MRes COURSE BLOG » Bernhard Garnicnig Lunch Bites notes

Hi all! WELCOME! A new term is upon us. We are very happy to have you all here, and are excited to see the work, relationships and ideas that will come out of our expanding family in the DM MRes!

For your info – we are running two core modules this semester and (a change from last year) they run concurrently, interleaved. That is, on Oct 7th, 2-5PM we have the first section of the DM THINKING class – which will look at issues in the production of interactive and experimental media works, as well as relevant cultural theory. The DM DOING module – a class where we teach and workshop softwares for the production of creative digital media works – has it’s first session in the same time slot on Oct 14th (both in Space 7, Culture Lab).

Also running this term is Stevie Ronnie’s Web and Interactive Narrative class – Thursdays, 11AM-1PM. Space 7.

As you were told in your advisement sessions, we will have infrequent but important ‘special sessions’ for topics that come up in your course. These will, as much as it is possible, be held in the 5PM-midnight (?) time-slog following the Wednesday sessions. So far we have ideas for an expanded discussion of intellectual property and copyright as it relates to students works, a session on music for new media, and a special workshop on OpenFrameworks. If you have any other ideas for issues you’d like to look at and discuss with the group please get a hold of Jamie (jamie.allen1@ncl.ac.uk), or leave a comment on this blog, post to your own blog – in short, get in touch.

More soon… and see you soon!

Published on September 29, 2009 6:00 pm.
Filed under: Announcements, Doing, Thinking

DM Reading Group 2 – Representation, Identity & Institution

topics:

Who are you?!? What you do? What you think? What people see you as?
Does the media you use change your sense of self?e.g.: Print, TV, Tivo (TM)
Media theory often posits that new media tends to involve a shifting or blurring of ‘public’ and ‘private’
‘Personal webpage’ – oxymoron?

to look at:

Technology/Identity in Academia
- Internet Fame and Ce(web)rity: Emily Warwick’s Thesis
- Emily Warwick
Technology/Identity in Film/TV
- Ghost in the Machine
  - “While Karl is undergoing a CAT scan at the hospital, a surge of lightning courses through the building, and Karl’s soul is transformed into electrical energy.”
- Lawnmower Man Details »

Published on December 4, 2008 1:00 pm.
Filed under: Announcements, Doing, Thinking

Reading for DM Reading Group on Dec 4th

Hi all – here are the readings for our next reading group on Representation, Identity and Institution. Note that this reading group will be held on December 4th, at 1:00PM (Space 8).

Please bring other ideas, texts, info that come to mind when going through the readings and let us know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to cover/discuss/handle at this session.

Why Youth (Heart) Social Networking

The Presentation of Self – Irving Goffman

Weblogging: A study of social computing and its impact on organizations – Rachael Kwai Fun IP ⁎, Christian Wagner

Shout into the Wind and it Shouts Back – Lori Kendall

Published on November 17, 2008 3:17 pm.
Filed under: Announcements, Thinking

DM Reading Group 1 – Storytelling, Nonlinear Narrative & Electronic Literature

Howdy all – thanks to all who came to this session. For those who missed it – we discussed briefly a few of the high points of the Scott McLoud reading, distributed a few texts, and watched excerpts from the following films:

Vertov’s – Man With a Movie Camera

Zizek – Pervert’s Guide to Cinema

There are a few reasons these films and the McLoud readings tie in well – most obviously because they are all extremely self referential portraits of their form. Other subject matter is dealt with in each, but each, in its own way, dissects the language and character of the very medium used as delivery. For McCloud, this means using comic book grammar and syntax to explain comic books.

For Vertov, we get both a logistic (exposure and editing processes, as well as persistence of vision – the primary illusion of film – exposed and laid bare) and impressionistic (the camera’s ‘gaze’ mimicking the way the eye works – arguably non-sequential and ‘spotty’) deconstruction of ‘Film’ as the film itself progresses. (See also Bill Morisson’s “Decasia” for an amazing treatment of this former logistical dissection. I have it if anyone wants to borrow…) Details »

Published on October 30, 2008 4:03 am.
Filed under: Announcements, Thinking

Reading for DM Reading Group on Oct 29th

Hi all – Here is a link to the reading for our first meeting of DM Reading Group on Oct 29th at 1pm.

As it’s our first meet up, I thought we’d start with something quite fun/light – on the theme of non-linear narratives and structured/unstructured storytelling media. Please read the linked pdf, Scott McLoud’s “Understanding Comics” (1994) if you’re coming next week.

I’ve never been much of a comic book fan myself, but the way in which McCloud deconstructs the form and its absorption is quite instructive. Also, there are interesting parallels between the subculture of comics and fans thereof and online culture – some progressive (introspectiveness and self-expressiveness?), some less than healthy (misogyny, cliquishness?).

Try and think through other media (film, the web, music) in a similarly investigative way before our discussion next week, and feel free to bring along excerpts from other readings you’re doing to read and discuss with the class.

Published on October 22, 2008 5:52 pm.
Filed under: Announcements

Media Masterclasses at ECLS

Hi all – The School of Education Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle run a series of Masters classes, some of which you might want to attend. Have a look at the schedule below:

Media Master Classes 2008
Semester 1 – Room KGVI LT6 or 1.43 Media Suite
Starting time: 5pm unless otherwise stated

October 8 – Stephen Davis – W3PR

October 22 – Kevin Donald – North News and Pictures

October 29 – Dianne Nelmes – Liberty Bell Production Company

November 12 – Diane Green – NGI

November 19 – Adam Christie National Union of Journalists

November 26 – Dianne Nelmes– Liberty Bell Production Company

December 3 – BBC Manchester – Details TBC

For further details about these events, please see the Media Seminars section of the Media and Communication Degree Programmes Community pages on Blackboard.

Course site: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ecls/postgrad/taught/media_ma.htm

Published on October 16, 2008 6:36 pm.
Filed under: Announcements

Workshop and Lab Inductions

Inductions to Culture Lab facilities:

Friday 3rd October, 11.00 – Workshop Induction with Steve Dales
Monday 6th October, 11.00 – Multimedia Lab and Studio Inductions with Bren Ratliff

You will need to attend these events in order to be given permission to use the facilities.

Published on September 23, 2008 10:51 am.
Filed under: Announcements

Clore Leadership Program – Mapping & Navigating the Digital Landscape

Last Friday, Areti Galani and I presented at the Clore Leadership short course seminar at Longhirst Hall.
(Hello to participants… was a pleasure meeting you all)

This session introduced topical ideas in digital media technologies for the Cultural sector. We presented current practice in models for user generated content, joint authorship, appropriation and dynamic knowledge creation. We also looked at organisational representation in this new digital context, as well as strategies for cultivating media literacy.

Recent developments in digital media and social software applications (known as web 2.0) have increased the opportunity for participation by a diverse group of audiences as well as challenging the traditional sense of curatorial/institutional authorship. Key aspects of these technologies have enabled organizations to participate in the orchestration of complementary identity creation within the digital landscape. Details »

Published on June 27, 2008 10:54 am.
Filed under: Announcements

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