Over drinks the other night, the conversation turned to "why didn't I think of that?", that sinking feeling in your gut when confronted with a work of sheer brilliance, and often sheer simplicity, that you feel you could have come up with yourself in a parallel universe.
In the absence of any definitive reference site to such things (and yes, just about every permutation of this phrase has been registered as a domain), dynamo London was formed to showcase OTHER people's stuff.
Why didn't I do that? on Pixelsumo documents a recent event held at the Globe Theatre.
This Slate article looks at why the media PC took hold in living rooms and why convergence has its limits. I certainly buy the idea that people are quite happy with separate devices for their "lean-back" and "learn-forward" activities. What I'm not so sure of is how much sense it makes to distinguish between the back-end systems that power these.
Ever wondered what a Film Colourist does? Check out the current entries in the
Worth1000.com Monsterville 3 Photoshop contest. Take a still from an old B&W movie and go crazy colourising. Wait till you can re-skin the whole film.
57% of online teens in the US are content creators, says a report by the American Life Project.
Pew Internet & American Life Project Report: Teen Content Creators and Consumers
It goes on to say that 40% of urban teens are re-mixing online content into their own creations.
Going one step further than most, gapingvoid: hallam foe: open source filmmaking is an experiment in distributing a screenplay half-way through writing it. I'm not convinced it's going to catch on (neither it seems are the people involved as they've just withdrawn the Download link) but a worthy exploration even if only for the feedback to-date.
The calls by publishers to block Internet search engine, from being able to monetise their content via indexing, are getting louder. The European Publishers Council has come out in support of French agency AFP which has a lawsuit out against Google News.
Group: Online content cannot remain free
Just how this dispute will be settled remains to be seen but the explosion of Web 2.0 (site-as-application) concepts and ever-increasing online search capabilities means that Microsoft and other players vying for a bigger piece of the action must be eying this one carefully. It is going to be hard to roll back the clock, regardless of how much traditional "Ask Permission first" pressure is applied. The very nature of the medium could be at stake.
I'm yet to hear any pro-active proposals from these same publishers as to how they intend to evolve their business while overzealously guarding their meta-data.
Amazon's beta Mechanical Turk site, where humans sign up to do menial tasks that still befuddle machines, is a revelation and a sensation rolled up into one fantastic marketing opportunity for the online giant. The registration process for signing up as a Requester (i.e. you get to use the Amazon system to request your own workers in return for a percentage) is unavailable due to load. Stay tuned for some interesting developments to be sure.
Now what I'd like is a system for assembling a virtual team for the purposes of making a movie. We have been trying with Sanctuary but there's more than a few issues with culture clash. I'm betting that Amazon, proud owners of IMDb, have something up their sleeve.
Slashdot | Linux Trademark Protection In Australia
Now here's a pearler... take a word synonymous with freedom and shared resources, trademark it and then start licensing it out. An allegedly crackpot lawyer in Perth, Jeremy Malcolm is kicking up a storm with demands for "Linux" users to pay up to AU$5000 in license fees. More embarassing news from home.
A lot of people, myself included, would view software production as a tool but not the goal when it comes to digital cinema. It's all about the content baby! Or is it? Joel on Software makes some pertinent observations about why the value of good quality cannot and should not be downplayed by anyone working in this arena. Makes me want to brush up on my python just thinking about it.
Hackdiary explains how to use an Ericsson mobile phone to control PC applications via Bluetooth.
Wired Magazine may sell Humvee ads on its back cover these days but it still has relevence as a barometer of contemporary culture. The latest issue to hit the streets in London shows clearly how far the awareness of mash-ups has come in the last 18 months.
With contributions by Neil Gaiman, William Gibson for starters, this is one issue not to be missed.
Google investors find new project | Tech News on ZDNet
The Internet opportunities for customisation and personalisation of consumer goods has not escaped the notice of investors. Brands like Disney are buying into the idea of letting the public commercially sample their artwork on items such as a t-shirt.
MOD Films has been touting a model wherein audience contributions are as much a part of the experience as the original content. For all the sceptism we've received to-date, there are signs that we're not alone. Talk Will Wright, whose no slouch when it comes to designing hit games (like The Sims). He is talking about "procedural" content development. Involve the audience...
GameSpy: Will Wright Presents Spore... and a New Way to Think About Games
So how does Rupert Murdoch factor in the Internet into his empire? A recent speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors gives a clue.
"...In this spirit, we’re now turning to the internet. Today, the
newspaper is just a paper. Tomorrow, it can be a destination...."
As one commentator notes - "Murdoch discovers the Net".
Another interactive story-telling consortium has been unveiled, this time with a call for people to join an "Open Community" to help define the project's software authoring tools for interactive storytelling.
The ultimate aim of the project is to release commercial software so only time will tell how this pans out. Participants include RealViz, Immersion and ICNM.
INSCAPE storytelling website
How to make film-making and the cinema experience more sustainable. The Blackspot community (part of Ad Busters) give their views:
Mark Pesce got Slashdot'ed after publishing this talk on how an open source TV tuner technology could be combined with DRM micropayment systems and P2P networks to open the floodgates on Internet distribution.
The idea of an egalitarian relationship between producer and consumer is well and truly under the spotlight.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is Cory Doctorow's first novel, available for download from his web site as well as in print.
A truly historic magazine issue has hit the stands. The Beastie Boys, David Byrne and 14 other artists lend their support (and a track) to the Creative Commons Sampling License initiative.
Ross Gittins puts the software patent issue in layman's terms and earns himself a higher Google ranking to boot.
"The vast majority of software patents are unused, because people who actually make things often can't afford the risk of using them."
So what we do about it?
Software's game of mutually assured damage - Ross Gittins - www.smh.com.au
Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age is selling magazines, DVD-Rs of sampling artists work and providing links to the notorious "Grey Album" by DJ Dangermouse (via P2P).
The latter is "The Grey Album is an art project/experiment that uses the full vocal
content of Jay-Z's Black Album recorded over new beats and production
made using the Beatles White Album as the sole source material."
In Wired Magazine, Glenn Otis Brown, executive director of Creative Commons, is quoted as being surprised that the labels don't recognize a win-win situation and license the songs to get a cut of the profits.
"Mixing together two old things is creating a new thing".
They say that it's important to keep "what you do" to a simple phrase. Well, in theory, one day I will be able to say "I make films for the Semantic Web" and not get blank stares.
As the W3C's new "easy" explanation explains, it all comes down to having a trust network.
Ray Kurzweil, never short on an idea, grapples with the concept of exponential growth leading to the Singularity.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0134.html
Systems that allow communities to manage and produce their own media are increasingly visible.
They range from gigantic global endevours like OneWorld, that brings together more than 1,500 organizations from across the globe — to promote sustainable development, social justice and human rights.
http://www.oneworld.net
to
Community Edit, a solo artist project that "uses Broadband but is NOT television and NOT a website but which allows a community to produce its own media."
http://www.softhook.com/comedit.htm
The producers of the BBC interactive drama series, Dark House, talk about their approach wherein the audience has a "subtle influence" over events. The project won a BAFTA Interactive award last week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/darkhouse/production_izzy_nick.shtml
The Motion Picture Association of America has put a lot of noses out of join by banning industry screening tapes and DVDs to all groups other than the American Academy.
"Foreign" supposedly less trust-worthy groups such as BAFTA have beenexcluded. BAFTA put out this press Releases.
Gibson's latest, Pattern Recognition is about a a footage fetish and the dreaming that accompanies it. I wonder if the Man in a coma web marketing idea described on the Dreamer site was any inspiration.
The book is a change from Gibson's sci-fi, the first to be set in the present, but he's still nailing concepts that most are still grappling with. We've come full circle when Gibson describes one of his characters as looking like someone out of The Matrix. His take on online subcultures, constantly monitored and manipulated by unseen and largely unknown forces, is also bleak but realistic.
There is one pattern that I recognise. VJ culture is one form of footage fetish, with clearing houses like the VJ Loop Server.
Now is Netochka Nezvanova the inspiration for "the Maker"?
Need a legal framework to allow 3rd parties to straightforwardly and creatively re-interpret your work without relinquishing other rights? Check out Creative Commons, inspired by the GNU GPL, and aimed not only at increasing "the sum of raw source material online, but also to make access to that material cheaper and easier."
It's probably not a bad idea to base your Flash experiment on one of the most successful movies of all time. In the tradition of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the IndyJunior Flash Mapping Module provides web publishers with the quick and easy means to point to a location on a map of the world.
Teach a Character Studio biped to walk from first principles. A genetic algorithm for walking is written up in Darwin in a Box.
http://www.naturalmotion.com/pages/technology_hiw.htm has the videos.
A recent announcement about a new Freenet release prompted another look at the controversial P2P project and the philosophy behind it.
Ian Clarke's little project, conceived in 1999 and set up to allow Chinese dissidents to publish without fear of recriminations, has big ambitions.
"Freenet is free software which lets you publish and obtain information on the Internet without fear of censorship"
Another soundbite, this one from a debate between Ian Clark (Freenet) and Matt Oppenheim (RIAA):
"Just as the motor car replaced the horse and cart, so will the Internet replace most of the roles performed by today's recording industry."
As an open source evangelist, my first instinct is to agree. Collaborative filtering, trust networks, semantic web technologies all point to a future where the best middlemen are software.
However what Ian and other technologists tend to overlook is that the creative development process is not a state machine. Art is not something we would ever want to be able to validate against an XML schema. For many artists, the most repugnant feature of the creative industries is the requisite formulaic approach.
Of course there is an ever increasing role for the Internet in media industries but the changes afoot may be more about realignment then revolution. Marginal though it may be, a percentage of the Industries is made up of creative and passionate people. How are the Freenet node owners in a better position to provide support?
"freedom is more important than having professional artists"
This is the nub of the conflict between P2P networking and full-time artists. Professional artists and freedom are not exclusive. I for one want the freedom to create my work and live off the results. So how much money is a living? Enough to simply live or a whole lot more? Art been rarely been about restraint.
The Freenet philosophy espouses a return to patronage and donations as a way for artists to survive. Worthy suggestions but I suspect Elton John may need to revise his flower budget. Metalica certainly did not waste much time in condemning Napter. The result? The pros at Camp Chaoshad a field day.
No easy answers but easy enough to look hypocritical.
Hah! I knew it! Speaking at SIGGRAPH 2001, Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, spoke at length about his approach to game design and dynamic story representation. His terms possibility space and meta-game may not have been wholly original (to all those computer game academics graduating in droves) but it turned my thinking around on computer games and made me think that perhaps the industry was not as tangential to my interests as I'd thought.
Anyway, funny to note that the same Mr. Wright has now inked a deal with Fox for (wait for it!) passive linear entertainment. To use another of Will's terms I dutifully wrote down in Texas, nothing more than "a ride on rails". Seriously, anything this guy does is worth taking a look at. Like it or not, he made a connection with The Sims.
"I can only trust that Johnny’s entertainment system, and the culture that informs it, will be founded on solid curatorial principles...
Because I see ... a freshly-extruded resin action-figure, another instantaneous product of Johnny’s entertainment system.
It is a woman, posed balletically, as if in flight on John Wu wires. It is Meryl Streep, as she appears in The Hours. She has the head of a chihuahua."
The fiddle factor for films is coming, says William Gibson. Here he logs a talk given at the Directors Guild of America’s Digital Day.
People often ask me "What is a VJ?". It's not a question that I had spent much time thinking about, despite a few gigs. "VJing? Well, you know what a DJ is? A VJ is someone who mixes visuals instead of sound". Coming back from Milan gigs for Contact Europe, I've been thinking more about what I do live and whether such a simplistic definition is actually true. I felt somewhat out of place amoungst what I think of as the "heads-down eye-candy crowd". Explore your hard drive and swap software while projecting a few abstract loops. "Punters? What punters? What OS are you running?". Nothing could beat the guy who was asleep during his set however. Who said VJing is easy?! Heretic!
Another guy asked me if I was a "techno fetishist". "I am", he said. Good question but the answer was definitely "No". I've got the computer science background but I couldn't give a shit about hardware. It's just the stage, the bits and bobs to jump about on. So here goes a new answer to "What is VJing?", for me anyhow.
my VJing
VJing is a form of story-telling that combines film-making, architecture, and performance. VJs recycle fresh visuals from old visuals and the audience. The story is designed for a networked physical space. Live performance has an edge that recorded media only ever approximates. Live mixing is a form of performance that can linger for the participants long after the innovation or vibe is bottled. Directors like me are itching to mix all their films on-the-fly.
The online interfaces to my set (e.g. SMS text messaging) are there to enable the audience to feed into the experience, an extension of dancing at the foot of the stage. Live art is a two-way relationship. VJs want as many inputs as possible. The technology is there to manage the increasing complexity of recorded sources and audience channels. Music visualisation, masking with SMS text from the crowd, sampling of punter provided URLs, motion tracking the audience, all manner of playful copyright violations are both possible and inevitable given the Al Fayda approach to life. All meaningless trickery and geek-ery until a coherant narrative forms in the mix. There lies the buzz of performing as a VJ. Like the best computer games, the story is only evident in hindsight, uniquely personalised for the participant.
Live art is not for everyone but for some, nothing else comes close. Jamming with ideas, getting the feedback from the crowd is a muso perspective but equally fun for visuals. It's also a handy springboard for online film projects.
Dan Dixon has put up a user primer on online reputations, Reputation - what does it mean?, discussing his research at BBCi.
In a paper entitled Integrating E-Commerce and Games", Nizami Cummins contemplates the loss of agency in commercial web design. Was there ever any?
When I was looking through the kid's section in my local bookstore recently I came across a new title, "The Outernet". It is a science fiction adventure mystery in which 'The Friends', led by 'Weaver' fight an electronic cold war against 'The Foes'. Readers work their way through the book and connect to its web-site 'www.go2outer.net'to search for clues and tips in order to work out what is going on.
Even though I'm nearly thirty even I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through this. Check out the web-site and log on as 'friend' for a quick tour. The mini-internet the creators have set up is terrific fun to surf around!
When will someone make a movie that is simply elements from the web, sampled on the fly? I guess once everything is machine readable and the camera can roll by.
Que? Wordlab is pretty cool.
"Are you looking for a unique name or slogan for your business or personal use? Simply post your specific needs to WordLab's discussion group, the WordBoard, where you are sure to get a variety of responses from members of the WordLab community as well as the WordLab team."
Provocative article from Salon on why It's time for ICANN to go.
Did you know that Network Solutions was bought out by (and sold again at the height of the dotcom boom) by SAIC, a multi-billion-dollar company that derives most of its income from classified US military contracts?
Interestingly enough, Ester Dyson, the ex-chair of ICANN, was the keynote speaker at SIGGRAPH this year. Unlike last year (where Danny Hillis delivered a rather inspirational address), Ester's message seemed to be "ICANN is broken but it's not my fault". One of the first audience comments was more thought provoking than the speech. The gentleman in question put it to Ms Dyson that the domain name system provided no value - no-one fights over phone numbers.
The AI perspective on Massive. Check out this paper by Michael Schroeder, from City University London, entitled How to tell a logical story.