Week 10 – NO TUTE week
This is your final catch up week and there are no classes. From next week onwards, you guys will be doing the presentations, so make sure you have caught up with all the readings here.
I’m expecting most people will be using Powerpoint for their in-class talk. I will be saving your powerpoint presentation along with any references / annotated bibliography or other paper work you give me for marking your talk.
Remember that your mark is broken up thus :
25% is for research (your reading, comprehension of the subject as a result of this and informed and relevant citations of other work),
25% is for conceptual development (your informed knowledge of similar concepts and how yours differs)
25% is for skills development (any new skills you acquire – including using Powerpoint, but also any game engine / alternative software you incorporate into your talk)
25% is for execution (the overall effect of your work as informed by your readings on the subject)
Week 9 – Convergence, Apps & Behaviour
One year ago, the idea of convergence was still but a pipe dream. In 2009 we have the iPhone – and the app store. All the tech magazines are going gaga about it.
The promise of convergence has been with us for some time but what does it really mean – if anything? It used to refer to the mobile phone. Is the currently popular iPhone really the one device to rule them all? An impressive piece of machinery which will certainly be hard to trump. Although Google are trying with Android.
Today, we are surrounded by a multi-level convergent media world where all modes of communication and information are continually reforming to adapt to the enduring demands of technologies, “changing the way we create, consume, learn and interact with each other”.[1]
^ Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence Culture : Where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York.
(Wikipedia “Tecnological Convergence”)
Henry Jenkins in his book Convergence Culture : Where old and new media collide (2006) says that New Technology is changing the way we interact with people.
This idea is reflected in a New Scientist (22nd August) article by Richard Fisher. In “Welcome to Appland”, Richard talks about how he uses his iPhone for just about everything – from timing his tooth brushing to finding the nearest local toilet. He even writes the article via iDictaphone. In the same article, Dean Eckles suggests that app-enabled phones are rapidly becoming the sole “lens” through which we view the world. We are beginning to trust technology. In one experiment, people were more likely to trust a computer they had been sitting at for hours than one in another room – even when both were running the same programs. This can lead to issues. We may not visit a restaurant around the corner because our iPhone doesn’t inform us of it. Apple often decides which apps to run and “vetoes anything it believes is offensive, unsuitable or competitive with its other services.”
Augmented Reality
Devices used to augment our environment with additional information
How to Behave : The New Rules
(Wired magazine, August 09)
- If your call drops, call back
- Don’t Google-stalk before a first date
- Texting is OK while in the company of others
- Feel free to bittorrent
- Never broadcast your relationship status
- Don’t lie with your Facebook photo
- Balance your media diet
1hr gaming
1.25h social networking
0.75h microblogging
3.5h entertainment
2.5h news - Online conversations are not all about you
- Friend your boss, but not your boss’ boss. Follow them both on Twitter.
- On Facebook, ignore your Ex.
- Ditch the headset.
- Choose the right ringtone
- Don’t BLOG or Tweet anything that has more than half a million hits.
- Delete unwanted posts from your Facebook wall.
- Meet online friends in the real world (Beware : it will be weird)
- Leave your Wi-fi open.*
- Seek out your co-workers on Facebook
- Be mindful of your personal space
- There’s no such thing as too many friends
- You can reinvent yourself online
- Don’t hesitate to haggle on Craigslist.*
- Don’t work all the time – you’ll live to regret it
- Never unfollow someone just because they unfollowed you
*mainly USA.
The Dawn of the Cyborg?
If our phone is rapidly changing the way we think about and view the world and we can’t live without it because it is becoming as familiar as our own body parts, just how human will we become in 10 years time?
iCar Remote Just for fun.
In Class
10 minute writing session #4
Write to this tune.
You can write anything in response to today’s subject/s (above). Try to write from a character’s point of view. Perhaps a character you are working on right now – for this course.
Remember that characters are defined by their experience in action, not by what they wear – and if they speak, they’d better not be telling us the whole truth – just what it is they want us to hear.
Just a few hints for you there.
Stravinsky’s “The Rites of Spring”
For your BLOG
- What “converged” apps do you use? (if any).
- Or what would you use if you had the chance?
- How might you develop an “augmented story”?
Try to relate your app back to the idea of character if you can.
Week 8 – Avatars, Games & Characters
Definition 1
In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatara (Devanagari ?????, IAST avat?ra, the Sanskrit for “descent” (viz., from heaven to earth, from the verbal root t? “to cross over”)) usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes, often translated into English as incarnation.
(Wikipedia)
Definition 2
AVATAR is a text graphics protocol used by Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes).
(Wikipedia)
In most cases online, Avatar refers to computer “avatars” – usually 80 x 80 pixel images representing the written or net-attended self online. BLOG / Forum comments use them. Some people use photos of themselves – others, pictures of “Fluffy” the cat, and with the relatively new Gravatar (2007) you can use your avatar (at participating stores) on the web.
Gravatar
Go get yourself a Gravatar
Machinima
Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator (2007)
In 2008 HBO bought the Northern American broadcasting rights for the first machinima documentary, Molotov Alva And His Search For The Creator: A Second Life Odyssey. The director Douglas Gayeton shot and mastered the entire 52 minute film without ever leaving a spare bedroom on his Northern California farm. The film later became the first machinima film theatrically released by a studio, with screenings in both Los Angeles and New York in September of 2007.
(Wikipedia)
Read more about the show at:
Red Vs. Blue
These guys are selling DVDs of their recorded game exploits.
In short – such movies and they can (literally) be made in the bedroom.
Game Engines
Using existing game engines to create movies, pretty much any movie can be pre-vizualised in this way – if not finished in this form. It’s something for all media producers to be aware of. The reading of any script can be recorded and then animated this way and you can bet your bottom dollar that a nicely pre-vizzed (recorded) scene involving one of the many free game engines can form part of a submission to ScreenWest or the FTI as part of a short / feature submission.
What’s interesting here is that traditional television is now interested in buying Machinima.
Which opens the doors to how movies are made and sold.
Avatar and the Motivation to Play
Avatars and avatar construction form part of the motivation to play. The 2008 game “Spore” gave gamers the ability to alter their characters, environment and machinery with a simple 3D application. Free versions of the character construction kit were given away and people could use their constructed Avatar in the purchased game.
In this article, Tychsen et al., suggest that character construction is a crucial part of gameplay, while the real-life aspects of gameplay such as discussion, socialising and interaction with real people, rate very low.
Academic article
Telerobotics and the Avatar
Interesting that this voiceover lady almost reveals her innermost fear and would rather these robots actually lived underground with the rats. Perhaps if it was a nicer looing robot she may not have been such a harsh judge.
15 minute Clustering & Speed-writing Session #3
Joan Jeanrenaud “Transition” from her album “Strange Toys”
- Write “Avatar” in a circle in the middle of an A3 page
- Word associate. Write new words in bubbles and linked around Avatar
- Go faster
- FASTER!
You’ll get to a point where you want to turn this into and extract or piece of writing. Write on the A3 page and then enter into your BLOG.
In Class
(and for next week)
- Read this article: Motivation to Play.
- Write your reaction to the article in a BLOG post and try to tie it in with ideas you have about the realization and/or delivery of your own game / multi-linear / traditional narrative. In other words, try to answer the questions, “What will make someone care about my idea?”
- In your BLOG, also re-write your cluster writing experience into a linear form.
- Read other people’s BLOGs and try to help them with their ideas. Say what you liked and didn’t like about any particular idea.
I’m assuming that some of these weekly writing exercises will work for you and at times, they won’t. But writing something – anything – on a daily basis is the lot of any professional writer and as we know, ideas are only ever sold off the page.
NB: Weekly writings are graded as participation, but so are constructive comments and thoughts on other people’s BLOG posts and writing.
Week 7 – Software & Online Distribution
10 minute Speed Writing Session #2
Beethoven Op.110 for piano (extract)
Requested by Jacinta. You can write directly into your blog but I have pens/ pencil and paper if you perfer the old fashioned way.
Speed Writing Rules:
- write
- don’t stop
- don’t even think
Software
. . . is a general term for the various kinds of programs used to operate computers and related devices. (The term hardware describes the physical aspects of computers and related devices.)
Common Uses
- Games
- Websites
- Business Apps
- iPhone & Facebook Apps
Website Distribution
An internet website can now run and “house” all of the above types of software applications and, because it’s zeros and ones, a simple website can act as a distribution hub for:
- music
- film
- games
- other software
Databases
What is a Database?
A database is an integrated collection of logically related records or files which consolidates records into a common pool of data records that provides data for many applications. A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated.
(Wikipedia)
Databases look something like linked Excel spreadsheets. A typical database might hold the names and addresses of potential buyers – or recipients of a website newsletter. Or a database might hold a list of credit card numbers.
Database Security
Databases and security always go together.
As you can imagine, security issues are HUGE. Most of the time spent designing a Db is security-related. Massive firewalls have to be built to fend off hackers, spam-bots and, basically, idiots. Thankfully most hackers are just trying to sell viagra, sex and cigarettes. But others do want your credit card number.
Last year, every 3 months, Wordpress (the software behind this website) issued a security update to defend it’s system from being spammed and attacked. This year, they do so nearly every month.
- Data-mining
- Data selling
- Credit Card
- ID theft
Software Programming Languages
- PHP (open-source)
- C+
- C#
- Basic
- ASP
Business Opportunities
The internet has created a level playing field. A small cottage industry can run a website right alongside a bank – and can even do a better job of it. But in order to stay online and make money – a website has to run like a business. It has to be updated and “cared for” every day. The windows (front page / specials) need to be changed and “shelves” (code) has to be cleaned up. Websites do not run (make money) all by themselves.
Other Resources
Techcrunch
http://www.techcrunch.com/
An online technical round-up website. This is where I go to see the latest trends in software and internet “distribution” techniques. It pays to be in the loop about these things – even if you just want to watch the demise of television or read about new methods of “content delivery”.
Seth’s Blog
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
Internet marketing guru. When he speaks, Capitalists listen. And he has a no holes barred approach to communication (which I like). Hopefully you’ll like him, too.
The Million Dollar Homepage
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
Half-baked internet idea that actually flew!
Robot to be controlled by human brain cells
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17761-robot-to-be-controlled-by-human-brain-cells.html
Article on recent robotic development.
Business Models
- film distribution (VOD / iView)
- music / film distribution
- teaching and education
- online printing
- software
- games
Search Engines
97% of sites are found using search engines – which explains why BLOGs are so popular. The content of this BLOG is picked up by search engines. Less than five minutes after posting a first draft, Google had spidered (sent bots out), indexed and found this very page. US businesses know this and so you’ll pretty much find a BLOG of some sort behind many successful businesses today.
In Class
(and for next week)
I’d like you to research and BLOG about how your final project can be delivered or marketed in an online environment. You could read TechCrunch and see what the latest trends are. or maybe Seth Godin can help you out when it comes to the marketing side of things.
I’d also like you to rewrite your story. It’d be great to see 1st, 2nd and 3rd drafts of your 10 minute writing adventures up there.
Where Are We?
- We are slowly working towards character / story ideas. Don’t worry about the interactive elements at this stage. Maybe I can help you there. It’s much more important to develop an intriguing character that we can engage with emotionally.
- The writing exercises should be bringing out some off-the-beaten track ideas. You might like to continue / do one or two more exercises at home? If you’re keen. But do not think. The key is not to think. By thinking, we try to “rationalise” the gold that is hiding deep inside our right brains.
- Next up is your pitch. You’ll be expected to pitch using PowerPoint or some other medium such as HTML (if you know how to).
- You should be blogging right now and on a regular basis for this unit.
- I will be checking BLOGS in (and outside of) class from now on – to see how you are going.
Week 6 – Interactive TV
12 minute Speed Writing Session #1
“Zyklop” by Thomas Koner (Greenland)
http://www.myspace.com/thomaskoner
This particular tune is off his recent album “Zyklop” and is more of an aural soundscape than an actual piece of music. I like this stuff. But I’m also a fan of microphone bumps and wind noise.
Speed Writing Rules:
- write as fast as you can
- don’t stop
- don’t even think
Fahrenheit 451
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PERvsYtQ9TM
Directed by Truffaut 1966
Written by Ray Bradbury in 1953
History
A Short History of iTV
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/apr/05/onlinesupplement5
(The Guardian, UK 2001)
Microsoft man says TV has three years to adapt
http://informitv.com/articles/2009/08/29/microsoftmansays/
Hindrances to Progress: Infrastructure?
The film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” played out like “Murder on the Orient Express” Everyone played a part in murdering the victim and so we have petrol. Bowser infrastructure, the roads, facilities and supply chain – is all built around oil.
Interactive TV in Australia
At the mention of interactive TV, Kerry Packer & Rupert Murdoch (2005) baulked. We have a tiny marrket compared to our Western brethren. These guys wanted to keep the status quo and saw the fracturing of the TV market in to many channels (and interactive backchannels) as a threat to lucrative TV advertising. So we got 7, 9 and 10 and ABC TV in high quality (HD is already looking like low-quality when you consider computer monitor resolution).
In Europe, the trade-off in quality was used for adding more interactive channels.
Lately, interactive TV (in Australia at least) mostly refers to SMS / phone polling during free-to-air shows. Big Brother was perfect for our free-to-air system as money could be made by getting people to call Legion Interactive (now the enigmatic Belong Group). And now we have the US franchise “Australian Idol”.
Originally meant to stream to and from the TV transmitter / receiver, interactivity in Australia now mainly happens through the internet (now almost ready for streaming video) and the telcos.
InformITV
http://informitv.com/news/
Interactive TV Today
http://itvt.com/
Broadband Bananas
http://www.broadbandbananas.com
iTV Examples
Twitter Enhanced TV
http://itvt.com/story/5527/fox-air-twitter-enhanced-re-runs-fringe-and-glee
BBC Red Button TV
The red button is basically for extra content button
http://itvt.com/story/5531/bbc-unveils-its-red-button-interactive-tv-schedule-coming-weeks
Content, content, content!
Needless to say – “content” has always been the cornerstone for any interctive endeavour. The focus in the last few years seemed to be on marketing to the consumer. But more recently, marketers have realised that consumers are a greedy bunch who want everything for FREE. They’re not just going to click on pop-up ads. And so in the last year or two there seems to be a shift back towards the consumer.
Podcast – Marissa Cooke
“Extending Narrative : The Emmerdale Experience”
Marissa talks through her experiences of extending stories into online and other platforms looking specifically at her work on the enigmatic cross-media service created by Hoodlum for Emmerdale. She talks about call-to-actions, multiple entry points, point-of-view, story worlds, gameplay and trail heads as part of this experience creation for the audience.
TV Loop
http://mashable.com/2008/12/09/tvloop/
Where TV meets Social Networking?
Ambient Devices
Chumby
http://www.chumby.com/
What to do in class / for next week?
- Speed writing (12 mins using pencil and paper). No particular subject.
- Re-write your pencil and paper piece as a BLOG entry.
- Choose 3 articles from any of the links above and BLOG about them.
- What is your overview of the recent movements in Interactive TV.
- Make sure you have booked a time for your talk. Week 14 has 2 places left, but there is also week 9 if someone is keen to get going.