I really enjoyed the connection with Bergen Community College the other night, and for many reasons. It was exciting to see them and to hear about their new facility, which I would love to visit! It was also exciting to meet another PhD student and get a feel for the exciting teaching he is doing.
But my favorite part of the evening was the improvisation. I was feeling vocally exhausted and was more than happy to leave the singing to someone else. Also, I was worried that I may have had broken thumb, and so frankly, I wasn't looking forward to the connection. But once we got them up on the screen, it was a lot of fun!
I enjoyed working the camera in the first part of the connection, but once I had a chance to try out the mini-keyboard, that was a lot of fun. It was the perfect size keyboard as I was only able to play with my left hand, and as I'm not really much of a pianist anyway, I felt quite honored to get to play with those present.
I felt that the improvs with BCC were by far the most successful of the semester. I think the main reason for this was the structure offered to us by Ron Mazurek. The nature of the structural directives did two things: 1. it clarified tonal area and style, within which the players were free to play, and 2. it made listening and interacting necessary acts in the improvisation, not only by both sides of the connection, but even within the separate ensembles. This aspect in particular has been missing from past improvs, most noticable of course in the connection a few weeks back where part of the class was in Nonken's studio. This exercise was not only fun and rewarding, but also necessary in order to fully experience the positive and negative implications of the technology.
On the positive end, the idea that we were able to create such a clever and fun "blues" piece from across the Hudson was truly remarkable. It was a lot of fun to participate and to watch the interaction, especially between the singers. They listened carefully to each other's texts and even improvised together, instead of just taking turns. Although I didn't actively participate in the singing, I was venture to say that their experience would be similar to the experience Michael from UCI and I had doing our spoken word improvisation, in which, during the process, the mind completely forgot about the distance and technology as the mind was so focussed on the acts of listening and creating.
Also, the set-up of the room was really great. As Dr. Gilbert said, we really were able to transform the space, and I do think that is only the beginning of the potential to transform the space in that classroom into something interesting and unusual. Once the chairs are out of the way, the room becomes a wide open space, a blank palette, and the more we few it this way, rather than focussing on its limitations, the more successful we will be in its successful (hence, creative) transformation.
The limitations, or course, lay in the problems with the sound, but thankfully technical gurus on each end were able to deal with the problems as they arose. With each set-up, I think we can expect to find new challenges, since each set-up is, in a sense, an experiment. I think the experiment with Bergen was quite successful in many respects, including this one.
It was also exciting to see UCI on the second screen, although unfortunately we didn't have much of a chance to interact with them. In considering this connection, I would say that is the only reason to sing the blues.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Time and the Internet: an uncharacteristically personal post
Well, call me the comeback-kid, I've finally returned to this blog.
If I was raised in a Christian home, one might call the fact that I'm about to post this on Easter Sunday somewhat ironic. Perhaps it is anyway?...
I just did something I haven't done in ages: I googled my father. My father died when I was in college, but we were very close and most of what I have done since then in some way reflects the many lessons I learned from him before and during the experience of his passing.
But here's the funny thing about the internet! It's like he's still alive. There are lots of hits of his work (he was very active in local government, was a professor and writer, and also one of the first labor union negotiators). There are even more hits now than there were the last time I googled him, which was perhaps a year ago.
I'm reminded of a short story by English author Will Self, which can be found in his book "The Quanitity Theory of Insanity," though the exact name of the story escapes me at this moment. The protagonist is walking down the street and sees his dead mother. He follows her and is astounded to discover that she is living a totally new existence in a different neighborhood.
At any rate, among other things, a letter to the editor he wrote to TIME magazine appeared in my search. I could literally hear his voice as I read it. I never even knew he wrote it! Several of his articles, many written in conjunction with his colleagues, are now available via JSTOR. Some of his books are available on amazon.com. Is this for real??
The growth of the internet has somehow managed to merge the past and the present in a very strange way. As more articles become available, as more cites are developed, as more information joins the free and constant circulation of this virtual world, time as a linear continuum becomes obsolete.
We've talked about this a bit in class, but I must admit that until this moment the subject has seemed quite abstract and detached from my existence.
Now I wonder if in our I2 presentations, it might be possible to manipulate the experience of time in the same way we are experimenting with space. The subject of latency comes to mind-here of course we experience time in the delay, which is in itself a different way of considering time.
I also think about the upcoming concert-we've talked a lot about the experience for the audience-entering into a new world as they enter the theatre, using disorientation of the audience in order to re-orient them to the experience of our production. I wonder how the experience of time and the passage of time factors into this equation. We've all had the experience of attending a concert or movie and emerging, feeling strange as we re-adjust to reality, wondering what the time is as we blink uncomfortably in the sunshine, right? Is there a way to simulate this experience of adjustment before the production? Is that too jarring? Do we risk alienating the audience with such an exercise?
One thing is certain, it's *time* I started posting here again, so I'll welcome my*self* back. There's Dad again-we punsters always stuck together.
If I was raised in a Christian home, one might call the fact that I'm about to post this on Easter Sunday somewhat ironic. Perhaps it is anyway?...
I just did something I haven't done in ages: I googled my father. My father died when I was in college, but we were very close and most of what I have done since then in some way reflects the many lessons I learned from him before and during the experience of his passing.
But here's the funny thing about the internet! It's like he's still alive. There are lots of hits of his work (he was very active in local government, was a professor and writer, and also one of the first labor union negotiators). There are even more hits now than there were the last time I googled him, which was perhaps a year ago.
I'm reminded of a short story by English author Will Self, which can be found in his book "The Quanitity Theory of Insanity," though the exact name of the story escapes me at this moment. The protagonist is walking down the street and sees his dead mother. He follows her and is astounded to discover that she is living a totally new existence in a different neighborhood.
At any rate, among other things, a letter to the editor he wrote to TIME magazine appeared in my search. I could literally hear his voice as I read it. I never even knew he wrote it! Several of his articles, many written in conjunction with his colleagues, are now available via JSTOR. Some of his books are available on amazon.com. Is this for real??
The growth of the internet has somehow managed to merge the past and the present in a very strange way. As more articles become available, as more cites are developed, as more information joins the free and constant circulation of this virtual world, time as a linear continuum becomes obsolete.
We've talked about this a bit in class, but I must admit that until this moment the subject has seemed quite abstract and detached from my existence.
Now I wonder if in our I2 presentations, it might be possible to manipulate the experience of time in the same way we are experimenting with space. The subject of latency comes to mind-here of course we experience time in the delay, which is in itself a different way of considering time.
I also think about the upcoming concert-we've talked a lot about the experience for the audience-entering into a new world as they enter the theatre, using disorientation of the audience in order to re-orient them to the experience of our production. I wonder how the experience of time and the passage of time factors into this equation. We've all had the experience of attending a concert or movie and emerging, feeling strange as we re-adjust to reality, wondering what the time is as we blink uncomfortably in the sunshine, right? Is there a way to simulate this experience of adjustment before the production? Is that too jarring? Do we risk alienating the audience with such an exercise?
One thing is certain, it's *time* I started posting here again, so I'll welcome my*self* back. There's Dad again-we punsters always stuck together.
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