Spaces for Media Praxis and
Experimental Humanities
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Image care of Shaun Macpherson.
Acknowledgements
I respectfully acknowledge that the University of Victoria is located on the unceded territory of the Lkwungen peoples and the Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations, whose ongoing historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
I would also like to thank Lesley Cormack and Michael O'Driscoll for inviting Lisa, Paul, and me to speak today.
The Next 20ish Minutes
Addressing the Need for Media Praxis and Experimentation
alongside Digital Humanities (DH)
Drawing from Lessons Learned while Directing
UVic's Maker Lab in the Humanities (MLab)
Image care of Arthur Hain.
But First . . .
Thanks to
MLab Researchers
Adèle Barclay, Nina Belojevic, Teddie Brock, Tiffany Chan,
Alex Christie, Patrick Close, Nicole Clouston, Devon Elliott,
Laura Dosky, Katherine Goertz, Arthur Hain, Mikka Jacobsen,
Jonathan O. Johnson, Fiona Keenan, Maasa Lebus, Evan Locke,
Shaun Macpherson, Kaitlynn McQueston, Danielle Morgan,
Victoria Murawski, Stephen Ross, Katie Tanigawa, Nadia Timperio,
Zaqir Virani, and Karly Wilson
Image care of Arthur Hain.
Some Issues Facing DH
Assumed Lack: Humanities Need to "Keep Up" with Tech
Scope Creep: DH Is Hard to Define, Refine, or Communicate
Identifying an Object of Inquiry: Technology May Eclipse Content
Maintenance: Long-term Sustainability of Projects
"Digital": Losing Traction with Students in Particular
Image care of a malfunctioning 3D printer.
Media Praxis
The Combination of Media Theory and Practice
Has Infrastructure, Research, and Teaching Agendas
A Kind of Experimental Humanities
Image care of Nina Belojevic and Shaun Macpherson.
1. The Infrastructure Agenda
Infrastructure Agenda
A Space to Foster Tacit Knowledge and Iteration
From Workstations to Flex Spaces
From Re-Presentation to Experimentation
From Products to Prototypes
Image care of the MLab.
MLab Resources on Infrastructure
Infrastructure Supported by the CFI and
UVic Humanities, English, Visual Arts, and
the Humanities Computing and Media Centre
Image care of Danielle Morgan.
Research Agenda
How Does This Become That?
From Digital to Mediation
From Internet to Infrastructure
From "Outputs" to Research-Creation
Remaking the Inaccessible
Image care of the MLab.
MLab Resources for
Research
Research Supported by UVic English, UVic Humanities, and
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Image care of the MLab.
Teaching Agenda
What Else Could It Be? What Other Stories Can We Tell?
From Skills to Competencies
From Tools to Techniques
From Course to Content
From Computation to Conjecture
Image care of Danny Martin (UVic English).
UVic Resources for
Teaching
Image care of Danielle Morgan.
Key Points
Not Lack: Don't Ignore What We Already Do Well
Low-Tech Methods: Computation May Not Be Necessary
Flexible Infrastructure: Space to Foster Tacit Knowledge
Prototyping as Inquiry: Media as Embodied Process of Study
Stories as Research: Personal, Cultural, Situated, Experimental
Image: Margaret Konkol’s prototype of Mina Loy’s "The Alphabet that Builds Itself." PLA.
Designed and printed in 3D. Care of Konkol and Feminist Modernist Studies. Used with permission.
Thank You
Examples of research from the MLab and
UVic English follow this slide.
Image care of Shaun Macpherson.
Projects from the MLab + UVic English
Games, Prototypes, Installations
Want to Learn More? Email me at jentery@uvic.ca.
"Glitch Controls"
(Prototype)
By Nina Belojevic + Jon Johnson
Rather than engaging videogames primarily through the screen,
hardware hacking offers a tacit form of interaction
often resistant to symbolic or graphic logic.
Image care of Jon Johnson
Image care of Nina Belojevic
Consequences for Research
Demands Attention to Manufacture (see Belojevic)
Prompts Tangible Awareness of Audience (see Johnson)
Critique through Repair Techniques (see Rosner and Ames)
Ground Glitch Theory in Material Particulars (see Kirschenbaum)
Image care of Nina Belojevic
"From Grain to Glitch"
(Prototype)
By Patrick Close
Continuous movement from the ephemeral click to the stochastic mass
to the pure sine tone and finally to white noise (and back again)
Study of Xenakis’s "sound particle":
any sound with a duration between 1 and 100 milliseconds
"What are the possible restrictive limits of human psychophysiology?"
Image care of Patrick Close
Image and Max patch care of Patrick Close
Consequences for Research
Executability of an Abstraction or Model (see McCarty)
Demonstrate and Share Concepts (see Drucker et al.)
Learning through Repetition and Process Modelling (see Close)
Understand Systems by Accelerating Relations (see Molleindustria)
Image care of Patrick Close
"Right" (Game)
By Danielle Morgan
In a world of right angles, you search for acuteness.
Image care of Danielle Morgan
Consequences for Research
Manifest Critique through Experimentation (see Flanagan)
Game as Gift (see kopas)
Game Design, Not Programming (see Fullerton)
Test How Processes Are Persuasive (see Bogost)
Image care of Danielle Morgan
"HyperLit" (Design Fiction)
By Nina Belojevic + Jon Johnson
Interactions encourage audiences to become aware of
how gamification renders them as productive subjects.
Image care of Nina Belojevic + Jon Johnson
Video care of Nina Belojevic and Jon Johnson
Consequences for Research
Imagine Tech Beyond Instrumentalism (see Lukens + DiSalvo)
Create Conditions for Narrative and Experience (see Roesler)
Hermeneut Inhabits the System (see Drucker + Nowviskie)
Literature as Source for Cultural Criticism and Humour
Image of Michael Stevens care of Nina Belojevic + Jon Johnson
Jacob: Recording on Wire (Installation)
Image care of Danielle Morgan
Reading Optophone (Prototype)
"Eucrasia" (Game)
Eucrasia is a holistic game of herbalist lore (3-6 players, 90 minutes).
Your goal is to build a well-rounded nursery to treat ailments
and afflictions and to solidify your reputation as a
successful herbalist. By Camilla Arnold.
"Idolplay" (Game)
In Idolplay (2 players, 20-30 minutes), you live in the 1930s
and avidly follow the rise (and the fall) of contemporary celebrities.
You select a celebrity and aim to imitate them. Material drawn
from the magazine, Photoplay. By Carly Cumpstone.
"For Art's Sake" (Game)
For Art's Sake is a game (2+ players, 30-60 minutes) of free creation
and critique, inspired by Wilde's preface to The Picture of
Dorian Gray. It invites players to enter into the roles of
Artist and Critic so that they may explore the dynamic
between the two that so consumed Wilde. By Darren Paterson.
"Invocation of Zos" (Game)
Invocation of Zos is a role-playing game (3-5 players, 3-4 hours)
inspired by the occult philosophy and art of Austin Osman Spare,
particularly his 1913 manifesto, The Book of Pleasure. Players
take on the personas of activist-artists struggling against the
machinery of an unnamed dystopian metropolis in the year 2021.
The success or failure of an action or spell is resolved through
interpretation of the included Tarot Engine based on
Spare's handmade 1907 "Lost Envoy" deck. By Colin Keohane.
"The Situationist Game" (Game)
The Situationist Game is a map-drawing game for 2+ players
(30-60 minutes). "See where the map takes you, or where you take the map," where maps are both situations and ways to construct stories.
This game is not intended to be fun. By Stefan Higgins.
"Exquisite Creatures" (Game)
Exquisite Creatures is a collaborative drawing game designed
for up to 8 players (4 teams of 2). Intrepid teams of two collaborate
to draw a menagerie of strange creatures. Players then sort,
or corral, their creatures into categories based on the
elemental habit to which each creatures appears best suited.
By Kim Shortreed.
"Steppe" (Game)
Steppe is a board game based on the Mennonite settlement
and eviction from the Russian Steppes. 2-4 players. 125 minutes.
By Graham Boldt and Kathleen Baxter.