Curation And The Human Web

Short interesting article that is important for eduators, users and all

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2010/11/curation_and_th.php
Curation And The Human Web...
Posted by Tom Foremski - November 16, 2010

from source - "There is no doubt in my mind that the topic of curation and the Internet, is an important one and that it will be a dominant topic in 2011. Curation is important because we are reaching the limits of what can be achieved through algorithms and machines in organizing and navigating the Internet."

Cloudiness - some thoughts

so much going on - Bridging program I direct about to start at the high school, getting ready for my college classes, heading to Gen Con in a couple weeks, working on World of Depleted stories, wiki and more, excited about the Far West Kickstarter project, Held first meeting for starting up a shared storyworld, getting back to my writing group and more

But, as I flit and flutter from one point to another, I came across this article

http://cultureby.com/2007/01/cloudiness_of_s.html - Cloudiness: of selves, groups, networks and ideas by Grant. It is from Jan, 2011 and I meant to read it and talk about it way back then, but better late than never.

Anyone interested in how the Internet, community, communication and culture are changing should at least can this article.

He mentions the way we are turning into clouds of connections with all of the assorted methods we communicate these days. And the difference between self pre and post computer/digital communication.

The author offers some good examples of what cloudiness is and how this form of interaction works. Some might say this is an example of a digital native vs older generations.

He even has a “transmedia” example as cloudiness by nature is transmedian in nature

I really suggest you take a gander – I leave you with the last two thoughts from his article.

“Summing up. The self and the group, when electronically mediated, reaches out in all directions, embracing more topics and contacts that it might reach out and embrace still more topics and contacts. Selfhood is expanding outwards, and this be much more exciting and fun, if we did not finding ourselves expanding into a certain conceptual, categorical cloudiness and the task of thinking down to test our assumptions and up to query our purposes.

Or perhaps this is wrong. There may be a model out there that could give cloudiness a "house that Jack build" clarity. Perhaps all these things do go together and we just need to build the model that shows us how. When it works best, culture doesn’t just make the world intelligible. It gives the world a "just so" quality (and when it works really well it makes everything seems so just.) Maybe there’s a way to make this happen. Maybe you, dear reader, can explain this to me.”

Depleted: Day 419 film - you know you want to

I know I mentioned the rental film a couple blog posts ago and have the player and trailer link at the bottom of the blog. But the first 50 rentals also receive a copy of the song - “I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful,” by Josh Woodward. http://worldofdepleted.com/archives/1674

I really like the song, it fits the mood of the world

MEGATON.us Apocalypse Book club

I'm in, anyone else up for some summer reading and discussion? via @Megaton_us Book Clubs & Coupons & Zombies, Oh My!: OK, technically, there are no zombies http://apclypt.ca/bxyBp

There is a discount for the book and a group that will be ready for some reading!

Watch the film World of Depleted: Day 419

So the day is here (yes the puns have begun) World of Depleted have released (well pre-release rental option) the feature film Day 419 - from the official site - http://worldofdepleted.com/contributor/world/canon/viking-productions

Day 419

Description: Written and directed by World of Depleted co-founder, Jeremy Hanke, Day 419 follows the journey of forger Jenna Whitmore as she must discover the secrets her mentor Gavin has left for her, learn from her Dark Dreams, and get out of Maysbridge, KY alive!

Length: 22 minutes
Starring: Kat Carney, Eric Henninger, David Haney, Tim Smith
Written by: Jeremy Hanke
Directed by: Jeremy Hanke
Stage: Completed

Anticipated Release: July 17 2011 (Pre-Release Rental), July 22 – August 18, Episodic Serial Release (Four Parts)

At the bottom of my blog is an embedded preview - they are using distrify to distribute - so I am learning a new media tool as well as watching a very cool movie!!!! - take a look at the preview below and if you like - you can purchase a 30 day, 3 time view of the film - enjoy!!!! and let me know what you think of the movie - I would love to discuss what is revealed - I'll wait a bit and then write up a separate blog with more of my review and ideas!!!!!!!

Far West

So, I just backed http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/Adamant/far-west-western-wuxia-mashup-adventure-game

It looks really cool and sounds like a good game - it has the west angle and also the Wuxia theme.

Anyone else planning on backing or interested in playing?

A must read about fanfiction

I strongly recommend people read this article http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-1,00.html and please, let me know what you think.

Updating Stories

As I work to catch up - I have added the links to my World of Depleted Stories to my story web site (go to http://home.comcast.net/~jstratton1/storywebsite/worldofdepleted/index.htm )

I still need to update the character bios (I like to add the bios as it makes it more like an RPG format and also if anyone ever wants to write these characters, it gives a bit of jump points).

Also - here are the two official canon badges - thank you Craig, Jeremy and everyone else at Viking for helping me!!!!!

Getting Business Done
















That's None of Your Business

Special World of Depleted: Day 419 Swag

Alright - I am way behind - but got to see a sneak preview of Day 419 (see http://worldofdepleted.com/archives/1626

As a thank you from that showing (and oooooo the film is awesome! So much revealed and lots of questions that demand answers...) we were given a swag pack of some awesome stuff. There was a special epilogue for the film with more story! and four songs from The Fall: world of Depleted Soundtrack

The songs are from:

Zero-Project - http://zero-project.gr/

Stacey Lux - http://worldofdepleted.com/archives/1614

Deathboy - http://www.deathboy.co.uk/

and there were two pieces of album art (included below)

The one is the Dark Dreamers symbol - the second is a bit of a mystery (see http://worldofdepleted.com/archives/1638

This is something very positive about the WoD franchise - they make events special and end up delivering more than the standard entertainment. They also include their fans (LIKE ME!) in special events and with all sorts of goodies and fun!

PLus, they keep the mystery up and don't horde things, rather sharing pieces to keep the story flowing (although that is a grrrrrr too as I am like, Oi! now I must wait for this wonderful little 10 Months of Hell story - which I hope is a graphic novel but will settle for any more Jenna story!

So - if looking for something cool, fun, creative, mysterious and rewarding, come play in the Wod World!



















Dark Dreamers image by Craig McDaniel

On Vacation

So - I am spending wayyyyy too much time away from technology during my vacation ;) while I am joking, I have not done much, so I am behind on all my lists, emails, stories and everything else - and probably will be until the end of July - so be patient and then I'll turn this dried up stream into a trickle and then hopefully a pretty good flowing creek :)