'Dooced!'

'Dooced' was not a word I'd ever encountered 'til I went to the SXSW Panel entitled 'Content Boundaries, a 12-Step Programme'. The ladies in the above photo, Heather Armstrong AKA 'Dooce' (left) and Margaret Mason AKA 'Mighty Girl' (right), have over 13 years experience of writing blogs. Their panel dealt with how to balance your interests as a blogger against those of your readers. 

For those of you that don't know, and I didn't, to be 'dooced' means to be fired from your job for writing about your work place, and/or colleagues, in an open and frank manner on a blog. Heather Armstrong did just that and was fired from her well paid job as a web designer in LA. But luckily, what could have been a disastrous career move instead turned out to be her making; she sued and got loads of publicity that meant the readership of her blog rose dramatically. And, because she really does have some interesting things to say, she now sells advertising space and is making enough money for her family to live on, solely through publishing her blog...

Maggie Mason is a freelance writer and publisher of shopping blogs. Her 'Mighty Goods' and 'Mighty Junior' have developed since 2000 and contain personal descriptions of her own taste and lifestyle; the identifying characteristic of her site is that she tells readers about items she finds and really likes thereby sharing and making her discoveries available to others. It's simple as that! She has a huge readership, as others seem to able to relate to her taste, and she has also been able to sell advertising space on her site. 

Both writers had originally resisted advertising for fear of commercialisation of their ideas but now agreed that having taken the plunge they can control the type of ads and campaigns they feature on the blogs. Their 12 step programme was really a summing up of common  sense procedures to 'blogging'. For example: if you put out a controversial statement of some kind on you blog, don't be surprised if you get some negative feedback. Don't get upset, just be prepared...and then delete! 

I found both woman communicative and spirited but it was 'Dooce'  who really  interested me (perhaps 'Mighty Girl' felt too much like an online disseminator of consumerism a la Bourdieu for me). 'Dooce' initially used her blog as a sounding post to vent her emotions and the complex and painful experiences of her life; by being open and honest she connected to a huge readership who related to that honesty, and her spirit to survive. And has she survived. She has surmounted a variety of difficulties and problems in her life: religious indoctrination, cancer, and post-natal depression to name but a few. Her blogging voice is frank, ironic, conversational, sometimes angry but always engaging. And this basic humanity has been the attraction for her readers, and the conduit to a frank and uninhibited exchange of information and points of views. 

What I took from this session were feelings that the power of blogging could be developed and explored within a Virtual Learning Environment.  How it could be used to exchange ideas and knowledge; in fact during some further research I have discovered that some progressive companies here in the US have already done this and been overwhelmed by the quality and usefulness of the results. But what about this: maybe blogs could be used even more within education - and Art & Design institutions in particular - not only as a forum of communication but as a tool to promote creativity itself? 

 

Worth a try?

Magical Mystery Talk

Jared Spool "Magic and Mental Models: using illusion to simplify designs"

Jared's presentation was brilliant, clever, insightful, and thought provoking, plus extremely funny and entertaining. He started the presentation by citing his family, actually his 17 year old son who wants to be a magician, who he supports by attending Magic Conferences with him. And it was during one of these events a germ of an idea was fertilised for his SXSW/Screeburn presentation. But before telling you more about his idea, and some of my own, I'm going to digress and and mention a theme that appeared as a common thread running through SXSW/Screenburn: the human relationship to technology. 

Regardless of content, at almost every presentation, talk, or panel I attended, there was a 'referencing of family' occurring. Whether it be son, daughter, father, brother, sister grandparents, great-grandparents, even dogs; something had happened to every speaker via a family seemed to trigger a revelatory thought process, ultimately leading to a wealth of innovative ideas that brought them success within their field. The speakers (mainly American) made no separation between professional status and family life or human experience, and seemed comfortable moving between these two areas, talking coherently about both toward the same end: 'The Idea'. I never imagined that the 'geeky' world of technological innovation would currently be fueled by deep routed responses to the human experience. But why should I be surprised? After all, computers and the internet may have changed the way we communicate beyond recognition but it is us who uses them. Despite the myriad technical advances, we are still as human as ever. Later on during SXSW/Screeburn I was to learn more about two current driving forces behind many new ideas regarding technology: the quality of life and the pursuit of  happiness.

Anyway, back to Jared's presentation that also addresses how humans relate to technology. His research deals with the craft of professional magic and the parallels between the world of magic and illusions and that of digital design. Jared compares similarities between professional illusions and many of today's top design techniques. Throughout his presentation he performs a variety of tricks to support a range of connected theses. Jared presents us with some ideas about perception, showing us 4 propositions on the overhead screens, and asks us judge which passes the quickest: 1. A blank black screen  2. A green arrow filling out across the screen 3. A 10 second numbered count down. 4. A You Tube film of people holding tarantulas. Of course they are all the same duration but the fact is that the blank screen seems to take a lot longer to pass than the spider film, thus showing simple tricks can make designs appear faster and can enhance the experience of consumer usability. 

During another example of illusion and perception Jared asks someone from the audience, let's call him X, to step onto the stage. X is asked to sit perfectly still and to face the back of the room without moving, Jared then pulls out what appears to be a high powered drill, the sound of the machine clearly makes X feel uncomfortable, Jared then attaches a large round card which has a black and white spiral printed on it to the drill and starts it again whilst asking the audience to stare hard at the card until he says stop. At this point we are asked to look at X's head; a cry of amazement erupts from the crowd as X's head appears to shrinks to the size of a tennis ball! Jared then asks us to look again at the rotating card and we go through the same process: more cries as this time X's head increases to the size of a large beach ball! Go to Jared's website and you will find a section about the importance of 'Whimsicality' and creating illusions and delightful experiences for internet and computer users. The whole push of Jared's talk is really that we need whimsy, illusion and ultimately delight to engage us with all technology...you really wouldn't be very excited trying to read this blog in the zeros and ones it ultimately exists in, would you?

You are probably wondering what all this proves? Well, simply the power of magic and illusion to engage human beings; something artists and designers have known about and performed for centuries. Many people often fail to see a connection between art and design practice and the science of technology; but perhaps they haven't been thinking about the illusion and delight of the interfaces they use everyday and their ability to conceal the mundane operations behind the screen enough... 

 

Wise Jedi Jenkins Is

So, the guy above is Harry Jenkins from MIT, speaker with Steven Johnson at the SXSW Opening Remarks on Saturday March 8th. I'll tell you a bit more about their inspirational discussion later. First up though, my Saturday schedule started with 'The Future of Virtual World and Game Development: Rise of the Indies' by speaker Corey Bridges of Multiverse. 

Corey was a charismatic speaker who talked about 'Oligopoly' (from the Greek meaning few sellers) and how large corporations have traditionally exerted control over media markets through controlling the means of production and distribution, thus acting as the few sellers of information. But Corey is adamant that this is not for much longer; production and distribution can be homegrown, and big ideas can be done on a small scale, cheaply and independently. Corey argued that the traditional Oligopolists are folding, dying right before our very eyes.  He talked about Print media, particularly newspapers and the monthly decline of hardcopy readership; the Music industry, where traditional store sales of CD and other physical media look to be in terminal tailspin. Although Films are still being watched, the way we watch them is changing: to home cinema's and downloads that no longer force us to watch adverts, if we ever really did.  And TV? Corey delivered the diagnosis, and it's not benign. The omnipotent Twentieth Century media is now fragmenting and declining as viewers turn to other media for engagement to news and entertainment. And finally on the chopping block were Video Games...

What? I hear you say. Games, dead?! Well according to Corey, certainly the big production, cinematic games developed by big studios that currently rule the roost. Oh yeah, and the idea of the console. They are both dead. The studios and console manufacturers know it, they just won't admit it. Big games with big development processes are built on risky economics: they can often cost $10 million per game, and a bad game can take down a company. The hardcore gaming market is becoming shaky, and there is a very short shelf life at the point of retail. 

Because of these risks the Games Industry has adapted processes resulting in creative constraints that perpetuate the same tired old genres and unimaginative ideas. No-one can afford to take big risks. But Corey predicts all this is going to change as the 'Indie' Game Developers assault the front line of the Gaming Industry: sidestepping the need for consoles, making more original games because they can afford to take risks, leading the field. He draws a comparison here to what has happened to the music industry in recent years. Corey's cultural predications include new uses for Video Games, the de-stigmatization of game playing so it's no longer a dirty word to the wider world (he compared the use of Manga in Japan and increasingly elsewhere and its use for education, training, and communicating with a wider audience). He also described an increasing blurring of boundaries and distinctions between the industries producing Video Games, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks, a rise of new genres of games not just for hardcore gamers, smarter games for smaller market segments, and a rise in downloadable games, ultimately bringing the death of the console. 

Food for thought?

Now to Jenkins and Johnson. Jenkins looks unassuming, putting me in mind of Yoda, (and as the talk progresses this is amplified, he plays the role of the wise disseminator of knowledge perfectly), wandering around in front of the stage prior to his discussion with Johnson, he chats to a few people in the audience and seems completely at ease in his public persona. He stops occasionally to pose, in a well rehearsed manner, for the many photographers hovering around him. Luckily he wasn't aware of my photography! 

Johnson leads the discussion and introduces Jenkins as 'A defender of Popular Culture'. Jenkins starts by presenting ideas regarding how young people have been able engage with new technologies and assert their own autonomy, a 'New Literacy' for New Media. He states that many parents fear this new literacy because they can't understand it. Jenkins believes we must address the 'knowledge cultures' that have developed through this new media, and look at developing new curriculums in Schools that acknowledge, promote, and guide students by using different models for the delivery of teaching. He feels there is resistance because the traditions in teaching and learning date back to a renaissance model. 

Jenkins then asserts that we need to look at new models for the work place to recognise and benefit from peoples' skills developed outside the work environment. He uses an example of a nurse who finishes her shifts and then goes home and writes a blog, sells items on Ebay, manages personal accounts online, creates photo/film files, uses a digital manipulation programme, plays a couple of games etc...  Are her self-taught skills being used in her job? Or to advance her career? How are all her skills being measured and then developed? 

Jenkins is a staunch supporter of Wikipedia, and the currency of shared information or 'collective intelligence'. He believes that more recently, and due to more academic usage and constant adjustment, this resource has become increasingly more valuable. He also declares himself as an 'Obama Boy' and talks passionately about the influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He explores the idea of 'We' as opposed to 'I' - a central tenet of both Senator Obama's campaign and the Civil Rights philosophy of MLK. He believes in the importance of having positive visions for the future and makes a suggestion that we all read Stephen Duncombe's 'Dream: Re-imagining progressive politics in an age of Fantasy'. I'm off to the book store shortly!

Jenkins poses the question, 'How can we use technology to build a better society?'. He sees Blogs, Games, Mobiles etc. etc. as space for opportunity, not just to make money, but to actually improve our everyday experience through 'participatory culture' and grassroots action. He is charming and affable, and communicates his wealth of knowledge in a direct manner. He takes complex ideas and delivers them with ease but when pushed is like a warrior fighting for his vision. You can see the Yoda thing now, right? Go check out his blog and find the ways of the 'New Media' Jedi! 

All the keynotes, discussions, panels at SXSW will be podcast and available from the website by March 20.

Screenburn - Late Registration

The picture above shows me outside the Austin Conference Centre, with my Big Bag of (mainly useless) goodies. Great bag though. That's my SXSW pass around my neck. There were thousands registering but it was all organised with typical American 'can-do' efficiency. Most of those thousands waiting appeared to be conducting their day exclusively with iPhones - the technological embodiment of that very same efficiency. 

Saturday is a full day of panels and conversations and I'll be attending a keynote talk by Professor Henry Jenkins of MIT, a panel taking about the rise of Indie games production, something about Guns and Games and loads more interesting stuff, including checking out the Screenburn Arcade of the latest and hottest previews. 

So much to do, I really better get going...

Keep It Weird

There are a number of signs dotted around Austin advertising Emergency Call Boxes. I think it has something to do with the city's promotional strap-line: 'Keep Austin Weird'. This relates to the city's independent nature and rather left-field attitude. I mean where else has a festival devoted to Eyeore's Birthday (a load of hippies banging drums in honor of a fictional donkey) or a 'Spamarama' (a festival that involves doing weird things with something posing as meat)? But today I felt like reaching for an Emergency Phone when I came across a taxi driver who was cross between Grizzly Adams and Travis Bickle; I'll call him GT. 

GT picked me up from my airport hotel and by the time we'd left the parking lot I already knew most of his life story (even allowing for the oversized nature of most car-related things here, that's pretty good going). It went something like this: GT was brought up by 'Indians' and his 'father' was over 100 when he died. He took him up to a holy mountain when he was small and made him commune with a variety of Native American gods who proceeded to talk back to him prompting lightning to strike, and the young GT to immediately pee his pants. He then served with the Green Berets in 'Nam during the early '60s, and was later taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese for 3 years. On his return Stateside he was invalided out of the US Army and spent some time in a VA hospital in the Carolina's diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. GT also had a line in bigamy - simultaneously married to Asian and American wives - and later chronic alcoholism. Throughout this time he drove a taxi armed only with his father's knotted stick, and a Denny's beaker filled with Bourbon riding shotgun. 
 
Today GT no longer drinks. This is due to his father visiting him on the wings of a Raven whilst he was living the life of Grizzly Adams in Alaska and telling him to come home to Texas to be reborn to the 'Wheel of Spirits' of ancient Lakota Gods. It also seems that he has become obsessed with numerology, reborn as a baptist, and believes something about white buffalos symbolizing Hilary Clinton. 

GT was most definitely, and by all sane definitions, pretty weird. Unlike the 'real' Travis Bickle he didn't want "...a real rain to come and wash all the scum off the street", and unlike Grizzly didn't appear over reliant upon wild animals. But he did have a strange knotted stick he banged on the floor of his Crown Victoria, a plethora of Voodoo-esque silver rings, and some real crazy stories. In the UK he would not be allowed in a Taxi, let alone able to drive one. But guess what? I'm glad he was. I don't know how much of what he said was true but he sure believed it. And if only half of it was - and GT got through it, living happily (and soberly) driving his taxi - then I think he's done well.



And without doubt GT is 'Keeping Austin 100% Weird'.