I really enjoyed how this week’s group introduced to us popular examples of video games from China 20 years ago and today. I think it was a fascinating share covering video game simulations and made me think about my own love of video games as a child and how much I adored and still do love Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. I don’t believe I dislike older digital worlds, they bring about a sense of nostalgia that no amount of CGI could achieve. The music, character and world design and narratives of Super Mario Brothers, Mortal Combat, and Zelda bring about that warm and cozy feel of nostalgia that I could never have imagined back then as these amazing games were so technologically innovative for their time that I feel like one should really appreciate where we have come from in that respects even if one did prefer today’s gaming world because it’s visually and technologically advanced therefore viewed as much more superior.

Exploring the subject, thinking now about Pre-Digital simulations, I am compelled to consider puppetry and considering the evolution of the moving image and imagined and replicated worlds.  A narrative is connected to the simulation, and if you wanted to you could possibly build your own little world with props, becoming an emergent narrative in the form of child’s play. Fast forward to today and we have simulations as story making machines

As quoted in the lecture, “Frasca claims that a video game is bigger than a single story = it’s a dynamic system which can produce many different stories”.  Indeed, referring back now to that example of puppetry as a form of child’s play and entertainment- ‘game designers can learn a lot from studying storytelling media’ (Hentry Jenkins).

Reflecting now on the questions posed, I do think VR will be a very popular format for gaming in the future. It’s already showing signs of interest and with refinement accessibility in pricing and design, it’s bound to gain some momentum and become even more advanced.

Transmedia is so fascinating to me as mentioned in class. It was so exciting as a child when The Simpson’s became a Nintendo game and also became an animation program alongside other kinds of transmedia like figurines etc.  I believe it’s important to CONNECTING and ENGAGING with storytelling as it’s good marketing as it creates this extra sense of ownership between the audience and the story.

Another interesting topic here is the role that participation has in interactive projects, upon doing some “hindsight” preparation reading, I ponder the paradigm of participation in participatory documentaries with regards to my own project, using it as a way of marketing the project, injecting a deeper sense of purpose and creating a tangible sense of connection. The Anglo-Indian community is known for their love of food, congregating at dances and fundraising for those back home who are doing it rough. Why not incorporate these values into a launch? Formulate a Facebook competition on well known active groups and encourage people to submit stories linked with themes/topics that I plan to cover in the interactive piece and create a competition. I could involve a few respected members of the community such as Dr. Gloria Moore from Melbourne who is well studied in the area of Anglo-Indian history and culture and Bridget White Kumar from Mumbai who is an international award-winning cookery book author (who featured on my second podcast) have expressed a desire to keep the community alive and I believe Gloria would be a great influencer to have on board to introduce the event and as a keynote.

Moving back to the lecture presented  by  this week’s group, I found the History of Participation section immensely interesting and how some of the earliest technologies to be part of the evolution of participation was Kodak and how Kino Glaz (1924) revealed a ‘previously unseen truth’ this could reveal both the roots of modern-day reality TV. Some of the earliest forms of reality television were sporting events and documentaries. Though the formats and styles have changed over time (some of which I recall being discussed in one of the first lectures this semester)…and in all technicality, people who were willing to be on camera to showcase a real-life situation. Arguably, the most important of the purposes served by these participatory documentaries was to drive social change.

1997: Birth of the Camera Phone (2017)

Another interesting topic here is the role that participation has in interactive projects, upon doing some “hindsight” preparation reading, I ponder the paradigm of participation in participatory documentaries with regards to my own project, using it as a way of marketing the project, injecting a deeper sense of purpose and creating a tangible sense of connection. The Anglo-Indian community is known for their love of food, congregating at dances and fundraising for those back home who are doing it rough. Why not incorporate these values into a launch? Formulate a Facebook competition on well known active groups and encourage people to submit stories linked with themes/topics that I plan to cover in the interactive piece and create a competition. I could involve a few respected members of the community such as Dr. Gloria Moore from Melbourne who is well studied in the area of Anglo-Indian history and culture and Bridget White Kumar from Mumbai who is an international award-winning cookery book author (who featured on my second podcast) have expressed a desire to keep the community alive and I believe Gloria would be a great influencer to have on board to introduce the event and as a keynote.

Moving back to the lecture presented  by  this week’s group, I found the History of Participation section immensely interesting and how some of the earliest technologies to be part of the evolution of participation was Kodak and how Kino Glaz (1924) revealed a ‘previously unseen truth’ this could reveal both the roots of modern-day reality TV. Some of the earliest forms of reality television were sporting events and documentaries. Though the formats and styles have changed over time (some of which I recall being discussed in one of the first lectures this semester)…and in all technicality, people who were willing to be on camera to showcase a real-life situation. Arguably, the most important of the purposes served by these participatory documentaries was to drive social change.

1997: Birth of the Camera Phone (2017) – video available on blog post

What was interesting was the footage or reenactment of how the phone camera came about in 1997 thanks to Phillipe Kahn, a technology inventor for France. It showcases how valuable experimentation is and how an everyday need (being key!) to share an important moment digitally (therefore instantaneously) and some innovation changed the way we communicate forever.

I remember Web 1.0 and unless you were going into a chatroom app, there was no way for a web user to interact with anything on the internet. That being said, now with Web 2.0 we have blogs driving SEO and interactivity on websites, then the idea that almost anyone can be a self-made “expert” and with the right content, social media strategising, Google analytics etc you can track business and sponsorship. It’s a very different world to what it once was.

Reference

1997: Birth of the Camera Phone 2017, streaming video, Conscious Minds, US, viewed 14 April 2018, <https://vimeo.com/221117048>

How do you come up with ideas? I am a big fan of that moment when an idea strikes. And that is literally what happens- it STRIKES! I am so excited. These past few weeks I have been thinking about the idea I have in mind for a non-linear style project for my concept “Cultureline”. I have come up with a mock-up “Digital Tour” in a past project (International Collaborative Media Project)  and I was wary that I didn’t (and shouldn’t) be using any past projects for this new idea- however, I DO have a bee in my bonnet about creating something out of Cultureline and I do have a great vision that it will manifest in various formats (ie – a series of podcasts, a series of videos, a tourism-driven digital experience etc).

I also love museum spaces and working with subject matter specialists as this really enriches a project. I love history, culture and creating a sense of immersion. I love the magic and wonder about travelling back in time and darting back to the present. Can I replicate this idea? How so?

I was so pleased when Twine was introduced to us, it’s a great way of organising information and organising what could be a pretty complex project.

I like to let ideas simmer, it’s a bit of a process and depending on what is happening in my daily life, ideas can come quickly, develop incrementally or arrive in an instant like an email implanted into my brain.

The latter happened last night as I was about to drift off to sleep. Picture this. I close my eyes ready for a good night’s slumber and *ping* I see a vision in my head playing out magically. I was so enthralled by it. It started with a screen with a beautiful starry night’s sky and a voice speaks asking “Imagine if you were a tradesman, and you had the option of sailing the seven seas across various moments in time. Where in the world would you go?”  – while this voice spoke, shadows of ships pass each other (like shadow puppets), with the sound of the seas crashing…then emerges a screen with three ships, one with a Dutch flag, one with a Portuguese flag and another with the British.

Here is a visual mock-up of what I imagined…it’s not completely accurate (the ship flags are bad and you can’t see the countries flags)…but I thought I’d have some fun with it. Note the 80s sound at the end was very intentional…and reminds me of one of my childhood favourites – The Mysterious Cities of Gold!

The idea is the user selects one and is taken on a non-linear journey which much resembles a Rhizome Narrative (yes, I was very much inspired by our Assessment 1 flipped lecture for Week 4)…Each ship will uncover bites of history in various formats (be it photography, videos, mini podcasts). The history will expose information about each ship’s intentions from an economical standing point, then delve into how each of these cultures planted their own influences on the minority Eurasian community that became the Anglo-Indians. The beginning and the end will be solid in this case scenario and the user will have the option to explore economy, food, linguistic influences, cultural influences- as much information that is relevant to each ship.

The idea is to take the user on a journey through time and space, immerse them in history and teach them about a minority group that does not get much media exposure.

Reference

The Mysterious Cities of Gold 1982, television program, Fabulous Film, June 22.