Hello, welcome to another week.
It is pouring with rain this evening, the snow has all but melted, just some resistant blocks of ice and slush where it was shoveled into a pile. There were a few days this week when it felt as if spring was on the way.
Don’t worry if you didn’t get a valentine’s card, consider this an alternative, I love and appreciate you. Although, you might not reciprocate, I understand. This newsletter is one of the hundreds of little gifts that school kids pass to each other, one for every member of class, which is a nicer tradition in schools here in the US than the one or two that you choose to send out in the UK. I just wish the gifts could be a little more sustainable. We gave out pencils, that seemed simple enough.
It’s been a busy week with a few workshops and meetings. This seems to be the rhythm at the moment, a couple of days at home and a short sprint to work for meetings and sessions with colleagues and their classes. It is nice to see everyone and catch up with the students, although I’m wondering how they’re feeling, what university is like for them at the moment?
I had a little moan to myself about the lack of notetaking. Students sometimes fold their arms while they listen to you, I try not to talk for very long but often I cite articles that they might want to read or suggest people that they might like to know more about. I personally, can’t attend any meeting without a pencil in my hand, and I know there is a ton of research to support the benefits of taking notes. I’m not sure how I can encourage it, but I do feel the class is more engaged when it is happening. Moan over.
This week, we’re a little more on track, it might be a tad VR heavy, but bear with me, there are some broader points to reflect on. Let’s go.
Spaces to Connect
I spent quite a bit of time in VR this week, wrestling the headset back from my kids who are all over Gorilla Tag, which looks quite frantic and physical from the outside, while inside you’re climbing trees and catching your fellow Gorilla opponents. It is a simple game of playground tag, you can see your own arms, reaching out for branches and climbing up ladders. There’s a social aspect too, you can play with friends and at the moment it’s still a bit sweary and chaotic in the chat. Community rules are usually ignored and although the game is played in good spirit there is still bad behavior.
This is an issue that is affecting a huge amount of online gameplay and why I don’t often seek out social experiences in VR. The metaverse will be full of trolls unless companies figure out a way through this. As the title of this article says Trolls just want to have fun. and while there is anonymity, hiding in the body of an avatar (a Gorilla in this case) there will always be people who get a kick out of winding up other users. Trolling is now a default position for many people who are unable to engage with anything, games, politics, conversations, relationships in any other way. A troll doesn’t have to do anything, offer any value other than disruption and stoking reaction. Trolling is why pollsters are failing to predict elections. People are expressing their rage through nihilism.
How did we get from Gorillas to Trump? I’m not sure. Just to say that AltspaceVR, which I’ve used with students, is closing many of its public spaces, such as its campfire, basketball court, and lounges, and concentrating on programmed events and user-generated spaces. I also notice now that all the audio is recorded, so I imagine it is being scraped for rude words and moderated more stringently. You also have to use an authenticated Microsoft account to log in. Let’s see how it all goes…what metaverse?
I did enjoy an exceptional experience called Goliath, produced by Games for Change in association with the BFI. Narrated by Tilda Swinton it is a 25 minute animated VR experience about schizophrenia. Goliath really grabs you, taking you through different environments, playing with scale, and providing just enough interaction to center you in the story. I was blown away frankly, VR is just so good at putting you inside someone’s mind.
Life Lessons
BBC Radio 6 Music has a new show presented by Tom Ravenscroft, John Peel’s son, taking guests for a tour around his father’s legendary record and music archive in the home called “Peel Acres’. This week, Four Tet’s Kieren Hebden visited and picked out a few records to listen to, and it is a treat. The collection is vast and sprawling, with boxes here or there, there were attempts at documenting with index cards, but it’s clear Peel just couldn’t keep up with how many records there were, thousands upon thousands. There are some lovely moments, Tom recounting how John Lennon would send postcards, and sign them with a little self-portrait with round glasses and a nose so that the postman wouldn’t pinch them. Hebden can’t believe what he’s seeing, incredibly rare original pressings of records that Peel would have played at the time of release. “You find something that you’ve only heard about existing and it turns out he’s got three copies!”
My own memory of John Peel’s show was traveling back late from London during my twenties, when I was in a band we had a weekly residency in the Bug Bar, a small venue in Brixton. Still sweaty from playing I’d load up my car, a little Peugeot 205, and head home into the countryside. I discovered so much music listening to John Peel’s show, he had simple criteria for playing a record, it had to have been created using the raw materials of passion, love, and an absolute commitment to the song. I’d hear the 60’s psychedelic rock that they talk about in this episode, alongside thumping drum and bass, eviscerating metal and delicate, crafted folk music. Not every tune was a banger, but certainly, he opened your ears and offered sounds you’d never get to hear otherwise.
Here’s a sneak peek of Damon Albarn (another Gorillaz)’s episode.
Lost and Found
I attended the Adobe Creative Campus this week and although we were all at home logging in remotely, we were able to enjoy the pre-conference activity which involved making Pizza with ingredients shipped in from Tony Baloneys in Hoboken NY. We tuned in for a masterclass in pizza making and have to say the results were pretty great.
Oh, yes, of course, there was a raft of new features and apps showcased at the conference and a great deal of talk of providing curriculum activities and supporting digital literacies. One of the apps I was most pleased to see is a little one called Rush, which is the fast, trim, and export video editor that I’ve wanted for a long time. I always hoped that Apple’s Quicktime player might incorporate some of this functionality, but I’m still waiting.
The other more predictable introduction was to Adobe Express which is a response to the popularity of Canva, the online graphic design studio. It is almost a carbon copy and I’m sure will be incredibly useful for instructors and students, again with thousands of templates, color schemes, stock images, and illustrations, it’s almost impossible to design something poorly.
I know that the subscription model is still offputting for many students, but Adobe still has an incredible suite of tools. I think, however, there are some excellent open-source tools out there and alternatives like Affinity which offer similar photo-editing and illustration tools for a one-off 50 buck fee.
Thank you
..and then on Friday morning just as I check through this newsletter it is snowing, again. Wind and rain kept me up late although it doesn’t sound anything as bad as Storm Eunice which is battering parts of the UK. My folks reported part of their back wall had blown into the garden and I imagine that big branches would have fallen in the woods behind the house. I hope everyone is safe and sheltering inside.
I broke my rule..er twice and bought records that I already own on CD, but you know. It was always a dream to own my own copy of Pavement’s Watery Domestic with two songs that feature in this Consequence of Sound best-of list. I’ve seen a few countdowns lately for this band, but this is one I can get behind. I’ll tell you about the other record next week.
So, whatever you’re doing this weekend, and I imagine for the most part if you’re here or in the UK you’ll be staying indoors, have a good one, relax, read your book and enjoy some good food. Don’t worry about closing your eyes for a short nap if you feel like it.
Next week, I’ll be in Washington DC, so you might get an earlier newsletter, Friday morning is booked up with museums and meetings. Take care.