Hm. Seems that the Chinese officials are getting rather experimental in curing the net/game addiction problem – administering electric pulses and intravenous medication, wow. See the AP story in CNN.com and elsewhere.
Category: media
media, culture and society
In the Making. The First Nordic Design Research Conference
Here are some quick notes, made during bus travels. I missed the first day (tutorials), and the last day for me was the program committee meeting, focusing on the future of Nordic Design Research Conferences (Sweden, 2007, most likely). More information on the event: http://www.nordes.org.
May 30. The first day of the conference at least to me proved to centre on two main themes. The first one was embodiment, or how to approach the sense and significance bestowed upon material reality – as was only natural for a conference with so many contributors working upon industrial design, or arts and crafts related fields. There were some nice thoughts that I should consider in my work on digital culture, and culture of technology studies, when I again find some time to continue writing on those themes. The second set of key issues centred around the relation of design and research. Design research seems to be going through similar kind of soul-searching as has been the case for other academic fields closely associated with a creative practise. In games research as well there are the tensions whether the rationale is to aim for new designs or into new research, in the scientific or scholarly sense of the word. Obviously, some of the attractiveness of these fields rise from the fruitful interactions between academia and creative professions, and industries, too. But as in several presentations today it was pointed out, it is important to remember which one is aiming for: to evaluate a hypothesis (and create generalizable knowledge), or to research in order to create designs. The concept of knowledge is slippery, and it is easy to prove that any evolution of artistic skill also involves knowledge creation. The discursive standards guiding the formation and distribution of scientific knowledge and artistic or professional knowledges are nevertheless generally separate and distinctive.
May 31. During this second day, I mostly focused on methodology sessions: ethnography, in vivo observations, etc., and to the technology domestication and other social sciences inspired presentations. There were some interesting points, but there was also a growing feeling that I had heard most of these things before. The concluding panel on the identity of design research was translated into the form of seeking inspirations for a hypothetical Nordic Design Research Centre. This appeared to lead into all sorts of vague directions, missing the potentials for really trying to understand the fundamentals of design research as an academic field, as contrasted to various design professions and their concerns. I left the session early to get into the bus which then carried me through the grey and rainy, but mostly rather nicely designed Copenhagen.
The papers of the conference are currently available for download in: http://www.tii.se/reform/inthemaking/proceedings.htm.
next DiGRA board canditates
There is now call for canditates into the next DiGRA executive board, 2006-2008 in http://www.digra.org (see forums). Please check it out. – Writing this from Juha Herkman’s PhD thesis defence (picture below); these are major academic events and “tribal gatherings” in Finland, don’t know so much what is their role in other coutries. This one is both fun and illuminating; also political. Tomorrow Copenhagen (www.nordes.org).
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mayday, cold and grey
This May Day was one of the cold and grey ones: freezing temperatures outside, not much to do expect play games, write articles for a Finnish horror bibliography project I got involved with, eat some. The photos I took outside pretty much tell it all. Saw Magnolia (the movie) finally. Liked it. Fun part is, that after seeing my preferences, Movielens gives as the top recommendation for me now The Princess Bride. 🙂 (PS – Blogger makes life again difficult – it is pain to get anything published via their service any more. Pity…)
connected to star wars?
The flash map Wired has produced on the links into and around Star Wars movies is illuminating, especially as you start thinking about all the connections (e.g. games) they have not included in it. Seems we are all connected to SW, and is that just reflection on the overall ‘condition of connectedness’ we all live in? Story: How Star Wars Changed the World.
elegy to consoles of the past
gamegrrl advance had this link to funny and touching video, lovingly designed to pay homage to the consoles of the past, fighting against the rising dominion of PSP-type ‘convergence device’. Oh dear… Someone can really love these old pieces of plastic. (Choose: New Game in the start.)
updating
Hm. Finallly got around to update my DVD collection page to reflect some recent acquisitions. Now, only some days of time to watch them, too…
demons in machines
Today, I changed my ADSL router from a Telewell to a Zyxel. The aim is to get rid of the network breakdowns; I heard that several Telewell models have been plagued by a disorder where they jam after some days of sustained connection. Zyxel should not show those symptoms, or so I was told by a support person at Saunalahti, my ISP. The minor operation lead into 4-5 hour reconfiguration of my LAN, firewall and Wi-Fi settings, but now everything seems to be working again. Oh dear. There would have been some important matters to take care for during this weekend, but now it is probably too late for those. But weekends should be reserved for relaxation, at least in the traditional society, prior to this current liquidation of work-leisure distinction. But managed to see Constantine (the movie) finally. Comic book adaptations used to be terrible, but as with X-Men, I find myself rather enjoying this, as that sort of entertainment on the demonic it is. Well, back to writing some horror history stuff for a Finnish book project.
demonic book, creative commons
Phhw. The 1999 book, Demonic Texts and Textual Demons is finally now online and available (thanks, Laura, once again for all the help!) Since the Tampere University Press edition did not finally reach that many readers outside narrow expert circles, I have now provided the text (not including the illustrations) online under the Creative Commons license. It was such a large part of my life for many years, after all. The url is here:
http://www.uta.fi/~tlilma/Demon_2005/
What do you think (about the book, the project, other issues)? – all comments are welcome. 🙂
all those moments in time
Catalogue of activities in time. Modifying articles for publication in the Children in the Media World book. Listening to the new Bjork album, all wondrous about the possibilities of vocal art. Preparing some background work for a new book on horror criticism some colleagues are editing together this spring. Disappointed that my new, anti-kaamos bright light scheduler did not work in its first testing. All exited about the special edition of the Da Vinci Code, that I bought yesterday: art photography to accompany the fiction of cryptography. Discussions about hyperactivity, the desire for everything. Making some editing touches for the Game Studies course materials. Considering of taking on either a new role in the World of Warcraft or the Everquest 2, and then having to reconsider. Looking at the calendar, all that catalogue of activities in time. Checking some new developments in digital photography, portable media sharing, and future terminals in homes’ media convergence. Starting the process of putting online the 1999 Demonic Texts and Textual Demons book under a creative commons license. Working on several other projects, simultaneously, or almost simultaneously; spinning off into forking paths of tangential activities, thoughts, worlds, like a kaleidoscope or fractal biting the tail of another fractal. Now it is past midnight, again. Reading another good nights tale of fantasy perhaps. Clive Barker’s Abarat. Then new worlds. Of dreams.
frans goes blog 
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