Welcome to The Spaces in Between, a weekly newsletter on culture, language, and technology written by Stephan Caspar. If you’re new here, then welcome, feel free to subscribe.
I’m sitting in my office at work this morning, this is probably the first time since the pandemic that I’m writing here. It feels nice but slightly eery, the halls are empty with just a few figures appearing from doors or catching sight of them as they disappear around a corner. The ceilings in my building are high and the architecture a mix of concrete and white walls, the stairs trimmed with wooden railings. I’m a little jumpy and keep expecting someone to walk in and ask me what I’m doing here.
It’s been a good, positive week, and despite disturbed sleep patterns, as it has been hot in the house, and we probably need to get the AC serviced as it is switching on more regularly.
It hasn’t helped too that I’m almost at the end of the fourth season of Fargo, it has been tense and darkly comic, heading towards an inevitable bloodbath finale that I’m sure almost nobody will survive. Chris Rock is great, the Coen’s influence is still there, albeit referencing earlier work like Miller’s Crossing or Barton Fink, but it is more than pastiche, it is full of great characters and deathly surprises. There are even some magical realist touches that I love in any series like this, adding some spine-tingling moments, imagining the dread in the characters, glimpses of fate and death.
Now that I’m somewhere else, I’m going to write for a few minutes and go and get a coffee and when I get back I’ll finish this newsletter. See you at the end for a little more chat.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
This week it was all about the process. We were making movies, designing virtual reality experiences, and it felt a little old school to include some tutorials and walk-throughs, creating 360 images on your phone using Google street view, importing and editing in Affinity Photo (a cheaper alternative to Adobe products that many of my students are adopting) and exporting and embedding using google photos.
Sometimes, teaching can be showing and signposting. You can ask a question or open up a discussion, but there’s always a time when you have to get down dirty into content, get technical, walk them through it. I quite like these moments, and they are often different from other sessions that I run. I suppose I feel a little self-conscious delivering them, it’s the constructivist in me, I’m hoping that students will arrive at the destination by themselves, however - you’ve got to make sure they get on the damn bus, and often you have to take a turn driving. And if that isn’t a hackneyed metaphor, then I don’t know what is.
Indeed, I don’t have to do as much of this as I used to, especially in an age of YouTube videos that will guide you through every step of every process often simply and speedily. Knowing that these resources are abundant elsewhere means that you can take time in lessons to talk about the editorial decisions, the storytelling, the choices that the creator needs to make. This is hugely liberating for the instructor, often because they know these processes inside out, but I’ve often had comments from students that they really enjoy instructional moments, even saying that it feels like real learning.
It’s a criticism that I often hear, that students enrolling in my courses expect a great deal of practical instruction, and often slightly disappointed when I outsource this and instead focus on frameworks and theories around these actions. I’m sure this is common, and I can understand the frustration, what good is it talking about the semiotics of photography if all I want to do is know how to set up my DSLR.
Life Lessons
I absolutely love Pigeon Bagels, they are sensational, little pockets of crispy delicious goodness, sprinkled with seeds and slightly salty, smothered with cream cheese.
I also appreciate their support and activism.
Recently they were listed in the Best Bagels in America by Food & Wine and I think it is as much for the ethos as the tastiness of the product.
I listened to a couple of interviews this week about the battle for transgender rights, especially in states passing a raft of new laws reversing healthcare rights and prohibiting trans kids’ participation in sports and even a bill in North Carolina obligating state employees to notify parents if they observed gender non-conformity. This is bizarre and cruel, especially given the high rates of suicide and risk in trans youth. There is an attempt again on the right to weaponize misinformation, prejudice and as always, install binary ideology where clearly there is none. For a bunch of libertarians, they seem to have no problem reaching into people’s lives and telling them their way of living is not compatible.
Again, the culture wars are all that’s left when there are no arguments about policy.
Lost and Found
Okay, a few bits are drawn from the movie-making and VR tutorials this week. Let me know if you want to try VR or 360˚with your students, I’m happy to help.
Google Street View is great for taking 360˚ images without a dedicated camera.
Output your images to Google Photos or 360 platforms such as Thinglink or Kuula (which will also enable you to add hotspots, links, and additional media).
VeeR Editor (iOS - iPad/iPhone) also has an inbuilt camera and editor.
360 video editor (iOS - iPad/iPhone) this is a really powerful little editor for iOS (you'll need to import your 360 footage or 360 photos from elsewhere)
Here in the office, I have the cameras and headsets for more advanced work, but you’ll be surprised at how much you can get done in VR without them. I still recommend Google Cardboard or similar headset, these are still very cheap and easy to use, even with younger students. They can watch 360 videos, play a few games, travel to far distant places (or just visit their homes) in Google Earth VR. It is a really powerful bit of kit.
Now that I have all this out of my system I won’t mention too much VR at least for a few more issues.
Thank you
We had a fun time reviewing the trailcam footage from the garden. I don’t think that we’ll be winning any nature documentary awards very soon, but it is fun and sometimes surprising to see who comes and goes.
I keep moving it around and still can’t seem to capture the chipmunk that lives under the decking. Its movement is staccato, so fast that the motion detectors aren’t triggered, even when it is just a few feet away.
We’ll keep going, there’s blossom appearing on the trees, buds sprouting and flowers blooming. The weather is changing and we’re getting out.
Let’s catch up again next week. Take care.
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