tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339566212024-02-08T03:26:07.622+02:00ramblingroguecritical explorations of lots of things...Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-74924050305349893202012-01-26T13:36:00.001+02:002014-04-01T09:06:43.542+02:00Reblog: Haptic Feedback<div></div><div><style type="text/css"> .reeder-article a { color: #111; border-bottom: 1px dashed #111; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; } </style> <div class="reeder-article"> <div><a style="color: #000; border-bottom: none;" href="http://htlit.com/archives/January2012/HapticFeedback.html">Haptic Feedback</a></div><div style="color: #999; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 10px;">HTLit</div><div><img src="http://htlit.com/elements/Haptic.jpg" width="450" height="198"><p></p></div><p>Anne Mangen explores h<a href="http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/WRIT501/readings/mangenreadingonscreen.pdf">ow haptic responses shape our understanding of text</a>. She's interested in what we gain from physically touching a book.</p><blockquote>Haptic perception is of vital importance to reading, and should be duly acknowledged. The reading process and experience of a digital text are greatly affected by the fact that we click and scroll, in contrast to tactilely richer experience when flipping through the pages of a print book. When reading digital texts, our haptic interaction with the text is experienced as taking place at an indeterminate distance from the actual text, whereas when reading print text we are physically and phenomenologically (and literally) in touch with the material substrate of the text itself.</blockquote><p>The problem with this argument is that it makes assumptions about the virtues of haptic feedback, positing that some subconscious phenomenon occurs that shapes the reading experience when we physically touch a book. The physicality of the book does not bring us any "closer" to the materiality of the signified. We can't rely on the assumption that the ability to touch or feel our content enriches it without an argument for <i>why</i> it does, and many of the current arguments can be explained by bad interfaces or other outside factors. Superficial arguments, like that haptic feedback signals to the reader where she is in a book, ignore the fact that much of this information can be easily mimicked by other technologies: completion percentage or a scrollbar with a "page x of y" display are now familiar substitutes for assessing how far one is in a story. How many of us really physically <i>feel</i> where we are in a story beyond the first and last few pages anyway? </p><p>Mangen isn't just interested in ebooks; she writes of hypertext fiction:</p><blockquote>In <i>Narrative as Virtual Reality</i> [Marie-Laure Ryan] concludes that 'the hypertext format could provide the type of immersivity of the detective novel, as do some computer games, if it were based on a determinate and fully motivated <i>plot</i>' […] I will argue, however, that when it comes to the (in)compatibility of digital technology with phenomenological immersion, plot is not the whole story. In my view, the incompatibility has at least as much, if not more, to do with the sensory-motor affordances of distinctly different materialities of technology than with plot.</blockquote><p>(This explains why early stories like <i>Esther</i> and <i>Ruth,</i> which were designed for the sensory-motor affordances of the scroll, worked so poorly in the form of the codex book that they were soon forgotten. – MB)</p><p>I'm skeptical that haptic feedback is really at issue here. One can imagine a work in which tactile sensation <i>is</i> important ("<a href="http://www.eastgate.com/catalog/Afternoon.html">words that yield</a>" takes on a new meaning) but surely haptic feedback is not the only—or even most important—component. Do touch or—more broadly—mimetic sensations encourage more immersive experiences, or are other factors at play? How does agency contribute? It seems plausible that certain physical actions illicit Pavlovian conditioned emotional responses, but is there research to support such claims? Is touching an object, alone, enough to trigger such a response?</p><div style="color: #999; padding-top: 30px;">Sent with <a href="http://reederapp.com" style="color: #999; border: 0;">Reeder</a></div></div></div><div><br />
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Hanli Geyser</div>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-57676001179567215352011-12-06T08:28:00.001+02:002014-04-01T09:07:08.965+02:00ReBlog: Patanoir<div></div><div><style type="text/css"> .reeder-article a { color: #111; border-bottom: 1px dashed #111; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; } </style> <div class="reeder-article"> <div><a style="color: #000; border-bottom: none;" href="http://htlit.com/archives/December2011/Patanoir.html">Patanoir</a></div><div style="color: #999; font-size: 0.9em; padding-bottom: 10px;">HTLit</div><div><img src="http://htlit.com/elements/Patanoir.jpg" width="450" height="251"><p></p></div><p><a href="http://ifcomp.org/comp11/play.php?id=169">Patanoir</a>, Simon Christiansen's brilliantly clever IF piece, introduced me to the concept of pataphor—and by extension pataphysics, a concept of "physics beyond metaphysics" or "the science of imaginary solutions." Patanoir opens with the definition of a pataphor:</p><blockquote>Pataphor (noun):</blockquote><p> 1. An extended metaphor that creates its own context.</p><p> 2. That which occurs when a lizard's tail has grown so long it breaks off and grows a new lizard.</p><blockquote>- Pablo Lopez </blockquote><p>This definition, and understanding of the concepts behind it, allow for interesting play between language, concepts, and the imaginary. If John controls a chain of events, feeling constricted and even suffocated by it, Mary might stumble in upon John's actual dead body, tragically choked to death by the chain.</p><p>Patanoir explores this idea through the lens of the protagonist, you, a private detective who has come off your medication against your doctor's advice. Anytime the text uses a simile and something is <i>like</i> something else, you can interact with the metaphorical object because, well, you're crazy.</p><blockquote><b>>x baron</b></blockquote><blockquote>Thin, as though his skin had been draped over his skeleton with nothing in between. Dark blue eyes, like deep lakes carved into his face. His hair is grey.</blockquote><blockquote>> <b>dive into lake</b></blockquote><blockquote>You dive. The surface of the lake approaches quickly, until it fills your entire field of vision. Then the cool water surrounds you.</blockquote><p> </p><p>This structure leads to interesting puzzles and creative solutions. While at first it seemed to make the puzzles too easy—most can be solved by examining everything in a room, with similes being huge flailing pointers toward clues—the character implication for these strategies became more interesting than the puzzles themselves. Sure, you can enter the room, skim the text and scan for the keyword "like," but such a reading suggests that you're more a part of the protagonists delusions than the reader's detached and objective reality, interesting implications for reader-protagonist identification.</p><div style="color: #999; padding-top: 30px;">Sent with <a href="http://reederapp.com" style="color: #999; border: 0;">Reeder</a></div></div></div><div><br />
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Hanli Geyser</div>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-5336734138446006002011-09-09T09:32:00.001+02:002011-09-09T09:33:09.836+02:00ReBlog: Techland apologises for “feminist whore” code found in Dead Island<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Things like this are a problem because they demonstrate a deep seated misogynism on the part of the company responsible. While I wish I could laugh it off and say their issues are their own problem and the game should be judged only as a final product the bitter taste it leaves won't just go away. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">The games industry has struggled with issues of representation for many years, and a disturbing attitude towards women still remains. I hate having to define myself by my gender, I feel like I am still fighting battles that should have been dismissed in the 70s. But every time I visit a 'gaming' site filled with half naked women and 'hot-t lesbians' I am reminded that in this small subset of society those battles still need to be fought.<br />Then, whenever I feel progress is being made, something like this surfaces and I am reminded that it is not the attitude only of a few trolls but something systemic throughout the genre.</span></div>
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<a href="http://mygaming.co.za/news/news/13924-Techland-apologises-for-feminist-whore-code-found-Dead-Island.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=MyGaming">Techland apologises for “feminist whore” code found in Dead Island</a>:Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-67413355624600585312011-09-01T11:38:00.001+02:002011-09-01T11:38:49.109+02:00Reblog: Fallout: The Board Game Lets you Play Monopoly After the Apocalypse [Fallout]<div>
From Kotako,Games of games in games:</div>
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<img alt="Click here to read <em>Fallout: The Board Game</em> Lets you Play Monopoly After the Apocalypse" height="120" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/08/small_falloutmon.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(179, 179, 179); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(179, 179, 179); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(179, 179, 179); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(179, 179, 179); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px;" title="Click here to read <em>Fallout: The Board Game</em> Lets you Play Monopoly After the Apocalypse" width="190" /></div>
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This custom version of <em>Monopoly</em>, crafted by PinkAxolotl, really has to be seen to be believed. It's not like it's just a regular board with a few <em>Fallout </em>references made here and there. It's as <em>Fallout</em>-themed as it could possibly hope for. <a href="http://kotaku.com/5835683/fallout-the-board-game-lets-you-play-monopoly-after-the-apocalypse" title="Click here to read more about Fallout: The Board Game Lets you Play Monopoly After the Apocalypse [Fallout]">More »</a></div>
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Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-4612811798685826862011-08-05T08:28:00.000+02:002011-11-25T14:21:13.692+02:00Reblog: IGF 2010 Finalist Trauma Out on August 8th<div>I can't wait...</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; ">Article by Tim W</div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; "></div><blockquote><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; ">A release date for the gesture-based adventure game <em style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: italic; ">Trauma</em> has been announced: the triple-nominated 2010 IGF finalist will be available to purchase for 5 Euros starting this August 8th. Windows, Mac and Linux users can try the game online for free at <a href="http://www.traumagame.com/" style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">traumagame.com</a>, and you can also buy <em style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: italic; ">Trauma</em> from Steam (both Windows and Mac) on launch day.</div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; "><br /></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; ">We'll let you know the minute it's playable online, since the hosting server is unlikely to last for even a couple of hours once news about the demo going live breaks out. Buying the game is an option as well, and getting it direct from the developer means that you'll have a version that is completely DRM-free.</div></blockquote><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; "></div><div style="font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; "><br /></div></span></div><a href="http://indiegames.com/2011/08/igf_2010_finalist_trauma_out_o.html">IndieGames.com - The Weblog</a>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-74050473105907838702011-08-04T10:45:00.000+02:002011-11-25T14:21:57.046+02:00WITS to offer degree in Game Design, starting 2012<div>An interview with me about the Game Design degrees.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://mygaming.co.za/news/news/13296-WITS-offer-degree-Game-Design-starting-2012.html">WITS to offer degree in Game Design, starting 2012</a>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-41964962195025399422011-08-04T10:43:00.000+02:002011-11-25T14:21:13.690+02:00Before I Die | A Project by Candy Chang<div>This may be one of the most beautiful public art works I have ever seen. </div><div><br /></div><a href="http://beforeidie.cc/">Before I Die | A Project by Candy Chang</a>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-2940806323678715242011-07-22T12:56:00.003+02:002011-11-25T14:21:13.687+02:00First person photographs<br />
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Some interesting “first person” photos. The first few are far more successful than the later ones, but it's interesting how the inclusion of a body part signals the first person perspective. While the viewer of a photograph is always aware that it is created through a first person point of view due to the very nature of the camera, in photography point of view is largely obscured, even effaced. Traditionally the role of the photographer as creative agent is masked. This is amplified by the frame and screen which, echoing painting and echoed in film, makes the photo seem removed, as if coming from an omniscient narrator. Some photographers do reinsert themselves into the frame through the inclusion of shadows and reflections. But here that experiential, embodied element is brought through by the fps convention of the fragmented limb. The 'first person' title alludes to both game and narrative techniques. All in all, one or two great images, and an interesting concept.</div>
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Cool First Person Photo Project: Andrea Di Gioia is a great photographer from Italy. Here is a set he's been working on of "first person" photos, but make sure you go check out the rest of his stuff a...</div>
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<img alt="Click here to read Could You "Finish" <em>World Of Warcraft</em> Without Killing Anything?" height="120" src="http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/04/small_bloom.jpg" style="border-color: #B3B3B3; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px;" title="Click here to read Could You "Finish" <em>World Of Warcraft</em> Without Killing Anything?" width="190" />
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Here's an exercise in patience: a World of Warcraft player has managed to reach the maximum level 85 without killing a single thing. For a game built around the idea of, well, killing things, that's quite the achievement! <a href="http://kotaku.com/5790686/could-you-finish-world-of-warcraft-without-killing-anything" title="Click here to read more about Could You "Finish" World Of Warcraft Without Killing Anything? [Make Lore, Not War]">More »</a>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is an article about me published on the Wits School of Arts website in the news section of March 2011.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by Christo Doherty.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo Christo Doherty. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Related post also on </span><a href="http://www.atjoburg.net/?p=1112&cpage=1#comment-37278">www.atjoburg.net</a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>New Game Design Lecturer appointed in Digital Arts</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGgvxYHUQTw_qWad1UxHOVbgPJBvFKM7wZVqx4plig7Bh7kKfTZNpZffRZ6yITumpv27AQzTG7A6mbzxN3UK6je9k1OYf16yPMz8TDFrn-8ZfbKWghhSFxXhzNuBNo4REaGI8f4w/s1600/Hanli_news_story_main_photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGgvxYHUQTw_qWad1UxHOVbgPJBvFKM7wZVqx4plig7Bh7kKfTZNpZffRZ6yITumpv27AQzTG7A6mbzxN3UK6je9k1OYf16yPMz8TDFrn-8ZfbKWghhSFxXhzNuBNo4REaGI8f4w/s320/Hanli_news_story_main_photo.jpg" width="208" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hanli Geyser has been appointed as the first Game Design Lecturer in Digital Arts. As both an avid gamer and an academic researcher into popular cultural production, Hanli has the background necessary to develop the exciting new Games Design courses which will be launched by Digital Arts, in collaboration with the Wits School of Electrical Engineering, in 2012.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hanli’s research and teaching interests are diverse, spanning many areas of popular cultural production. She is primarily fascinated by the conjunction between visual arts and narrative texts found in video games, hypertext fiction, comic books and film. She graduated with an MA in History of Art from Wits in 2008 with a dissertation entitled Surface Tension - Examining the implications of intentional disruption of the Photographic Surface. . Extending her interest in disruptions to the surface into the digital realm her PhD, provisionally titled An Investigation of the Hyperlink as both Mark and Rupture on the Imagined Hypertextual Surface, focuses on the use of the hyperlink in visual arts. Areas of research in which she is actively involved include Interactive Narrative as well as Adaptation Studies. Interactive narrative covers a vast range of practices that involve some degree of user participation to drive the narrative structure. Her interest here is in both literary and visual story telling forms, and extends from ‘text adventures’ through hypertext fiction to video games. In adaptation studies, the study of transition between media in narrative texts, she is primarily interested in the impact of medium on the narrative structure and the effect it generates. Her investigation in this area has centered on transitions between comic, film, and video game formats.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hanli has always been an avid gamer, actively playing a wide range of games. Her enjoyment of games stems both from narrative satisfaction as well as a keen interest in ludology and game mechanics. She is currently writing a paper on the post-colonial representation of the African landscape in the popular commercial title Far cry 2 (2008).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While she plays many commercial titles (her current favourites include The Witcher, Fall Out, Machinarium, and Braid) she has a keen interest in games as a form of artistic expression. She therefore actively engages with independent, experimental, and art games.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hanli is an energetic researcher but she is also equally committed to her students and to teaching. She is passionate about education as an ideal and there is nothing she enjoys more than being able to teach and engage with students. "</span></div>
</div>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-64341989645678773362011-03-15T11:33:00.004+02:002011-04-29T10:00:08.124+02:00Reblog: Video game in your browser's location bar<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Cory Doctorow at boingboing points to this amazing little game: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">URL Hunter: <a href="http://probablyinteractive.com/url-hunter">http://probablyinteractive.com/url-hunter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #444444;">Video game in your browser's location bar: </b><br /> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><img src="http://craphound.com/images/urlhunter.jpeg" /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Probably Corey's (sic. Should read Probably Interactive's) HTML 5 video-game 'URL Hunter' takes place entirely in the URL bar of your browser, in which you must chase down rogue 'a's with your mighty 'O' and clobber them with the spacebar. I keep running into croggling demos of HTML5's capabilities -- last week in Toronto, Mozilla.org's Brett Gaylor showed me a <a href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/WebGL">WebGL</a> demo that left me with my jaw on the floor. It's going to be a cool couple of Web-years, most surely. <br />"</span></div>
</blockquote>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-33840859799391842882011-02-09T09:23:00.002+02:002011-04-29T10:01:53.285+02:00Reblog: Browser Game Pick: RIZK (Playerthree)<div style="color: black;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An truly fantastic game reflecting on the environmental impacts of resource gathering. Well worth a <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/rizk">play</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Found thanks to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2011/02/browser_game_pick_rizk_playert.html">IndiGames.com</a>. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Article below by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Cassandra Khaw.</span></span><br />
<b style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="rizk.jpg" height="400" src="http://www.indiegames.com/blog/rizk.jpg" width="478" /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in the early nineties, long before the gaming industry became obsessed with sex and other drivel, edutainment-related material was everywhere. Sadly, only a handful were brilliant; the rest were mostly boring or, at times, borderline preachy. Granted, that's how my nine year old self remembers it - your mileage might vary. Thus, when I first heard of RIZK, a part of the Science Museum's three-year series entitled 'Climate Changing..', I was extremely skeptical about its production values. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">RIZK is, essentially, a 2D tower defense-like game that requires you to nurture and safeguard an alien plant that serves as your only means of escaping to the next level. In order to accomplish this, you'll have to carefully budget a somewhat meagre stash of coins in order to create your strangely ameobic-like minions. There isn't any violence in the game, though. Your enemies here are not hungry herbivores but indigenous vegetation that release spores capable of hurting your plant; your own critters won't do anything outside of generate protective shields of varying strength and range. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the press release that popped up in my mail today, RIZK's visual presentation is apparently greatly influenced by the sci-fi posters of the 50's and 60's and honestly, there's something quaintly charming about the game's looks. Most of the terrain is nothing but silhouettes framed against a stary, pastel-flooded sky. The placid outlook, however, bellies the surprisingly intricate gameplay; it rapidly becomes less a question of resource management and more a case of you attempting not to agitate the planet's residents too much.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took a little while for the message to sink in but once it did, I was impressed with the work put into the game by its developers. RIZK, without sounding overtly 'in your face', rather neatly encapsulates the antagonistic relationship man's technological progress has with Mother Nature. I'm not going to explain exactly how it all works out simply because it'd detract from the message but I can assure you that it'd at least trigger a brief 'Huh' when the epiphany finally strikes.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/rizk">Play the game</a> now at the Science Museum's official website.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</span></blockquote>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-52317504915263673952011-02-09T08:20:00.003+02:002011-04-29T10:03:05.582+02:00Reblog: Mateas on Agency<div>
This post by <a href="http://htlit.com/archives/February2011/MateasonAgency.html">HTLit</a> points to a very interesting and helpful article by Michael Mateas. Isn't it fantastic how we find things?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span">Recent interest around Eastgate in the role of agency in narrative immersion has led me to <a href="http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/aristotelean">a fascinating essay by Michael Mateas</a>, co-<a href="http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~michaelm/">author</a> of Façade. Using Aristotle’s theory of drama as a starting point, Mateas diagrams the role of agency in interactive drama, adding an additional model of choice and causation atop Aristotle’s diagram of narrative causation. This addition results in the proposition that “a player will experience agency when there is a balance between material and formal constraints.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span">Leaning heavily on previous work by Murray and others, the essay provides and interesting perspective for anyone interested in agency and its relation to interactive narrative.</span><span class="Apple-style-span">"</span></blockquote>
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</span></i>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-75079237423074846122010-12-14T10:35:00.004+02:002011-04-29T10:06:13.660+02:00Reblog: Interactive storytelling: an oxymoron<h3>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The following article was posted by </span><a href="http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/info.shtml" style="font-weight: normal;">Nicholas Carr</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> on his blog </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Rough Type</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">. Many of the assertions are ill researched and misconstrued. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I find the article rather unfortunate since it displays an emotional response shrouded in vaguely academic terminology.</span></span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">'December 08, 2010
Craig Mod is psyched about the future of literary storytelling. "With digital media," he writes in "The Digital Death of the Author," an <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/11/storytelling-20-the-digital-death-of-the-author.html">article</a> that's part of New Scientist's "Storytelling 2.0" <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/storytelling-20/">series</a>, "the once sacred nature of text is sacred no longer. Instead, we can change it continuously and in real time." E-storytelling is to storytelling, he says, as Wikipedia is to a printed encyclopedia. And that's a good thing:
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">The biggest change is not in the form stories take but in the writing process. Digital media changes books by changing the nature of authorship. Stories no longer have to arrive fully actualised ... [Ultimately,] authorship becomes a collaboration between writers and readers. Readers can edit and update stories, either passively in comments on blogs or actively via wiki-style interfaces.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Sound familiar? It should. In the 1980s and early 1990s, when personal computers were new and their screens appeared to literary theorists as virgin canvases, there was enormous excitement over the possibilities for digital media to revolutionize storytelling. The enthusiasm back then centered on hypertext and multimedia, rather than on Internet collaboration tools, but the idea was the same, as was the "death of the author" rhetoric. By "freeing" text from the page, digital media would blur the line between reader and writer, spurring a profusion of new, interactive forms of literary expression and storytelling. As George Landow and Paul Delany wrote in their introduction to the influential 1991 compendium <i>Hypermedia and Literary Studies</i>, "So long as the text was married to a physical media, readers and writers took for granted three crucial attributes: that the text was <i>linear, bounded,</i> and <i>fixed</i>." The computer would break this static structure, allowing text to become more like "a network, a tree diagram, a nest of Chinese boxes, or a web." That in turn would shift "the boundaries between individual works as well as those between author and reader," overthrowing "certain notions of authorial property, authorial uniqueness, and a physically isolated text."
Then, as now, the celebration of the idea of interactive writing was founded more on a popular ideology of cultural emancipation than on a critical assessment of artistic expression. It reflected a yearning for a radical sort of cultural democratization, which required that "the author" be pulled down from his pedestal and revealed to be a historical accident, a now dispensable byproduct of the technology of the printing press, which had served to fix type, and hence stories, on the page. The author was the father who had to be slain before culture could be liberated from its elitist, patriarchal shackles.
The ability to write communally and interactively with computers is nothing new, in other words. Digital tools for collaborative writing date back twenty or thirty years. And yet interactive storytelling has never taken off. The hypertext novel in particular turned out to be a total flop. When we read stories, we still read ones written by authors. The reason for the failure of interactive storytelling has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with stories. Interactive storytelling hasn't become popular - and will never become popular - because it produces crappy stories that no one wants to read. That's not just a result of the writing-by-committee problem (I would have liked to have a link here to the gruesome product of Penguin Books' 2007 <a href="http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com/the_penguin_blog/2007/02/a_million_pengu.html">wiki-novel experiment</a>, but, mercifully, it's been removed from the web). The act of reading a story, it turns out, is very different from, and ultimately incompatible with, the act of writing a story. The state of the story-reader is not a state of passivity, as is often, and sillily, suggested, but it is a state of repose. To enter a story, to achieve the kind of immersion that produces enjoyment and emotional engagement, a reader has to give up not only control but the desire to impose control. Readership and authorship are different, if mutually necessary, states: yin and yang. As soon as the reader begins to fiddle with the narrative - to take an authorial role - the spell of the story is broken. The story ceases to be a story and becomes a contraption.
What we actually value most about stories, as readers, is what Mod terms, disparagingly, "full actualization" - the meticulous crafting of an intriguing plot, believable characters and dialogue, and settings and actions that feel true (even if they're fantastical), all stitched together seamlessly with felicitous prose. More than a single author may be involved in this act of artistic creation - a good editor or other collaborator may make crucial contributions, for instance - but it must come to the reader as a harmonious whole (even if it comes in installments).
I agree with Mod that the shift of books from pages to screens will change the way we read books and hence, in time, the way writers write them, but I think his assessment of how those changes will play out is wrongheaded. (See also Alan Jacobs's <a href="http://text-patterns.thenewatlantis.com/2010/12/adventurousness-and-its-enemies.html">take</a>, which questions another of Mod's assumptions.) A usable encyclopedia article can, as Wikipedia has shown us, be constructed, "continuously and in real time," by a dispersed group of writers and editors with various talents. But it's a fallacy to believe that what works for an encyclopedia will also work for a novel or a tale. We read and evaluate encyclopedia articles in a completely different way from how we read and evaluate stories. An encyclopedia article can be "good enough"; a story has to be good.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Posted by nick at December 8, 2010 03:26 PM'</span>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-61702215239594736652010-11-24T12:49:00.000+02:002010-11-24T12:49:20.495+02:00Some rough notes on Stuart Moulthrop’s “You say you want a Revolution” (1991)<w:sdt contentlocked="t" id="89512093" sdtgroup="t"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 1.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><w:sdtpr></w:sdtpr><w:sdt docpart="F0204E9030914F94B2B9AC95FCABC844" id="89512082" storeitemid="X_8B32532E-8D19-4418-98B1-AD6D806666F9" text="t" title="Post Title" xpath="/ns0:BlogPostInfo/ns0:PostTitle"></w:sdt></span>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moulthrop,
S; "You Say You Want a Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of Media",</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
<i>The New Media Reader</i>, edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort,
Cambridge and London, MIT Press; 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stuart Moulthrop's essay "You
Say You Want a Revolution?" originally appeared in 1991 in <i>Postmodern
Culture</i>, edited by E. Umiran and J. Unsworth. The fluidly written text is divided into
roughly six distinct sections: a theoretical introduction, examinations of
hypertext according to each of Marshall McLuhan's "Laws of Media",
and a brief conclusion. As a point of
departure Moulthrop reviews the history of the concept of Hypertext. He argues that when the essay first appeared,
hypertext was relatively unknown, yet the concepts hypertext enables extends as
far back as Vannevar Bush's Memex.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moulthrop focuses his discussion on Theodor
Holm Nelson as a central theorist of Hypertext.
Nelson, working in the 1960's, coined the term hypertext, and developed
a model for a worldwide network of information he called 'Xanadu' many years
prior to the advent of the internet, even prior to the advent of the personal
computer. Moulthrop outlines and
examines Nelsons propositions in great detail, focussing on Nelsons statement
that "tomorrows hypertext have immense political ramifications". Yet, at the time of writing, Nelson points
out the startling absence of the information revolution that was anticipated to
change the way we read, write and think.
Nelson touches briefly on many other theorists who in their work
anticipated the change brought about by hypertext, and sets out the shifting
interest, and expectations, from one 'bleeding edge' technology to the next. It is at this point that Moulthrop arrives at
the central proposition of this text, the (mis)understanding of technology and
revolution within the postmodern framework.
In the examination of the political and social ramifications of
hypertext and other information sharing systems that follows Moulthrop
continually returns to the definition and expectations of revolution,
contrasting and comparing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In all of these investigations
Nelson's conceptualisation of Xanadu takes centre stage as the analysed
example. Eventually Moulthrop arrives at
the uncompleted final work of Marshall McLuhan, the fourfold "Laws of
Media", which where to "form a framework for a semiotics of technology" (Moulthrop
,697). These laws pose four questions
that can be asked of any invention, assessing the extent of which it is
transformative in its field. Moulthrop
proceeds by asking each of these questions of Hypertext, and evaluating the
results. What does Hypertext Enhance or
Intensify? What does Hypertext Displace
or Render Obsolete? What does Hypertext
retrieve that was Previously Obsolete? What
does Hypertext become when taken to its Limit?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moulthrop examines these questions
in relation to hypertext in great detail, concentrating on a post-modern
analysis of socio-political implications, again returning occasionally to
Xanadu to concretise the theory in practical example. In conclusion he returns to the question he
posed at the beginning of the text: "Do we really want a revolution?"
(Moulthrop, 703) As well as using Xanadu
to concretise the question, he examines the political climate at the time,
sighting examples of resurfacing conservatism and economic pressures. His conclusion still however remains hopeful,
if cautionary: "Yet, in the face of
all this we can still fond visionary souls who say they want textual, social,
cultural, intelectual revolution. In the
words of Lennon: <i>Well, you know… We all want to change your head. </i> The question remains: which heads do the
changing, and which get changed?" (Moulthrop, 703)<o:p></o:p></span></div>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-18459346796643527522010-11-12T10:09:00.003+02:002011-04-29T10:07:17.534+02:00Reblog: Fear of an App Planet<div>
This is a brief look at the ideas of censorship that are implied by the move to app stores in obtaining cultural content. Interestingly, in a similar move of random censorship to that which Juul describes below, Amazon today removed an e-book on pedophilia from sale due to public pressure while many others on the same topic remained available on the shopping giant.<br />
<br />
From <i>The Ludologist</i> by Jesper Juul:</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
"<br />
With Apple announcing an <a href="http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/">App store for the Mac</a> following the App Store for iPhones and iPads, it’s worth pondering what this means for video games.<br />
<ol>
<li>It’s a great way to allow the distribution of games of different scope, so why is this the first major commercial internet-based software store for a major operating system? Seems so obvious. (Though Linux users have long had <a href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages">similar systems</a>, though only for non-commercial software.)</li>
<li>The Mac App store will have <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/apples-mac-app-store-review-guidelines-posted-will-photoshop/">similarly strict and semi-random policies</a> as the iOS app store. As I have argued before, I think the app store policies are ambiguous and inconsistently enforced <a href="http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/?p=827">by design</a>: this has the desired <a href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Chilling_effect_%28law%29">chilling effects</a> of self-censorship among developers, while Apple can claim that it intended no such thing.</li>
<li>It has historically been the case that console games were heavily controlled and censored, while PC and Mac games allowed for freedom of expression. Assuming that more software sales move from boxed and regular web to the Mac App Store, we are going to see the Mac becoming less of a platform for edgy and experimental content. You can still get your software elsewhere, but convenience matters.</li>
<li>And again: there would be an uproar if a major bookstore censored books according to Apple guidelines, so why do we accept censorship for games?</li>
<li>Which means that the potential future in which all games on all platforms are distributed through app store-like channels … that is a potential nightmare."</li>
</ol>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-91581971295727339492010-09-21T11:09:00.003+02:002011-04-29T10:08:25.229+02:00Reblog: YouTube vs. Fair Use<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a disaster for fair use practices. If clips are to be used for teaching, of blogging, or referencing the draconian misuse of copyright by many copyright holders will cripple it. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Article by Jeff Atwood at <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/09/youtube-vs-fair-use.html">Coding Horror</a>.</span></div>
<blockquote>
<div>
</div>
<a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/09/youtube-vs-fair-use.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">YouTube vs. Fair Use</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"In </span></span><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/10/youtube-the-big-copyright-lie.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">YouTube: The Big Copyright Lie</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, I described my love-hate relationship with YouTube, at least as it existed in way back in the dark ages of 2007.</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now think back through all the videos you've watched on YouTube. How many of them contained any original content?
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It's perhaps the ultimate case of cognitive dissonance: by YouTube's own rules [which prohibit copyrighted content], YouTube cannot exist. And yet it does.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How do we reconcile YouTube's official hard-line position on copyright with the reality that 90% of the content on their site is clearly copyrighted and clearly used without permission? It seems YouTube has an awfully convenient 'don't ask, don't tell' policy-- they make no effort to verify that the uploaded content is either original content or fair use. The copyrighted content stays up until the copyright owner complains. Then, and only then, is it removed.
</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Today's lesson, then, is </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">be careful what you ask for</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the time, I just assumed that YouTube would never be able to resolve this problem through technology. The idea that you could somehow fingerprint every user-created uploaded video against </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">every piece of copyrighted video ever created</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was so laughable to me that I wrote it off as impossible.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A few days ago I uploaded a small clip from the movie </span></span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088794/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Better Off Dead</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to YouTube, in order to use it in the </span></span><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/09/go-that-way-really-fast.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Go That Way, Really Fast</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> blog entry. This is quintessential </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">fair use</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: a tiny excerpt of the movie, presented in the context of a larger blog entry. So far, so good.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But then I uploaded a small clip from a different movie that I'm planning to use in another, future blog entry. Within an hour of uploading it, I received this email:
</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dear {username},
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Your video, {title}, may have content that is owned or licensed by {company}.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_copyright"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Content ID Matches section of your account</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> for more information.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sincerely,
- The YouTube Team
</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This 90 second clip is from a recent movie. Not a hugely popular movie, mind you, but a movie you've probably heard of. This email both fascinated and horrified me. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How did they match a random, weirdly cropped (thanks, Windows Movie Maker) clip from the middle of a non-blockbuster movie</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> within an hour of me uploading it? This had to be some kind of automated process that checks uploaded user content against every piece of copyrighted content ever created (or the top n subset thereof), </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">exactly the kind that I thought was impossible.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Uh oh.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I began to do some research. I quickly found </span></span><a href="http://www.csh.rit.edu/~parallax/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fun with YouTube's Audio Content ID System</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which doesn't cover video, but it's definitely related:
</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was caught by surprise one day when I received an automated email from YouTube informing me that my video had a music rights issue and it was removed from the site. I didn't really care.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then a car commercial parody I made (arguably one of my better videos) was taken down because I used an unlicensed song. That pissed me off. I couldn't easily go back and re-edit the video to remove the song, as the source media had long since been archived in a shoebox somewhere. And I couldn't simply re-upload the video, as it got identified and taken down every time. I needed to find a way to outsmart the fingerprinter. I was angry and I had a lot of free time. Not a good combination.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I racked my brain trying to think of every possible audio manipulation that might get by the fingerprinter. I came up with an almost-scientific method for testing each modification, and I got to work.
</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Further research led me to this brief TED talk, </span></span><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_stewart_how_youtube_thinks_about_copyright.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How YouTube Thinks About Copyright</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.
</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We compare each upload against all the reference files in our database. This heat map is going to show you how the brain of this system works.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://www.codinghorror.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b013487722cc4970c-800wi" title="Youtube-content-detection" />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here we can see the reference file being compared to the user generated content. The system compares every moment of one to the other to see if there's a match. This means we can identify a match even if the copy uses just a portion of the original file, plays it in slow motion, and has degraded audio or video.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The scale and speed of this system is truly breathtaking -- we're not just talking about a few videos, we're talking about over 100 years of video every day between new uploads and the legacy scans we regularly do across all of the content on the site. And when we compare those 100 years of video, we're comparing it against millions of reference files in our database. It'd be like 36,000 people staring at 36,000 monitors each and every day without as much as a coffee break.
</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have to admit that I'm astounded by the scope, scale, and sheer effectiveness of YouTube's new copyright detection system </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">that I thought was impossible!</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Seriously, </span></span><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_stewart_how_youtube_thinks_about_copyright.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">watch the TED talk</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. It's not long. The more I researched </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83766"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">YouTube's video identification tool</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the more I realized that </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">resistance is futile</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. It's </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">so</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> good that the only way to defeat it is by degrading your audio and video so much that you have effectively ruined it. And when it comes to copyright violations, if you can achieve mutually assured destruction, then you have won. Absolutely and unconditionally.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is an outcome so incredible I am still having trouble believing it. But I have the automatically blocked uploads to prove it.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now, </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I am in no way proposing that copyright is something we should be trying to defeat or work around</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. I suppose I was just used to the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez-faire"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">laissez faire</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> status quo on YouTube, and the idea of a video copyright detection system this effective was completely beyond the pale. My hat is off to the engineers at Google who came up with this system. They aren't the bad guys here; they offer some rather sane alternatives when copyright matches are found:
</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If Content ID identifies a match between a user upload and material in the reference library, it applies the usage policy designated by the content owner. The usage policy tells the system what to do with the video. Matches can be to only the audio portion of an upload, the video portion only, or both.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are three usage policies -- </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Block, Track or Monetize</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. If a rights owner specifies a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Block</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> policy, the video will not be viewable on YouTube. If the rights owner specifies a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Track</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> policy, the video will continue to be made available on YouTube and the rights owner will receive information about the video, such as how many views it receives. For a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Monetize</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> policy, the video will continue to be available on YouTube and ads will appear in conjunction with the video. The policies can be region-specific, so a content owner can allow a particular piece of material in one country and block the material in another.
</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The particular content provider whose copyright I matched chose the draconian block policy. That's certainly not Google's fault, but I guess you could say </span></span><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/07/googles-number-one-ui-mistake.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I'm Feeling Unlucky</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Although the 90 second clip I uploaded is clearly copyrighted content -- I would never dispute that -- </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">my intent is not to facilitate illegal use, but to 'quote' the movie scene as part of a larger blog entry.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> YouTube does provide recourse for uploaders; they make it easy to file a dispute once the content is flagged as copyrighted. So I dutifully filled out the dispute form, indicating that I felt I had a reasonable claim of fair use.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Youtube-fair-use-dispute" src="http://www.codinghorror.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b013487721471970c-800wi" style="border: 1px solid silver;" title="Youtube-fair-use-dispute" />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, my fair use claim was denied without explanation by the copyright holder.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Let's consider the four guidelines for fair use I outlined in </span></span><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/10/youtube-the-big-copyright-lie.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">my original 2007 blog entry</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:
</span></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Is the use transformative?
</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Is the source material intended for the public good?
</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How much was taken?
</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What's the market effect?
</span></span></li>
</ol>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While we're clear on 3 and 4, items 1 and 2 are hazy in a mashup. This would definitely be transformative, and I like to think that I'm writing for the erudition of myself and others, not merely to entertain people. I uploaded with the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">intent</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of the video being viewed through a blog entry, with YouTube as the content host only. But it was still 90 seconds of the movie viewable on YouTube by anyone, context free.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So I'm torn.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On one hand, this is an </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">insanely</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> impressive technological coup. The idea that YouTube can (with the assistance of the copyright holders) really validate every minute of uploaded video against </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">every minute of every major copyrighted work</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is unfathomable to me. When YouTube promised to do this to placate copyright owners, I was sure they were delaying for time. But much to my fair-use-loving dismay, they've actually gone and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">built</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the damn thing -- and it works.
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just, maybe, it works a little </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">too</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> well. I'm still looking for video sharing services that </span></span><a href="http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/6445/web-video-sharing-service-with-fair-use-protection"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">offer some kind of fair use protection</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. "</span></span></div>
</blockquote>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-60698299226387077732010-09-14T15:24:00.004+02:002011-04-29T10:09:06.264+02:00Reblog: Escaping the fridge<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is an excellent, if brief, discussion of the use of 'women in refrigerator's' in Dragon Age Origins. 'Women in refrigerators' is a term used in comics to describe the all to common use of a female characters trauma to add emotional drive to the hero's quest. In this piece Kateri looks at how this trope is subverted in a single moment in 'Dragon Age - Origins'</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Original article by Kateri at </span></span><a href="http://fallingawkwardly.wordpress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">falling awkwardly</span></span></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<a href="http://fallingawkwardly.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/escaping-the-fridge/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Escaping the fridge</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">:</span></span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">"</span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">A quick break from srs metaphysical bsns to talk about ladies and kitchen appliances.</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">
</span></span></span><br />
<h3>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">When is a woman in a refrigerator not in a refrigerator?</span></span></span></h3>
<a href="http://fallingawkwardly.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/shianni.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><img alt="" height="428" src="http://fallingawkwardly.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/shianni.jpg?w=600&h=428" title="Shianni" width="600" /></span></span></span></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Dragon Age: Origins offers the player several ways of beginning the game, several “origins”. Each one provides your character with a home, a history, and a reason for joining the elite fighting force of the Grey Wardens, thus setting up the rest of the game’s story. This about one of them.</span></span></span><strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> Trigger warning for rape and violence; spoiler warning for the City Elf origin.</span></span></span></em></strong><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></span></span></em></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I have to say, when I first played through the City Elf origin story, I wasn’t wildly impressed. The lowdown: after a series of unfortunate events, the cousin of the PC, a young female elf named Shianni, is raped and beaten, and you, the protagonist, arrive too late to prevent it. This leads into a revenge opportunity against the men responsible and other assorted chaos that culminates in the PC being recruited into the Grey Wardens to avoid the long arm of the law.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">While I didn’t think the (offscreen) rape was handled tastelessly or implausibly, I considered the whole situation rather a cheap narrative device. Specifically, I suspected they were falling into the “</span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Women in Refrigerators</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">” trope. For the uninitiated, this is a narrative device </span></span></span><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">common to all media</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">, but especially prevalent in </span></span></span><a href="http://comiccritics.com/2008/10/29/the-true-meaning-of-halloween/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">comics</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> (from where the name originates) and video games. It can be identified when a supporting character is killed, raped or otherwise traumatized horribly for the sole purpose of providing the main character with an ‘I WILL AVENGE YOOOU’ emotional motivation and related Dramatic Angst.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">It’s not the presence of death/rape/trauma that is problematic, so much as the fact that the victim of this trauma seems to exist solely as a vehicle for said trauma rather than as an actual character. Once the desired Angst has been shovelled onto the – usually male – main character, the – usually female – victim, having served their purpose, is often forgotten about entirely. Surviving victims, in the unlikely event that the plot still bothers to involve them, will generally show no memory or ill-effects of their experience. The trope is cheap, frequently sexist and an insult to people with experience of actual trauma. Hence my lack of enthusiasm when I seemed to recognise it. </span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Oh lovely,</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> I thought, </span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">this Shianni character’s getting </span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">’</span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">fridged in an attempt to provoke an emotional reaction in the player. Whatever.</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> I left the starter area, got into the game proper, and didn’t think much more about it.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Then later, much later, I met Shianni* again. This was after my PC had been adventuring it up across the land, exploring new places, meeting new people and killing them. Shianni congratulated him on his accomplishments, in tones laced with sarcasm. Then she turned it around on him, accusing him of having forgotten, in his glorious crusade, where he had come from, and why it all started: “You don’t even feel much anymore when you remember it, do you?” she said, bitterly. “You’ve moved on, past the horror of that night. I envy you. You’ve gone on to other things, things I can only dream of.”**</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I felt it like a punch in the stomach. It helped that the voice acting was a masterpiece of subtle emotion, but more than that – it was all true. She had been a plot device, her pain mere emotional leverage to set my protagonist on his journey. I had barely given her a second thought since the game proper began, focusing on my “important” quests, my “real” party members. But in that moment, she refused to let me do that. </span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Screw you, hero boy, </span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">she seemed to be saying to my PC,</span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> you were the lucky one. I was raped, and you got to use it to your own advantage and then forget about it. I have never had the luxury of forgetting about it. Every day that you were triumphing over evil and hunting for treasure, I had to remember it, and live with it, and carry on anyway.</span></span></span></em><br />
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></span></span></em><br />
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<em><em><a href="http://fallingawkwardly.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/shianni2.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><img alt="" height="362" src="http://fallingawkwardly.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/shianni2.jpg?w=600&h=362" title="shianni2" width="600" /></span></span></span></a></em></em><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Judged and found wanting.</span></span></span></div>
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Shianni subverts the “women in refrigerators” trope not just because she survives, but because she, and her trauma, do not suddenly stop mattering once their narrative usefulness is spent. She carries on – we later find her pouring her considerable energies into activism and the defense of her people – but her experiences remain part of her. She insists on being a character, not just a plot device, and she doesn’t let the player get away with treating her like one.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">When is a woman in a refrigerator not in a refrigerator? When she kicks open the door and breaks it over your head.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">
</span></span></span><br />
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">*OK, so technically, it’s a spirit, and it’s unclear if it’s actually representing Shianni, or (more probably) a manifestation of the protagonist’s unconscious mind. For the purposes of Shianni’s character development and role from the player’s point of view, however, it doesn’t actually matter which she is!
</span></span></span></em><br />
<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">**It’s worth noting that Shianni doesn’t have this conversation with all City Elf PCs, as I later discovered, just the ones who deserve it. A friend roleplayed a city elf plagued by guilt about what happened, and met with a Shianni who, while still haunted by the memory of what happened, gently tried to assuage the PC’s self-blame. File this under “BioWare are Impressively Sneaky”.</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=fallingawkwardly.wordpress.com&blog=7617704&post=262&subd=fallingawkwardly&ref=&feed=1" width="1" />"</span></div>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-68418202292191758102010-09-08T10:03:00.003+02:002011-04-29T10:10:02.601+02:00Reblog: the truth is in the back and forth<div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">An interesting experiment by James Bridle. Article as posted by Bob Stein on IF:book:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ifbook/~3/DzD62IcebaQ/james_bridle_designer_and_prog.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">the truth is in the back and forth</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">: "</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">James Bridle (designer and programmer of the Institute's </span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Golden Notebook</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> project in 2008) just published the complete history of the Wikipedia article on the Iraq War. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="display: inline;"><img alt="bridle wikipedia.png" height="344" src="http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/Picture%202.png" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px; text-align: center;" width="575" /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">James writes </span></span></span><a href="http://booktwo.org/notebook/wikipedia-historiography/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">on his blog</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">:
This particular book--or rather, set of books--is every edit made to a single Wikipedia article, The Iraq War, during the five years between the article's inception in December 2004 and November 2009, a total of 12,000 changes and almost 7,000 pages. It amounts to twelve volumes: the size of a single old-style encyclopaedia. It contains arguments over numbers, differences of opinion on relevance and political standpoints, and frequent moments when someone erases the whole thing and just writes 'Saddam Hussein was a dickhead'.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">As early as 2006, </span></span></span><a href="http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2006/08/jaron_laniers_essay_on_digital.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">i wrote in if:book</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> that the truth in Wikipedia articles lay in the edits, rather than the surface article:</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">In a traditional encyclopedia, experts write articles that are permanently encased in authoritative editions. The writing and editing goes on behind the scenes, effectively hiding the process that produces the published article. The standalone nature of print encyclopedias also means that any discussion about articles is essentially private and hidden from collective view. The Wikipedia is a quite different sort of publication, which frankly needs to be read in a new way. Jaron focuses on the 'finished piece', ie. the latest version of a Wikipedia article. In fact what is most illuminative is the back-and-forth that occurs between a topic's many author/editors. I think there is a lot to be learned by studying the points of dissent; indeed the 'truth' is likely to be found in the interstices, where different points of view collide. Network-authored works need to be read in a new way that allows one to focus on the process as well as the end product. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Four years later, we don't yet have the tools that would let people read Wikipedia articles in 'a new way' but hopefully Bridle's very impressive experiment with this one article will spur efforts to develop new tools for reading online works which are constantly being changed and edited.</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ifbook?a=DzD62IcebaQ:7j0iH-UWsVk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ifbook?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></span></span><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ifbook?a=DzD62IcebaQ:7j0iH-UWsVk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ifbook?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" /></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"> </span></span></span><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ifbook?a=DzD62IcebaQ:7j0iH-UWsVk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ifbook?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">
</span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">"</span></span></span>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-67588707735651258722010-09-03T13:18:00.002+02:002011-04-29T10:10:46.162+02:00Reblog: Gamer Dreams<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Interesting if contentious research highlighted by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jamie Madigan at </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/">psychology of games</a>:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/08/12/gamer-dreams/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gamer Dreams</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: "</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Do hardcore gamers have more bizarre but less threatening dreams than non-gamers? One of the things I love about academics is that if you chain a million of them to a million graduate students, then one of them –by pure chance alone– will study a question like that. For example, I’ve been reading about a research program by psychologists Jayne Gackenbach and Beena Kuruvilla about the ways in which the dreams of hardcore gamers differ from non-gamers. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Curious as this is, it’s actually not that off the wall if you do some digging. Research suggests that people, especially adolescents, use violent and/or scary media as a way to practice dealing with life’s comparatively mundane but nonetheless stressful situations. The theory goes that games (and other media like comics, movies, or books) give us a safe place to either become a little desensitized to anxiety-provoking ideas, or to develop cognitive strategies for coping with them. It’s like play fighting, but for your brain. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In fact, this is exactly the kind of thing that one of the studies by Gakenbach and Kuruvilla</span></span></span><sup><a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/08/12/gamer-dreams/#footnote_0_537" title="Gackenbach, J. & Kuruvilla, B. (2008). The Relationship Between Video Game Play and Threat Simulation Dreams. Dreaming, 18 (4), 236-256."><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1</span></span></span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> looked at, except that they examined how our mind may do this mental preparation for real-world threats during our dreams. Termed “threat simulation theory” the idea is that our minds create dreams to simulate aspects of those threats so that we can practice dealing with them and be better prepared for the real deal in real life. So if we’re worried about crime, we may dream about our house getting broken into.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="width: 510px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img alt="sleeping" height="333" src="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/sleeping.jpg" title="sleeping" width="500" /></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A typical gamer at rest.</span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gakenbach and Kuruvilla figured that like dreams, video games, are fake realities into which we project ourselves. This is particularly true with highly </span></span></span><a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/07/27/the-psychology-of-immersion-in-video-games/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">immersive</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> games where players start to feel like they are spatially present in the game world. The researchers hypothesized that intense gaming sessions can fill the role traditionally handled by scary and threatening dreams, and with lowered needs to practice dealing with real-life anxiety, there will be fewer threat simulation dreams.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And, lo and behold, when they studied the data from surveys asking participants to recount their dreams and game playing habits, Gackenback and Kuruvilla found that this was generally true. With regards to people’s dreams, the survey measured whether or not there was a threatening event, what it was like, who the target of the threat was, how severe it was, whether or not the dreamer was participating in the threat, and the dreamer’s reaction. In short, hardcore gamers</span></span></span><sup><a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/08/12/gamer-dreams/#footnote_1_537" title="The researchers actually called them "High End Gamers" but that label seems weird to me, like we're luxury goods."><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2</span></span></span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> still had violent and threatening dreams –no surprise, since we often dream about what we encounter while waking, and for hardcore gamers that often includes video game violence– but they reported being less frightened by the dreams and were much less likely to characterize them as “nightmares.” Even more interestingly, this was especially true of those who played lots of first-person shooters. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But is that the only way that gamers dream differently? Nope. In a subsequent study,</span></span></span><sup><a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/08/12/gamer-dreams/#footnote_2_537" title="Gackenback, J., Kuruvilla, B. & Dopko, R. (2009). Video Game Play and Dream Bizarreness. Dreaming, 19 (4), 218-231."><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3</span></span></span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the same researchers also looked at how likely hardcore gamers were to have really bizarre dreams. And honestly, what I found most fascinating about this study was how they conceptualized bizarreness as consisting of three factors:</span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Incongruity</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> or mismatching features of dream images</span></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Uncertain or explicit </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">vagueness</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of dream images</span></span></span></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Discontinuity</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> or sudden appearance, disappearance, or transformation of dream images</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyway, the researchers figured that since we see so many really weird things in our video games during our waking hours, that weirdness must seep through into our dreams. Turns out they were right. Upon analyzing more data from surveys asking participants to describe their dreams and gaming habits, the Gackenback et al. found that gamers tended to have dreams with more vague and incongruent content, especially as it related to people and places. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again, maybe not surprising, but the authors have some interesting theories as to why this is the case, beyond the obvious explanation that we tend to dream about what we see while awake the day before. For example, the more bizarre dreams may happen because gamers’ minds may be conditioned to be open to and even expect unorthodox relationships between concepts and things. This jives with other research showing that playing video games may enhance nonverbal problem solving, especially as it relates to spatial reasoning. Additionally, greater creativity (which also requires one to “get” unorthodox relationships among different things) has been shown to greater dream bizarreness. So hardcore gamers, as a group, may be conditioned to be more creative and better at certain types of problem solving relative to casual gamers or non-gamers. Because …we have really weird dreams. Or rather, we have the weird dreams because of those other things. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At any rate, it’s an interesting line of research, if a little niche.</span></span></span><sup><a href="http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/08/12/gamer-dreams/#footnote_3_537" title="Says the guy who has a blog about the psychology of video games."><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4</span></span></span></a></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Now, go to bed –you’ve got some really weird but strangely non-threatening dreams to get to.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Footnotes:</span></span></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gackenbach, J. & Kuruvilla, B. (2008). The Relationship Between Video Game Play and Threat Simulation Dreams. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dreaming, 18</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (4), 236-256.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The researchers actually called them “High End Gamers” but that label seems weird to me, like we’re luxury goods.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gackenback, J., Kuruvilla, B. & Dopko, R. (2009). Video Game Play and Dream Bizarreness. </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dreaming, 19</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (4), 218-231.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Says the guy who has a blog about the psychology of video games.</span></span></span></li>
</ol>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"</span></span></span>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-88938016049105084962010-09-03T13:15:00.002+02:002011-04-29T10:11:48.882+02:00Reblog: New Journal Primes You for ppg256<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Over at Post Position Nick Montfort writes:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://nickm.com/post/2010/08/new-journal-primes-you-for-ppg256/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New Journal Primes You for ppg256</span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"</span></span></span><a href="http://epc.buffalo.edu/ezines/elp/"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Emerging Langauge Practices</span></span></span></i></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is a new journal based at SUNY Buffalo (poetic hotbed and host of the next E-Poetry) and founded by Loss Pequeño Glazier, Sarah JM Kolberg, and A. J. Patrick Liszkiewicz. Issue one is a real accomplishment.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are eye-catching creative projects by mIEKAL aND & Liaizon Wakest and by Lawrence Upton and John Levack Drever. There are also pieces by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries and Molleindustria. (We can only hope for further industrialization of this sort and more of these compelling productions in future issues.) The issue also includes a piece by Abraham Parangi, Giselle Beiguelman’s mobile tagging, Sandy Baldwin’s plaintive piece “** PLEASE REPLY MY BELOVED **,” and Jorge Luis Antonio’s wide-ranging article on digital poetry.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The item that particularly caught my eye, though, was this article by Mark Marino: </span></span></span><a href="http://epc.buffalo.edu/ezines/elp/issue-1/ppg256.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“The ppg256 Perl Primer: The Poetry of Techneculture.”</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Marino is an officer of the Electronic Literature Organization with me and a current collaborator of mine, although he completed this article before joining me on our current project. The discussion he developed for the first issue of </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ELP</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is really in-depth. Marino not only considers the workings and connotations of my </span></span></span><a href="http://nickm.com/poems/ppg256.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ppg256 series of poetry generators,</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and considers related code and literary traditions from Perl Golf to the Oulipo – he also considers other programs that interest me and that I’ve discussed publicly in various contexts, sometimes with collaborators. And, he connects the coding traditions relevant to ppg256 to technical practices in boy culture and (via needlework) girl culture.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In one section near the beginning of the article, Mark relates a line of BASIC that I posted on his Critical Code Studies forum and notes (partly in jest, I think) the following:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I cannot include the full discussion here (over 5000 words) because as Montfort told me over the phone (in jest, I think), he is planning a book-length anthology of readings about the program.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, that’s more or less the project Mark and I, along with several others, are now embarked upon. However, we’re writing this book in a single voice rather than collecting articles about the program. More on that before too long; for now, go and enjoy the new </span></span></span><a href="http://epc.buffalo.edu/ezines/elp/"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Emerging Language Practices.</span></span></span></i></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"</span></span></span>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-79309611898038082192010-06-07T11:36:00.005+02:002011-04-29T10:13:17.747+02:00Reblog: The Geotagger's World Atlas #1: New York<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/4621770959/" title="photo sharing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img alt="" height="400" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4621770959_383261aebe.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px;" width="400" /></span></span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/4621770959/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Geotaggers' World Atlas #1: New York</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, originally uploaded by </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/walkingsf/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Eric Fischer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">These beautiful, ephemeral maps by Eric Fisher are well worth a look.</span></span>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-16188912902063054702009-01-14T15:33:00.006+02:002010-06-07T11:59:46.470+02:00Some Rough Notes - On reading Alexander Halavais’ "The Hyperlink as Organizing Principle"<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;" xmlns=""></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have just finished reading Alexander Halavais' article "The Hyperlink as Organising Principle" published in the recent collection edited by Turrow and Tsui </span><a href="http://www.digitalculture.org/hyperlinked.html"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Hyperlinked Society</span></em></a><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">
(The collection is most certainly worth a look and, as an added bonus, the full text is available free on line.) Halavais' essay offers an insightful account of the nature of the hyperlink and its influence in determining the structure of networked space, opening with the provocative question: "What does a hyperlink mean?" Halavais notes that "this meaning is neither unitary nor stable" before turning to the crux of his argument:
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As hyperlink networks become more easily manipulated and reach farther into our social and physical lives, we will have a continuing need to understand the hyperlink as more than a way of automatically requesting documents from a Web server. (39)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The article functions as an exploration of this need rather than offering answers to the questions it poses. Originally Halavais offers a short history of the hyperlink, offering citation as a precursor, and using that as a springboard into his discussion. Halavais considers the meaning of a hyperlink as entirely dependent on the greater context it is in, the nodes it connects or the use it is put to. I would argue to the contrary - I think there is a case to be made for the hyperlink itself as the carrier of some meaning, be that as an add-on / mediator / determining factor to the more central and significant meanings of its greater context and use. This is what my research centers on: the hyperlink as site of signification in its own right. Even more applicable to my own research is his statement further on suggesting that
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">the ultimate trajectory of hyperlinks may indeed be invisibility, the blue-underlined text merging with light switches and voice commands to become one of a superset of links. (52) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I find this concept, the shift towards invisibility of the link, fascinating. In the past I have argued that hyperlinks necessarily need to be self revealing constructs in order to function. That while the link is naturalised and even disguised the user still needs to be made aware of its artifice to be able to make use of it – therefore links are concurrently masking and revealing their presence in order to create meaning. Halavias gestures towards this when he says that
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">as the hyperlink becomes more ubiquitous, it is also layered with more meaning. (52)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The article concludes rather abruptly, and I found myself wishing that Halavais had pursued some of his suggestions and allusions in greater detail. His final statement is a re-iteration of the need for a developed understanding of hyperlinks:
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In understanding what a hyperlink means, we need to look at what a hyperlink does. Over time, it has come to do more and more. At present, it stands as the basic element of organization for the Web, and as more and more of our lives are conducted through the Web, it becomes increasingly important that we understand how hyperlinked structures are formed and change. (53)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Overall the article is very useful, well written and easily accessible it opens many areas for debate and future study, consistently pointing to the need for a more nuanced view of the hyperlink. A need I feel cannot be overemphasised.
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</span>Hanlihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16767123585169372663noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-50046224728739725432007-06-04T20:17:00.001+02:002007-06-04T20:22:55.647+02:00<font xmlns=""><p style="text-align: justify;"><font face="Arial"><strong>The Hyperlink as a Mark of Transition<br /></strong></font></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><font face="Arial"><strong>Abstract<br /></strong></font></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><font face="Arial">For any regular Internet user, the hyperlink has become ubiquitous, almost rendered invisible through the frequency of their use. Trails in hypertext are meticulously laid out through the seemingly endless streams of data, connected by links imagined as points of intersection in the web. Links are used for reference, for navigation but also extensively in creative production, to fashion hypertextual narratives and images. This paper examines the hyperlink's function as an indicator of transition and site of transformation. It is a brief exploration of the hyperlink as a signifier, as well as a mark both on and in the 'surface' of the digital text.<br /></font></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><font face="Arial">These strange non-objects that connect information are loaded with meanings and assumptions. This paper considers the hyperlink as a node, a zone, or a mark in a text that indicates a possible point of transition. While masked by regular use and innovative design, the hyperlink is not by its nature transparent – for it to function is has to be a self revealing construct. Hyperlinks are imagined to connect data seamlessly, yet that is exactly what they cannot do, as for them to be usable and useful, they need to highlight transition as well as enable it. The link inhabits the imaginary space between two points of data, it is positioned to be neither an object nor an action, and it signifies without being fully indexical or fully symbolic. In this presentation I hope to briefly explore some of the characteristics of this strange liminal creature that inhabits our screens.<br /></font></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><font face="Arial">Key words: <em>Hypertext, Hyperlink, Liminal Space, Transition, Mark, Neal von Flue</em><br /> </font></p></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33956621.post-65328108742756566882007-04-05T12:45:00.002+02:002011-11-25T14:22:19.042+02:00<a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/hanlibecker/Roguereader/photo?authkey=HRjkoSIEE08#5081052820928121794"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img src="http://lh4.google.co.uk/hanlibecker/RoOGnrxqy8I/AAAAAAAAABk/y8Ff2LnNT-M/s400/link%20-%20art.jpg" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
In this post I will be discussing Neal von Flue’s webcomic 'Halycon Redux' – Last Ditch. </span></span><a href="http://ape-law.com/hypercomics/images/halcyon/lastditch/redux/content.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://ape-law.com/hypercomics/images/halcyon/lastditch/redux/content.html</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
Neal von Flue is a freelance artist, and well known comic creator, researcher and critic. He has written extensively on experimental webcomics for the online magazine The Webcomic Examiner, and has created several comics exploring his interests in this field (all of which are published on </span></span><a href="http://www.ape-law.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">www.Ape-Law.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">). He is possibly best known for the WCCA award winning collaboration with Alexander Danner 'Five Ways to Love a Cockroach'.
'Halcyon Redux' is an experimental online comic. The tile, like the comic itself, relies on layered meaning, conflating the mundane with the mythical. The comic is littered with road signs referring to ‘Halcyon Road’, and ‘Halcyon’ itself as an area or place. This is obviously not the only meaning of Halcyon: the Halcyon is a mythical bird, identified with the King Fisher, which has the ability to calm the sea and storms. Halcyon has come to mean tranquillity, and peace. The ‘Halcyon years’ refers to a prosperous time, a golden age. Halcyon Redux – Last ditch indicates a reliving or a reworking of such a golden age. Von Flue describes the project as “A redesign of my final Halcyon Years instalment, using the </span></span><a href="http://www.infinitecanvas.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Infinite Canvas</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> webcomic delivery system to create a non-linear interaction.”
In a very condensed nutshell: the comic appears to be autobiographical, the author often refers to the work as ‘self indulgent’. The comic is highly self referential – it contains other older self contained works, both ones created digitally and ones pre-digital (in his career) and scanned in. It has a circular ‘flow’ - the eye leads viewer over page - from centre / bottom right as entrance point, then reverts to reading habits, comes in at the top left - but circles right. Vignette stories combined in larger narrative. Combination of printed text, handwritten text, drawings and photographs.
Keywords describing the thematic concerns would be all the postmodern catchphrases – meta text, inter text, hyper text, and palimpsest.
On opening the page the viewer is presented with a single panel view with simple ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ navigation buttons at the bottom. Underneath the comic’s title is the simple instruction “Mouse over the comic for hotspots”.
Once the control has been activated, the reader can hover over the panel, causing ‘hotspots’ to appear.
Thematically, this designates areas in the image as areas of significance; temporarily marking the image, and establishing hierarchical relationships between visual elements. This marking is however very subtle, and echoes the patterns and panels already visible at first glance, it also fades relatively quickly leading to a ghosting of possible transitional points – remembered but not seen – adding to the effect of the palimpsest.
Technically these ‘hotspots’ designate starting points from which the reader is directed through the comic. Clicking on one will start the reader on a sequence – comparable to the traditional strip – but unlike in a traditional comic where the possibility of reading and rereading is central the readers direction is dictated by the flash sequence of zooms and scrolls that are triggered. The pace of the comic is also affected as the fast scrolling momentarily reveals and conceals elements of the work that fall outside the created ‘panel’. (Construction of ideas of ‘panel’ in this comic are quite complicated so I’m not going in to that at the moment.) While the navigation is largely automatic, it can also be over ridden to enable a manual click and drag navigation. All forms of navigation in the comic require active reader participation. The Navigation buttons, allows reader to go forward and back, when the screen moves too fast and something is intentionally sped past the reader, the back and forth process of trying to see it becomes important - frustration is used repeatedly as a strategy to encourage reader engagement with the work. This adds to the strong, but disjointed rhythm created in the comic by the repetition of imagery.
In addition to the hotspot starting points, the comic is riddled with Easter eggs these include hyperlinks to other ‘separate’ comics that are part of the same work, external web-pages, and even trigger pop-ups.
While the comic appears to be free-form, the reader is able to engage with the panels in any order, yet there is still a strong sense of structure in the work. – Will Eisner’s structure - guiding a reader through the comic by manipulating the movement of the eye over the page.
This guiding is both subtle through visual cues etc, and overt, through actual movement of the page view.
As von Flue mentioned, the comic was created using the ‘Infinite canvas application’. Named for the influential theory of the ‘infinite canvas’ posited by Scott McCloud in his book Re-Inventing Comics, the InfiniteCanvas application was developed by </span></span><a href="mailto:aquarius@mindnode.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Markus Müller</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (as a computer science student) as practical training and final thesis project at the </span></span><a href="http://www.tuwien.ac.at/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">University of Technology Vienna</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. InfiniteCanvas is an attempt to implement an environment for an infinite canvas. The application was designed with Apple’s iApps in mind. It was envisioned as an easy to use and intuitive application to outline and design an infinite canvas. The application consists of two components, an editor implemented in Objective-C Cocoa (an Apple-Framework) and an online viewer written in
Development started in February 2003 and a first public version was release 1 1/4 years later in early July 2004. The first versions featured a Java based viewer. This viewer was replaced by a Flash based viewer in IC version 1.3.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0