A quote by Edith Wharton

I'm not a consistent poster regardless I need a space to capture my curiosities and random tid bits, here goes another one:

"In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow; one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways." -- Edith Wharton

Classroom 2.0 -- Constructivist Eduation or Edutainment

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My Second Life

I have to echo the comments of Marcie on the TC blog (I'm still unable to cross-post, my apologies for that). I had fooled around with Second Life a bit when it first came out and created an avatar but never entered the world. My husband and other friends are very much opposed to Second Life because it sucks the life out of you. I have to say I really enjoyed my first experience entering the world (campus island). I'm a novice of course but have always been building avatars for myself. These stand-in feel very much like me. I had a very intense feeling of presence in Second Life and must admit that my social skills are not improved in virtuality.

I had selected the most colorful avatar I could choose (without $) and am so far pleased with the Zultress Maven. She feels like me at 25 which is about right guaging her fine physique. I met another woman almost immediately who told me I was boring. I bumped into a man who was busily changing his appearance and two guys who were swimming and chatting together. The woman and I chatted via text which was really fun (for me I guess). I loved the way the avatar's hands pretended to type at the keyboard while I was. In fact the real-time responsiveness of the avatar is fantastic.

While I was examining the education board on the campus one of the swimmers flew up and snuck around the board to check me out. I ignored this and he returned to his buddy. They were using audio to communicate and I could also hear them speak. I much prefered being a third party and could ascertain that these two knew each other.

I'm still not sure of what to do in the world without some kind of role defined. However, I'm intrigued and would like to spend some time exploring. The graphics are terrific and there exist many groups to join. The social interaction still makes me nervous. I'm not at all comfortable approaching others in the new world but only time can tell how the Zultress will evolve.

Social Networking and me

I hold accounts on both Facebook and linkedin for mainly professional reasons. Facebook and linkedin allow me to maintain my contacts with artists I've known and worked with over the years despite that so many are living in foreign countries. I relocated to upstate NY and while "not that far" is still a journey requiring preparation that kills any kind of spontaneity. Now instead of getting a hold of LN at HERE (spring/broome) and going over to the eastside to one of many special spots to catch up, I can poke her on Facebook and find out what's up. I really like that I do feel connected and I think many other folks I know do too. The otherside is all these people from your hometown that find you out. And that is sweet too -- I like to see everyone I remember doing well. Even many of my cousins are on Facebook and I have MANY cousins.

Linkedin I need to do more work with I've been passive so far and hadn't had much time to fiddle. It feels more serious. MySpace, I spy on youth culture on MySpace for research purposes and am not into the music scene in a serious way so for me it's a great place to advertise (when I wear my day job hat) and that's about it. I also advertise on Facebook and have enjoyed this experimental marketing.

Twitter I haven't touched -- too immediate for my liking (I hate the telephone myself). But, perhaps it's just the demo I saw that introduced me to it. The lady was pretty snotty and was talking about how to keep lame people out of Twitter. I'm pretty careful about who I'm friends with online but at least want to believe in its inclusivity factor. It is still an experimental medium and the point is that people should feel safe to try things out (appropriateness ? is still hard to judge, enforce, define here).

Bookmarks

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These are my delicious bookmarks, I've had an account for over a year now but have not gotten totally into it yet. But, I am very excited about it for research purposes. I need to find time to spend on these, but here's what it is so far...

Cover Band

The video "Cover Band" is my educational video. I think doing an instructional video would be fun but I went this way today and consider it a sketch. The reason it's called "Cover Band" is because I sampled all the source off Utube, save my V.O. of the Port Huron statement (Tom Hayden). I am of techno DJ culture era and refuse to not work with popular material already out there. As a scholar, I am entitled to cite other people's written works and understand very well the process of gaining permission to use images. I think quoting is flattery that builds knowledge and that we create nothing new without doing so. I was fortunate enough to catch Creative Commons' Lawrence Lessig speaking this summer and have to say I'm really looking for creative freedom not an affordable lawyer. I still agree with DJ Spooky that it is the edit that is the art. But, while all this controversy over images continues, I'll post just a sketch of some thoughts I've been putting together.

The Listener

The Listener on Blip.tv

"The Listener" takes a look at listening during a narrative. I was looking for a common narrative, one that most people in New York could relate to, the "where were you when JFK was shot?" type of question for today's generation. I thought of 9/11 and the power outage of August 2002 as being collective experiences in New York memories. A lot of the listener's job is to pay attention to the other but often they zone out or begin remembering their own experiences while the other person is speaking. The narrative then becomes a layered text and a visual experience.