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59 W 12th Street . October 31, 2007 . 11:36 pm .
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more."
Lord Byron
The wilderness has had an extraordinary allure on people's imagination since the beginning of time... the mere illusion of it, the risks, the faith it implies, the mystery, the fantasy, the possibilities. It's been interesting to observe how for a lot of us in the course, Second Life has proved to be as wild and foreign as a vast patch of Real Life land.
I went to see Into The Wild last week. I really thought I was over my Second Life 'high' but the Lord Byron quote that opened it brought me straight back again. I ended up thinking about Second Life all throughout the movie. Alex's eagerness to explore unknown grounds reminded me of my avatar overlooking the immensity and beauty of the landscape. Even in virtual worlds we continue to inspect our lifeworlds outwardly, but at the same time we almost never cease to travel inward.
I thought of the film a lot as I read the book Friction, particularly when the author discusses the powerful dichotomy of God and Nature. According to her "many things are said to be universal: freedom, money, love. But the two most historically successful universal claims -which continue to form exemplars for all universality- are still God and Nature." (Friction, p. 88) Our bonds to God and to Nature, as individual as they may be, also profoundly link us to one another.
The book is very precise in its descriptions. For example the semiotic analysis of a/the globe as a unit, logo, dynamic, expression, very clearly depicts what many refer to when speaking of universality. Anne Lowenhaupt Tsing talks about it as a "dream space" that we can all access through modernity, political freedom and science. It all really does sound cozy and prosperous when you read it here but then she precedes to point out to us, amongst other things, that the majority of the world's population are minorities and that corporate growth destroys its own resources.
Friction is all around.
Friction is quite an ample term but yet so well accommodated within her theories. "As a metaphorical image, friction reminds us that heterogeneous and unequal encounters can lead to new arrangements of culture and power" (Friction, p. 5) As I read I kept thinking about the fact that my laptop computer picks up about 20 different wireless networks within a block's radius but all of them are weak; I remembered my past relationships and how the most complicated ones have also been the most significative; I thought about the ITTO and the idea of having a global management regime for the use of the world's forests (!)
World transition and evolution will be awkward. Global interconnection is mediated -both positively and negatively- precisely by these lags in the flow of knowledge, goods, supplies, even people. From a late bus to the discrepancies in 'political ecology', where human interactions and the environment "respond to social and political coercions - not just the pressure of numbers." (Friction, p. 173) The ethnographic deconstruction of the Indonesian case serves as a great example of the clash of capitalist interests and the diversity of the rainforest... another great analogy in itself.
Even though I am yet to be done reading, I highly recommend this book.
T
59 W 12th Street . October 31, 2007 . 1:24 pm .Response to Friction will be posted soon.In the meantimecheers from my favorite place in Second Life thus far, the Botanical Gardens -where I most serenely... float.
T
11 W 81st Street . October 22, 2007 . 3:20 pm .
Learning about Simon Stevens first got me interested in Second Life. Simon Stevens was featured in the Newsweek article I've mentioned more than once. Simon Stevens somehow found me, read this blog and offered to be my friend.
[17:28] Simon Walsh: hi, i am simon stevens from the newsweek article and i read your blog. this is a fansatic story and so happy to be part od your journey
Thanks Simon!
T
59 W 12th Street . October 17, 2007 . 12:16 am .
I chose the following dialogue for analysis simply because I enjoy watching people type in Japanese. It soon posed a dilemma however (and got a bit frustrating) because I do not speak or read Japanese. In the midst of it nonetheless I managed to engage in a very basic conversation (in English) with tommy7 Voom from Osaka.
In virtual worlds like Second Life computer screens appoint such a sharp separation between individuals that it complicates the interpretation of paralinguistic systems. I -at least- find that typed messages come across very differently than spoken ones. I often don’t “get” jokes or suggested connotations regardless of the use of emoticons and various fonts or colors. All capitals for example, consistently give me the impression that people are yelling at me.
I’ve come across avatars from Italy, France, Japan, Portugal, England, etc. thus far (speaking of paralinguistics, the other day I recognized a Mexican avatar the minute I saw her... just like it often happens to me in Real Life.) For the most part people use English to speak although my first conversation ever in Second Life was actually in French. I don’t type as fast or accurately in French as I do in English or Spanish so I remember it being very slow.
But with some patience and wit, language discrepancies can somewhat cease to be obstacle per one's adventures in Terra Firme. When they don’t though we must rely on people like Yossarian Seattle to come up with great ideas like this one:
http://eightbar.co.uk/2006/08/03/yossarian-breaks-the-language-barrier/
10-07
[23:00] Kou Fimicoloud: またねー
[23:00] kazusa Noel: うん、またね＾＾
[23:01] Message from Japan Resort: Thank you for requesting this information
[23:01] Goro Koba: ビールありがとう、こうすけ君
[23:01] kousuke Watanabe: いえいえ
[23:02] Goro Koba: 遅いけど。。
[23:02] JacobNeo Rowlands: 常連の方々ですか？
[23:02] kousuke Watanabe: ｗｗ
[23:02] You: Do you speak English?
[23:02] tommy7 Voom: ふふw
[23:02] kousuke Watanabe: ジェーコブさんどうぞ、座って＾＾
[23:02] tommy7 Voom: im japanese
[23:02] JacobNeo Rowlands: litte bit
[23:02] tommy7 Voom: little bit
[23:02] You: From Tokyo?
[23:03] tommy7 Voom: From JAPAN :)
[23:03] Goro Koba: i am Osaka
[23:03] tommy7 Voom: From Osaka
[23:03] kousuke Watanabe: ゴローさんのスキンって・・・
[23:03] kousuke Watanabe: 自作です？
[23:03] Goro Koba: なんだね＾＾
[23:03] Goro Koba: いえ、お買い上げです
[23:03] kousuke Watanabe: あはは
[23:03] kousuke Watanabe: なかなか、いませんぜ
[23:03] zokei Proto shouts: なぜ 答えてくれないの？
[23:04] JacobNeo Rowlands: Ainat Where are you from?
[23:04] Goro Koba: 間違って買ったことにしてるんだ
[23:04] kousuke Watanabe: あはは
[23:04] You: Mexico but I live in New York
[23:04] Miller whispers: Mmm... Ice-cold fine beer!
[23:04] kousuke Watanabe: 一度見たら、忘れません
[23:04] Goro Koba: コウスケ君、ちょっと教えてくれないかね
[23:04] kousuke Watanabe: どうぞ
[23:04] kousuke Watanabe: いらっしゃいませ、ひまりさん
[23:05] himari Forcella: こんにちは
[23:05] Goro Koba: えっとねーあのねーー
[23:05] kousuke Watanabe: ＾＾
[23:05] Goro Koba: こんにちは
[23:05] JacobNeo Rowlands: You usually trabelinng in several sites?
[23:05] * ZUMA sunset cocktail * whispers: Courtesy of ZUMA SURF RESORT
[23:05] kousuke Watanabe: あ・・・
[23:05] kousuke Watanabe: AZのモデルさん？
[23:05] You: Yes...
[23:05] kousuke Watanabe: じゃなく・・・
[23:06] JacobNeo Rowlands: Which site are better?
[23:06] Goro Koba: バーなどでチップって書いてる場合、きちんとチップを支払うのが礼儀かね、やっぱり。
[23:06] kousuke Watanabe: あはは
[23:06] himari Forcella: モデル目指してるけどｗ
[23:06] You: New York!
[23:06] kousuke Watanabe: いえいえ、払ってくれたら嬉しいですけど
[23:06] kousuke Watanabe: ほとんど、払わないですよ＾＾
[23:06] Goro Koba: そうですか
[23:06] tommy7 Voom: その。スキンとシェイプはモデルになれますよw
[23:06] JacobNeo Rowlands: Great! Your pendant is cute.
[23:06] kousuke Watanabe: あはは
[23:07] kousuke Watanabe: そうだね＾＾
[23:07] kousuke Watanabe: 綺麗ですよ
[23:07] Goro Koba: 綺麗です
[23:07] You: Thanks!
Arigato.
T
59 W 12th Street . October 10, 2007 . 9:37 pm .
Technology is becoming not just our connection to the world but the world as we know it. Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1970's Culture is Our Business that "fish don't know water exists till beached" meaning that, in other words, media effects and new environments are as imperceptible as water is to a fish.
Indeed, as I read through Dourish's What we talk about when we talk about context I couldn't stop thinking, not about fish necessarily, but about that chicken and egg paradox we've all discussed at least once in our lives.
We're already wrapped around ubiquitous computing as it is and it appears that its presence is a) in itself and b) almost beyond us. There are unending, invisible and virtually omnipresent networks all around us already - from economic markets to transnational cellular wirings.
Contexts are unstable precisely because they're so dynamic. Not only do they respond to the needs of those within them (McLuhan's fish) but they too mold accordingly. Context is occasioned by activity and activity is at the same time induced by context. This represents the so-called embodied interaction mentioned by the authors.
So...
Chicken or egg?
Use or presence?
Following this same chain of thought, Experiences with the Alternate Reality Kit points out that the ones who give meaning and enhance the content of new technologies are just so the users and not the designers. They do it literally by following a physical metaphor, or magically, by acquiring the knowledge to do so otherwise.
The expression of computational artifacts, as Hallnas and Redstrom would argue in their own text, creates identities that nowadays construct our lifeworlds. Lifeworld is actually a great word to use here. Luckily enough though, human-computer correspondence still goes both ways.
T
PS: And for those of you interested in more about ARK.
Bernardo Quintana 405 . October 4, 2007 . 11:27 pm
I haven't posted anything lately related to my Second Life rendezvous and it's been on purpose. I have consciously taken some time off as it suddenly became too overwhelming.
Two weeks ago I saw Evo Morales give a speech at Cooper Union and the man was amazing. That night I dreamt that I met Evo in Second Life and taught his avatar how to fly. Yes... our avatars were friends. On another occasion not long ago, I found myself having more fun at Club Heaven than at a Real Life bar and to make matters worse, I think I'm starting to develop a crush on a colleague's avatar.For all these reasons plus the fact that I can't stop thinking or talking about Second Life, I decided to take breather. My brain has always been adept at handling large amounts of visual information but then again I do not want it to fry on me so soon.
This week though my 'vacation' was interrupted because our class had two online meetings. Luckily they were great meetings. It's a different experience to hang out and explore Terra Firme with people you know from the real world. We visited very interesting places (will go back to that later) and met a tattoo artist, Gothotta Zander, who had met his Real Life wife, Jinger Curie, in Second Life. They lived on a beautiful piece of land by the water and had a barn with cows, dogs, chickens, etc.
I have decided that if I ever have a pet in Second Life it will most definitely be a cow... I will name her Andromeda.
Now back to my vacation.
T
Bernardo Quintana 405 . October 3, 2007 . 10:18 pm
Few things drive me crazier than people telling me "hey, don't take it personally." I have never been able to not take things personally: things are personal because life is personal.
Everything we do is strictly related and intertwined with our innermost emotions, thoughts and desires. I at least self-question myself all the time as I try to understand the spirals of the world around me. Whatever answers we give ourselves are more profound and genuine than any institutionalized one.
I applaud Ellis and Bochner's approach and willingness to present individual life experiences as means of uncovering wider group scenarios, being these academic or not. Because this type of work has been vastly criticized in the past I find it a very brave proposal. "... If these personal voices can be silenced, then perhaps they can return to business as usual in the social sciences." Well, apparently not anymore.
Let us observe the observer, instigate compassion, exposure, tolerance, value, courage and allow what's in our hearts to dictate what's in our agendas.
Autoethnography seems to be the ticket out.
T
59 W 12th Street . October 1, 2007 . 11:41 pm .
I suspected that I wasn't going to enjoy Steven Shaviro's Connected from the moment I first opened the book. In the Preface he manifests his desire for his work to be "as radical as reality itself." Apart from reality being radical or not, in my opinion his compendium proves to be more of a personal literary exercise than anything else.
Shaviro throws out tremendous amounts of information fast and quotes other authors and artists up to five or six times a paragraph. For this reason in particular, a lack of cohesiveness and direction pervade throughout the text. The countless mini-essays he arranges are interesting and rich with data, but in my opinion cultural theory and science fiction are not the same thing and shouldn't be articulated as one.
It was great to learn about the JenniCam; his analysis of sexuality versus reproduction per Chris Cunningham's (wonderful) video for Bjork, All is Full of Love; his thoughts on The Matrix; the cyberpunk short story New Rose Hotel; the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, etc. But much to my surprise the reading was labyrinthine and in itself very disconnected.
I gather that reality and science fiction are overlapping one another in crescendo. They have always been mutually dependent and coexistent (for example, our idea of zombies originates back in the days of Haitian Voudoun.) But there is still a thin line between one concept and the other and it has to do with our humanity. We might already be making a living out of manipulating space and time, but they aren't ours and probably never will be.
Shaviro might, on the other hand, be doing all this on purpose. His sole intention while crafting Connected could have been (an actually probably was) to resonate on hypertext and the ways our brains function these days... in the midst of the network society and ambitious technological advancements galore. If this is the case though, I would much rather spend the afternoon surfing the web.
His weblog: http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/
T
