documented life

This is sort of characteristically ‘post’-style game, taking photo of a photo, documenting someone documenting themselves. Sitting here, listening to Jill Walker talking about digital photographs, and about portraying oneself with modern technology. Of course, a blog is a way of self-representation, too, but also a way of documenting the life, and world. It is sort of easy see this a a gratuitous and endless self-reference, but there are alternative traditions of perceiving these practices of reflection. And that is all the talk is all about, of course. Posted by Picasa

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?

castronova, mcgonical, and ARGs

Ed Castronova (or is this in fact Ron Meiners’ text?) is making interesting comments on Jane McGonigal’s discussion of ARGs, based on such experiences as her involvement in “Last Call Poker”, how the social experience is framed in a way that sets these outside the rules of normative reality — and how all this strikes a chord with age-old utopian pursuits. See: Terra Nova: ARGs and Utopian Dreams. Poker or WoW — is it really an escape from our socially-determined selves, a sort of ritual or even religious-mystical transgression we are after in all this game playing activity? I am again reminded about how handy it is to keep the work of Victor Turner close by while analysing the social anthropology of games as culture.

universities' game education, nytimes

There is an interesting news story about game education spreading in the academia in
the New York Times online (registration required). Even with the US-centrism and development emphasis, it is still interesting to read about how the games related academic developments are getting press attention. Sign of times?

gaming comics online

There is an obvious subcultural and popular cultural overlap between the world(s) of comics and the world(s) of games. 1up.com has published a nice feature exploring this frontier. See: Will Strip For Games: Gaming Comics Online from 1UP.com. Have run out of your daily doze of Penny Arcade already? There is more out there.

phillips and 'ambient gaming'

Now this is something that interests us in Tampere Game Research Lab, and me personally, since in addition to working in future-oriented game research projects, I have been involved with a three-year project researching the future of home from the perspective of proactive computing (which pretty much means combining embedded, distributed systems with autonomous behaviours) — the Phillips AmBX group claims to incorporate a scripting language, software engine and architecture, designed to deliver feedback through enabled devices such as LED colour-controlled lights, active furniture, fans, heaters, audio and video”, according to this story. This is all very fine; but how about an open standard for “smart home” functionalities first, letting a large developer community to come up with this kind of means for designing orchestrated experiences?

See http://www.ambx.com/ for more.

gonzalo roadshow; picoblogger failing

This Tuesday, Gonzalo Frasca visited us to make his Games and Storytelling lecture on serial micro-games. I even took a nice picture with my Picoblogger of our Game Research Lab team with him, before the local Eastern Orthodox Church. But but: this time it is Picoblogger failing me. And despite installing new Bluetooth software and trying to hack into the memory of my Nokia 6600 camera phone, it seems that I am unable to get into that picture before Picoblogger decides to work again. And they do not answer my mails or web form inquiries — is there something wrong with them, or is this just normal?

Meta-note: I have been told that inordinate amount of my blog space is dedicated to whining about dysfunctional technology, and I do agree. The point being that as long as these tools, hardware and software, do not work even in the hands of a one who actually even enjoys some minor tweaking with one’s systems, how can it ever reach out and become a truly popular and mainstream phenomenon? The problems are still just too large: unreliability, non-compatibility and un-usability are there, to counterbalance all these fascinating possibilities new technologies and media offer us.

summary for the Austin Game Conference 2005

Mirjam Eladhari has posted nice summary of the Austin Game Conference 2005 in her blog — thanks for doing service for all of us who couldn’t travel.

trailer of WoW: the burning crusade

You all fellow WoWians out there must already know this, but Blizzard has published a preview trailer video of their coming expansion set, see World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade web page. It highlights nicely what they see as the double key attractions of the game: the expansive and nicely designed fantasy world, and their loving investment in the monstrous and the marvellous in creature design. Any monster freak should have festive time among the expansion, I hope.

'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.