Thursday, September 11, 2008

WK4 (9-11) - Real World Elements

Keyword: Interactive



This week we talked about "real" interactive elements, from performance art to advertising that walk the fuzzy line between "real" Reality and Alternate Reality.

This week's HW:
Keep working on your presentations. You should already have started contributing to the ARG meta and forum sites. Aside from Blogger (this class blog) which is 1/5 your grade, you should be contributing to Unfiction, ARGn, Despoiler, and any others you are using for class-related ARG social networking that you wish to share. In order to get credit for your posts to these sites (another 1/5 of your grade!) you MUST keep track of what aliases you are using to post and keep a log of your interactions to send to me later.

9 comments:

Jax D. said...

The irony of the situation. I've been hired to make a video kinda like what happens in Improv Everywhere.

It's interesting to see how this has become the new face of the media we see today. The agency I'm working with is looking for new ways to impact a generation of people who have become so jaded with media that stuff like elements of an arg are the only way to reach out.

Anonymous said...

That's interesting indeed.

Yesterday I heard on NPR about silent raves 'organized' in Facebook. People show up at parks and other public places at a pre-designated time with their mp3 players and headphones. All 2,000 people dance together but to their own music.

They even do the conga. Not very well to be sure...I mean everyone is on a different beat! And no one cares.

How far we've come from American Bandstand! (uh, if anyone remembers that...)

Candiluu said...

I'm curious about the silent raves. If I'm listening to techno, and you are listening to bubblegum... will I bump into you? Or are they all pretty much techno, so it's all the same song and nobody really has issue??

Also, posting to ARGN, despoiler, etc: I don't feel qualified to contribute in any useful way. (I'm absolutely NOT qualified, seeing as I've only heard about the genre this year.) Posting crap is still posting, but would it be better to wait until we have an actual contribution? Just curious. I'll do whatever, but usually try not to just post random BS unless absolutely necessary.

Andrew Stallings said...

I guess my question is how involved are you expecting us to be? I'm really not a forum or posting person. Generally no matter what I write I get no responses.

About last weeks connection between ARGs and the six degrees of separation could you have tried to make a connection between the Chaotic Fictions emergent properties and the underlying principles behind social networking; that everyone is connected and as a collective can accomplish any task?

Anonymous said...

What I heard about the silent raves is that the dancing people were all listenting to wildly different music. It was reported looking like a spastic, rhythmically challenged mob. Naturally, there were all kinds of collisions and the funny thing is that all the spectators could hear was laughter mixed with people apologizing to each other really loudly.

So I guess you could say people were accomplishing something collectively and they were connected, albeit in a chaotic way.

I like that the connection was more conceptual and kinetic and very little else.

Is that art imitating life? ...all the collisions being analogous to the six degrees of separation. And chaos...

Zen Almasri said...

A silent rave sounds pretty fun tho. I could easily see myself and a bunch of my friends doing something like that. I was looking at the improve site you showed us last week and was really entertained.

As far as the question about posting pointless stuff, I feel like im in a the same boat. I dont like to just post for the sake of posting, I like to actually contribute.

I also seem to have stopped in my ARG. So far there is only so much information. Im thinking about swiching but didnt decide anything yet.

webula said...

The Silent Rave concept is fascinating!

It makes me think of an idea to "Soundtrack" your life.

You know how movies have these great orchestral compositions that highlight the action and emotions in a movie?

What if everyone had an MP3 player with music playing 24-7, enhancing your everday activites? And what if groups of people had exactly the same sequence of music in their personal "soundtracks?" Would this affect "group" behavior?

Something else y'all might want to think about is this:

Do people who enjoy the same TV programs, watch the same Movies, Play in the same RP Games have similar tastes and preferences outside of the ARG?

Doc B said...

@Andrew S.
I really don't care how involved and interactive you are - just that you ARE involved. The triangle of player participation dictates that you are a casual player until you become active - but what is that? I defined it in my research based upon my own data but its really quite subjective isn't it? Hmmm...

Leslie said...

I think I might be getting the hang of this blog thing as I see that many conversations we have had over the week as we ran into each other are now posted here, ie. not feeling comfortable yet about posting on sites, which is my concern also, so I am glad we are clearing that up.

Regarding the rave- Sherrie, I laughed out loud when you described what the spectators were seeing and hearing (and yes, I remember Bandstand)!

And very interesting webula- I have had some similar thoughts but not about sound tracking your life- we’ll have to talk-

Here is some other info for you guys on interactive ideas or projects people are doing that you might also be interested in-

Yellow Arrow- is a “global creative community making a new M.A.A.P (Massively Authored Artistic Publication) of the world”
http://yellowarrow.net/index2.php

Dialtones- A Telesymphony- “large-scale concert performance whose sounds are wholly produced through the carefully choreographed ringing of the audience’s own mobile phones”
http://www.flong.com/projects/telesymphony/

Sky Ear-Sky Ear is a one-night event in which a glowing "cloud" of mobile phones and helium balloons is released into the air so that people can dial into the cloud and listen to the sounds of the sky
http://www.haque.co.uk/skyear/information.html