ves4's blog

Building an interdisciplinary Visual Studies center in an old tobacco warehouse bay.

So I'm hanging in the Seattle airport thinking about my Educause experience this year and wondering about the future of Academic Technology, that strange hybrid entity emerging out of web design, data management, librarianship, CS, education and the work of various academic misfits--including myself. Instructional Computing has turned into a thing in it own right, with the more advanced course management systems attempting to model collaborative pedagogical principles and to incorporate the most widely adopted tools under the umbrella of university authentication and authorization schemes.

Full words are so very retro. Sampled art in context. Loved the movie. My own clumsy movements don't match Gene's grace, but that is to be expected from a stranger in a strange land who has to be taught how to cross the street. I got caught in the walls a few times, fell to earth rather too rapidly. However, I got to jump through time portals and to visit a hotel whose strange combination of presence and absence left me unstable, seeking ways to understand what is real, Real, and REAL! Oh, the sink doesn't turn on. The person in the bed doesn't mind if I jump on her. But ouch--I just ran into someone's else's avatar! Focusing in on the photos in the gallery makes me long for the Real, superpixelated eyeball version. The intentionality of looking includes gesture. In some ways this is a more visceral experience than wandering a RL gallery would be. Wandering the hotel makes me want to redecorate all my real and virtual spaces. Maybe with a sample of the wallpaper?