Actual Exeter in a World of Google

This post is for both animX and WifiExeter. I am still getting used to the events of last week, the outstanding Second Life events and the video on YouTube from Prados Azules. i think this means that bandwidth is ok. There are enough people in Exeter and Bristol or at least somewhere online for this sort of thing to be viable. So other forms of files such as work with hard copy should be ok. A lttle slow maybe if TIFF-IT is still required but definitely possible.

Meanwhile Google have launched a service around Sites for collaboration. seems a little too controlled for public use but the elements of Docs and video can be widely available. I have an account for Internet Express so have started a page at InXpress/landofGoogle or something like it. Actual url is too long to remember so best to bookmark this page.

Detail from Flickr photo recreating last week

Pipsi and Eric did get to the D.R.O.I.D. event if only through Photoshop.

Previously, script idea

So assume VJs B1 and B2 who arrange an event without web access but hear about another one a week later with web streaming. They discuss various issues arising and are not entirely convinced. Not that they are luddites or anything but there has to be scope for acceptance of some form of development during the story. One concern is that animated dancing online may not work too well. The next week B1 and B2 are somewhere else where they could stream something but are not sure. Fortunately Kola Spellcaster turns up with a set of code that allows anyone to dance really well. The only problem is that she has put a timeout into the code so it will all fall over unless her Arts Council grant for next year is confirmed before midnight. This story ends at about 11.47 but there may be another one. If you feel any characters are based on yourself you may request changes or write your own version. Creative commons : attribution requested. I may claim other forms of copyright if I write something longer or for a later production.

So the mess of bits and pieces from the actual week of Animated Exeter will be gradually rewritten and retested. Surely Exeter City Council will connect with Flash at some point, then everything else could be attempted again.

The goodies bag is here but what effect it has is still a mystery. Right click on the stars in the floor and then choose dance. The camera save previously is still just a test. Go back a couple of posts to Prados Azules for something sensible.

Later at LifeBytes, camera saves ok

Try this to reach Diecicento

Probably the most advanced form of animation from last weekend west of Swindon

This is amazing. I failed to persuade Director Jo to stay at Life Bytes and record D.R.O.I.D. Good thing too as the sound at the Voodoo Lounge was probably good enough for a future video and this record on YouTube already is fantastic and shows what is possible.

What else is anywhere? and when will Pipsi turn up?

Another SL camera test

There is still time for Pipsi to arrive at the occasion. Any other ideas on how the dance steps could be found?

Interest on Guardian Talk

There is some interest on Guardian Talk.

I have posted an example of dance on YouTube just to show it is possible in Second Life. Not sure this is well known to others who post on Guardian Talk.

I wonder if any of this will turn up in the Guardian print version before Saturday? My impression is that the Talk bit is a closed world for Guardian staff.

Phoenix Sounds and the resource problem for video

It turns out that better video is very unlikely as the resource from Exeter TV will be concentrated on the Sound Gallery. Mostly acoustic, live music. Nothing against this sort of thing so the archive will depend on other sources. My own videos are a form of test. Maybe next year there will be better planning.

Scroll down on the page for video from previous events.

Sometime there could be interviews in the bar. I still think the chat show is the basic format of TV. If only Exeter City Council could offer a release form Exeter TV could work with. For future discussion.

another test ahead of D.R.O.I.D.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Prados%20Azules/94/99/28

go there

or search for "Prados Azules"

Evidence of Second Life in Exeter Phoenix bar

Pipsi Bracken fills in time with a solo dance while waiting for the next audience to turn up.

There appear to be no people in the Phoenix bar under the terms of the understanding of the release form policy of Exeter City Council. On a future occasion it may be possible to edit together audience response, online content, real life etc.

But working the camera in Second Life is still very difficult, especially when flying.

Beatz and Bobz are now my friends on MySpace

This is a genuine bit of news. It could be that a connection will be made with D.R.O.I.D. in time for Saturday.

Also OhmyNews have published my story on the Second Life connection with animation and dance.

Anyone know the real Cory Arcangel? My friend request is about to time out again.

Another found video on YouTube

searching on YouTube finds this from a previous occasion. It is surely possible that Beatz and Bobz could stream something from DROID and likewise. Anyone know how to contact them? MySpace friendship is a bit cumbersome sometimes.

Vj set working with Plump Dj's at the rap party for 'Animated Exter Festival, Englands largest animation festival.
Graphic's, visuals Vj - Mikey 'Polar bear'Ormson
Visuals and live vj mix- Fil de Void

test of Second Life camera

If anyone has a problem with this please let me know. My guess is that once something is streamed online then the copyright is not too much of a problem. Unless I hear otherwise my guess is that any performance can be recorded. so the more people who archive, the better the remix.

new photo from Second Life

Unfortunately I got the scale wrong so you can't see the dates for forthcoming events. More tests on the camera during the week.

DJ Undo is on the YouTube archive already

also found this from the Digital Funfair



which reminds me, time to leave Life Bytes and return to real life at the Phoenix

update

Missed the junk space workshop but some info is on the blog

I now have almost permission to photograph but only if there are no people in the shot. Fortunately the digital funfair welcomes photos by Bluetooth. Don't have that but will try email later.

Meanwhile in Second Life the Monday real life at the Phoenix is still on. Not sure the link is working on how to book on Tuseday. If you already know about second life, search for "drifter rhode" and ask.

The event sort of in Bristol at the other end of the week has a link to Second Life and there is news of a sound stream through Radio Vague. If the Second Life thing fails to work, then my guess is that something from the Radio Vague archive could fill most of Saturday night but then I am a bit retro in my tastes and probably have not yet got caught up in the occasion.

I have visited the island of Prados Azules and can reveal that there seem to be test broadcasts coming up, a showcase on the 19th and a test5 on the 20th, both at 20 hours GMT. Of course there could be further tests if these fall over for some reason. I am not forcing you to download SL or get more bandwidth. LifeBtytes on Sidwell Street has at least one PC with SL installed so it could be tried out.

More or less a link

Links on this blog are not obvious but in my head it seems to fit together.

On Monday at the Phoenix Exeter there will be some form of performance from Niki McCretton involving animation and Second Life. Not sure I understand it at the moment so it is probably best to have a look on Monday and then try Second Life on Tuesday.

The poster is for a show that is over now but may turn up again. Check the site where it is explained that for the research Niki McCretton "went to to Star City in Russia where she visited the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre just outside Moscow and saw the Soyuz simulators, the centrifuge room and the neutral buoyancy lab -- an underwater facility which simulates the conditions of a zero-g space walk."

This may be the same sort of facility where Mark Shuttleworth was trained for his adventure before going back to something more like a normal job in the form of Ubuntu. At Sundown a couple of years ago he spoke about including a demo or two to view while Ubuntu is booting up. If this project is no longer viable I think it is almost time that something was clarified. Breakpoint next month could be an occasion.

Time travel, New Canvas and Mary Ellen Bute

On previous occasions I have found that there was almost nothing online from the kind of video / film shown as part of a "New Canvas". Yesterday though I found a page about John Whitney that linked to Mary Ellen Bute. Follow the link for "abstract animators".

The text claims that

As with many pioneer animators, Mary Ellen Bute is hardly known today, primarily because her films are not easily available in good prints. This was not always true. During a 25-year period, from 1934 until about 1959, the 11 abstract films she made played in regular movie theaters around the country....

However it turns out that there are a few shorts on YouTube. This is a useful development.





There are more but the search engine has determined that people who watch this may also want to watch the next one



Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against curating. But as this sort of work was created on computers I do not see what is wrong with it being on YouTube as well as cans of film that are rarely shown.

More links possible through the Center for Visual Music.

Trying out levels : get ready for DROID

These two of Luke Vibert are versions based on Creative Commons originals on Flickr.

Photographed by Kokeshi

There is also quite a lot of sound archive through Beatz and Bobz

So I think it would be possible to put together some sort of connection record of Feb 23rd even if the Second Life etc falls over completely.

Checking out MySpace and YouTube

Found this through MySpace



Play are friends with Wagon Christ and presumably George Harrison is a friend of everybody.

Better things are possible in Exeter, but will this be in time for DROiD?