Posts (page 2)
My topic is on machinima culture in SL. While researching I have learned that it’s not as active as a lot of people think it could be. Talking to various SL users in a machinima group chat made me want to get more involved in connecting machinima users. I noticed that when I started a dialogue in the group it engaged a lot of people to ask questions about machinima and learn about various techniques from other users. This dialogue happened in IM format. Various users online at once could engage in conversation or ask other "online" machinima group members questions. I had been thinking about my dream research tool since last week. I wondered if it existed so I talked to various users on SL and realized that it was not fully realized but that someone (who I befriended) is working on a prototype that could be used for machinamators.
The tool that I would want to create is having the option to see what other avatars are filming while they are using machinima in SL or in any other program. For example, I have been trying to go on a shoot with a RL filmmaker who makes machinima in SL. He pointed out that it might be “boring” because I wouldn’t be able to see what he is shooting. Part of me thinks it’s interesting that one cannot see what others are shooting. That aspect of machinima also brings up the issue of privacy. But that appears to be a big issue in SL...As a researcher and filmmaker it would be more hands on to see what others are shooting. This function would also be helpful in terms of learning about technique and style used in machinima. I have seen some work that has been very stylized. CU, MS, LOW ANGLE, HIGH ANGLE...The same type of cinematography that would be used in RL. To be able to see that process like one can in RL would be beneficial for both research and technique. This tool could be very helpful in collaboration. Filmmaking is usually not a one man/woman show. To have the option to view a screen and be able to see what the camera sees could add to the creative process/collaboration.
For those who work visually I did a mock up of two avatars using this screen. Of course the final version would be more design conscience. In this example the two avatars are looking at a mountain with trees and a sun. AV1 and AV2 both have optional screens that they can utilize to see what the other AV is filming. If they do not want the screen all they would need to do is click the the x to get rid of it. This tool would be ideal for me because I would love to see the decisions people make when creating machinima. I would also like to be able to compare the techniques to RL video/filmmaking. Besides that it would make my experience more interactive if I was following around a machinamator. Just to clarify...the screen I am proposing would serve as a “window” to the the actual camera…So if the AV changes position in framing the optional screen would capture those movements as well. So in this case both avatars can look at a mini screen on their own computer to see what the other AV is shooting. Both optional screens would not be on the main screen like this mock up represents.
Things to think about:
Would people need to ask permission to see what others are shooting?
Should it be like when you have to click "ok" to animate ones avatar?
What are the concerns this could raise in the SL world?
What are the benefits?
I would love to see this idea realized. Should talk to that guy more...
Friction
An Ethnography of Global Connection.
Anna Tsing
Lots of interesting stuff happening in this book. A lot of concepts to remember but the ethnographic approach helps in understanding the emotion behind the sometimes heavy text. I read the section on "knowledge" and really enjoyed the ethnographic qualities of the text. Particularly enjoyed chapter four when Tsing discusses Nature Lover's. That chapter took me through a journey...I started by understanding what a nature lover is and the reasons why these clubs started in the first place. I got an idea in my head about the youth involved in these groups and how these groups worked both politically and personally. I also liked how Tsing eventually takes the reader through the different changes that the term/image of a nature lover experienced.
This book took me through the changes of environmental issues and allowed me to think about concepts that are overshadowed (in my everyday life) but important. Remembering the history behind things! What makes something what it is? Why is that important?
Ideas....humans, non-humans, species, youth, forests, plants, trade, rural, cosmopolitan, advertising/branding, politics, war, language, damage, ecology,tourists, adventurers, rural villagers, friction, universals, and global connections.
I noticed that while reading this book I often thought about Friction in SL. Jeff wrote about this in his blog entry and everyone should check it out. I tried to think of some examples too. SL activism, people on SL that go on there solely to create havoc...Comparing different types of friction that I felt from the beginning of my journey in SL to the present.
I found the readings to be really interesting this week. I definitely feel like each week of readings creates a puzzle piece in terms of how to approach autoethnography for my project. There appears to be many possibilities to create a project...I am still grasping them.
From Use to Presence: On the Expressions and Aesthetics of Everyday Computational Things
Autoethnography, personal, narrative, reflexivity
Just returned from Iceland and since it was so amazing i'm wondering if it exists in SL. I am going to look for it. I have not blogged in a while but i'm back in action. The last time I was in SL was when our class met up with Kamran's friend Gotthata. He was explaining how he met his wife in SL. It was interesting. Not shocking to me or "wierd". I think it's actually really cool. We were able to meet his wife too which was great. She gave us these balls that teleported us to their land. I have never seen these balls before and i'm curious as to how they are made. The land was really peaceful and they had a lot of animals running around. I tried to pet the dog and all of a sudden I was kicked off of the land. That was the first time I have ever been kicked out of land. I ended up in some kind of time warp. Anyhow I got transported back and then decided not to touch any of the animals. Hahahh.
[23:40] TS: anyways.. so i bought some land in SL.. on mainland..
[23:40] TS which is important.. cause mainland is owned by Lindenlabs..
[23:40] TS: there is no way they can take it from you if you don't do something fucked up
[23:40] TS: when ppl buy on private sims (private land) .. it can be taken away by the owner of the sim
[23:41] TS: funny thing is.. my neighbors here are all dutch lesbians..
[23:41] ME: hahahhahahha
[23:41] ME: amazing
[23:41] TS: most of them i found out in RL... live normal lives with kids and husbands and stuff.
[23:41] TS: crazy huh?
[23:41] ME: yesss
[23:41] ME: very much so
[23:41] TS: yea.
[23:41] TS: SL is nuts.
[23:41] ME: thanks for inviting me
There are a lot of tid bits that come out in conversation. I must comb through them.
There were many readings to cover so I am choosing to include a few. I just want to jot down some things that I found interesting so I can refer back to them when I am doing my own research in SL. I will begin with the readings on the Internet Research, 2 chapters from the cell phone book, and 1-2 readings from the readings on blackboard.
The first few readings we received dealt with Internet Research Ethics and had a lot of overlaps in terms of content. I really learned a lot from these because I am new to ethnography and the ethics of Internet Research. I am interested in developing guidelines that can assist me in my research on SL.
Reading One:
Internet Research Ethics
Ethics of Internet Research: Contesting the Human Subjects Research Model
Internet as cultural production of texts
Interplay between space and text/develop models that acknowledge both
Regards of human subject as primary/aims of the researcher as secondary**
Internet ‘Space’-not a virtual space in which actors can be observed
Slippage between real and virtual**
Emotion/feelings/sentience of persons can be translated through computing technologies.
Human subjects research model…Internet as published text, Internet as ‘site’ of
community
Internet textuality-publication/form of cultural production
Global public sphere through Internet use
Issues of privacy, confidentiality, informed consent
Logging chats…informing
3 models-text as reflection of the author, text as object, text as reader-response.
Intentional fallacy-finding author in the work
Intellectual properyy-text belonging to owner
Ethical considerations when researching people/texts
Open exchange of ideas between researcher/author of the text/engaging in the text**
Case study of “gaygirls.com” people believing there is privacy but in reality no control over who is viewing the material. What is public and what is private online?
User names with texts/protecting a user name
Educating about the conditions of Internet use
Reading Two:
CultureCat Rhetoric and Feminism
Themes: I like the idea of having my research be interactive, I need to include both text and space models, privacy issues, consent (proper way to get consent?), how will I recruit? Categorizing people, faceless people? But are they? Setting a standard, revealing my identity, Validity and paying attention to etc…Will I be only using SL? Theories used to guide inquiry, potential sources of bias?, data analysis, informing participants of results, etc etc…
There are so many considerations to keep in mind when I was reading about the ethical issues regarding online research. I see that there are a lot of overlaps but I am still unclear as to the best way of guaranteeing that my research incorporates all of these elements. I like the article that was from the ciadvertising.org site. It was more concise in terms of what to consider and how to consider it. Internet research appears to be an art form…An art form that I am trying to develop through my interactions on SL/my autoethnography blog.
Reading Three:
The Cell Phone an Anthropology of Communication
Lots of interesting stuff happening in Jamaica in terms of the cell phone. Made me think a lot about my relationship to my own cell phone. Something that I didn’t think about too much until I was living in South America this summer without one for a few weeks. I didn’t really feel like I needed one but after some pressure I discovered that it was indeed nice to have one and did open up many doors for communication/exploration. I just want to mark some key things I found interesting from chapters 4/5.
Chapter Four:
Posession
The lack of phone will come to signify no so much poverty as destitution. Cheapest models are sought after most, coordinating the phone with their fashion sense/creative ways to wear a phone (this made me think of SL), a larger phone can be seen as an embarrassment, ringtones feature/features that allow on to compose own ringtones, the function of the cell is a system of communication more than accessory, In Jamaica the phone is a small multi-purpose tool and can be used in place of computers, changing a profile on a phone and creating a photo, ringtone, and alert when someone calls (interesting.), cell phone as a way to alleviate boredom (have heard this in SL.), different types of conversation and the lengths of conversation, jealousy over the phone, talking on the phone as opposed to dressing up and talking in person, texting associated with young people/can express themselves through text in a way that could not be done through voice, can text during a class but cannot talk, picture messaging as a way of storing pictures, Using the web on the phone and having that be there first experience on the Internet, phone porn…
The contrast of landlines. I found this section to be really interesting…
Experience of landlines looked at as negative, problems calling abroad when using a landline, not private, fees and expenses, being able to track calls, tensions arise around family when sharing a landline, can be an element of control in the household, cell phone cost s per second…cheaper…
Chapter Five:
Link-up
Networked individualism, invigorating of social relations, cell phone as an “agent” or “moral force”, the cell phone being blamed for actions of deceit, cell phone as a way of connecting women/elderly with community for errands, cell phone circulating gossip/information, cell phone to obtain money, using the phone to maintain the transnational family, change in relationship between parents and children. More communication, communicating with transnational family in order to move, storing phone numbers of family and friends, making connections via chance encounters, differences between communicating on a cell phone in Jamaica as opposed to the U.K. or U.S.A, extending social and financial support.
When reading this book it was interesting to notice some differences with the cell phone but also a lot of similarities….Can discuss this further in class…
Reading Four:
Conclusion: What does it mean to be posthuman?
Literal sense…humans displaced as the dominant form of life on the planet of intelligent machines. Instead posthuman can be looked at as getting out of the old boxes and opening up new ones. It doesn’t have to be a hierarchy where humans are knocked out of top ranking and replaced by machines.
Randomness creative ground from which pattern can emerge. Bateson’s use of systems, metaphors, the difference that makes a difference. Posthuman can end a certain conception of the human (not a bad idea.) Rethinking the articulation of humans with intelligent machines.
Decisions invisible to human attention would be made by intelligent machines. But this made me think of how everything is automated now and I really hate it…
The idea of control…human obsession with control
Posthuman as a tool for education
Bateson-thinking is done by both human and non-human actors.
Hutchins-Ultimately make the entire world one system…
I have been meaning to post these blog entries but my Internet has been down.
I teleport to different places and search for my interests. So far I have been interested in machinima and joining different groups to see what angle I can take this research in. While searching I ended up transporting to a place called MMAC which is a cinema, music, and comedy place.
http://www.TheMMAC.net (MMAC/General Info)
http://Calendar.theMMAC.net (The Calendar)
I ended up meeting the owner and asking him some questions. I told him I was interested in machinima and he had a lot of groups in his profile that he said were “active.” I ended up joining a few that I need to explore. He is a filmmaker in RL based in NY but has not used machinima yet. I tried to grill him about why my machinima crashes and he said he wasn’t sure. I was asking him how he started the place and he was telling me that it’s 6 months old and he started by learning how to build/promoting his band. It was fascinating! I told him about my research and how I wanted to bring the class there at some point. He said that would be fine so maybe if there is an event we can check it out. We only talked for maybe 10-15 minutes but Dash is a knowledgeable guy. I should go to one of his events and watch some shorts that are made in RL but playing in SL.
The two avatars that took me shopping invited me to sail on a boat they found. They teleported me to the water and I had to fly up and somehow land/sit on the boat. This was very challenging for me. I ended up falling into the water about 4x before I could sit on the boat. They pretended that there were sharks in the ocean and I actually found myself looking for sharks when all along that was just a joke. We ended up sailing and realized that the boat was made for 2 people! So the female avatar ended up sitting engulfed in the male avatar. I ended up taking a picture of this because it was too weird. There was also jokes that were being made about it as if these things were actually happening. After sailing for a bit we ended up finding land. The place we found was incredible. A place to hang out and sit. Apparently the person that owned the land made sailboats and the male avatar wanted to buy one. He ended up finding out that the guy who made the boats had been on SL since I want to say 2003 and that was a big deal for both him and the female avatar. They were looking up stats somewhere and finding out about the guy and the boats he sells.
I ended up sitting on some pillows and then the other two avatars were “cuddling.” I actually felt myself thinking that I was the 3rd wheel for a second. It was so strange. We all talked and then I decided to leave because I got tired. There is only so much time I could spend on second life sailing and sitting down. It was a fun experience though…the experiences seem to become more complicated for me in terms of analyzing interactions and comparing them to the beginning…It’s nice that I have met these two avatars. They dance together, hang out around 2nd life together, and have somehow invited me into their circle. Hanging out with other avatars is something that I am enjoying…it has definitely made me learn a lot more about the program and possibilities for research.
Observation of the day: In 2nd Life avatars have a lot of energy…I have less energy…
My appearance has changed so much on second life since I first began using the program earlier this month. Before I started I didn’t seem to care about what I looked liked….but the longer I have been in SL the more pressure I have felt to look a certain way. Being a “newbie” has been looked down upon from other avatars who look more “realistic” thus my transformation.
I ended up meeting two avatars. One who looked like a RL friend of mine so I was automatically drawn to his avatar. The other was a girl that seems to be this avatars SL girlfriend. Something he denies. Anyhow the male avatar has been helping me a lot in terms of navigating SL and learning about the different things that go on in SL. After talking to him a few times on SL he blatantly told me that my avatar needed a “makeover” of sort. So he ended up sending me 2500 linden dollars and said “lets go shopping…but don’t tell ***** I gave you the money I don’t want SL drama.” “SL Drama” a new idea for me and one that I do not want to be involved in!
So that’s what we did and it was a really interesting experience. First it was just me and the male avatar. We went to a place with walls full of hair, “skins”, shoes, glasses, tattoos. Everything! I also noticed that these things looked different then the free stuff. Eventually the male avatar teleported the female avatar to our location. She ended up giving me a “custom skin” and right when I put these different “attachments” on my avatar looked like a different…(I noticed that while typing this I have almost referred to my avatar as a person.) I don’t think I’m ready to use that term though. The 2 avatars were like “look at yourself you look so different!” and then they were teaching me how to use my mouse/option key to get different views. I was amazed at the transformation and how “real” my avatar was beginning to look. I also found myself missing my old avatar. Like the innocence was gone in a sense.
Going around SL as my new avatar was another experience. People were talking to me especially male avatars. I was attracting a group of avatars that I wasn’t really interested in meeting. I guess those same types of avatars were around before my transformation but they were even more present now! Within my next couple times on SL I ended up going shopping via stores that the female avatar told me about. I noticed that these stores were nice! They had a staff…totally weird concept. The staff was rude too. I also noticed that I was looking for dressing rooms but apparently dressing rooms do not exist in SL. I ended up buying clothes that I would feel comfortable wearing in RL. It also toned down the stripper look that my avatar had before. Shopping was fun on 2nd life. I ended up buying items that I had in RL or similar to RL. When I changed into my new clothes my avatar looked different again. It’s interesting how appearance in 2nd life is similar to RL in the sense that clothes can create a persona…and accessories can create a persona etc…
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