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2 April, 2008

blue dots  Backchannel Notes - Bleecker

Last night we ran an experimental "backchannel" during Julian Bleecker's talk in the Zemeckis Media Lab. Backchannel refers to making the crowd chatter public, the idea that the students or audience can discuss during a lecture in a way that becomes part of the shared intellectual space.

I believe in backchannel, especially as a way to bring more people into the discussion. For more information on the roots of the technology-enhanced backchannel, see my article "Harnessing the Hacker's HeckleBot" from TheFeature.com.

The ZML, where Bleecker was giving his remarks, has 16 projectors that can be used for wrap-around surround-o-stimulation. We had 5 of those screens: three displaying a shared IRC chatroom, and two displaying EtherPEG output - a "sniffed" record of the JPEGs going by in people's web surfing on the local wireless.

bleecker's backchannelbleecker's backchannel
Two pictures - click for blow-ups
First photo: Bleecker scratches his head with the backchannel behind him - from left to right, IRC, EtherPEG, and then Bleecker's PowerPoint slide reading "Why Am I White?" which was a subject of some jokes in the IRC area. Second photo: the corner of the room, a more close-up view of the two backchannel screens.

The group feedback on this IRC/EtherPEG Backchannel experiment was varied but summarizable as follows:

People remarked that the EtherPEG was sort of pleasant, as something to watch, a sort of media bath. A mood indicator perhaps. The pictures varied; some were related to Bleecker's work, some related to interactive media art overall, some were related to the Yankees/Red Sox game, some were random websurfing. People seemed to like to have something else to watch, and occasionally giggle at. Some students seemed to resent that they felt their ability to freely and privately surf the web during class was jeopardized by having their image data exposed.

We also had an IRC channel, #julian, that Josh - "Hoky" helped us set up. There was some useful stenocaptioning, provided by myself, and by Vince typing remarkable lines from Bleecker's talk. Also, dictionary definitions of some unusual words (elide, motility), and corroborating or contradicting ideas. Doox remarked that he really enjoyed having the URLs from Julian's talk posted in a way that he could click and browse them on his own.

But people also seemed to feel IRC was the source of the greatest distraction. The format itself is informal, people said, we're used to using chat to make quips and rejoinders, not produce focused text streams for public consumption. Some people posted ASCII art, some others making some crude jokes. Mostly people just seemed to be stymied by the presence of flowing text in the classroom. That the text was sometimes about violence towards fellow students with animals was not helpful. I'll post the chat log below; you can see for yourself how it went by.

Fortunately, Julian Bleecker, the speaker, was good humored about the moments of distraction. We're lucky for that. And that the department chair Scott Fisher found the experiment inspiring or amusing enough to encourage it to continue. I believe he enjoyed the casual note the backchannel injected into the otherwise somewhat formal Wednesday night seminar.

Moving forward, I plan to experiment with more structured backchannel experiences and other software. The mix of images and text could be supported by a live Flickr chatroom, for example. Multiple authors could develop a comprehensive set of lecture notes in SubEthaEdit. People might join in an AIM chat room on the topic. Some of these tools are new tools, and people might effectively approach them as means for knowledge production, rather than knee-slapping rejoinders. Hopefully, over time, through different applications, students might learn to use even IRC for more focused discussion, or at least learn to sit through a lecture with a lively text scroll going by, and be able to draw useful information from it without feeling overwhelmed or unduly distracted.

There's also the idea of officially appointed "info jockeys" - people who pull up selected pictures and web pages during a lecture, giving another perspective on the remarks. Probably mostly corroborative, but perhaps usefully contradictory. But this is not Backchannel, per se, because it wouldn't necessarily incorporate the vibe in the room; rather it's like having someone unwittingly drive the speaker's PowerPoint.

Fortunately, we have a media-rich room, and a room full of curious active minds, many toting laptops. Any of this work that we do will be posted publicly, during the seminars and afterwards - the most exciting aspect of this exercise involves the bridging of physical and virtual, giving audience members another place to speak, or at least a place for supplementary information.

It's a very fertile area! It's obviously difficult to get interactive technologies up during speakers - it challenges the audience to pay attention, it challenges the speaker to hold attention; perhaps it pushes everyone to let go a little bit and interact together towards a shared goal. If there is a shared goal! Presumedly everyone is there to learn and converse. After this experiment, I believe that Backchannel is a learned skill, and I think the Interactive Media Division is a great place to see how people might learn to participate in productive Backchannel. Of course, defining "productive" is difficult, let alone defining "backchannel" - "backchannel" would seem to be the notes that students pass to one another; we're really proposing some kind of middle space, between the podium and the back row, a sort of a public note-passing system for the attentive students in the front row.


Log Opened: Wed Oct 20 18:42:57 2004
<TheViewer> The RAIN in SPAIN falls MAINLY ON THE PLAIN!
<TheViewer> OMG
<cheepe> sure, but
<TheViewer> hi!!!!
<Doox> Hey~~
<TheViewer> hey josh
<Doox> TheViewer<- are you Aaron,Aaron?
<TheViewer> how do i connect to the irc server?
<TheViewer> please explain
<Doox> I'm on Air~ now
<TheViewer> Talk in HERE!
<TheViewer> IRC.LFX.ORG #julian
*** Disconnected from irc.efnet.net
*** Now talking in #julian
<TheViewer> NOTE!
<TheViewer> use /server irc.lfc.org
<TheViewer> then /join #julian
<TheViewer> </NOTE!>
*** Join: Ketene (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
*** Join: USC-IM (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
<USC-IM> testing
*** Join: Doox (~asdf@feliz.usc.edu)
*** Join: cheepe (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
*** Join: justino (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
<justino> hallo!
<cheepe> I think I'm here...
<Aaron> what's with all these strange names/
<justino> a rather long essay on virtual reality and popular culture
<justino> does that include Lawnmower man?
*** Join: trippywah (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
<justino> technology and politics
<justino> book length treatise on entertainment, technology and culture
<justino> technology consultant
*** Join: koonthul (~warsmb@feliz.usc.edu)
<koonthul> howdy
<justino> hallo
<koonthul> kenyon/koonthul/brinker/mike here
<justino> welcome to the silent chatter
<koonthul> interesting
<justino> finished dissertation in August
<justino> ended up here
<justino> mobile media emphasis
<justino> here at IMD
<justino> "laminates"
<justino> he likes that words
<justino> word
<Doox> cinema school~
<USC-IM> ah, the missing link...
<justino> ie, used it twice
<justino> space place narrative and storytelling
<koonthul> i wanna see some story telling
<justino> this is story telling!
<justino> powerpoint empowered!
<koonthul> in what way?
<koonthul> eh
*** Join: aaron_2 (~aaron_2@feliz.usc.edu)
<koonthul> hey aaron
<koonthul> why 2?
<Doox> What Spielberg said + Interactivity + Mobile
<koonthul> heh
<justino> what years are these 6 projects? I'm curious
<justino> recent stuff?
<justino> all this millenium?
<Ketene> except spielberg's ideas on narrative are extremely limited
<koonthul> How do you get mobile users invested in a story?
*** aaron_2 is now known as Aaron
<justino> troubling the notion of "wifi is a way you get on the internet"
<USC-IM> location, location, location no longer applies.
<justino> we had enough trouble getting on the network in this room!
<Hoky> everyone okay with this stuff now?
<koonthul> mostly yes, I think everyone is here
<justino> dude Hoky - you rule!
<justino> thanks so much for your help
<Hoky> w00t
<Hoky> no prob. :)
<justino> imagine how easy it will run next week.
<USC-IM> ...
<justino> ;->
<koonthul> heh
<trippywah> we = dorlz
<notAaron> The internets!
<trippywah> dorkz
<koonthul> THE INTERNETZ
<justino> other kinds of networks besides the internet
<Hoky> TEH INTARWEB
<USC-IM> two or more
<Hoky> ph33r 1t plz
<trippywah> internets?
<koonthul> I guess there are two;
<Ketene> phone trees
<koonthul> IPV6
<USC-IM> draw us in!
<koonthul> as well, just not used
<justino> draw people in and help them create their own stories
<koonthul> please
<Hoky> k. I like saying silly l33t stuff. you'll have to forgive me
<Ketene> chain letters
<trippywah> i wont
<koonthul> how do you draw in though? That's tough
<Hoky> :(
<USC-IM> 10% perhaps
<notAaron> tools empowering authorship...
<koonthul> cell phones don't pull me in unless they are LOUD
<justino> ubiquity of this technology
<koonthul> and ANOYING
<justino> hah
<Ketene> interesting characters and storylines
<Aaron> i don't like not knowing who is who here
<notAaron> WiNotFi?
<USC-IM> Ubiquity is ubiquitus.
<justino> well Aaron/Vince, go around renaming people on their computers
<justino> Julian's senior prank:
* Aaron slaps justino around a bit with a large trout
<Hoky> hahaha
<USC-IM> battle ball rocks
<trippywah> 'in my day'
<Hoky> someone found the trout
<justino> square dancing on a rain day (in Princeton)
<USC-IM> square dancing sucks
<justino> dude, square dancing rules
<Vince> Dosidos are cool.
<justino> yah!
<justino> "we were the AV kids"
<koonthul> damn, I was forced to do that as a child
<Hoky> ass violators?
<USC-IM> What the heck do these guys do @ Stanford???
<koonthul> eh, lets keep it PG
<Hoky> :(
<Hoky> k
<trippywah> thats not pg?
<Hoky> underwater basketweaving
<justino> with the priviledge granted by that office, we would sneak into the office, jury rig the phonograph with a magnto-radio transmitter
<justino> and click our hallowed heels together to halt and start the record player
<Vince> HAH!
<Hoky> HAW
<justino> Julian is cool.
<justino> hah
<koonthul> I like it
<Hoky> NOT
<Hoky> just kidding
<justino> what a geek trick
<koonthul> lets get to the story
<justino> sneak into the office = sneak into the school gym
<justino> "gina_network_piss_off
<justino> "gina_whats_wrong"
<Hoky> UP YOUZ
<justino> "up_yers"
<justino> "up_mine_up_my_what"
<Hoky> UP YO WHAT?
<Vince> Narrative via SSIDs. Whacky.
<justino> yayh
<koonthul> wait wait...chat on wifi nodes?
<justino> julian citizen of future
<trippywah> i like the knocking
<koonthul> I don't follow
<trippywah> i vote for a tradition
<Vince> So narrative = anywhere that affords text entry?
<koonthul> tradition of what?
<Hoky> a tradition?
<justino> yessir
<justino> yes vince
<Hoky> k
<koonthul> good point vince...is that all?
<Vince> Like...THIS?
<justino> although network name based narrative is especially ephemeral
<Doox> do you know where that place is?
<trippywah> tradition = ongoing
<Hoky> ahhhh
<Hoky> yeah that would be fun
<koonthul> Vince = good point
<Vince> I'm a strong believer in the power of names. (I'm a bible freak...)
<justino> use wifi so its range mattered
<justino> doox = what place?
<trippywah> names = power
<justino> vince - what bible?
<Aaron> Flash MX 2004 Bible
<Doox> the picture on screen with strange people
<Hoky> no idea
<Vince> When I think of names, first thing I think of is God giving his name to Moses...the name and knowledge of it meaning wielding power
<Hoky> looks like a place with a band
<justino> I don't know - it looks like some new urbanism monument
<Hoky> or are those benches?
* Hoky wonders
<justino> in some 21st century american urban redevelopment
<justino> I don't know where it is!
<trippywah> names = power, i tell you
<justino> on a riverfront
<Hoky> btw
<USC-IM> bodies or location doesn't matter?
<justino> what's the emote command?
<Hoky> if you want to say something in the third person use /me followed by what you're trying to say in 3rd person
<Hoky> try it
<Hoky> it's fun
<justino> just showed the pure technical artifice, there were very few bodies
* justino wonders what the emote command is.
<Hoky> yaya
<Doox> oh~ that's interesting
<justino> Julian came of age intellectually during the first gulf war
<koonthul> remnents of bodies
<Hoky> PUSH THE WIN BUTTON!!!!
<koonthul> corpses
<koonthul> i like that
<koonthul> remnants
<Vince> .0
<Hoky> looks like a toaster
<Hoky> but with no bread slots
<koonthul> black box/yellow box
<USC-IM> or a mid-century file cab.
<Hoky> yaya
<trippywah> dorkz
<trippywah> D.O.R.K.Z.
<Hoky> j00 d0rx
<justino> "API to allow them to design artifacts that would live on the server"
<Doox> -_-;;;
<justino> hah
<koonthul> how dynamic are these objects?
<koonthul> how changeable?
<justino> I think/hope he's going to demo
<koonthul> me too
<Vince> Starting to think...this is kind of a "mainstream" rather than a "geek" project......I think of the importance the mainstream puts on the physical being of an object in a way that geeks don't...
* justino contemplates going for a slice of pizza
*** Quit: Aaron (Excess Flood)
*** Part: USC-IM (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
<trippywah> who is projecting on the corner?
<koonthul> BUMMER
*** Join: Aaron (~aaron_2@feliz.usc.edu)
<Vince> I'm the projector.
<justino> the corner is "etherpeg"
<trippywah> d0rk
<justino> do a google on that
<Hoky> yaya
<koonthul> thats one sick monkey
<justino> I think there's a wireless network in the room that belongs to Julian
<koonthul> is that a dead GOAT?
<trippywah> there is
<justino> Julian's art projects make me wish you could be on more than one wireless network at once!
<Aaron> yeah
<justino> "Ephemera"
<Aaron> i was thinking about that justin
<Doox> I'm just wondering that if there's just only pictorial clue of what I want to find some information about then what kind of goole-like thing can I use?
<koonthul> well. what about a portal from one network to the next?
<koonthul> if there are two networks, are we talking closed?
<justino> doox - that's hard
<justino> there aren't really image-driven search engines
<Vince> I see someone's 4chaning.
<justino> you can try to identify ojects in the image and then search good images for them
<justino> 4chaning?
<Vince> or *channing. That's for later.
<justino> ?
<Vince> Later.
<Doox> hmm...~ interesting
<justino> austin wireless is an exemplar public/virtual space
<Vince> Commercial...huh...
<Vince> Guys sitting in a movie line?
<Doox> Austin Power Wireless?
<Vince> Oooh...people waiting in line for the Nintendo DS. Buy it, then rip it out of the box and network with what they're providing on site...
<justino> Ephemera catalog - different from the Ephemeral Films...
<justino> WiJacker
<justino> The modern equivalent of the photograph shoe click trick
<Vince> The...ephemeral nature of these assets kind of...bothers me? Scares me for some reason...
<Hoky> WIJ4X0R
<justino> The preciousness yes!
<justino> that's amazing!
<justino> I want to ask him about that
<Vince> It really flies in the face of this...want of many people in human society to find immortality....in themselves and in their works. (IMHO)
<justino> digital media makes us take scarcity less seriously
<Vince> The mortality/scarcity frightens me.
<koonthul> isn't scarcity something that digital media dissolves...he just said that
<koonthul> how do you combat the copying of the copy?
<justino> reinvesting a sense of preciousness into digital media
<Ketene> you could instill an sense of community
<Vince> Artificial scarcity?
<justino> "artificial scarcity"
<justino> that's an important concept here
<koonthul> well, performance comes to mind on that
<Ketene> like in this instance, we understand the principle of the borrowing and lending and appreciate ti
<Ketene> it
<Ketene> so are less likely to break it
<koonthul> but no one borrows/lends...it's the leach syndrome
<justino> maybe so Ketene
<koonthul> everyone just takes
<justino> in the best case
<justino> we learn from this
<Vince> How about...people crowding around a painting to appreciate it? Only so many can crowd around...
<koonthul> why not make the media unique...(performance)
* Aaron slaps Doox around a bit with a large trout
<Ketene> don't people also post for lending?
<Vince> Neither a borrower nor a lender be...
<koonthul> stop trouting aaro
<justino> artificial scarcity creates a sense of digital commons?
<koonthul> BINGO
<Doox> I hope you did it all for me, Aaron
<koonthul> I AM THE RIGHT CLICK SAVE-AS GUY
<Aaron> there is no scarcity of trout slaps!
<Vince> Very...post-modern.
* Aaron slaps koonthul around a bit with a large trout
<koonthul> ouch
<Vince> I don't really think of myself as ephemeral...but...
<justino> "not always on"
<koonthul> i don't know if I like the fact that the bedouin is basically a timer on my experience
<Vince> I'm always on...for myself. Wait...that doesn't sound right...you know what I mean.
<justino> how are we going to think when the RIAA gets their act together, or whoever, and they figure out that digital media is not infinitely reproducable
<koonthul> it seems like I would have to chase after him if I wanted to spend more time in the experience
<Hoky> wasn't there a game called ephemeral phantasia
<Hoky> really crappy game for ps2
<justino> what are other ways to think about how digital media might be precious that doesn't prevent you from doing what you want to do
<Vince> Bad Konami game. Yes.
<Hoky> yaya
<Hoky> real bad
<justino> Hah - koonthul - chasing Julian - Hey! I'm still downloading!
<koonthul> COME BACK HERE!
<Hoky> yeah. don't worry about that oil
<justino> Taxi driver, follow that WiFi Bedouin!
<Vince> What if Forrest Gump had a wifi transmitter while he was running back and forth across the us?
<justino> hah
<koonthul> heheh
<koonthul> God, I feel like a greyhound already
<justino> chasing wireless signal?
<Doox> wow he didn't even know what apple inc is
<justino> who didn't doox?
<Hoky> ?
<koonthul> "like a rabbit on a pole"
<Hoky> oh
<Hoky> forrest
<Vince> Forrest Gump. :)
<Hoky> I think that's what he's referring to
<justino> hm
<Hoky> yah
<Vince> "that fruit company"
<Doox> yeah exactly
<Hoky> :D
<Vince> "get people to think about it" Very post-modern.
<justino> "decay versus numerical limitation"
<koonthul> what about a specific "locked down" toolset that allows for the recreation and distribution of unique media
<Vince> "analog materiality...in a productive way"
<justino> hmm
<justino> I don't know if I want digital media to have lifespan-enabling DNA
<koonthul> so the whole "chasing the bedouin" wouldn't apply if I had a unique piece of media that could only be exchanged through a unique difference
<trippywah> right media for right use.
<justino> hmm
<Hoky> you mean like those heads in jars from futurama
<Hoky> ?
<koonthul> as if "I download a baseball bat picture" after jules walks by\
<trippywah> the internet doesnt have to be everything
<Hoky> speaking of which
<koonthul> and then I have to change it someway in order to re-exchange it
<Hoky> how's the game?
<justino> Mihai is a serious PDA user
<justino> what game?
<trippywah> the baseball one
<Aaron> Mihai is on his way to Vegas
<Hoky> ya know
<justino> Finite and Infinite Games?
<koonthul> Personal disaster area?
<Hoky> red socks vs spankees
<koonthul> heheheh
<Vince> I notice noone's mentioned DRM in conjunction with this yet...
<justino> help you author your daily experience
<justino> Julian mentioned the RIAA
<trippywah> 8-1, 4th
<Hoky> other than DRM sucks and is sorta pointless?
<Hoky> speaking of rights (mis)management
<trippywah> and bottom of 5th, yanks
<Hoky> GTA: San Andreas got leaked to warez groups today
<koonthul> that guy looks like julian
<Hoky> trippywah: NOOOOOOOOOO
<Hoky> what's the socre?
<trippywah> no he doesnt
<Hoky> score?
<trippywah> and the warez- no surprise
<koonthul> yup, he does
<justino> deliberately not connected to the internet
<Hoky> yaya
<Aaron> no it doesn't
<Hoky> that's why DRM is useless
<Aaron> julian doesn't wear baseball caps
<Hoky> if there's a will there's a way
<koonthul> I'm getting me one of DEM!
<justino> for about $20 you can get these aftermarket antennas!
<trippywah> wait wait, what?
<justino> YAH
<trippywah> ah
<trippywah> stupid caffiene
<justino> that's the hottest thing I've heard all day
<trippywah> youre hot
<justino> thank you trippwah
<trippywah> yw
<trippywah> im waiting for the transgender
<Ketene> it's 8-2 bos
<justino> thing about WiFi Bedouin - people have to join your network
<Hoky> HAW
<Hoky> Ketene: oh whew
<Hoky> you scared me
<koonthul> put a baseball cap on julian and skew his face, I"M telling you its him
<Ketene> sorry make that 8-1
<trippywah> thats what i said like 5 minutes ago
<trippywah> slowpokes
<Vince> True Wi(Hi)Jacking?
<Hoky> I'm trying very hard to fight the urge to throw some nasty porn up there. :P
<trippywah> do it
<Ketene> i don't see it
<Hoky> hahaha
<trippywah> 1 dollar
<Ketene> do it didn't happen
<justino> "if you named it linksys you could then hijack"
<Hoky> ooh, a dollar!
<trippywah> 2
<Aaron> thats what i said
<koonthul> WHY are we limiting ourselves to a wireless infrastructure that is made by some company?
<Hoky> 2 dollars
<trippywah> im a big spender
<koonthul> why not make our own that doesn't force you to "Join" a network
<justino> conceptually, what is a search at the corner of ludlow and rivington?
<Hoky> this network's private. friend of mine runs it
<trippywah> social space
<Hoky> easiest to just do it this way
<Vince> so...in a fixed space. What about moving?
<justino> Aaron - didn't you have to do some special Culver City thing to join the Culver City free WiFi?
<Hoky> making our own chat client is work
<Aaron> yeah
<Hoky> work < *
<trippywah> dont understimate the social space
<Aaron> they have a "wijacker" too
<trippywah> meat space
<justino> hah do they make you learn about the history of the town?
<trippywah> communities are real
<Aaron> you have to agree to their terms of service before you can go to any other webpage as soon as you logon to culver city wireless
<Hoky> they make him do a rain dance
<justino> first there was this idea of an ArtCache
<Vince> What if you had multiple 802.11a long range routers connecting a bunch of these WiFi Bedouins...just another unit alongside these routers, tunneling everything around...
<justino> think about how art might be delivered in a location-specific way
<justino> leave things, like they do in a post box
<koonthul> there are some heavy rules/punishments behind that post box
<Vince> What about a motion-specific way
<koonthul> hmm
<koonthul> I like the motion
<koonthul> stop and smell the roses
<justino> I'm interested in X and some of that would be delivered to you
<koonthul> then move on
<Ketene> ha i like that - a wifi dance you have to do to get it working
<Vince> Motion + decay of assets when away from the bedouin...
<koonthul> that would be very performance oriented
<Vince> a la artcache...
<koonthul> hmmm
<Hoky> ANY QVESTIONS?
<Hoky> space. the final frontier
* Hoky yawns
<Ketene> it's not white, it's blue
<koonthul> spatial graffitti
<koonthul> is what I worry about
<Vince> Spatial annotation... Graffiti?
<Doox> is there anyone who can read the strange letters on the screen?
<koonthul> yeah yeah
<Vince> hey, that's my idea!
<Hoky> WHY AM I WHITE?
<Hoky> CTM
<koonthul> No, mine!
<Hoky> WHY AM I BLACK
<Vince> All right.
<koonthul> digital sticky notes (that have a purpose)
<koonthul> make a good scavenger hunt
<koonthul> go here, go there
<koonthul> directions
<Vince> digital bulletin board...
<koonthul> but what else?
<koonthul> for what though?
<Hoky> k. here's some interesting info for some people here
<Hoky> <uniden> - All Sox In Bronx -- After a gut-wrenching week in the ALCS, Boston has taken the drama out of Game 7. Johnny Damon's two home runs, including a second-inning grand slam, has the Sox up 8-1 in the fourth and the Yanks on the verge of a historic
<Hoky> <uniden> collapse.
<koonthul> the usc tram is always late today at this time?
<Hoky> usc tram service sucks
<Hoky> takes like, a day to get from my apt to class
<koonthul> well, post it in the real world, but is it useful?
<Vince> What's the range of WiFi again? A couple hundred feet?
<koonthul> Wifi?
<koonthul> at what freq?
<koonthul> depends
<Vince> 802.11b/g
<koonthul> b is 50 feet
<justino> Naimark's comments sounds like http://www.plazes.com/
<Aaron> b is more than 50
<koonthul> g is about 250
<koonthul> no
<Hoky> boston is kicking brass
<Vince> I remember reading stuff about people being able to figure out position by correlating signal strength from multiple access points...
<koonthul> I think b is best at 75 feet
<justino> that's both exciting and scary, Vince
<koonthul> 100 is too far
<justino> mapping IP addresses
<koonthul> I setup G at home, I think it's either 300 or 500 feet
<koonthul> I don't know about A
* Aaron slaps Vince around a bit with a large trout
<Vince> A goes really far, I remember.
<Hoky> A IS A
<koonthul> wow, A is up in the 5 ghz rang
<Vince> Great name.
<Hoky> as soon as possible
<Doox> trout? can I eat that?
<Vince> Trout = Tasty
* Hoky slaps Aaron around a bit with a large trout
<Hoky> poor trout
<justino> I wonder when Julian will next program a PocketPC
<Hoky> too bad SNAK users can't slap
<justino> wow I wish Palm was that easy to code for
<trippywah> theres your answer
<trippywah> yay! ms
<justino> because I'm a Treo loyalist
<Doox> next week maybe trout pizza
<trippywah> hahah
<justino> HAH
<trippywah> mmm trout pizza
<Hoky> more pizza! WOW!
<Vince> Yeah...LOTS of amateur program developers for Windows Media (why I got a PocketPC)
<Hoky> I'm glad people didn't whine about pizza today.
<justino> "the usual sort of rig that you see for this sort of spatial annotation projects"
<trippywah> i [heart[ pizza
<Hoky> FREE FOOD = GOOD
<justino> how far we've come to be able to say that
<trippywah> [heart]
<Hoky> I <3 PIZZA
<Vince> justin: True.
<koonthul> 802.11A doesn't have a farther range than b
<Hoky> ascii art = fun
<koonthul> its the same
<koonthul> G is the farthest
<trippywah> tue
<koonthul> it's also got the best signal strength
<trippywah> true
<trippywah> stupid fingers
<Vince> Mass of humanity...mass of steal. Very poetic.
<Hoky> homie g wireless
<koonthul> you betcha g daddy
<trippywah> wheres the pr0n on the projector?
*** Quit: cheepe (Quit: Oops. This machine just fell asleep)
<justino> there are some next gen WiFi standards coming I believe
<Hoky> bah
<justino> more about speed than range
<Hoky> you really want your pr0n eh?
<justino> I think the FCC is the range-increase obstruction
<Hoky> So all that time you spend at home on the INTARWEB
<Vince> I agree. Too many unused government assigned frequency ranges not being released to companies.
<Aaron> __ __
<Aaron> __ \ / __
<Aaron> / \ | / \
<Aaron> \|/
<Aaron> _,.---v---._
<Aaron> /\__/\ / \
<Aaron> \_ _/ / \
<trippywah> im waiting
<Hoky> you can't look at n0rp?
<Aaron> \ \_| @ __|
<Aaron> hjw \ \_
<Hoky> hahahaha
<Aaron> `97 \ ,__/ /
<Aaron> ~~~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~
<justino> that might happen soon Vince
<Hoky> aaron's got an ascii art script
<justino> we interrupted Aaon's art
<Hoky> Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏
<Aaron> its called Google
<trippywah> hahaha
<justino> everyone be quiet!
<justino> Aaron's making art
<trippywah> you shut up!
<trippywah> but aaron hates me
<Hoky> there's some scripts like that
<koonthul> oh god, someone slap aaron with a REALLY LARGE trout
* Aaron slaps trippywah around a bit with a large trout
<Hoky> where people can put up images of mario and other video games
<trippywah> mmm...trout
<Vince> This is rather appropos... us on our own private channel talking about this stuff going on in this private geographic space...
<Hoky> STOP LOOKING AT US!@(^%#_(*%&+_#(*&%+U#%
<justino> JULAIN RULEZ
<Ketene> wow ascii art is really impressive at this size
<Vince> So...PDPAL.
<Hoky> yaya. I've never seen irc on a huge screen before
<trippywah> scary
<justino> it is like annotating space here!
<Vince> Except _I_ control the space!
<trippywah> too bad you don't know how to spell his name
<Doox> there's some problem in Non-Unicode letters like that
<justino> this must have come before his PocketPC project...
<Hoky> I annotate space daily
<Ketene> does julian do all his own art work?
<Aaron> .-/ .-.
<Aaron> _.-~ / _____ ______ __ _ _ _ ___ | ~-._
<Aaron> \:/ -~|| __||_ __// || | | | /| | / __/| .\:/
<Aaron> / || __|:| |\:/ ' || |__| |_/:| || (:/:| \
<Aaron> / /\/| ||____|:|_|:/_/|_||____|____||_|:\___\| |\ \
<Aaron> / /:::|.:\::::\:\:\:|:||:||::::|:::://:/:/:::/:.|:\ \
<Aaron> / /:::/ \::\::::\|\:\|:/|:||::::|::://:/\/:::/::/:::\ \
<Aaron> / .::\ \-~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~-/\/:.. \
<Aaron> /..:::::\ /:::::..\
<trippywah> hlo;k
<Aaron> /::::::::- -::::::::\
<Aaron> \:::::-~ ~-:::::/
<trippywah> guys
<Aaron> \:-~ ~-:/
<Hoky> Aaron: wher'ed you find that?!?!?!?!
<Hoky> dude, hook me up after the thing
<Aaron> teh google
<Hoky> 3y3 ph33r t3h g00gl3
<trippywah> shelby - not me
<Vince> q: "motivate people to keep a diary...?"
<justino> sounds like LifeBlog
<Vince> a: how do we author?
<justino> Trip's thin
<justino> we saw Trip's thing blogged somewhere today -w here was that Aaon?
<Vince> Very Trippy. :)
<justino> Aaron
<koonthul> ENTER THE TRIPPY
<Aaron> umm
<trippywah> where was i blogged?
<Aaron> one sec
<justino> what are the interesting, exciting, different ways of capturing experience?
<Hoky> like, on some site
<Vince> "What are the...alternative ways of capturing an experience?"
<justino> HAH
<trippywah> obv some site.
<justino> double stenocaptioninig
<Aaron> trip
<Hoky> a site on the INTARWEB
<Vince> Twice typed is twice remembered.
<justino> what is it that we want to capture? and how do we want to share it? how do we want to mark our lives?
<Aaron> you were blogged at www.unmediated.org
<Vince> Eyebeam, NYC.
<Aaron> via http://del.icio.us/rybesh
<Hoky> oooh
<Vince> Uh oh! It's the PALM!
<Hoky> a palm emulator
<Vince> There's GOTTA be a PDPAL plushie out there!
<Hoky> THIS IS ALPHA_1
<justino> her name is Melusky
<justino> I like the character design here
<Hoky> is it just me
<Hoky> or does she have big boobs
<koonthul> megaman reject
<Vince> "It's not about where you are...you're going to author your own city..."
<Hoky> at least the ad had that
<Hoky> this one's more human looking
<justino> I don't know if they're particularly big here, but earlier in the flash demo
<Hoky> for a big head... thing
<Aaron> iWWMMMMBt+++VBMBRBVBXXXBBBMMMMMMBMMMM
<Aaron> iWMRRXRRI+IVBXXBBBBBBRBXXRBMBMRXXXBBBMMMM
<Aaron> VWMRYiYVXtIRBBBBMMMMMMMMMMMMWWMMMBXYtIYXMBB
<Aaron> =RWWWBI =BRXXRRRBBMMMMMMMWMMMMMMMMBBBRVVXRXRV
<Aaron> tWWMWWWY ;WBXVXXRRBBMMMMMMWWWMMWWWWMMMBRRXXXVVI
<Aaron> +WWWMMWWX;VBVIVVXRRRMMMWWWWWWWMMWWWWMMMBRRBRRRVi
<Aaron> MWWWWBRMBYXVVXI+;;+iIXBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMMBBBRBBBBMI
<Aaron> XWWWWMVRXVt;t+=IXBRRYi=iVMWWWWWWMXVYIYVYVBBBBBBRBMBI
<Aaron> ,MWMWBYXXRBR=.=tYVBMMWMV=+RMWWWWBXVIVRRRRViIBBRBXYMWWV
<Hoky> o_O
<Aaron> MWRRItRBMMMM::+,+ttIVVMM;iBMWWMRRMMWWMBRRRYiVVtVVRBMY
<Aaron> MWXtX=tMMMMMIt,.:=tYBMRBBIBWWMMMVIItXBMXVVI+tIiI:YRXMB
<Vince> "Emotional GPS"
<Aaron> WMBIiR+YtBBMXRBMMMMMMMBRYRMWMMMMWWXti,.;tItIIYYiRRBBMMV
<Aaron> ,MWMMtIRR=,+XBBMMMMMMMMWR:;RWWBRMMWWWMBRXYXBBXYYV+VMWMBMMM
<Aaron> VWMMi::BW, IIRMMMMWWWWX+..,I+:iMMWWWWWWMMMBBRXVXYRMMWMBMMX
<Aaron> +WMMY::,BX :RMBMMMWWMMRYVVXMWBXVMWWWWWWWMMBRXXXXYIRMBMMBBMR
<Aaron> =WMBBi:tt tBBRBBMMMMRYtitYYVXMWWWWWMWWMMBXXVYXVi:VMMMMMMWV
<Aaron> RWRV+,;,, XBRRRBBBt,..:+t=+:..+RWWWWWMBBXVVVXXIiI:IVMMBMMMW
<Aaron> IMRBRRBMB= YXRRRBBBB,..+YBBBBV...=MWWMBBRRVVXXBYXRRBXBMMBMMMB
<Aaron> tMYitIXMi iYXXRXRBRt;.:itt=:=iXMWWWMBBRRVXXRRVRMWWMMMMMMBBB
<Hoky> is that supposed to be a jpeg of something?
<Aaron> :MR:.,:Ii YVVXRBBBMMRRRBMWMMMMMMMMBBRXXXYY+VMXMWMBMMBBVVRI
<Aaron> :RY+ iVRBBBBMMMWWWMMMMMMMBBBBRRXVt.iXYRYXMBBBYItVVt
<Aaron> =XVY, ;tVRBBMMMWWWMMMMBMBBBBXVYt iXBMWWMRVXYXMMY
<Aaron> RX:, ,,;+tIIVXRBBRXVVIIi=,.= iYYt+;,;iYRMMXt
<Hoky> it's a happy face?
<justino> PDPAL PLUSHY JPEG
<trippywah> woah. another spot. thanks guys, i never would have known
<Vince> "Haiku based authorship"
<Hoky> hey vince, it's a plushie!
<justino> hmm
<justino> they tie specific images to the haiku Vince
<justino> so the program performs interpretation
<Aaron> that was supposed to be marylin monroe
<Hoky> :(
* Vince slaps Hoky with a mackerel.
<justino> that's a limit of the device I guess
<justino> Aaron you're a menace
<Ketene> aaron your gang tags are getting out of hand
<Hoky> I saw you type that before you hit enter
<Hoky> hehe
<Aaron> its ephemeral art. after a couple of seconds its already gone
<justino> I have a question for him
<Hoky> visual haiku
<Hoky> isn't a haiku a type of poem
<koonthul> Hmmmm, wheres stephanie weinstein?
<Hoky> so like
<koonthul> She needs to see this stuff
<Hoky> how do you make a visual haiku?
<koonthul> for her "creating collages on the fly" thesis project
<Hoky> type out a haiku and like, take a picture of it?
<Vince> Inability to "translate...idiom map to this [visual]"
<Ketene> if you turned into the room, koonthful, you'd see her
<justino> the idiom map didn't translate to this (PDPAL)
<Vince> HAH! Beat you! :)
<justino> hah
<koonthul> i know she's here, is she on the channel though?
<justino> she's got her computer closed
<koonthul> hmmmm
<trippywah> only d0rkz arent online
<Vince> PDPal...like iPhoto? Spatial correlation...
<koonthul> it's too literal for me
<justino> IPhoto has spatial correlation?
<trippywah> except for bolas. bolas rulez.
<trippywah> alwayz
<koonthul> it does or it will
<Vince> is that lumber in the background there?
<Vince> "It's ART!"
<Hoky> what is art
<Vince> Artists rock!
* Aaron slaps justino around a bit with a large trout
<Aaron> oops
<Aaron> that was meant for hoky
<Vince> McCloud had a really nice late chapter talking about art and defining it...
<Hoky> k
<Hoky> try again
<Doox> ART is.... life
<Hoky> life is art?
<Vince> Art is the stuff inbetween EATING and REPRODUCTION.
<Doox> yeah~!! you can say that again
<Hoky> I like reproduction
<Hoky> let's talk about reproduction!
<Vince> Thank you John Madden.
<Hoky> LET'S SEE THAT AGAIN
<Hoky> YES
<Vince> Back to the game at hand.
<Hoky> YES
<Hoky> LET'S SEE THAT AGAIN
<Hoky> YES
* Aaron slaps hoky
<Hoky> ow
<Hoky> :(
<Vince> THank you.
*** Join: bleepe (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
<Hoky> uh oh
<Hoky> sensorship has come to the channel
<Hoky> censor
<Hoky> bleh
<Hoky> I KIN TYP
<bleepe> heavily, heavily,heavily
<justino> unique visual responses
<Hoky> HUKD IN FONIX WERKS FER ME
<justino> I wonder if that's important
<justino> hah
<Vince> "Something very predictable...not interesting...about overlay." Naimark
<Hoky> they're unique
<Hoky> of course that's important
<Vince> biggest database better than...people?
<bleepe> it'll never be that good...
<Vince> Is it just a question of scale?
<Vince> Possible? Never?
<bleepe> word != pictures
<Hoky> HI
<Hoky> Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏∏.∑¥Ø`∑.∏
<Hoky> YOU SUCK! (how's that?)
<Vince> Walker Art Center (another version of PDPAL)
<Hoky> bah. heckling is boring
<justino> Walker Art Center is amazing
<Doox> Let's just use UNICODE here!
<justino> enough reason to visit Minneapolis. That and the wonderful people.
<Vince> justin: You've been there? Or just web/read?
<Vince> Never been to MN. Never been...anywhere.
<justino> I've been there and I saw giant public sculpture
<justino> maybe it was Klaes Oldenberg - I spelled that wrong
<Vince> Sculpture done by public?
<Vince> That sounds interesting. :) Art by committee...sculpture by committee!
<bleepe> I often experience siamese twins
<Vince> I wonder if I'd do that if I actually spotted a UFO...
<Aaron> how come certain things from my web browser come up on etherpeg and other things don't?
<Vince> Someone' on Something Awful, I see.
<Hoky> yep
<Hoky> wonder who
<Vince> Creating maps around other people's maps to create shapes...
<justino> yeah that's sort of coll
<justino> cool
<justino> like those people who do GPS walking
<justino> to make patterns
<Vince> justin: That stuff's cool. :)
<justino> a moment in time
<Aaron> i have "carry on my wayward son" by kansas stuck in my head :(
<Hoky> that's an awesome song
<justino> I mean what will experimental spatial annotation look like in 20 years?
<Hoky> it's experimental
<Hoky> who knows
<bleepe> will there still be space in 20 years?
<Vince> If the space just gets...filled up?
<Vince> Data glut?
<Hoky> that's like asking if I'm going to be eating cornflakes or raisin bran for breakfast in 20 years
<bleepe> it'll all be filled up with annotation
<justino> ellide
<Hoky> oooh
<Hoky> fetishist
* Hoky the most mature person in the room. :D
<justino> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=elide&r=67
<bleepe> raisn bran
<Vince> "the PDA experience fell short because [only for the techno geek]"
<Hoky> that was nice to say. :(
<Vince> Mobile Scout (more PDPAL!)
<justino> this project has legs
<Hoky> ah
<Hoky> PDPAL II: THE CELLPHONE
<Aaron> PDPal is cute
<Vince> Legs. Exactly what the biggest for-profit company wants to here...
<koonthul> "Report on an endangered place" ???
<Hoky> look it's got this smiley on it :D
<justino> hmm
<Hoky> ^_^
<Hoky> ^o^
<Vince> "Mobile Scout Posse"
<Doox> from http://valiant.iat.sfu.ca/eculture/dmprevos/000096.html
<Doox> ...a group of ARTISTS sponsored by Panasonic have created a special program for PDAs called PDPal ...gizmodo.com
<Hoky> o_O
<justino> Julians work has a commercial future in restaurant reviews, certainly
<Doox> ARTISTS!!
<Hoky> OMFG
<Hoky> ARTISTS
<bleepe> PDPal = evil spawn of smokey the bear
<Hoky> OMGWTFBBQ
<Vince> Restaurant? Extend to hotels? other entertainment venues?
<justino> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=elide&r=67
<justino> right
<Hoky> riiiiiiiiiiight
<justino> Rheingold wrote about a bunch of this stuff in Smart Mobs
<Vince> Oh yeah...
<justino> systems for annotating the web
<justino> heck Sfisher is working on it too
<Vince> So.... data glut?
<Hoky> After a gut-wrenching week in the ALCS, Boston has taken the drama out of Game 7. Johnny Damon's two home runs, including a second-inning grand slam, has the Sox up 8-1 in the seventh and the Yanks on the verge of a historic collapse.
<Hoky> that's latest from espn
<justino> ASAP
<Hoky> spankees are getting spanked
<justino> Nice work Kurt
<Hoky> GO SCOTT
<justino> !
<Hoky> C'MON SCOT
<Vince> "[How do you bubble to the top? Be unique? Bycreating strong authorship of story!]"
<justino> Church at the top of the hill in downtown?
<Hoky> big church
<Hoky> wonderful courtyard
<justino> big church with a wonderful courtyard
<justino> HAH
<Hoky> um
<Hoky> um
<Hoky> er
<bleepe> faith-based spatial annotation
<Hoky> um
<Ketene> and their cars
<Hoky> oooooooh
<Hoky> pornographic!
<Hoky> porno space@!
<justino> issue of air rights?
<trippywah> yay! pr0n!
<Vince> Rights to the air?
<Hoky> pr0n!!!!!!!!!!!
<Hoky> n0rp!
<Hoky> heh heh heh hm heh he said pornographic
<justino> some lazer artist - that person is my hero
<trippywah> itll be the only time
<Aaron> a laser artists?
<Aaron> hahaha
<Hoky> bummer
<Vince> (eye on trop of trans am building)
<justino> okay, let's see who can find that image first...
<justino> BACKCHANNEL COMPETITION
<Hoky> already done I think
<justino> In October of '83, Louis Brill did a forum on laser art, and we heard the hilarious story of how an artist projected a giant Egyptian eye onto the Transamerica Pyramid during the King Tut exhibit. The logistics of doing it from his friend's apartment window with a laser needing lots of power and water cooling were horrendous. The corporation sued him and won, but the judge fined him $1.
<justino> http://www.ylem.org/NewSite/news/ylemstories.html
<Vince> "Beyond air rights... creating space on [their] space..." kellee
<Doox> interesting.. I can pay $1 for that too~
<Vince> I can't. I'm poor.
<justino> http://www.dailyorange.com/news/2004/09/22/News/University.Of.Texas.Allows.Wireless.Internet-726502.shtml
<Ketene> 8-3
<Hoky> yaya
<Hoky> sox 0wn teh l4m4hz
<Hoky> btw
<Vince> TellBush - Tell Kerry
<Hoky> tellbush doesn't work
<Hoky> :(
<Hoky> neither does tellkerry
<Hoky> but tellkerry is cybersquatted
<Hoky> so like
<Hoky> whoops
<Doox> TellBush how you can whiten your teeth like him.
<justino> not cybersquatted
<justino> just under construction
<Hoky> those guys look nothing like bush
<Vince> "Election era provocation...masks...embedded a cell phone...days before election...walk up to head...talk to the head..."
<Hoky> or kery
<koonthul> CARDINALS took it to a game 7 YEAH!
<Hoky> kerry
<Hoky> w00t
<Hoky> hahahaha
<Hoky> that pic rocks
<Vince> Calls number...choose choice...voice uploaded to tellbush/kerry website...e-mailed to proper recipients as well...
<Hoky> AL QAEDA RECRUITER OF THE YEAR
<Hoky> hahahaha
<justino> his project for 499
<justino> I wonder what his project will be for 505?
<justino> ;->
<Aaron> Iran endorsed Bush as their candidate of choice today.
<Hoky> TALK TO THE HAND CUZ THE FACE DON'T WANNA SAY NOTHIN ANYMORE
<Aaron> the Bush campaign did not accept the endorsement
<Hoky> bummer
<Vince> And now...
<justino> I talked to Victoria, she got a migrane today and threw up. youch!
<Hoky> :(
<Vince> She didn't look good yesterday either. Working too hard, I guess.
<Hoky> hope she feels better
<Hoky> good thing we got plenty of flushot to go around
<Hoky> :/
<justino> motility
<justino> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=motility&r=67
<Vince> Portaility and ubiquity combine to form: PUBIQUITY
<justino> 1. Biology. Moving or having the power to move spontaneously: motile spores.
<justino> 2. Psychology. Of or relating to mental imagery that arises primarily from sensations of bodily movement and position rather than from visual or auditory sensations.
<Vince> Portability and ubiquity, I mean.
<Hoky> julian comes up with the coolest words
<justino> hah
<Vince> Pubiquity is cool. :P
<justino> eliding the motility?
<Ketene> whoa
<justino> does the motility lab have an actual location?
<Vince> I think so.
*** Quit: bleepe (Quit: Oops. This machine just fell asleep)
<koonthul> yes, it does
<koonthul> it's "hidden"
<koonthul> hehehe
<Aaron> __---~~~~--__ __--~~~~---__
<Aaron> `\---~~~~~~~~\\ //~~~~~~~~---/'
<Aaron> \/~~~~~~~~~\|| ||/~~~~~~~~~\/
<Aaron> `\\ //'
<Aaron> `\\ //'
<Aaron> || ||
<Aaron> ______--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--______
<Aaron> ___ // _-~ ~-_ \\ ___
<Aaron> `\__)\/~ ~\/(__/'
<Aaron> _--`-___ ___-'--_
<Aaron> /~ `\ ~~~~~~~~------------~~~~~~~~ /' ~\
<Aaron> /| `\ ________ /' |\
<Aaron> | `\ ______`\_ \------/ _/'______ /' |
<Aaron> | `\_~-_____\ ~-________________-~ /_____-~_/' |
<Aaron> `. ~-__________________________________-~ .'
<Aaron> `. [_______/------|~~|------\_______] .'
<Aaron> `\--___((____)(________\/________)(____))___--/'
<Vince> Very well hidden on the annenberg apartment campus thinggy.
<Aaron> |>>>>>>|| ||<<<<<<|
<Aaron> `\<<<<</' `\>>>>>/'
<koonthul> they call it, "The Carriage House"
<Hoky> BACK TO TEH FUTAR
<Doox> nice looking rabbit here~!
*** Quit: trippywah (Quit: Oops. This machine just fell asleep)
<koonthul> It's a VALID question!
<Vince> Yes, Mark rocks.
<justino> define narrative
<Hoky> art is art
<justino> people often use the word story or narrative to define anything they like
<Doox> what's interactive, what's narrative, what's interactive narrative?
<koonthul> Narrative is a story that is told, has a beginning middle and end
<Doox> what's cinema?
<Aaron> if there is no narrative, thats a narrative in and of itself
<Vince> "Many have narrative as...anything that they like." Naimark
<Doox> what's cinematic interactive narrative?
<Hoky> what's the white stuff found on the bottom of my shoe?
*** Join: bleepe (~Snak@feliz.usc.edu)
<Hoky> perry hath returned
<justino> doox - what's doox?
<Hoky> haw
<Hoky> dukes
<justino> so much whiteness on screen
<koonthul> The DUKE
<justino> blinding
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$'`$$$$$$$$$$$$$'`$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$$ '$/ `/ `$' .$$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$. i i /! .$$$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$$.--'--' $$$$$$
<Aaron> $$^^$$$$$' J$$$$$$
<Aaron> $$$ ~"" `. .$$$$$$$
<Hoky> FAR OUT MAN
<Aaron> $$$$$e, ; .$$$$$$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$$$$.' $$$$$$$$$
<justino> AARON YOU ARE A MENACE
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$$$$$. $$$$$$$$
<Aaron> $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $by&TL$
<justino> hah
<Vince> "Create a story framework to be able to insert into..."
<Doox> TellDoox ... Doox is not 133t name
<Hoky> oh wait
<Hoky> that's
<Aaron> i'm creating a visual narrative
<Hoky> 666 THAT'S THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
<koonthul> Doox is l33t, you are N07
<justino> you put your etherpeg in my IRC!
<Ketene> but that's just it
<Ketene> you're not creating a narrative
<Ketene> it's just random
<Aaron> :(
<Hoky> PUSH THE STORY BUTTON
<Vince> ANyone remember the name of that dude up in New York that gives his tours? THat...Speedy? Argh...can't remember...
<Hoky> oh
<Hoky> the dude
<Vince> He was in Waking Life, though...
<Hoky> no
<Hoky> I know The Dude.
<Hoky> He goes bowling with this whacko vietnam vet
<Vince> Timothy "Speed" Levitch
<Vince> Cool dude.
<justino> this is what you get when you ask a stranger about narrative
<Vince> (He was also in School of Rock)
<koonthul> also in School of Rock
<koonthul> yes, thank you
<Vince> :)
<justino> I was on a panel with Levitch once
<justino> he's got an enormous amount of charisma.
<Vince> He IS charisma.
<justino> hah
<Vince> And the whackiest voice ever.
<Vince> Well...not ever.
<justino> well you might not want to sleep with him, I got the feeling that there's a sort of drawing-in energy to him
<Ketene> not as much as lew, though
<Vince> Sucks in my energy! UH OH!
<Hoky> HAW
<Vince> LEW == E = mc^2
<Vince> Choujou!
<justino> kurt trip will and todd
<justino> what does that mean? sounds ferrin!
<koonthul> Now for the good stuff
<Vince> (Choujou still makes me think of "superwoman" i.e. choujo)
<Hoky> I think of female anime
<justino> linking space and place
<Hoky> shoujo
<justino> simple fun games using movement and the environment
<justino> that was an opportunity to use the word motility
<Vince> "Creating narrative... linking space to places... fun games...persistent virtual worlds..."
<Hoky> GAME OVER
<Hoky> iam
<Hoky> is that eeyahm
<Hoky> or eye yam
<justino> authoring tools for these things
<Vince> "...authoring tools... tagging...sending annotation..."
<Hoky> annotation space
<Vince> "...1:1 mapping..."
<Hoky> sounds exciting
<Hoky> me neither
<justino> what do these guys mean by "phone?" I still think of Nokia circa 1999 as a 'phone' - 3 lines of black and white text possible
<Vince> "...Something more..."
<Hoky> actually
<Hoky> oh nm
<justino> sounds more fun on vacation
<Vince> The experience transfers well...speaks for itself?
<Hoky> Sox up 9-3
<justino> content wasn't that compelling
<Hoky> we're at the 8th
<justino> kerry is up 291 to 247
<koonthul> wasn't that compelling in which project?
<Hoky> god I hope so
<Vince> AI Zombies! :D
<justino> carried around this tablet PC
<justino> avoiding zombies
<Hoky> speaking of zombies, DON'T LET BUSH WIN
<justino> turned out to be dangers
<Vince> Fun spectator sport!
<justino> hah
<koonthul> it was, people kept running into cars...
<Aaron> that reminds me
<justino> ouch
<Aaron> who is fred stimpson?
<koonthul> oh wait, that was a different one....never mind
<bleepe> zombies? "fleshed out"?
<Vince> "Embedding sound avatars..."
<justino> hah
<Ketene> fred stimpson is a faculty member
<Aaron> well... who?
<Hoky> fred who
<Aaron> mr. zomblog
<Vince> Project CAR aka SMS Impalla
<Hoky> what's with acronyms in this class?
<Vince> You have to ask?
<Hoky> yeah
<Hoky> I do
<Aaron> this dude: http://interactive.usc.edu/members/fred/
<justino> techology
<Hoky> k
<koonthul> I think I started that
<Aaron> WHO IS IT
<justino> that's a web page I worked on!
<justino> "Blog"
<Vince> BLOG + cameraphones + GPS = Patholog
<Aaron> omfg justin u r teh c00l
<Hoky> 3y3 ph33r t3h l33tn3ss
<justino> AAROM YOU'RE A MENACE
<justino> hah
<justino> I feel like I'm getting to know Josh better through this experience.
<Aaron> don't make me copy/paste ascii pr0n
<Vince> "Recording path... explore your path/day..."
<justino> self-exploration?
<Vince> Self-reflection?
<Hoky> find one of those ascii art thingies for mario
<Ketene> aarom is like aaron with more memory
<justino> browse content that overlaps your path
<Hoky> or for nes ff characters
<koonthul> hmmm, buildings don't hold my attention...how much narrative was explored?
<Hoky> those're l33t
<koonthul> I wanna see intersections with PEOPLE
<Hoky> that's so hot
<koonthul> people as the content...exchanges of dialogue...something dynamic, changing
<justino> http://www.patholog.org/upload/final/new/patholog.php?path=8&usr=9
<Vince> I wonder if I'm really willing to share my whole day's path...
<Vince> Actually...I don't.
<Hoky> why, you afraid big brother's watching?
<Vince> I'm not.
<Hoky> though yah
<Hoky> that's pretty creepy
<Vince> Well...I did have stalkers in the past...
<Hoky> sweet
<koonthul> Um, I see the blog as interesting, but I don't see the connections (paths)
<Hoky> who stalked you?
<Vince> Don't ask.
<Hoky> :(
<Hoky> oh c'mon, it's only a public forum here!
<Hoky> it's not like everybody's watching
<koonthul> where are the connections->people?
<Vince> House of Pies! That's where hollywood writers go inspiration! (So the myth goes)
<Hoky> there's really such a place?
<Vince> I thought you were a SoCal native! House of Pies is up north on Vermont.
<Hoky> I lived in the valley
<justino> Is anyone from first year going to be a heavy mobile developer?
<Vince> You haven't TRULY lived until you visited House of Pies.
<Hoky> dof
<Hoky> then I must be dead
<Hoky> :(
<Vince> Hoky: Maybe.
<Hoky> >_<
<Vince> justino: Maybe.
<justino> ISI
<Hoky> I'm not
<justino> Who among us is prepared to take up the mobile torch?
<justino> Who will explore space and place?
<Hoky> I'm gonna be a heavy interactive narrative developer
<Vince> I've been involved in small series 60 projects...mostly games stuff...
<justino> Who will disconnect the internet, free it from sitting fetters, and take narrative into the great physicality beyond the screen?
<Ketene> vince: in what capacity?
<Vince> Well...I'm very interested in space, since I'm very interested in gaming and spectator sport...
<Hoky> I'm interested in space because I take up so much of it.
<Aaron> House of Pies isn't anything special
<Vince> Ketene: Audio design stuffage.
<justino> HAH Hoky
<Ketene> justino: you mean theater?
<Hoky> Aaron: ah, so that's why I don't really know of it
<justino> I'm not sure I know what I mean
<justino> thanks for asking
<Aaron> yeah... just a diner pretty much
<Aaron> they happen to have pies too
<Vince> Bakers Square has better pies...
<Hoky> bleh. those sorts of places are a dime a dozen
<Aaron> i'm not interested in going back
<Hoky> I'd

Posted by justin at October 23, 2004 11:37 AM

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� Posted from Justin's Links
Finished another short film this week. I was working through a theoretical concept here, the exploration of "augmented reality." What... [Read More]

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� Backchannels from Smart Mobs
Just inter active blog contains a post about "backchannel" systems being experimented with during college lectures. (Also, an interesting comment from Howard Rheingold in the comment section of a related TheFeature.com story about whether this type of ... [Read More]

Tracked on October 30, 2004 10:59 AM

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mixoftheweek.com Wide ranging mixes, available in RA or MP3. (categories: mix mp3 music) rodcorp: London Tube Map with Walklines:... [Read More]

Tracked on October 31, 2004 9:16 AM

� Backchannels from Smart Mobs
Just inter active blog contains a post about "backchannel" systems being experimented with during college lectures. (Also, an interesting comment from Howard Rheingold in the comment section of a related TheFeature.com story about whether this type of ... [Read More]

Tracked on October 31, 2004 9:48 AM

Comments

I was very interested when I first heard about the idea. However I found the execution of the experiment to be more distracting (to everyone) than informative or helpful. The constant stream of commentary competed for attention and was disrespectful to the speaker. By the end of the first half of the presentation “Back Channel” felt more like “ADD Channel” and wandered from the stated goals.

That said, your efforts are truly appreciated. I agree that this is “fertile” territory and worth exploration. In most cases the URLs and captured browser images were more useful and harmonic. I would encourage you to explore these and other notions that would support the speakers' efforts and encourage dialogue.

Posted by: Andrew at October 24, 2004 10:36 AM

Herding cats isn't always easy and you did a great job tonight. Thank you for making V1.1 of your idea more informative and less tangential/distracting.

Posted by: andrew at October 27, 2004 11:50 PM

I second Andrew's point. This was an interesting experiment, but it seems to be a technology-led solution. Why not focus on things that the audience wants to be able to do that they currently can't? PARC played with allowing anonymous voting or participant feedback years ago. Also, the usage experience of the presenter is dramatically different from those attending. How can the speaker be expected to watch a chat room while presenting? Summary views, ambient displays, and interplay with existing social norms and interactivity sounds like a good direction to head in.

Posted by: Jeff Axup at October 31, 2004 9:55 PM

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