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5 min read
Is our future becoming less free? A course on recent audio-visual history
Learning Objectives: -Examine and utilize a variety of information/media exchange systems (bit torrent, social media, file sharing, forums) -Examine audience trends with pirate media or non-standard distribution systems (legal torrents, YouTube trends) -Understand and explore the impacts of the legal systems surrounding copyright -Develop an understanding of new technologies and their relationship to the multimedia they create -Have an understanding of the synergistic relationship between content creators and consumers and the idea of the “prosumer” Class 1: Avatars and Simulacrum 1 Watch: Surrogates (Mostow, 2009) Read: 1) Weisbuch, Max, Zorana Ivcevic, and Nalini Ambady. ... "RIAA, MPAA, and the Digital Piracy Issue: Comparing Public Relations Strategies and Effectiveness" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Sheraton New York, New York City, NY, <Not Available>. 2009-05-25 http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p14465_index.html Week 11: Copyright, copyleft Watch: Good Copy, Bad Copy (Johnson, Christensen, Moltke 2007) Read: Pouwelse, J., P.Read more . . . →Subscribe →Weekly digestOne email per week with the tracks worth your time. No spam, no Coldplay. -
1 min read
Class 8: AV Remix Culture
Read more . . . →Watch: RiP: A Remix Manifesto (2009) Listening: Download and listen to a copy of Girl Talk – Night Ripper Reading: 1) Bermingham, L.B. "CULTURE JAMMING or a culture jammed? RiP!: A Remix Manifesto." Screen Education. Winter.54 (2009): 44-47. Print. 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Ripper (for list of sampled songs) Week eight was a central week in my course since I really feel that the film RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (2009) talks about very important current issue within media studies. I also assigned the album “Night Ripper” by Girl Talk since the artist’s work forms the basis for the documentaries subject matter. Ever since...
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1 min read
Deadmau5 & Chris Lake - I Said (Michael Woods Remix)
Read more . . . →Great new tune by Deadmau5 and Chris Lake. This was an essential new tune on Pete Tong's show on January 8 and Deadmau5 himself opened his new years set at the o2 arena with it. Huge airplay! To be released soon? Update: Not sure but I was able to find it. DEADMAU5 & CHRIS LAKE 'I SAID' [MICHAEL WOODS REMIX] by michaelwoods
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1 min read
Class 7: A Patchwork Culture
Read more . . . →Watch: Notorious (Tilman Jr, 2009) Reading: Jonker, Julian. "A Black Secret Technology." Critical Digital Studies: A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Printing Press, 2008. Print. As I began to look more at culture and the role technology plays in creating different consumption patterns I wanted to touch on one culture than references itself heavily. In order to examine hip-hop culture I decided to screen the film Notorious (2009) the biopic about the murdered or assassinated rapper Notorious B.I.G. A big part of hip hop involves sampling and building on the existing works in the genre, and the film helps to...
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1 min read
Max/MSP Live Coding
Read more . . . →A realtime performance of creating a Max-patch, starting from zero. This is a lot like the final project in third year computer music at Carleton University. The only difference is we had all semester to make something that complex. The other minor difference was that we had to make a midi note engine rather than an audio engine, but I'm sure this would pass as acceptable. The Rules: You have 6 minutes to build a Max-patch and do a performance with it. Start with an empty patch. Only use the standard objects that are part of Max/MSP/Jitter. Don’t use externals,...
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1 min read
Class 6: Privacy and Technology
Read more . . . →Watch: Enemy of the State (Scott, 1998) Reading: Munster, Anna. "Welcome to Google Earth." Critical Digital Studies: A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Printing Press, 2008. Print. As I began shifting into my units about copyright infringement I wanted to look at some of the good and bad aspects of technology’s infringement on our privacy. While a decade ago Enemy of the State (1998) seemed a like a bit of a conspiracy theory movie, the digital mapping technology that was imagined ten years ago is now a reality with Google Earth and even Google Street View within its Maps application....
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Class 5: Alternative microcosms
Watch: Synecdoche, New York (Kaufman, 2008) My next screening has less to do with technology and more to do with alternative realities and ties up my unit on simulated realities, and representations. I felt that during later parts of Synecdoche, New York (2008) the multitude of actors existing in the same space, but playing people that are in the same room was a good representation of the avatars created in Surrogates and A.I.Read more . . . →Get the tee →Support the blogLooks like Helvetica. Sounds like a closing argument. -
1 min read
Merry Christmas from Little Boots
Read more . . . →Little Boots records a special merry christmas song. I love how she made a Christmas video specially for the Internet. Awww
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Class 4: Simulated Realities
While I personally feel that cyberpunk is a very interesting genre because of its depictions of humans interacting with virtual spaces, the only cyberpunk film that I included in my syllabus was the Spanish film Sleep Dealer (2009). ... Digitextuality is an amalgam of this concept, fused with the understanding that digital media is breaking off from traditional media, and new media is being constructed and used in different ways than traditional media was.Read more . . . →Get the tee →Support the blogWhat if your laundry was also a personality? -
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Class 3: Simulated People
5 Dec 2009. <http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you.html>. **very cool 5 min clip** Continuing with the theme of simulation by technology I decided to show Spielberg’s A.I. ... While both readings appear in the same anthology, the Clarke reading does a good job of looking at the development of talking head machines, dating back as far as the 1830s.Read more . . . →Get the tee →Support the blogShips in 3–5 days. The outrage ships immediately.