Issue #196 - The Spaces in Between
Glue Sticks
This week has seemed to shoot by in an instant, waking up this sunny morning, I can’t believe that it’s Friday already. I missed you last week, just got over run and didn’t find enough time to write. This morning I’m on my second cup of coffee and have time.
I did have a chance to do some painting this week, another set of small portraits, acrylic on wood, and after I varnished them with mod podge, I thought I’d stick them up somewhere on the side of wall, maybe next time I’m in Garfield, or some other cool neighbourhood.
I also spent a good part of the week organizing travel for next month, and building websites for a couple of new projects. This isn’t particularly taxing, but you have a long list and working through them is a grind. Anyway, I finished the week with just a few things to get on with, and it feels pretty satisfying to have all that behind me.
…and I finally watched Slow Horses, which I have to tell you is quite fun and exciting. If you’re new to it, you’ve got a whopping four seasons ahead of you, and the treat of Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb character, very much the sweary, farty, old git that you imagine works in a place like Slough House.
Stephan
Spaces to Connect
I’ve also been attending the Meaningful Play Conference which is taking place just a few feet from my room at CMU, and I sat in on talks, and watched some with zoom on days when I stayed home. This is very definitely a games conference, which explores games and play in the academic realm, with talks and workshops from those who are engaged in research, including teachers who use games in their classrooms. This is the aspect that I’m interested in, whether games might provide ways to engage through active learning. Again, I’m really not interested in gamification; adding a layer of points and prizes to motivate learning; that is often empty and futile, and speaks to Alfie Kohn’s theory that reward only reinforces the idea that the tasks aren’t fun or interesting to do in the first place.
In here conference keynote, designer Sabrina Culyba says that “in a game well-made, meaning is everywhere”, and speaks to the need for serendipity in play, for moments that weren’t planned, but allow the player to make connections, from the cues provided by the game, and also what they bring to the game, from their own lives and experiences. This, for me is essential in teaching, I only hope that I can as a teacher provide the right cues, or enough of them at least to facilitate those moments of connection and realisation. I also recognize that it is a bit scary, in games talk, that you have to create an vast world, an endlessly playable game with almost limitless possibilities; and while this is a big ask, you have to be at least open and interested when learners make surprising connections, or see something in the materials that speaks to them personally. As Sabrina goes on to say “Serendipity is a counterpoint to self-determination”, and I agree, but also I think you might allow one to come before the other, or that serendipity means being comfortable with ambiguity, and that those chance connections should spur you on, rather than fill you with doubt.
I’m always amazed how much I’m influenced by play and games in the formation of my pedagogy. I say that because I’m not so much a fan of games, well at least those played with other people, I like puzzles and games that I can play in isolation, solving and exploring, and it’s probably my hang up but I really want to explore why this is, and how we might better serve in teaching those who feel this way. The classroom is a cooperative space, and I’d never want to remove that, but why am I more comfortable sharing and working in this space, even as a student, than I am playing a game with other people? Perhaps its that there are winners and losers, perhaps because I’m under-confident, or just I enjoy working things out in my mind.
Sona: Immersive Storytelling Festival
We are in the midst of organizing a new immersive storytelling festival that will take place between 27-29 March 2025. This is an opportunity to invite artists, filmmakers, and designers to CMU to share their work. We have a call published on Filmfreeway.com and soon publish a new website with details of the event and how to get involved.
This is an exciting new project, and the culmination of many years working with immersive media. We hope that it will be a regular fixture, and that it will support new immersive works that speak to our themes around language and culture. Stay tuned for more, and please spread the word with your students and colleagues.
Lost and Found
I found a bunch of things this week that I want to share with you, they are a bit all over the place, but stay with me.
The first is that I finished Lynda Barry’s book Syllabus, that I mentioned I was reading in issue #93 which is brilliant and wonder why I haven’t read it before, even though I leafed through it on the library shelf. It really is teaching drawing and storytelling to people who have let these skills lapse, and I would have loved to sit in on her class “The Unthinkable Mind”, you can look through some of the prompts and student work on the tumblr site. On reading this book, I disappeared down a few rabbit-holes, including ordering books from the library by Ivan Brunetti, whose book Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice (affiliate link) is a text for Lynda’s course.
There’s been quite a hubbub about this article from The Atlantic The Elite College Students who don’t read books which is untrue, they do read books, they just don’t finish many of them. I read it with some sympathy for students who have such a demanding schedule, and while it is true that more books were read by students in the past than now, and that phones are the main culprit, it doesn’t seem realistic to be reading a book a week, as the article suggests, even in so-called elite universities (are they elite simply because they place unrealistic demands on students).
Okay, I know what you’re thinking - this is what students should be doing, rather than scrolling, or watching K-pop videos, or binging on Hulu; and I do think reading is such a joy, but as an academic I struggle too, and especially with the nonsense of 300 pages to give me the one citable theory I could have picked up from the research paper, or more interestingly put in a podcast or interview. But! there are also writers who write, just so beautifully, that every sentence is a joy, and I would want students to bathe in that writing and immerse themselves in someone’s thinking, in a way that other forms, well..just don’t.
Lots of designers are switching from WeTransfer to Playbook, which also handles large file transfer, but also acts like a drive, like box or dropbox.
Adobe’s Project Neo is a beta that you might have missed, that is perfect for creating little 3D objects from vector files imported from illustrator. I think this is more a graphic designer’s tool than 3D artist, but it could be helpful for students learning about 3D, and creating objects for Aero which we used extensively in our Nantes trip for location-based AR.
Thank you
Last Friday I ran out of time answering emails, as I had to meet my colleague for lunch. We went to Bae Bae’s Kitchen, and I had garlic chicken, which was sweet and delicious, just enough salty seasoning, with glass noodles with fresh coriander, and a slice of crispy tofu in yum yum sauce. One of the best meals I’ve had in ages. Now you forgive me, don’t you.
In fact, this lovely Korean restaurant was recommended by my friend Matt Dayak who is a wonderful photographer of Pittsburgh’s food culture, amongst all the other clients and commissions he shoots for. His new website is becoming a useful recommendation site.
It feels like Autumn/Fall now, the leaves are dropping, the temperatures have dipped, and the sun is lower in the sky. Last night there was a Hunter Moon and I took a few photos, first by zooming in as far as I could on my phone, and then tapping to focus, then moving the exposure down so that you can see the surface of the moon. I had a bit of a play with multiple exposure.
Okay, time to sign off, hope that you have a great weekend, and let me know if there’s anything on your mind or want to talk more about in the comments below. Take care.