Posted on by lhl
Posted on by lhl

Have lived through another week. Will be throwing up one the short I did for class this week after I finish doing some extra post that I didn’t get around to during the week (technically, I don’t think I’m supposed to do that, so just be sure not to tell anyone).

Also, tonight, stopped by Perry Hoberman‘s class (for second year students), where Casey Raes, co-creator of Processing gave a great talk on computation/programming and art (found text of a similar talk given at ArsElectronica – if you go to the site directly [no referer], you’ll find the text, possibly illicitly obtained [exciting] to pretty much the whole conference online), and also a intro/demo to the Processing API + IDE. Quite fun. He showed a lot of stuff that was done at the MIT Media Lab aesthetics + computation group (defunct, now the Physical Language Workshop), including some great works by Golan Levin.

I’ve been pretty (ok, extremely) disappointed by the CNTV Interactive Media program so far (specifically wrt to the lack of any INTERACTIVE MEDIA classes during the first year). Well, there was that bad crit studies ‘survey of interactive media’ class that I took over the summer. Perry’s class is what that survey class should be. (more general thoughts about the IM program later)

Also, Casey made an interesting point, referencing an Alan Kay quote on literacy (related Alan Kay fun: interview about the Dynabook):

The ability to “read” a medium means you can access materials and tools created by others. The ability to “write” in a medium means you can generate materials and tools for others. You must have both to be literate. In print writing, the tools you generate are rhetorical; they demonstrate and convince. In computer writing, the tools you generate are processes; they simulate and decide.

Casey’s view, and I think he’s correct in this, is that if you can’t be ‘software literate’, then you cannot be literate in interactive media. Even any non-superficial discourse, or the rare non-programmatic interactive media project requires a level of literacy/understanding. It’s just part of the field.

About half (if not more) of my fellow classmates have little-to-no programming experience. Which is fine, and something that can be picked up, but I feel really bad for them, because they are not being taught anything related to that during the first year (the program has no IM lab classes in the first year!; not there seems to be a ‘programming for artists’ class offered at all in any case). During the second year, they’re going to have to have a thesis project ready. How are they expected to do that when they’re not being even being given a look at what’s out there during the first year (their CTCS505 class is apparently significantly more useless than mine, and I didn’t think all that much of what I took at the end of the summer), and when those that need to pick up the basic language/tools needed to create/understand work in the field aren’t being offered any classes (or even time) to do so? What are they paying their $25,000 a year for again?

This isn’t meant to be my IM division rantfest, but I do have to mention that we visited UCI’s new Arts Computation Engineering program, which is just getting started as well, and also under heavy construction. It seems from the flexibility of the program gotten from checking out the place and speaking with Bill Tomlinson, as well as from the focus of the curriculum, that they get it, and that in comparison, the CNTV school … well, doesn’t. Note to TPTB: yes, perhaps the CNTV school’s goal is focused on creating (and of course translating) compelling content and experiences in interactive media, but understanding the language of film won’t do jackshit for that goal if you can’t talk im first.

OK, end 4AM rant/bitchfest. I don’t know where this leaves me. Unlike most of my other classmates, I’m not taking a huge financial hit here, just paying in sleep, all my free time, and opportunity costs. But am I wasting my time here, or does it get better?

Posted on by lhl

Nice to know that the Inquirer staff appreciates the irony:

WASHINGTON – Concerned about the appearance of disarray and feuding within his administration as well as growing resistance to his policies in Iraq, President Bush – living up to his recent declaration that he is in charge – told his top officials to “stop the leaks” to the media, or else.

News of Bush’s order leaked almost immediately.

Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he “didn’t want to see any stories” quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used.

Posted on by lhl

Taking a look at Dave Shea’s redesign (followup) of the new Mozilla website. It’s not horrible, but I’m not sure if it’s an improvement on the current design. I really liked the download buttons on the top left… However, my biggest concern is probably the lack of unity of the look. I’m counting half a dozen different line/bg treaments, round + square corners, flush polygons + borders + white spaced blocks, borders + no borders + dotted lines, 2 different arrow markers, background overlays on the left and right (both in the right ‘column’ (different spaces). Seems a bit of a mess.

But Dave is right, the new Firebird site is pretty… erhh, special.

Posted on by lhl