http://www.marijevogelzang.nl/www.marijevogelzang.nl/overzicht.html
You also can see her presentation (last one) onParsons’s streaming site:
http://streamingculture.parsons.edu/
1. The Statement
Only a new form of visual language would benefit documenting the beauty and knowledge of America’s fading indigenous culture, which has not received suitable cultural or artistic attention in the past.
2. Argument
- What would the public get from get from this?
- This might heal
3. Native Culture in the Media
– In the past
Stereotype/pastiche.
Portrait the 70’s /going back to the 80’s
Movies (about 2 years ago…something runners…)
– Today
As part of a larger interactive narrative project, I am looking to find a new visual expression that will consist of multi-layering stills, graphics, video and sound to better departure from the ‘indian stereotype’. I will also add environmental data visualization. This serves 2 purposes: first to show ongoing issues, and second, the ‘high tech’ aspect of it will accentuate the fact that it is about today’s conversation.
As turtles are endangered, and disappearing, native American Elders are, also leaving along with their knowledge. This project is also about collecting their stories. (as well as the turtles… turtles=knowledge=elders=wisdom=earth/nature).
5. Indigenous understanding of Nature to help redefining Life.
As the ecosystem changes, redefining life is essential. Since night of times, people and society revisits mythology at times to gain a better understanding of actual problems[i]. America’s indigenous knowledge and mythology is the least understood. Away from the past pastiche, it is today a good time for their voice to be heard and think out of the shell…
Today, lots of efforts are being made into creating new green ways to live. New tools, new energy, reducing & recycling efforts are being strongly induced in today’s mind. While all this is good, we can wonder if we are forgetting about the ‘why’? What are we protecting?
As designers, we know how going back to the drawing board is, at times, necessary in order to progress. My project is about just that. Looking back at how indigenous people relate to nature. What it means, what matters in nurturing a connection with the natural world as natural being and so be part of the whole, is not only to remember but also to better understand how to go about to design new solutions (redefining the new ecosystem)
6. Research & context
James Lovelock said in 1988 “the idea of life, the sense of being alive, are the most familiar and the most difficult to understand of the concept we meet”[ii].
Turtle, or tortoise is symbol of the earth symbol of life, longevity and wisdom, in many cultures. For the Chinese, the Tortoise is the symbol of the North. Known as ‘the black warrior’, it is also the symbol of the heaven and the earth; the shell being the vaulted heaven above the Earth below. In their creation story, centuries after the giant Pan Gu came out of the chaos, separating the two world (the above and the below, the yin and the yang), and long after his death, Nu Wa, the goddess used the four legs of a giant turtle to keep the sky from collapsing onto the earth…
In India too, the Turtle has its important stories. India, Japan… Turtle has populated many legends and tales.
For some Native Americans, carrying a medicine turtle, is to take on caring for their relatives, the 2 and 4 legged, the wing-ones, the crawling, the swimming ones, the ground… NATURE. To do so comes with knowledge. The medicine person that holds such a medicine (turtle shell) holds the ‘earth’ in the sense of knowledge of the universe, its understanding and so the ability to understand, and therefore heal.
6. Precedents
7. Design solution
My first step in making this project a reality, is to establish a visual language that can bring individual in understanding what we are loosing. Native culture has been romanticized over and over again, by writers, photographers etc. In making this culture seem far-gone, it never had a sense of reality. It’s as if the original people of America got put on the wall in forms of art before even put on a stage.
Trying here to explain that by making people think that native americans use to live here soooo long ago, people quite don’t know about those people… … and yet, when people are looking for some inspiration or spirituality, they’ll go to yoga, or Buddhism… they go get somewhere else what exist here….etc…. I will explain… can’t find the words yet…
Now, when indigenous people tell stories, it is loaded with what mythical figures. These motion graphic pieces will blend 2 visual aspects: the new, and the old. Extremely digitalized figures, data visualization as well as photography and videos of today’s individuals. It is interesting how the latest tools portray so much better older stories.
After creating a web blog (see http://www.carolineromedenne.com/blog) to gather facts and stories, the first animation will be about the Dinéh people (known as Navajos). Living in the Southwest, secretly known as the liver of turtle island, I will map the disappearance of the coal and the water supplies in that area (coal mine canyon has suffered over the past 20 years to feed Las Vegas need for energy!!) which for natives means that the turtle’s liver is endangered. Another way to explain this environmental disaster is to envision (through visuals) the problem through the People’s eyes: the liver is a filter, and its biological function is to detoxify the body. Navajos sees their sacred land as the liver of the turtle and it is suffering. The turtle is unbalance…
Conclusion
[ii] James Lovelock, “The Ages Of Gaia” by, 1988, p16
This article came at just the right time in the semester since it’s focused on a question many of us strive to answer in our final projects: How can we tell narratives using digital media?
Though I am not too familiar with the use of “hypertext narratives,” I did admire the ways in which Ryan used it as a context for exploring the qualities of narratives that could be either enhanced or diminished when used in tandem with digital media. Overall, I found Ryan’s answers to the question of “What is narrative?” were very well-suited for the act of designing with digital technology. This is particularly evident when she states that narratives are “medium-free” and are deeply rooted in the patterns that arise from problem-solving.
For me, the most striking of Ryan’s arguments revolved around the entity of time and how it is used in narratives. She relates the idea of time to digital media with a very bold statement concerning “randomness” as a means of presenting a narrative. Ryan argues that viewers/readers may mentally construct a narrative’s sequence in accordance to when they are presented certain scenes, information, etc. Temporal order, she claims, is meaningful and should be something that is designed instead of dictated by the randomness of a digital device or software. After reading this section of the article, I immediately began to rethink the temporal structure of the narrative I am currently developing for my final project. I now see how crucial it is for the designer to maintain a sense of control over the narrative even if the user uncovers the narrative content through their own actions.
Ya-Han’s revised thesis outline
Click here to see my revised paper outline!
While reading this article, I found it interesting that it combines interactivity with narrative, which is what our studio, essentially, is all about. Whenever I think about the term “narrative”, I’m like Julynn, and think of it separately from interactivity. (I mostly associate it with films/books.) I usually gravitate towards thinking of “narrative” as a story line that already has everything planned out. However, it is nice to think that interacting with something, such as a game, can create a type of narrative as it goes. In that case, it is almost as if everything creates some sort of narrative, or has some sort of narrative quality.
This reading, brought me back to the augmented reality article; specifically because it dealt with virtual reality towards the middle of the article. I found this, to be a nice tie back to what we previously learned. It is different to think of a virtual reality environment to tell a narrative as it is being acted out, but it makes so much sense. I don’t really know why I never looked at it like that before. I think when people play games, they focus on what they are doing, as of that moment; and don’t take time to reflect (afterwards) and look at the story-line that they created. Sure, they might not have beaten the game yet, but every move they make is a little piece (of the story), to how they got to where they stopped. I feel like if people grasp that simple example, then maybe they can see that everything can be viewed as a “narrative”.
For example, I’m thinking back on what I did today… Walked to school in the rain with no umbrella, showed P. Comp homework, walked and got lunch (still raining), and am now waiting to go to my next class. These steps that I took throughout the day (similar to game-play) are smaller pieces to a narrative, which could be a week-long, month-long, life-long, etc.
Introduction (UPDATED):
Like violence, you kill me.
- Blink 182
Introduction:
We live in a world, today, where violence is everywhere. Acts of abuse, beating, and killing can be seen just by simply flipping through the various channels of a television. Not to mention, these malicious behaviors are even present in shows, films, games that children and teenagers watch and participate in. From Wile E. Coyote trying to out-smart and assassinate Roadrunner, to playing a trigger-happy, car-jacking “gangster” in Grand Theft Auto; I can’t help but wonder, is violence something that kids should be exposed to at an early age?
Now that I’m older, I’ve been surrounded by friends who have given birth, and now have children to look after. Some deprive their offspring of certain shows, games, and toys; while others have no boundaries and are free to do and/or watch whatever they please. Obviously, there is no right way to parent, but a line should be drawn somewhere. Looking back on my own childhood, I realize that my parents did, somewhat, shelter me from certain things; violence being one of them. I was not allowed to watch gory horror movies, or play violent games with my brothers (who are more than eight years older than me); my parents claimed that I was “too young”. Instead, I was encouraged to watch The Berenstein Bears, play “house”, and be involved in various sports. However, growing up in this day and age, is a completely different atmosphere than what I had to deal with. Today, kids (ages 5-15) think the term “fun” consists of staying indoors playing games or watching television, which more than likely, possesses violence within it. My piece, Dead Dolls, hones in on this socially accepted idea that violence is appropriate for young children of all ages, and does not effect them later in life.
This piece is a visual and interactive experience. Dead Dolls aim to create a dialogue between adults about the desensitizing of children to violence. Perhaps, even make them think twice about letting their own kids watch and/or participate in all things brutal. From shooting at whoever is deemed “the enemy” to fighting to the death; my piece begs to ask the question, “What is the difference between killing a person on a screen, versus killing a human-inspired doll?” Being able to watch a child harmfully interact with an object, in the form of a human, can be viewed as unhealthy. However, through the simple act of play, adults can realize that this form of interaction can suffice as first-hand evidence that kids see violence in a ho-hum manner, due to being constantly exposed to various harmful media.
Context/ Research:
A. Concepts
1. Violence (definition)
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary: New Edition. Springfield, Massachusettes: Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2004.
2. People are desensitized by violent acts towards others
3. Combining opposites (cute vs. morbid)
B. Project Context
1. How it should be interacted with
-(interactive installation w/ various dolls?)
2. Various parts
C. Research
3. Dolls used in “Play Therapy”
Yates, Alayne and Cynthia C. Goldberg. American Journal of Diseases of Children. American Medical Association.
a. Do children associate with being “real”?
b. What are dolls meant to do for children?
4. Violence in today’s media that children deal with
a. How frequent are kids exposed to violence?
Children and Media Violence. National Institute on Media + The Family. June 2009. Website. March 15, 2010. http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_vlent.shtml.
b. Media that involves violence.
-Screen Media
Children and TV Violence. Facts for Families No. 13. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. November 2002.
-Print Media
-Audio Media
- Interactive Media
Roberts, PhD, Donald F. Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. March 2005.
c. Industry Ethics (media companies)
Edwards, Benji. Can Games Become “Virtual Murder”? Gamasutra. June 30, 2009. Website. March 15, 2010. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23844.
5. Effects of violent media
Bushman, PhD, Brad J., and L. Rowell Huesmann, PhD. Short-term and Long-term Effects of Violent Media on Aggression in Children and Adults. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine: Volume 160 No. 4. April 2006.
(Contd.) Roberts, PhD, Donald F. Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. March 2005.
Congressional Public Health Summit. Joint statement on the impact of entertainment violence on children. July 26, 2000. Website. March 16, 2010. www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/jstmtevc.htm.
Anderson, Craig A., Douglas A. Gentile, and Katherine E. Buckley. Violent Video Game Effect on Children and Adolescents. Oxford University Press. 2007.
Shin, Grace. Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression. 2003. Website. March 22, 2010. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723.
D. Project Methodology:
1. Iterations/Prototypes/Sketches
2. Stages I went through
a. Technology (Arduino, soft circuitry)
3. Problems/ Successes
E. Conclusion:
1. Reinstating main goal
——>Threats:
contextual information, (who uses it, when, where, why, how)
mind-blocks- not being able to think
—–>notes: (others comments)
in action.. wii first person shooter (hands on)
society’s love of violence= serious problem
playful thing
being too comfortable
two blenders + goldfish
AshleyAhn_FinalProject_Draft02