FINAL PROJECT - Original VW Concept Design Proposal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bba-DjEWBrcyZa2q1gmBxz0_BqdL0RcIrZLr6Zhn9HE/edit

TODAY - SPEAKER + EVENTS + ASSIGNMENT

SPEAKER - JANIS NAKANO SPIVACK

11/4/11, 11am  Janis Nakano Spivack, Nakano Spivack Consulting Group.  Creative Executive with award-winning experience spanning traditional and cutting-edge media. Extensive background in New Media including the following platforms; Digital Outdoor, Internet, 3D Virtual Worlds, IM +. 10 years in traditional media with emphasis in TV and Print. VP, Experience Design at Reactrix Systems, VP, Creative at There.com (online virtual world), Chief Creative Officer at Organic, Inc., creative officer at several pioneering dotcom companies such as LeftBrain-RightBrain, GOfISH!, and Creative Director, Interaction Designer and Producer at the pioneering daVinci Time & Space.

TWO EVENTS:

Event 1:  Art Gallery Mystery (Christopherson, Turner, Chang, Liu)
Event 2: Human Puzzle (Helen Liu, Grant Zhao) 

PROJECT 2 - ORIGINAL VIRTUAL WORLD CONCEPT DESIGN

- Project Assignment Sheet (see PAGE devoted to this)

- (evolving) Research Resources (some on project assignment sheet, some on 627 Class Resources Page

 

TODAY - ASSIGNMENTS + SPEAKER

1. ASSIGNMENTS

EVENT EXPERIMENT/PROJECT 1 Assignment is posted - See PAGE, above.  Note CONCEPT due date next week.  Read carefully and email me if you have any questions. 

NEW LINKS - Note new links (PBS program and above) on 627 Class Resources PAGE, above.  Many useful for getting Event ideas.

ASAP - Blogpost about your INTERESTS and your SKILLS in relation to the Event Experiments.  This is for people looking for collaborators or thinking they might go it alone. 

2. SPEAKER - Beth Renneisen (faculty member in SFSU Journalism Dept)

Today, Beth Renneisen (627 student from 2009) presented her Meteor Slams Dorm Event Experiment to the class.  I will post some videos later.  You can see documentation fSo people who want collaborators for their Event Experiments can find them, everyone should blogpost ASAP their 1) Interests and 2) their Skills.  Note that I've got everyone's email addresses to the Class 627 People Database on the right side of the class blog.  You can see the documentation from it on her MA thesis site http://gnusart.com/thesis/. 

TIPS FROM BETH:  

Plan your Event around some QUESTIONS, things you want to find out

Target your Event - don't make it too broad

Communicate your expectations:  Let people know what's expected of them

endit:

 

LIFE 2.0 - Documentary on Second Life shown on the Oprah Winfrey Channel on 8/25 (OWN Documentary Club).  Maybe it is available on demand or it repeats...?

Trailer:  http://www.oprah.com/own-doc-club/Life-20-Trailer
Films Site:  http://www.life2movie.com/ 

BUILDING TEAMS, SPACE & SCALE EVENT(?)

9/16 PROGRAM

AM AGENDA

1. LINDEN DOLLARS - Everyone have asset import funds?  Apply for a grant from the bank of Jane.

2. WINGS3D SCULPTY MODELING / SECOND LIFE IMPORT
Status?
- Who's got it?
- Wings3D demo - need it?
- Go over final export/import process (see Wings3D Sculpty Modeling Class Blog page), tips for success
- Everyone get through process with at least one object (everyday object or body part) in SL

3. SIGN UP FOR A BUILDING TEAM - NEXT WEEK:  Each team will do demonstrations, blog post how-to+links info.
a. Wings3d Modeling + Textures
b. SL Prims (including linking, physics, etc)
c. Scripting
d. Animation
e. Costumes/Tattoos.

 PM AGENDA

1. WORK IN TEAMS (develop list, get everyone on same page, divide up tasks)

NAVIGATION EVENT - 9/9, SL (Due 9/16)

Some Context:  “The basic stories we know best are small stories of events in space: The wind blows clouds through the sky, a child throws a rock, a mother pours milk into a glass, a whale swims through the water. These stories constitute our world …”  (M.Turner, The Literary Mind)
Animals note and remember these simple, spatial stories as well as humans (Veeder: who are visual thinkers!).  Only humans, and some painstakingly trained chimpanzees and bonobos, can go beyond these into narratives that feature multiple points of view, symbols, and projection onto other situations, characters, datasets, etc. This requires language.  (Thanks, Richard van Oort, University of California, Irvine, Cognitive Approaches to Literature Session, Modern Language Association Convention, 2001)

"Game designers don't simply tell stories; they design worlds and sculpt spaces. It is no accident, for example, that game design documents have historically been more interested in issues of level design than on plotting or character motivation. A prehistory of video and computer games might take us through the evolution of paper mazes or board games, both preoccupied with the design of spaces, even where they also provided some narrative context."  Henry Jenkins, Games As Narrative Architecture.  

1.  Requisite Skills + Preparation:  

a. Avatar skills: walking, running, flying, POV controls (zoom, orbit, center)

b. Media documentation skills: SL Snapshot (camera icon), Fraps Video documentation (prepare by downloading/installing free version at http://www.fraps.com/download.php and figure out how to use it by Friday so you can record some video clips of your experiences. 
c. Read the assignment TASKS section 4., below, to properly focus your your experience.

3.  Starting Location (first of 3): Grand Canyon (99, 188) - TELEPORT HERE

4.  Navigate via spatially appropriate means (walking, running, flying) to fully explore the zone in question in all dimensions.  We will do this in a total of 3 locations.

5.  After Event Assignment TASKS:  Post on your blog about this event (and insert images/videos to illustrate your points) in reponse to these:  

a.  Write 3-6 one-sentence "small spatial stories" you gleaned from this experience (+ images if you happen to have them), i.e. what caught your eye, what seemed vivid, what coalesced into a small whole and stayed with you.

b. What seemed easy and transparent to you?  

c. What was actually pleasurable?  

e. What was difficult for you?  

e. How did those three correlate or differ from your experiences navigating through physical space in actual life?

f. Write a paragraph on how ONE of any of the modes of navigation through virtual space you've experienced in this event might be used as a model for navigating through other digital information spaces and include at least one sketch to communicate your concept. Note:  Stretch on this one - maybe start by brainstorming all the wild ideas you can think of then expand the most intriguing ones.  You limit this to current technologies or current models of navigation.

g. Separately, make another excursion through some UNFAMILIAR area of Second Life and POST (w/photo(s) to document) use that as the basis for a short narrative where you cast yourself as a hero venturing into unknown territory to face various challenges but triumphing in the end and coming home to tell the tale.  Be sure to include the location name and SLURL.

6. Related resources (see class resources page): 

Murray_HOH Chapters: Agency, Immersion, Transformation

Jenkins, Complete Freedom of Movement, Games as Narrative Architecture

veeder_depth_perception.pdf

veeder_motion_perception.pdf

Startup with Second Life - Due Next Friday 9/8

SL Support Center Knowledge Base (BASIC ORIENTATION INFO, FAQs, TUTORIAL VIDEOS, ETC)
https://support.secondlife.com/?lang=en-US

Prep
1. Go to the Second Life site, http://secondlife.com/ , and read the page, What is Second Life?, and explore the site to get an idea of what SL is and how people use it. You can also Google Second Life and find lots of other information, reviews, fan sites, etc.
2. Sign up for a Premium Membership (Information about billing:  http://secondlife.com/corporate/billing.php)
3. Read the System Requirements and install the viewer software
4. Separately, write a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) describing the virtual persona* that you will initially adopt for your SL avatar's personality, talents, phobias, desires, etc. Save this for later. 
* Persona: 1. the characters of a drama, novel, etc. 2. Psychol. the outer personality or facade presented to others by an individual

In-World Tasks
1. Login to SL
2. Create your avatar’s appearance to be compatible with and expressive of your virtual persona. Note: Beware of spending FOREVER doing this.  Note: you can change your avatar's visual appearance at any time later.
3. Go through the Orientation Island training program where you will learn the basic skills of getting around in SL.
4. Look on the Events schedule and attend a social event AS YOUR VIRTUAL PERSONA, i.e. your avatar will behave and respond according to your described virtual persona. Take notes on your exchanges with others and how they respond to you.
5. Go to one of the non-event Popular Places (free games, classrooms, whatever interests you) . Take a snap shot of you there and notes on your experience.
6. Post on your blog: your virtual persona description, and a concise report (with snapshot) of your event and other locations.

Other Info:  
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Clothing_Tutorials