digital culture – Page 31 – frans goes blog

non-interactive interactive media, part 1

Like many others (I suspect) I have a secret love: media that does not want my attention or require that I actively use it. On the other hand, I also love the increased possibilities and opportunities provided by the latest information and communication technologies.

There is so much to say about this paradox, and how symptomatic it actually is, but here is just one link in this mini-series, dedicated to non-interactive “interactive media”: the RSS-capable screensaver by Microsoft. There are others, of course, but this was actually easy to install (a plus for us stressed out media people), and despite that this MSN Screensaver is still in Beta, it seems to work. You just set up your favourite RSS feeds, delete all MSN content feeds it attempts to serve you, make sure that the screensaver image folder points to somewhere you actually feel comfortable watching at (it will preinstall a series of pretty landscape photos), and voilá: you can rest your eyes and brain by staring at the semi-transparent info screens, all filled by mostly useless news clippings, sailing by. (There is weather information, too. But no Tampere, Finland; only Helsinki, and for some reason also Nivala and Mynämäki…)

microsoft's vision of the future

On the BBC’s Click Online site, you can find this fun snippet on Microsoft’s vision of the future. Some of these concepts actually sound useful (“Whereabouts Clock”, your basic social context awareness tool), but some are just plain silly. Interactive bowl?

player-centred game design (pcd.. pcgd?)

I noticed T.L.Taylor posted this note about Olli Sotamaa’s and our team’s paper in DAC into Terra Nova (her last there, btw, pity), and discussed player-centred game design also more generally. There appears to be several interesting developments in this area, both in research world, and within the industry, but we also have to remember what are the realities particularly of the smaller studios and focus on how to make the player-centric processes also more designer-friendly. But I am a firm believer in PCD philosophy: only by hearing real people out there (rather than only following our own tastes and instincts) can we see the culture of gaming facing some real fundamental changes.

stopping for a moment in dac

Another busy travel week: trains, airports, cars. Lecture halls, computers, sudden flash of blue sky and then again, underground. Sounds of trains, receding.

Some thoughts were passing by, around mid-week. Now there is flu, ache in joints. Articulations never really fully meeting with their function.

Digital Arts and Culture 2005 conference in Copenhagen has its own wiki, it is interesting to sit here in this event, and see it being adapted (translated) into words and images, collectively, as moments pass.

Very fitting to the themes of the conference, digital aesthetics, experience, design and practice. But I found myself thinking about how this kind of developments will lead into increasing multitasking. Already, many are reading their emails in meetings rather than sharing the same thought-space (even if nominally the physical space). But I am also hopeful, paradoxically, as people not interacting with each other in face-to-face level might actually learn about something about each other in these alternative layers of (non-)presence with these familiar strangers. After all, blogging or making wiki notes during an event might create a larger collaborative space, make some links between interests, ideas, individuals and institutions more visible than would otherwise be likely. Or not?

'digital games' in Google Print

Google Print, the new controversial service which is among those which aims to digitize the traditional printed books, and thereby lower the barrier between digital and analogue worlds, went finally online. Making a test search on words ‘digital’ and ‘game’ yields these results. I find it quite easy to be in favour of this kind of undertakings; I have already found several books via this system that I aim to buy, so the class-action lawsuit by organisations of US publishers and authors seems counterproductive to my mind.

studying the korean games: gamestudy.org

Interested in the massive phenomenon MMOG are in Korea? Then you should read gamestudy.org, a blog maintained both in Korean and English. It is fine that we see some gaps appearing in the language and cultural barriers.

digital humanities quarterly

A humanist, and interested in digital culture and media? You might find this interesting: “Digital Humanities Quarterly (DHQ), an open-access, peer-reviewed, digital journal covering all aspects of digital media in the humanities”: see their website.

future nokia concepts

Spending some of this beautiful and peaceful Sunday going thru the websphere (there is some noise of Nintendogs training here nearby, though…) and noticed that there is this story of future Nokia concepts, so if you are interested in the mobile/smart media, see the phonemag.com’s series of stories.

Edit: here is the direct link to the concept exhibition: http://www.designawards.nl/eng/index.asp?&audio=1

google: the world pushed to your adapting desktop?

After installing the new Google Desktop Search (Version 2 Beta) to my “mediaserver” machine at home (that is, the one with the better display and larger hard drives) today, I was served by the Sidebar application. It is one of those “all-in-one” applications that might be useful, or then they just take extra desktop space and you end up deleting them fast. I am not sure which camp this one belongs to; by default it displays a slideshow of all my image files (and others from the web), and the Weather part only gives you US locations, which is pretty lame. At the same time, there are several “Advanced Features” that are promising — and also a bit spooky. It monitors the pages I surf, the newscasts, RSS/Atom feeds I subscribe to, and displays new titles automatically in the sidebar. Well, we’ll see — have to test this more. One thing is sure: this is symptom of us being now in the always-connected, broadband age and era. One can also become addicted and just stare at this, semi-adapted stuff endlessly being refreshed from the wells (and junkyards) of the net.

The first “What’s Hot” recommendation I clicked and viewed was this Aeon Flux SF movie trailer. Nice; more futuristic Kung Fu action and recycled storylines? But right on target: I might go and see the flick.

galvanize!

Another tidbit making rounds in the gaming blogosphere, the
GALVANIZE! flash game, promoting the most recent Chemical Brothers album. As far as the web games go, this is actually rather fun – and a proof that you get nicely away with the gameplay of pinball, as long as the theme, music and (mostly) visual jokes kick ass.