Creating a salon – supper club around Third Culture Kids.

Every month someone will cook for 10/15 people and discuss notions around being a “Third Culture Kid” (TCK).

“A third culture kid (TCK, 3CK) or trans-culture kid is “someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture.”

Final presentation
Process/space/planning/ what are the outcomes?

What are the outputs after the dinner?
Recording it on film/audio/pictures and place it online.

1. Students should know that they need to have their writing for the thesis book done by their thesis class next week. Please write it for this Thursday and we will proofread one another’s work in class. You will be responsible for uploading the information… by the end of next week. Again what will be submitted (and you should bring to class this week in draft form) is the following:

• Title of Project

Re-imagining Tolkien’s Middle Earth

• Student Name

Monica Fajardo Krishnan

• Elevator Statement (20 words)

This paper explores how Tolkien’s fictional world of Middle Earth provides room for different kinds of fan experimentation, the dimensions along which these experimental worlds parallel and differ from the real world, why, and what it ultimately enables for fans.

• Project Description (75 – 100 words)

What do we mean when we use the word “fan” in the 21st century? How does a fan community which is accused of imitation have its own distinct identity and culture? This paper aims to introduce the reader to the creative and participatory grassroots cultural practices that are at the core of modern fandom. This study is explored through the ethnographic site of Tolkien’s Middle Earth and desires to: reveal the underlying character of fans’ adoption of new media technology, and investigate what drives this most active of media audiences to become full participants in the continued creation of the worlds they love.

• 1 – 3 images (300dpi)

• Photo captions (two lines max)

• Project Taxonomy – three keywords/phrases describing project (i.e. sustainable tech, arduino, mobile, etc.)

grassroots creativity, fan communities, transmedia storytelling

(Legolas Facebook page)

My friends and I created an online Facebook RPG game where we created fictional Facebook profiles for our favourite literary characters. We felt that these fictional boyfriends from Austen or Tolkien’s imagination combined with a social networking forum would give us the perfect boyfriends. Unfortunately or fortunately we also wanted each other’s fictional boyfriends.  Hence creating a kind of tag competition on who could win over others.

What I loved is the interaction between the fictional characters in a world that was not an imaginary land of castles and orcs, but the sterile white and blue of Facebook.

http://exegist.heroku.com/papers/6

INSTRUCTIONS! (read these before logging in!)

The idea behind EXEgist is to provide an interface that encourages long-form, in-depth, position-specific text annotation, inspired by exegetic paradigms like the Talmud and old-school approaches to footnotes, but with the dynamic filtering and view controls afforded by the web browser.

All comments are attached to specific sentences, including both sentences in the main body text and sentences within other comments. Clicking a sentence reveals or hides the attached comments. Blue asterisks indicate sentences with attached comments.

The “Commenting is OFF” link on the sidebar indicates that you are currently set to read, rather than add, comments. To add comments, click the link – it should now say “Commenting is ON”. Now click any sentence and a comment entry field will open up below it. Once your comment is submitted, toggle the sidebar link back to OFF and click the sentence again to reveal what you wrote.

Short comments (~fewer than 25 words) are hidden by default. To reveal them, click the “Show short comments” link in the sidebar. The other sidebar controls do more or less what you would expect.

We’d love to hear your feedback. EXEgist is still in its earliest stages. There are some central features we haven’t yet implemented, and we understand that not everything is running smoothly, but if there are any burning questions, problems, words of advice, or other remarks you’d like to share, do write us at [ gist {DOT} exe {AT} gmail {DOT} com ].

“so alpha it hurts”

Commenting is ON

For the next assignment, I would like for you to do a response to the field trips (City Reliquary, Tenement Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society / In their Own Words) and readings, examining the notions of storytelling, memory, object and location..

EXEgist

http://www.columbia.edu/~fms5/ult03.htm – text to be used (w/ ghettotations)

http://www.djangobook.com/en/2.0/chapter01/ – example of positional annotation

REQUIREMENTS

• (to simply view the page, nothing beyond navigating to it is required)
• register
• sign in
• click ANNOTATE button
• select a sentence or paragraph to annotate
• type words
• click SUBMIT

OPTIONS

• Show/hide all comments at a given nesting-rank.
• Show/hide individual comments/threads
• Filter visible comments by contributor:
  • Hide (render contributor’s posts invisible)
  • Focus (render non-Focused contributors’ posts invisible)
  • Block (hide a contributor by default and sort them to the bottom of the sidebar)
  • Favorite (sort contributor to the top of the sidebar)
  • Reset button clears all Hide/Focus settings (but not Block/Favorite settings)
• Filter visible comments by adjusting a minimum-length-threshold slider.
• Save snapshots of view-setting combinations and switch between them on the sidebar
• Permalink to comment
• Highlight comments (and comment fold-points) by a given contributor by mousing over that contributor’s name in the sidebar
• Highlight contributors (in the sidebar) who commented on a certain region of text by mousing over its fold-point.

CUES

• Depth defaults to 0 – i.e. no comments are shown until the user makes them visible.
• Contributors (shown in the sidebar) are sorted as follows:
  • Favorites > non-favorites
  • Non-blocked > blocked
  • More first-level comments > fewer first-level comments
  • More second-level comments > fewer second-level comments
  • etc. (so the number of second-level comments only affects sorting among contributors with the same number of first-level comments, etc.)
• Length slider filters comments below a length threshold, meaning that longer comments will tend to be more visible.  Very short comments are invisible by default.
• Character/word count
• On the right hand side of each paragraph, we have a quiet button with the number of comments within each paragraph.  Click the button to open up the entire paragraph.
• Contained within each paragraph (at the ends of sentences) are asterisks marking the presence of comments and serving as fold/unfold triggers.
• Block/Favorite commands are hidden in a short submenu – while Focusing and Hiding are common, localized, adjust-on-the-fly actions, Favoriting and Blocking imply special attention.
• Minimal use of images; no user avatars – emphasis on text
• Contributor-specific controls duplicated with their appearance of their name in the comment field as on the sidebar for free-association filtering.

Notes
Website content will be publicly available, in order though to annotate/contribute one must sign in. Similar to some extent to the Wikipedia model.

Write a description of your thesis concept – approx. Start making an outline of your final paper: Abstract — Introduction — Main Body: What is your thesis, your approach to the project/problem, process, documentation, conclusion, references. Bring 4 hard copies to class.

Why this thesis concept?

The premise for exploring Tolkien’s world as an ethnographic transmedia site is that it is a world worthy of devotion. It is a world that is richly imagined with a past, present and future that is populated with engaging cultures and characters. Tolkien’s world as a transmedia/deep media/open world game allows the audience a rich base from which to generate deeper curiosity and explore the world by furthering expanding the story outside of the initial point of contact with the original narrative. By pursing the story further Tolkien’s world has now the existence of multiple texts and stories – as well as openly encouraging other fans to build on the narrative structure.

One can argue that Tolkien’s Middle Earth is a world that operates not just in book and media, but actually as an “intertext, a text(world) that is produced within the interaction between multiple texts”. This inherently is a world that moves across and between different forms and platforms of media. Tolkien’s Middle Earth is not just multiple stories/mythologies that are layered together but a rich-in-between space a library of shared-fan meaning that lives in-between parts of the original text – effectively the Middle Earth Universe lived as a open world game through media.

Introduction

Neil Young a game designer talks about how one element, one he calls “addictive comprehension” where one piece of information for instance in the Lord of the Rings Films will make you look at the world differently. Transmedia entertainment is increasingly prominent in our conversations regarding how universes such as Tolkien’s Middle Earth operate in our digital media ear. As Henry Jenkin writes transmedia as a storytelling from is one where the integral elements of a fiction pieces gets transmitted in a dispersed systematic way across a multitude of delivery channels “for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” (Jenkins 2009). There are other types of transmedia at play as well which range from branding, spectacle, performance, games, art, mmorpg, and more. Play itself whether through online avatars on LOTR action figures represent a space in which players can expand their understanding of the fictional world, and stories which come out of this play contributes to the expansion of the transmedia story.

Spreadability &. Drillability

Mitchell talks about a notion he has regarding transmedia stories called “drillability” which is about how viewers would engage in a complex narrative. This according to Mitchell allows for a “forensic fandom” that encourages fans to dig deep into the universe to understand the complexity behind the creation of the narrative and also its telling. Tolkien’s Middle Earth is a site upon which viewers drill deeper into the storyworlds in order to discover more. Also Middle Earth is a spreadable concept which also helps accumulate eyeballs to the media created that is based on this particular world. Hence according to Mitchell “drillable media” while it only catches a few people, these people occupy a lot of their time and energy in getting to a granular understanding of a text’s complexities.

Continuity & Multiplicity

The books and films which come from Middle Earth do indeed seek to construct a sense of continuity which helps contributes to a strong sense of plausibility and coherence for this fictional world.  Jenkin’s mentions that the idea of multiplicity allows fans of Middle Earth to create alternative versions of the characters, create new characters which inhabit the universe or parallel universe versions of the stories. Jenkins argues that this sense of multiplicity allows fans to feel their mastery over the source material and take pleasure in alternative retellings.

Hence multiplicity is a theory which allows fans of Tolkien’s Middle Earth to engage in grass-root form of transmedia expression such as fan fiction. These kind of unauthorized extensions of the Middle Earth world enhances fan engagement and for many augments as well as expands their understanding of the original world. The logic of multiplicity is the way that many different interpretations of Middle Earth can offer the fan interesting insights into original characters and cultures. Jenkins argues that multiplicity “allows us to conceive of alternative configurations of transmedia and lowering some of the anxiety about making sure every detail is right across media platforms”.

Immersion and Extractability

Inherently immersion is the ability of consumers to enter into Tolkien’s Middle Earth whilst extractability is what aspects of the story/world that the fans takes away with them as resources they deploy in other spaces.

Worldbuilding

Tolkien’s world stands and flourishes better in our world of convergence as a world more than a story can support multiple character and multiple stories across multiple media. Here fans gather and learn almost encyclopedic-like the history, culture of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. It is the fan’s impulse to and master Middle Earth whether through fan-fiction or the production of maps and charts. The concept of wordbuilding is very much linked to the principles of immersion and extractability as these concepts very much represent ways for consumers to engage directly with Middle Earth, treating them as real imagined spaces which intersect with their own lived realities. Inherently many of the fan’s “extensions” of Middle Earth offer others a guided tour of the fiction setting, either a Middle Earth travel log or the creation of an elven wiki which fleshes out the understanding of Middle Earth’s races, cultures, institutions and practices.

Seriality

Tolkien in his writing created a meaningful narrative where chunks of meaningful and engaging story information has been dispersed across multiple media systems.

Subjectivity

Transmedia extensions may focus on unexplored dimensions of Middle Earth, or expands upon the original source documents. Not only do these extensions broaden the timeline they also show fans experiences and perspectives of secondary characters or original characters created by other fans. Hence the focus on multiple subjectivities gives rise to the use of twitter or facebook as a storytelling platform from which fans can elaborate on secondary or new characters and their responses to events presented in the primary world.

Performance

Jenkin writes in convergence culture about cultural attractors(draw together a community of people who share a common interest) and cultural activators (give that community something to do).

Create: Audio Story in Three Parts (can follow any of the examples reviewed in class: Three different perspectives on a single subject; Three components necessary in completing a single tale, etc. You can work in teams. Upload to blog. Be prepared to present in class.

The largest piece in the Christie’s sale also became its biggest hit: Henri Matisse’s 6-foot-tall bronze woman with a long ponytail from 1930, “Back IV,” sold to New York dealer Larry Gagosian for $43 million. The work set a new record the artist at auction and exceeded its $18 million high estimate. Mr. Gagosian won the work following a 10-minute, three-way bidding war between fellow dealer Bob Mnuchin and a telephone bidder.

Three Person Bid

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1) Prepare a written description of your background and contextual research – including your preliminary concept overview and a discussion of projects that have inspired your thesis concept. You can include descriptions of current projects similar to your proposed project, historical events, social issues, projects that led to the development of current related projects, related theoretical research, and related technical research.  You must include a bibliography.

Preliminary concept overview

Introduction

Fans have been responding to literary works since the days of Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid. More recently, a number of other fantasy and science fiction universes such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Trek have found devoted fan followings.  The arrival of the Internet has brought these groups from relatively limited, face-to-face enterprises to easily accessible global communities, within which fan fiction proliferate and are widely read and even more widely commented upon.

New interactions between readers and writers of fan fiction are possible in these new virtual fan communities. Fan fiction and remix culture continues to explode both in terms of social relevance and sheer quantity of content created. In our postmodern culture where people continually remix different media and blend them into new works, computers are providing an easy tool for this transformation.

Online fan communities are really digital enclaves from which members form self-organised groups to collectively produce, transform and expand on mainstream culture.

If we think of Lord of the Rings as a subgroup of Tolkien fandom, the relationships of the members with each other are rather homophilous and close-knit.

In our increasingly participatory media environment, people are used to more and more personalised choices, allowing us to consume only content we find personally meaningful. In fan fiction people are turning their personal media consumption into a networked practice, which demands an even higher social investment and engagement to the text. Hence – by letting readers and new lurkers access the content they want straight away – it creates stronger community bonds and increases membership retention.

For my thesis I want to explore Tolkien’s Middle Earth as a site of “media mix” and use it as an ethnographic site to illustrate storytelling across different media. Also Tolkiens world is used as an example by academics (Henry Jenkins MIT) as a “fractal experience” that can be enjoyed at any depth. Fans in particular using the internet and digital technology can go deeper and explore any part of the world that they choose. Fans hence can see a whole new set of patterns, culture, society or interactions. Using mmorpg/console games/movies/novels/fanfiction/fanvideos/user generated art, fans of middle earth can imagine themselves in novel circumstances.

Discussion of projects that inspire thesis concept.

There are no real projects that one can look at, but there are many academic books which point towards a trend in the study of transmedia or deep media. Transmedia is the way that one can tell a story across a variety of different media channels and deep media allows members of the audience to dive into a story at any level of depth they like, to effectively immerse themselves in it.

As people get used to interacting with their media across different channels, interactive entertainment is more about “world building” than just telling a plot driven narrative. “World Building” is in effect the relationship between games and stories – Tolkien’s imaginary middle earth is a great example of this – the interweaving of games, marketing, cultural anthropology and storytelling to build a universe that fans delight in playing in, creating their own interpretations and cultural norms along the way. As I’m an avid fan and immersed in the Tolkien world online it amazes me how the fan’s observe, construct new meta texts from the movies and books – building their own puzzle-box narratives whether through video, art, text or in game interaction.

As the usage of Tolkien’s world by both fans and media corporations show games and stories are blurring into each other. One was getting Lord of the Rings Role Play Games. In essence games were becoming stories and stories were becoming games. One can argue that games and narrative stories are simulations that model the real world. Studies show how play is part of the learning experience across the natural world. Narrative is a thought experience which allows the users to rehearse themselves or their character in the world that they constructed. When kids play they create stories, but also they create stories to play. It is this intimate connection between games and stories and the immersive quality of interactive media, which allows the rise of transmedia, and deep media.

I want to argue that games and stories are merging and that fans are the center of the movement to carefully construct a dramatic narrative which utlises both game and story elements (again using Tolkien’s world as an ethnographic site). As Lord of the Rings was published in the 1950’s it proves that fiction is both participatory and immersive, but the way that fan’s consume their media collectively is different.  For in the 1950’s one had mass media entertainment, which had no mechanism for participation and a limited mechanism of feedback. I want to think and write about how Tolkien’s Middle Earth through transmedia and deep media has become a fan-based narrative version of an open world game, where the audience sets the parameters for the way that they want to live out the story.

Bibliography.

The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories

·  Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.

·  Jenkins, Henry (2006). Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press.

·  Jenkins, Henry (2007). The Wow Climax: Tracing the Emotional Impact of Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press.

6 words

She’s still here, He came back.

- “Just Deal” – this technique entails humoring the Asker and just giving them the response they are looking for (i.e. your racial/ethnic background); least time-consuming, but will cost you 5 Humanity Points (HPs), paid to the Asker

- “Go Off” – if you give in to anger and let your Asker know exactly what you think about their questioning, you have elected to “Go Off;” “Going Off” usually involves expletives, loud volume, and possibly aggressive physical movement; “Going Off” might feel better at the time, but it costs 8 HPs, paid to the Asker, as they leave the situation believing that you are “oversensitive,” “irrational,” or “dangerous,” possibly reinforcing their own racial and/or gender stereotypes

- “Play Dumb” – choosing to act like you don’t know what the Asker is getting at means you are “Playing Dumb;” “Playing Dumb” involves asking questions like “What do you mean?” or giving answers like “Pisces,” “a lawyer,” “the Queen of Dance,” or “a carbon-based life-form;” a “self-entertaining” tactic, “Playing Dumb” can leave you with 0 to 5 HPs, depending on the Asker’s reaction: a confused look allows you to break-even at 0, while having your Askers explain themselves and possibly understand the disrespect inherent in their question can earn you 5 HPs

- “Flip the Script”* – this tactic involves turning the question back on the Asker (similar to the “Playing Dumb” technique of asking questions); “Flipping the Script” involves a response of “What do you think I am?” which subsequently changes the power-dynamic, as your Asker will now feel uncomfortable, wanting to make the right “guess” without exposing the obvious ignorance that caused them to ask in the first place; also “self-entertaining,” “Flipping the Script” earns 2 HPs.

- “Create-a-Play” – players are not limited to the above tactics; creating your own plays not only increases your problem-solving skills, but can also increase the richness of the overall game; “Create-a-Plays” are self-scoring – earning up to 5 HPs for plays that enhance self-dignity and/or cause the Asker to become aware of people outside of themselves; losing up to 5 HPs for plays that decrease self-pride and/or cause the Asker to feel “right”