Link to the referring article

Only a briefly detailed proposal is necessary - just let the ideas flow!
noah@coercive.org

In terms of usabilty, syncing my contents and calendars with my powerbook required a plugin, and aside from getting the contacts off the old phone everything else has been relatively pain free.
Apple's address book did some strange things with the data it received, such as

putting the contact's whole name in the last name slot,



creating the Boutros-Boutros Ghali effect,



and adding an unnecessary surname to the singly named.
.

Other than that it's awesome.

I might also add that I'm looking to go power-user with this piece, so if anyone can recommend some more 1337 j2me, flash or symbian apps I'm all 3ar5.

So it's late, I've been biking all over New York City, and I'm feeling something about social change. There's a lot wrong with our country and our society at this moment, which many of us speak about to each other, and most if not all recognize, but few directly confront in the work that they do. Tonight I spoke with a man who railed against people's obsession with entertainment and fashion to the exclusion of concerns relating to current warfare or the wrongs of the world, but out of whom I could get no coherent solution of how to solve this problem. Later, I spoke with a man on the street who seemed quite intelligent, pleasant and functional, but who claimed to be homeless, unable to fund his "baby mamma" and unable to find work, convinced that his rapping skills would earn him some money some day. To both my natural response was to prescribe technology and entertainment media, to spread the message that the internet as a cost-free and omnipresent connection with millions of memeseekers would either propel them to stardom or spread their philosophy in a way that would actually speak to people's day-to-day reality in a way that newspaper headlines could not.

Am I living in a bubble? Is this really a possibility? Can Interactive Media - downloadable games, cell-phone based applications, stereoscopic technology - help not only entertain but spread messages that we would like to propagate? What is the ideal road to take? Armed with the convictions we possess, and the knowledge that we pass to each other and gain from working in this institution, is it not our responsibility to use what we have for the better good of society? Are we not betraying ourselves if we ignore what we feel and spend all of our time chasing a dollar and a gleam?

Obviously the approach to actually accomplishing this task is the hard part. Yet to date my most popular accomplishment at this institution with non new-media initiates is my involvement in the Darfur is Dying project. USC IMD is getting tons of press for what it is claiming to bring to games and new forms of media entertainment. People are definitely looking for Web 2.0 and New Media's Social Change Killer App - it is my opinion that we are the most qualified technicians to provide it.

I had been thinking about raves. Recently I've been thinking about schools. I wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times a few weeks ago in response to an Op-Ed speaking our against the problem of cellphones in the classroom, in which I cited IMD's integration of technology into its lesson plans and made the point that when trying to reach a generation that communicates through cellphones, instant messenger and myspace, you will gain far higher mental penetration if you attempt to reach people on a level they are familiar and comfortable with, and maybe don't expect from the likes of you. If you like it can be downloaded here.

To quote a famous scholar, "my question is this:" Can a series of in-classroom games and real-world cell phone based exploration experiences increase a students interest in their education? Can interaction and understanding between disparate cultures, classes and economies be aided by community based and social networking technologies? Can this type of shit pay the bills? With the East River below me and the hot summer's air in my face, this is what I'm thinking about.

So for CTIN542 project 3A, I chose the musician Jamie Lidell as my artistic inspiration, due to a recent concert of his that I attended with some mates, both class and non. At his shows, Lidell records himself beatboxing and humming to create his rhythm tracks, then over the top of it belts out some crooning vocals like he was the wonky british reincarnation of Al Green.

Taking a cue from the Lidell performance, I made this patch in MAX/MSP that allows one to four participants to make some interesting vocal collages with a microphone. It has four tracks that can be recorded on by pressing the corresponding number key (1-4), and will loop after 16 bars, with an adjustable BPM. After a track is recorded upon, the audio can be pitch-shifted and delayed, which is where the fun really starts. Take a look at the full-size image, or just download the patch. It's open source! If you own MAX/MSP, that is...

Enjoy!

People:
Julian Bleecker
Mimi Ito

Blogs:
http://textually.org
smartmobs
-http://picturephoning.com
http://www.adverblog.com/ - esp. archives by topic beginning with "mobile"
http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/
http://www.moconews.net/
http://cellsuite.jp/news/ - hasn't been updated in a while

Interesting Tech:
Cingular/Shazam musicID service:
-record a tune - system identifies it and sends you an SMS with the title

FeliCa - Sony's RFID payment technology:
mobile Suica
-uses FeliCa technology - RFID payment system embedded in phone
-tied in with phone hardware and software, access payment information through phone menus
-some pictures of FeliCa in use here:

ToruCa - image capture and metadata retrieval/sharing:
ToruCa blurb
-future platform for ARG?

MoSoSo (Mobile Social Software):
Dodgeball
Rabble
PeepsNation
Playtxt
Jambo
Plazes
Hunaja
Wired MoSoSo Article

ADVERGAMING- much more to say about this later

Semacode:
http://www.semacode.org/
ConQwest
Semanote
Semapedia
eRuv

ARG (Alternate Reality Gaming):
http://www.argn.com
http://www.ilovebees.com/
mogi - real world collecting and trading of virtual objects
http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/
-I like frank
-Uncle Roy

Mobile Music:
Sonic Scenery @ Natural History Museum
Location33
Sonic Network
LISMO - itunes w/social marketing
-location based music search
-"what is the most popular song on this block?"
short description
japanese site

Random:
http://agagame.jp
i don't read japanese, but i think the basic gist is that you play minigames, and navigate between the choice of two advertisements before you can play

Relax-to-win
- galvanic response sensors with bluetooth

M-commerce:
-In Japan, customizing the UI is big

"emotion messaging" - analyzes the text content and emoticons in an SMS to flash the screen certain colors and "shining samples"

Driver License Training - practice for written tests, etc
-Brain Training is hugely popular now

Cascada Mobile
-P2P recommendation system

Google Mobile
-SMS and mapping services, everything else, etc.

Girlswalker
also a wired article
-portal site for rich tokyo girls
-small demographic - targeted to limited # of high spenders

Pikkle
-CharaJam

Camera Games:
SuperStar
-put up stickers of your picture and take pictures of other ppl's stickers
-earn points by seeing and by being seen - spectacle
Devil Darts
-take pictures of ppl and throw darts at them
Kick Real
-aim camera at foot and kick the ball
Photo Aquarium
-feed and breed fish by taking pictures of real world items
ARToolkit games
-and tech description

"Girl Games":
Metrogirl
Limelife:
-Girl's Night Out Solitaire
-Word Heaven
SuperModel Milano
Ibiza Party
-option to play as gay characters
Mushi-King and Love and Berry: (Boy and GIrl versions)

Girl Games for Guys:
Bikini Machine
Sexy Poker 2006
Playboy Amp'd
Cherrysauce
Leisure Suit Larry
Hot Secretary
College Girls

Themed/Branded Minigame collections:
The Three Stooges: Makin' Dough
Homies: Domino n' Dice
California Games
Gorillaz game

Mobile Links/ports to Console/PC games:
Star Wars Battlefront Mobile
Sims2
BeatMania (Bemani): e-Amusement service
-modify the game's graphical interface
-customize arcade experience with mobile app

Other Games:
Flitzer - streaking game
Pinball Factory
-Design and customize your own pinball game board - upload to phone
Pet Shop and Pet Trap (Floodgate - no online presence yet)
-Pet Shop - uses localizing software to allow for digital "best in show" competitions at local, city, state, and even nationwide levels
-Pet Trap - players have to electrocute their opponent's pet
Skipping Stone
-addictive one-button game
Path of a Warrior
-interesting because it has a $10/month play all you want pricing system
Baka-Ge - pull nose hairs out of a big nose - blood
Log Jam
Dr. Steve's Fart Box
SkillJam

Download a pdf of my hot ppt presentation!

YEAH!

-I see this qualification as being applicable to any interactive media experience. This author is coming from a museum curation paradigm and thus speaks of his transcendent ideals in relation to the production of an exhibit, but he is basically speaking of the “best” of any type of experience, what in reference to games Mihaly Cziksentmihalyi’s terms “flow.” The space of musical performance, and in particular electronic music, however, I feel is particularly suited to provoking this “best” experience, I feel, or even a more intense sort of “best.” Perhaps this is due to the immersive nature of the space, or the amount of stimulation that is provided within it.

In Jeff Hawkins’ “On Intelligence” Hawkins postulates that the brain, when familiarized with something, like the layout of a house or a room, does not have to work as hard to decipher the pattern of its surroundings, and thus can expend cycles on other problems, like deciphering the patterns of traffic flow in Los Angeles, understanding the implications of new forms of media on society, learning how to play Guitar Hero, etc. – The visual and auditory signals do not need to pass through as many regions of cortex in the hierarchy before the pattern is classified as recognized, and a signal somewhat like the “name” of the pattern is sent back down to the primary sensory and motor levels.

However, when unfamiliar stimuli enter the cortex, patterns that have not yet been recognized, “the unexpected pattern is automatically passed to the next higher cortical region. …The higher region may be able to understand this new pattern as the next part of its own sequence. …But if such recognition does not occur, an unexpected pattern will keep propagating up the cortical hierarchy until some higher region can interpret it as part of its normal sequence of events. The higher the unexpected pattern needs to go, the more regions of the cortex get involved in resolving the unexpected input. …Ideally, in a world that is known and predictable, …the flow of patterns happens rapidly and occurs in the lower regions of the cortex. …However, if I was in an unknown room, …unexpected patterns would be rising far up the cortical hierarchy. In this novel situation I can no longer think about [LA traffic flow, New Media, Guitar Hero, Brains] because most of my cortex is attending to the problems of navigating the room.”

Cortical pathways are being blazed, new synapses are activating; the entire mind is at work interpreting the situation, deciphering an unfamiliar experience pattern, predicting what each pixel of stimulus represents. By this model, the more stimuli, the more cortical pathways “turned on” by novel input, the less cycles the cortex devotes to external thoughts, to “every day reality.” This is flow, meditation, ecstasy, transcendence, whatever you want to call it – the suspension of time and space, loss of ego, full participation in a moment, achieved through sensory overload, overstimulation.

The fact that the combination of loud music, flashing lights, chaos, smoke and sweaty bodies found in live electronic music events is disorienting and confusing, has its analog in Hawkins’s statement that “Confusion occurs when the cortex can’t find any memory that matches with the input.” The memory does not process nothingness, just as it does not process everythingness, which is why people frequently equate the collective mind of a techno event to the transcendent experience of meditation. Likewise, we can also equate the experience of excelling at a game like Geometry Wars or other shooters – there are so many things going on, so much visual stimulus occurring, that it is immediately immersive – you cannot possibly think about anything else for even a half-second, even draw your thoughts to thinking analytically about your next move in the game, or you will break the trance and lose.

Of course, in the end, all the patterns get learned – ravers learn to recognize the tracks that the DJ is playing, the layouts of the clubs, the other people in the room, and so the setting becomes predictable and tedious; gamers learn to predict the AI patterns of the programs they are running, figure out how to exploit the various systems in use, and thus the game becomes boring and easy; people go to an exhibit and see what works are there – by the thirteenth visit it has lost some of its initial thrill.

Maybe then the brain does learn to process everythingness - if it stares for long enough, learnable patterns will emerge – what seems like an incomprehensible jumble of colors, movement and sounds will work itself into a strategy of gameplay, a map of LA, a model of the universe, a social interaction, a DJ set. It would seem to be the novelty of experience then that is what is most important for us to note as designers as something to strive to achieve – how long is something cool before it becomes trite and tawdry? Is there media that is truly timeless, that transcends these boundaries, and continues to provide rewarding and immersive experiences that will forever surprise?

I see this as a goal of generative/emergent art – a system that is constantly evolving, never repeating, varying itself infinitely – however, as Todd stated in his last post, a single algorithm will blur into a grey goo quickly – the more varied the choice of algorithm, the longer lasting the novelty. Thus infinite levels of metaprocedure with an infinitely scalable library of algorithms to blend would be required for timeless novel content that is entirely procedurally-based. So what are we left with? Good old coliberation. Interaction with other people provides constant surprise – can you ever really learn humans? If this ramble is going to end anywhere - which it is, at least for tonight - it’s going to be at the advocation of multiplayer experiences, and with this quote:

"Last year I took a 70 year-old Zen monk to a rave party. He was curious enough to overcome his dislike of the music until his face lit up with a revelation. 'This is meditation!', he shouted above the noise. Later he explained that the walking meditation he taught involved being fully aware 'in the moment' without any internal dialogue separating actions from intentions, and that the same definition applied to the dancers all around him. His branch of Buddhism had been brought from Japan where there was emphasis on the need to develop and balance the complementary qualities of contraction and expansion, akin to extrovert and introvert states of mind. His school of Zen had concentrated on contraction with the idea that Westerners were too outgoing, but he now realized that those Westerners who were drawn to his school were introverts, and their need was for free expression in the way he had witnessed at the rave."
-Nicholas Saunders, “The Spiritual Aspect of Rave Culture”

Questions:
Is not-being the same as being somewhere else?
Does Telepresence equate to transcendence?
What is involved in losing yourself?
How can technology produce an ecstatic experience?
What place does Interactive Media have at a party/music performace/rave?
Should people interact with the music or just with the space?
Can the music be extricated from the concept of the space?
Is this a “difficult” subject?
Do I want to make tools for the performer or tools for the audience?
Which do I want to make first?
I’m worried that making stuff for people to do during a musical performance would distract them from getting as into the music, or if that if the audience successfully lost itself in the music, it wouldn’t care about my ambient experiences – am I just being silly?

Method or process:
Make stuff and test it at DJ gigs? Talk to Scott about Tim Leary and telepresence, listen to Maryanne Amacher, read about projects at Ars Electronica that interest me, find out how to satisfy my urges to make “unsafe” work – I like Toshio Iwai and the Electroplankton stuff but this whole “video games is the new rock and roll” crap has been blown vastly out of proportion. Interactive Media, at least in the IMD, is lacking in blood and sweat and gully crunky griminess so I want to make it my business to sex it up a little.

Topics:
Collective behavior - rocking out
Audiovisual trickery/fuckery
Loud and raucous. Lascivious.

Showtoys – party game – utilize cellphones 1st, more later
-do I want a narrative?
-can I make people find each other and do things? Maybe exchange codes. Why?
Join onscreen avatars together unlock loops or modulations – new musical and video directions – higher levels of animation like in shooters – higher levels of stimulation for better attacks is a reward for joining together with others. The more people the more progression. How to sense levels of moshing, intensity of movement on the dancefloor? Video tracking?
Humidity sensors???
Intended crowd: Berserk sweaty [term->] audience, dark alley – “The Smell”