Boredom, Meaningless Work, and now?

Assignment for Monday April 5 at 1:00 pm
Read "Boredom" by Siegfried Kracauer (1924) and "Meaningless Work" by Walter de Maria (1960). Both writers make some kind of proposal. Both are quite clever and funny in ways specific to their own historical moment. Your assignment is to write a short proposal relevant to your own historical moment in a tone that corresponds to your experience and your generation's perception of work and play. This is a chance to continue to cultivate your own voice and particular sensibility (and wit) as a writer. This is an assignment about voice and observation. What you write should be posted to the blog NO LATER than Monday at 1:00 pm. Please take the time to read other people's posts as well.  I'll be asking you about things you noticed the posts have in common (and perhaps how they differ as well).  If you have any questions, I'm available by email. Don't wait until the last second to be in touch. Please include a word count. Meaningless Work is also about 500 words, so keep that piece in mind as a kind of model.  (Your post can include images and links too.  You can post it as a comment below or separately.)  If you have any problem posting, please send me your piece by email.  I will be happy to post it.  Finally, it should go without saying, but this needs to be a polished piece of writing, not a first draft or an unthought stream of consciousness.  DO EDIT before you post!

Dérive Assignment + Report Requirements

assignment : mapping the dérive 

After rereading Guy Debord’s “Theory of the Dérive” as well as Tom McDonough’s article “Situationist Space” plan to rendezvous with your assigned partner or group. Choose a place that is not one that you usually spend time in.  Taking into consideration the descriptions of the dérive in your reading, attempt to identify and pursue a “unitary ambiance.”  You will need to negotiate how to discern the qualities of the space you travel through.  You will need to consider what Debord might mean when he writes that a dérive involves “playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects.”  Your goal will be to produce a narrative map of your experience.  You will present this map as well as a carefully elaborated account of your experience to the class on Tuesday March 30th.   

Consider the limitations and strengths of the maps the Situationists made.  Your map need not replicate the style of the maps the Situationists made.  It must however find a way to negotiate or indicate the tension between conventional modes of mapping and the kind of mapping that psychogeography requires.  In other words, it will be your task to present a map capable of charting the “psychogeographic” experience of your derive.   

Guy Debord’s “Theory of the Dérive” is available online at: 

http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm 


Report due March 30th in class. 3 pages
1) Give a rich descriptive account of your derive. (1 page) [You will read this section OUT LOUD in class.  Come prepared.]
2) Describe how you translated this experience into a map. (1 page)
3) How does your map respond to and even critique what might be limited about Situationist modes of mapping? (1 page)

  

The Game Is Called Pop.

Pop is an intense game of war - with slim to no blood shed. Two teams, each comprised of three people, charge at each other, hungry for the annihilation of the other team’s balloons. Pop is an active battle, played in a large open space, with only one’s feet for weapons, and cunning, quick footed, coordination as defense. The loud noises and team work make for an exciting, highly interactive game, designed to get players moving, laughing, and strategizing, but more than anything else, having fun!

The game is completed after one team conquers the other, in two out of a possible three rounds. The object of a round is to be the first team to pop the opposing team’s master balloon, after first popping a balloon on an opposing payer’s leg and then writing ‘POP’ on their dry board.

At the beginning of the game each player starts out with a long balloon tied to each ankle as shown in the instructional photographs. Players must keep their hands clasped behind their backs through out all game play. Each team begins by standing on their side of the playing field, divided by a line of tape which must be placed through the middle of the field. Dry erase boards, markers and the happy face master balloon must be placed at each team’s end prior to play.

Once the game is in play, all players are allowed to cross the center line as they wish. When the game has begun both teams charge at each other attempting to stomp on one of the other team’s ankle balloons. When the first of your ankle balloons has been popped you must raise your hands in the air and walk back to your team’s side of the playing field. During the trek back, while your hands are in the air, the opposing team must not try to stomp on your remaining balloon. If you are already on your side of the playing field you may continue without crossing the line. When your last balloon has been popped you must leave the playing field immediately - you are OUT!

After an individual has popped an opponent's balloon he/she is now eligible to write ‘POP’ on the other teams dry board. This is the only time when a player is allowed to remove their hands from behind their back. No player may write ‘POP’, or pop the master balloon until they have first taken out one of the opposition’s ankle balloons. Once “POP” has been written, the large happy faced master balloon must be popped for the round to be won. The word ‘POP’ must legibly say ‘POP’ and fill the entire board. ‘POP’ must be written before the master balloon has been popped. If these actions occur out of order the guilty team automatically loses that round. If a player accidentally pops their own team's master balloon, that team automatically loses.

In the following rounds players continue with the same rules as in the first, but with no replenishing of ankle balloons. A game can be won by eliminating all opposing players from the game.

The game is monitored by two referees, armed with a whistle. Referees are responsible for maintaining the rules. When a whistle is blown all players must freeze and listen to the referees.

In playing our game ‘Pop’, with students who very graciously volunteered their time, we discovered many problems and success. Our original plan was to have a capture the flag type game with three players on each team. The players were to have a small balloon tied to their ankles with string which would be popped by the other team, eliminating them from the game. The object of this game was to conquer the other team’s base.

Once we gathered to try the game out for the first time we, by lucky accident, ended up with long balloon-animal balloons as opposed to the traditional variety. This turned out to be great as these balloons could be tied to the ankle without the use of string and, as they are relatively stiff, their movement along with the foot turned out to be more predictable. These balloons also happen to look quite hilarious, adding humor to our game of war. In playing the game, we recognized the excitement and drama added by a loud popping sound which we hadn’t thought about before.

On our first round we had each team attempt to pop the other team’s master balloon. This lasted about 45 seconds, and gave very little incentive for players to pop each other's balloons as they were mostly interested in capturing the other team’s ‘base’ which took the form of the master balloon. To make the game longer and to encourage the players to go after each other first, we made a rule that before popping the other teams master balloon, each individual must first pop a balloon on the leg of an opponent and then proceed to write the word ‘pop’ on a piece of paper before finally popping the master balloon. This made the game much more exciting and fun, but still lasted a very short period of time. Our final solution to this problem was to have several rounds of the game and to have the balloons lost, carry on to the next round. Our rule to keep ones hands behind their back was of good intentions, but turned out to be mostly redundant as most players forgot to follow this rule, which was designed to keep players from pushing and grabbing. Luckily the players were decent enough not to grab at each other anyway. We decided to keep the rule as a reminder that hands were not to be used, but to be lenient on the policing of the rule as long as no one was using their hands for any naughty business.

We discovered that in this game everyone is not equally equipped to play. Some people, and thus teams, by virtue of aggressiveness or coordination, were simply better than others, so well matched teams are desirable.

PLATO

In his book "From Sun Tzu to Xbox" Ed Halter mentions the PLATO network as one of the first timeshare systems that enabled communications between different computer stations. PLATO was first developed at the University of Illinois in the 1960s and was initially funded by the Army, Navy, Air force, and The National Science Foundation. Professor Don Bitzer, known as the "father" of the PLATO project, was interested in building computers systems that communicate with each other and are used for educational purposes. Under his supervision, PLATO was built both for educational and military training uses. Because of its network capabilities PLATO was one of the first platforms for early versions of network multiplayer games, instant messaging, chat rooms, and more. Many of today's video games sprung form earlier versions that were created on the PLATO network. A few of the games that were originally developed on PLATO are Avatar, Dnd, Empire, Panther, and Spasim.

What I find interesting about the PLATO network is the vast array of uses the system had. The project was managed by a professor from the University of Illinois, Don Bitzer, who was hoping to build an educational tool, and by the 1970's PLATO had about 1,000 terminals worldwide, most of which were stationed in educational institutions, from elementary schools to universities. At the same time, the funders of the project were military and government organizations that had invested in this project in order to create a training tool for military purposes. In addition to the foreseen educational and military uses of PLATO, and during the ongoing process of developing PLATO, "university geeks" with access to the PLATO network developed other innovative uses such as games and social interactions such as chatting, posts, etc. All of these first uses of PLATO play an important role in various ways computers are used today - email, instant-messaging, forums, education, and games are only a few of the inventions that first saw light on the PLATO network.

This link is to a PLATO user guide from 1981:

http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cdc/plato/97405900C_PLATO_Users_Guide_Apr81.pdf

This link is to a document from 1971 that describes the PLATO architecture, with some cool diagrams:

http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univOfIllinoisUrbana/plato/X-20_The_Plato_IV_Architecture_May72.pdf

THX 1138

In his essay "From Sun Tzu to XBox: war and video games", Halter describes the development of technology which has allowed wars which were once disastrously intimate, messy, passionate affairs to be fought from a greater distance and with almost no personal interaction. The innovative Igloo White project of the war in Vietnam had airplanes dropping disguised electronic spies which recorded signs of life and translated the targets in the form of tiny "worms" on a screen, where they could then be shot at or blown up without ever knowing who or what was being demolished. This was understood as a clean and safe way of waging war. The concept of reducing people to dots on a screen or in the case of THX 1138, numbers as opposed to individuals, is illustrated in George Lucas's 1971 debut feature film. The movie depicts an underground, sterile, world run by robots, where emotions and sexual acts are outlawed and suffocated by regular mandatory drug intake. Halter describes the white passionless, robotic world of this movie as voicing the growing concerns with the direction in which technological advances were headed.

I believe the comparison is quite sound. THX 1138, the protagonist of this cult classic film, is given a number instead of name, and works at a factory where he assembles the very robotic beings that police his life completely. The fear of creating a weapon that would then turn itself on the creator is a frightening reality in electronic warfare development. It is frightening when something as serious and devastating as war becomes as removed and casual as reading a computer screen and pressing some buttons. While the advancements of weapons during war time led to the technology that created video games it is no surprise that war has becomes more like a video game for those participants lucky enough to have the technology.

Trailer -> http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3864002585/

Orson Scott Card Ender's Game

Ender's Game is an award winning science-fiction novel from 1985, written by Orson Scott Card. In Sun Tzu to Xbox, Ed Halter cites Ender's game as a major inspiration for current military and game strategy. The novel is mainly about child soldiers being sent to space for battle training against an alien race. The government sends its most promising children into battle room training, "which takes the form of video games, both two-dimensional and holographic, as well as laser-tag style low-gravity faux-death matches" (Halter, 154). In the end, it is discovered that these games were more than just simulations. The simulations operate as remote battles being fought against the alien enemy. Ender, the novel's main character, effectively wins the war for Earth and destroys the alien race all through the means of rather grueling virtual immersion.

In considering our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan it becomes quite clear how this book would be inspirational towards the future of combat training. It outlines complete immersion within the training environment, soldiers must focus on creative solutions to the tasks at hand. This type of experiential learning is much different then what a soldier of the past may have read to learn about. I would imagine that the soldier feels and reacts the the environment, he or she is in there. Training is most importance to the leaders, and the see video games as the new learning environment of the youth. The virtual environment is a place to play out roles and witness the repercussions but I wonder if training in a virtual environment of such a period of time won't create some form of dependence on the virtual scenario or a complete disregard for the risks of warfare. The risks are not real in virtual war. The lines between real war and virtual war become blurred, therefore real people and real death become sidelined, the soldier may become disillusioned than they one already is in a real war environment.

World Game

Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion World Game

Formed as a reaction to the proliferation of military games addressing the end game scenario. Fuller’s idea for the game is that “advantage at expense” is removed, and the game becomes about how everyone can win. The game was designed to promote understanding of world situations/ relationships and common good for all.

The design of the World Game shows the utopian vision of the designer. By proposing an “everybody wins” objective the project as a game quickly losses interest. While the games and simulations being developed to test theories and responses to a world military conflict always have the hook of conflict and competition between groups. These games thrive on the clear logic of “Us-vs.-Them” that was heightened throughout this period and is a dominant force in gaming. Fuller, by attempting to remove this aspect of the game and substituting the idea of “advantage at expense” with “everyone wins” loses the driving force that the games he is responding to exploit to their great advantage. The idea of everyone winning is one worth pursuing. The question is how do you simulate everyone winning and still utilize the competitive spirit that drives so many successful games?

Interactive Global connections:

http://www.bestiario.org/research/citydistances/


“Interface of communication between the scientific and social communities.”
http://moebio.com/spheres/english.html#

http://www.wainova.org/atlas/