discussed in class.
3. Answer the following questions by Monday, March 29 + post to one team members blog. + What new problem will you be trying to solve? + Why is this interesting or valuable as a problem? + Who is your audience? + What form of information will you be storing, retrieving, and why this form? + Answer at least four of the Formal Considerations questions above + Design 3 personas and scenarios based on your answers above
And don't forget to post the results of your drift/dérive exercise (map + 15 photos) by Wednesday March 17. (those of you absent on Monday will make this up on Wednesday)
And speaking of locative media, check out this article from today's NY Times, on the current iteration of the social software I talked about in class.
We will discuss our next assignment, which will deal with something (sometimes) called locative media. We'll kick off our discussion with a reading on cities and maps by geographer Denis Cosgrove titled "Carto City" [download/view the PDF here].
Some initial points to consider in your reading:
1) Cosgrove asserts that cartography both records and creates the city. While he gives some specific examples of this, how have you experienced this dual nature of maps?
2) The author also discusses some of the changing roles maps have played - from celebratory images of cities to the utilitarian plotting of space. He also (p. 155) discusses the difference between maps that reveal a coherent understanding of space (land use maps) and those that read space as a coded structure (the London A-Z Guide, or a zipcode map). Do the maps you use most tend toward one or the other?
AND BRING A CAMERA (phone cameras are OK, if you can get the pictures for posting them)
Friday, 12 March, 7:30pm: Jacques Tati, Playtime (France, 1967, 124m).
Plym Auditorium (134 Temple Buell Hall)
"Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in the age of technology reached their creative apex with Playtime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati thrust his signature character, the endearingly clumsy, resolutely old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, into a bafflingly modernist Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting testament to the modern age." If you haven't seen this film - it's worth taking the time to see it on a big screen on Friday. Tati especially pointed at (laughingly) the increasing ubiquity of glass in modern architecture as it became the norm with skyscrapers and corporate buildings.
