Conference preparations, lots of tunnel experiment preparations, and some festival things

Phew – no rest for the wicked. Inputs-Outputs suddenly feels imminent (and it is). We just met with Judith, and had an excellent discussion about both the conference and future developments.

The weekend brought a little bit of festival activities – we went out to see Faust by Bad Taste Company (or Bad Taste Cru, as their breakdancing ‘face’ is called), which was nothing of the sort. Exhilarating dancing, clearly based on streetdance, but brilliantly expanded into ensemble dancing, what looked like capoeira, and altogether very expressive. Great use of music, too. Thoroughly enjoyable. We went both Saturday and Sunday night.

There was lots of work to be done during the weekend – the tunnel project has turned into a bit of a monster (predictably), and I am glad to say I could contribute quite usefully to making preparations somewhat less frantic and more productive. I prepared and uploaded all the music, and the playback solution I worked out the other week (configuring an alarm clock app to function as the timer for the playlists) ended up being what is going out, at least in phase one. But by Jove, it has been time-consuming. I am counting three days working on it now, and that’s just stepping in to avert meltdown.

This week will see me doing more work with Punchdrunk (hurrah), more work with my new clients (exciting), and quite a bit of time with my kids (which very much I look forward to).

First day of working with Punchdrunk’s The Drowned Man

I am very excited. And I can’t tell anyone anything, because it is all secret. But I am writing up, as I sit on the train (well I was, until I got distracted by email).

Another day, another project

Arts projects come to find me, these days. Is it an indication? Justin and I discussed something akin to an immersive parlour game. We are talking building an environment that makes you feel like a cricket, here (Justin is writing a thesis on non-human characters in opera)(yes, you read that correctly).

He also told me there is a festival that we could possibly take it to, called….Pestival! How marvellous is that?!

They can keep Bestival. I want to go to Pestival, with our immersive parlour game for people pretending to be crickets.

The bottom half of the Internet

I have been thinking about ‘aggro’ engagement lately. I think the discourse around engagement, both academically and from the industry side, is very one-sided. It is not like it is not understood within the industry that this is an effective way to attract attention, engagement, and traffic. Neither is this isolated to digital media. It is obvious that The Sun, and other gutter-licking tabloids, use this phenomenon to their advantage – or rather, base their entire business on it.

I have some ideas around this that are a little off-piste, in terms of how the discourse usually goes. I think I will make them part of my presentation at the Inputs-Outputs conference.

A moment of critique of definitions of engagement

The literature is full of evangelistical definitions of engagement, but somehow they seem to paint only half the picture. Why does nobody mention how powerful a driver negative affect is for online engagement? A cursory glance at the comments field of any news site, or pretty much anywhere in ‘the bottom half’, shows very clearly that people actively seek out contrary views and a satisfying degree of indignation.

Denise’s birthday do

Denise’s birthday do was a lively and upbeat affair. We arrived late afternoon, when quite a few of the guests had already been celebrating for a couple of hours; sort of in between the first and the second shift.

Many of the usual suspects were there, as well as a significant amount of cake and drink. Not a savoury thing in sight – this gathering clearly was intent on skipping straight to the dessert.

Much discussion around engagement – many definitions are focusing exclusively on ‘positive affect’, which clearly is only part of the picture. Consider not just the military context, but internet trolling, heated debates, and right wing media. Being irate holds a lot of attraction to many people. And it is highly engaging.

Stoke is good, yet again

We are enjoying Stoke again. Nachi’s lab, including the fab people there, is as good as ever. I am beginning to feel quite at home here. We have done research comparing Tekscan chair mat and Vicon, with the 12-stimuli set. It looks as if we are poised to get a few things published this year, which is exciting.

We have had excellent food every evening, courtesy of TripAdvisor – this is not a plug, by the way. But it is a good way to find out about reasonable restaurants. Letif’s in Alsager was great the first evening, Portofino last night was very good, and Jalfrezi tonight was good. Latif’s was a cut above the rest, I have to say – we think they may be Bangladeshi, and the food was excellent: succulent, aromatic, and subtle.

North Staffordshire Hotel is its wonky self, so all is well in the world.

Academic integrity

Hm. I was faced with the need to reprimand someone about academic integrity today. Disappointing. He accepted my point without struggle, and gave an excuse that he acknowledged was insufficient. And he agreed to rectify the matter.

Freakonomics: Real data on differences between men and women

This is interesting. Take the time.

Dear Esther

The most beautiful game interface I have ever seen. Or heard.