"The artist finds greater pleasure in painting than in having completed the picture." - Seneca
In this title, I am being careful to choose a term like artisan, instead of artist, because I want to be as inclusive as possible. On some level everyone can call themselves an artisan of something. Even a tradesperson, like a plumber, can elevate their trade to the level of craft.
I was inspired by this quote by Seneca and found it to be appropriate given a number of related conversations in the past months. It all began with a simple question. A student of mine asked me, "there are so many interesting things to do in digital media, what should I focus on?" My answer wasn't what she expected. I said, "figure out what you enjoy doing. Even the boring parts of doing it. If you enjoy the boring part of doing something, then you have found your craft." Her response was, "but I love all these cool graphics that people can make. I think that is so cool." My response again was, "ah, but have you ever tried making one of those cool things?" She said, "Yes, and it was SO hard, and tedious, and boring." At that point, I knew she was not destined to pursue this "cool thing" as her passion for her life.
Submitted by Owen on Sat, 2008-02-23 20:00.
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A colleague of mine is attending a conference in Calgary this weekend devoted to libraries and librarians. Some of you may think this is a sure-fire cure for insomnia, but wait! There is some interestingly subversive rumblings in the industry of libraries. The digital age is having a fascinating effect. Information doesn't not require a physical repository anymore. Here are some questions librarians are wrestling with.
1) What effect will Google have on libraries? Google is more than just a clever search engine. Google is redefining how information is created, stored and retrieved. In fact, discussions are centering around the idea that Google may become a publisher of content. (http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/10/16/googleright.html)
Submitted by Owen on Thu, 2007-10-18 08:34.
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Flash Basics (at DevStudios August 13-15, 2007)Working with Flash is both fun and frustrating. Fun because it is a tool that offers so much potential in terms of animation, interaction, and user engagement. Frustrating because it is easy to paint yourself into a corner and find that you have made a real mess of things without really realizing it.
What is Flash?
Flash is a tool that started as a vector animation and interaction tool. Flash was first made available in 1997 and immediately began to take the world by storm. The popularity of Flash with both developers and audiences is only matched by the popularity of the world wide web itself. As such, Flash has seen a great deal of growth and development over the years.
Apparently there will be separate pricing (like Vista) for the new Mac OS X Leopard (due in October). Here they are:
- Basic: $129
- Premium: $129
- Business: $129
- Enterprise: $129
Feel free to re-read that list. Take note of the retail price. Bahahaahahaha... Psyche! Ya, Apple doesn't need to learn anything from Redmond in the OS business. Stable, one price, 64-bit from stem to stern, and wicked in every way. Why do I sound so sure? Why am I willing to go out on a limb and make statements about beta software? Because it what I have come to expect from Apple and OS X.
Submitted by Owen on Mon, 2007-06-11 15:29.
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Cambrian house is wickedly cool. What an awesome example of irreverance crossing with real business sense. These folks are clever, fun, and all round neato!
Check it out. It won't bite too hard. :)
Submitted by Owen on Mon, 2007-06-04 16:40.
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What is blocking?
In improvisational theatre, "blocking" is a term used to describe the act of resisting an idea or suggestion offered by another actor in a scene or improv game. Blocking is a term used to describe the sapping of energy from a scene and is considered the mark of an inexperienced performer. Veteran professionals accept and adapt to everything suggested by the others in their team. They embrace the challenge and are unafraid to take the risk of putting their ideas out. Putting an idea into the mix leaves the actor vulnerable. The following paragraphs talk a bit about what blocking is, some ideas about keeping a scene alive, and lastly, how this concept fits into Digital Media Production.
Submitted by Owen on Fri, 2007-06-01 09:55.
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"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times." - Niccolo Machiavelli
I am attending a very interesting and unique symposium over the next two days. The Telus World of Science Edmonton is hosting a symposium on a new initiative of theirs called the Digital Visualization Theatre. Imagine a standard dome theatre... classic planetarium... Now take that dome and tilt is slightly as though someone propped it up with a stick to catch some kind of small animal. Lastly bring in the Imax style seating and presto! Now you have a mash-up of the Imax and Dome theatre. Bring in some incredibly sophisticated projection equipment and you have the makings of some very unique viewing experiences.
Submitted by Owen on Wed, 2007-05-09 07:24.
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Last Monday (May 2nd) was the first class with the GDAC class and it was an interesting experience to bring my theatre exercises to a group of non-theatre types. I was surprised how quickly everyone dove into the various activities I had for the group. The thing about theatre related stuff, is the lack of inhibitions required to perform some of the tasks involved. For example, one warm-up exercise we do is to count out loud with your tongue hanging out. This is as funny sounding as it is looking. Here are a group of 10 people counting out loud in this class. I was expecting them to stop halfway through or lose their concentration. They didn’t. They kept on counting! It was great.
Submitted by Owen on Mon, 2007-05-07 20:20.
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Last night, the Digital Media Association of Alberta celebrated the best work of the 2007 year. This event marked the return of the DMAA Awards after a 5 year hiatus. The Gala event was well attended by students and professionals from across the province. Mount Royal College hosted the event in their new Continuous Learning Centre. The facilities were fresh and polished. The major event sponsors included SAIT, Mount Royal College, Critical Mass, Cambrian House, the Edmonton Sun and the Calgary Sun.
I had the pleasure of co-presenting the Designer of the Year Award with Jasmine the effervescent Marketing Maven from Cambrian House. If you haven't checked out Cambrian House yet, you really should. It is clever, irreverent and pushes us into really using the web and social network environment in a new way, rather than the classic "rear-view mirror" versions of Web 2.0 stuff.
Submitted by Owen on Fri, 2007-05-04 13:33.
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"Understanding the Grey Area Between Learning and Playing."
Digital Media 101 - BNMI - November 20 & 21 2006
Once again, I had the pleasurable opportunity to present with my friend and colleague Michael Magee on the topic of gaming and learning. Mike is a wonderfully knowledgeable person who has a laid back manner when presenting. In contrast, I tend to be the more excitable and try to stir things up. As a result, the two of us play off of each other's energy. My banter tends to be more phenomenon based and Mike extends my examples with academic relations. Or Mike will talk about a reference from his research and I extend it with an example of it from an experience. Between the two of us, we engage the audience, challenge them and provide them with a field of reference to follow up on.
Submitted by Owen on Sat, 2007-02-24 23:37.
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