The Art Mecho Museum (located in Teaching at 60,40,22) is a museum that holds exhibits related to animation, especially anime and manga. It is also explores how we experience immersive digital art. This is the sort of location I want to bring to the attention of my students, as it is a clear interest of many of them. Sites likes this should draw them in to explore SL more frequently, to see what they can find relating to the course, especially relating to critical studies.
The museum has some special architectural features designed to test or illustrate ideas advanced by anime theorists, and also test some new kinds of SL interfaces for looking at virtual art.
The revolving main tower houses a zootrope. You fly into the center and you rotate in place to view the horse in its run cycle.
There are references here to Muybridge's photographs of human and animal motion--the images that arguably constitute the first motion pictures.
The Art Mecho Museum is sponsored by Williams College and affiliated with _Mechademia_, an annual forum for academic writing about Japanese manga, anime, and fan culture (http://www.mechademia.org).
The main gallery exhibits manga- and anime-related art. You can walk up to each canvass and pass throught it, the next canvass in the series becomes visible. This provides the illusion of turning the pages of a manga comic.
In the lower sections of the museum lies and an exhibit by Eron Rauch. I think many of my students will love this as many of them are WOW fans. I will leave it to the man himself to describe his piece.
EVELING...A Land to Die In by Eron Rauch
Artist's Statement
This show for the Art Mecho Museum is based on an RL gallery show of photographs that represent my reflections on the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. "Leveling" consists of three different series of photographs, representing three intersecting threads in the game and an equal number of art-historical trail-heads.
The project that gives the show its name is "Leveling 1-70 (A Land to Die In)," which is a large installation of photographs in a grid. As I play the game I am taking a photograph of each player-character corpse I come across. These images preserve the dead bodies of every fellow player that has tried to take on too many brigands, fallen too far, stumbled into an ambush set by high-level monsters, or failed to master the game's tactics. The backdrops in WoW are carefully and often beautifully rendered, but they function mainly as landscapes to die in.
The second set of photos is comprised of large color prints that record actual rendering errors that I have experienced in the game world. The satori moment of the glitch, which shatters the facade of realism, is often more awe-inspiring or humorous to me than the game's most spectacular magic spell or wittiest dialog. Though the images seem abstract, they are also a reminder of the concrete programming and geometry that produce the game's forms.
The third body of work in the show, called "Travels," is a series of landscapes I journeyed through during my adventures in the frontiers of WoW, shot in the style of Timothy O'Sullivan or William Henry Jackson--two photographers who explored the American West in the late1800's. These photographers searched for meaning, both artistic and social, in the dramatic terrain. Their images are also an attempt to explore the conflicting meanings these landscapes hold for society: as a place to preserve and industrialize, as a source of fear and wonder, as a place for paths into the future and the past. In the same way, "Travels" is a personal exploration of my confusion and anxiety about the role of the artist in our increasingly constructed world.
Below are shop snapshots of my build on Cornwall College Island (Second Life). They show the stage that I am currently at on the construction of the ground floor. I have tried my best to stick to an Art Deco theme, as this is one of the subjects covered in the modules that I am hoping to invigorate with the use of Second Life.
The main entrance.
One of the large staircases.
One of the bridge sections for the first floor construction.
View from beidge looking down on the main entrance.
Detailed door columns.
Tiled ceiling.
Image shows the detail of the rails of the staircase, these are down using opacity maps.
The main bay window that will possibly be the area for student display of artwork.
Image demonstrating how the building is created from basic 3d primatives.
The resource building is currently under the lake as this is the only space free at the moment for such a large building on the collge Island. The sandbox area is in the sky!
There is still lots to do construction the resource centre.
Following on from the Phil Whitfeld interview I chatted to Dr Suzanne Nunn to get her views on the use of Second Life for critical study modules.
Below I have included the list of questions that I used.
1. You cover contextual studies and the students often find it hard to see the relevance in relation to animation/multimedia, mainly because I feel they have had no experience of the History of design/visual studies etc. We have talked about using Second Life to provide that link to a world they are familiar with, with concepts such as 3d modelling and the virtual being important subject matter from both courses. How do you think we can sell critical studies to sceptical students using Second Life?
2. Do the students make a connection when you discuss the virtual in context to real world visuals eg the cinema, the gaze and mirror stage? How do they approach the topics?
3. How do you tackle this (reflexively through the use of game technologies?
4. So you look at Simulacrum and the hyper real in Contextual studies in what way do you look at the virtual world?
5. The students often don’t appreciate or understand the links between what has been created in the past, theories, approaches to design etc and how they can use it within their animations, websites etc.Obviously this is very important so what I want to do is to provide that link. Show them how for example semiotics effects design and how people interpret those designs/ animations etc.
I am starting off with a simple test where we look at imagery. We will discuss the connotations of the colours/imagery used etc and the feelings they get when viewing a piece of artwork. I will try and get them to place themselves in the artwork and facilitate a discussion on what the artist is trying to say etc.
I will then take this to the next stage where I ask them to create a room around a chosen image and use imagery/design to create an ambience within the space to reflect how they interpret the work. Discuss, what do you think, how do you think I can develop this idea?
6. I also want to create 3d environments that mimic artwork students will be familiar with, where they can walk around say the pier in the Scream or the table in The Last supper to allow them to see the importance of composition, how traditional art practices influence what we do today etc I want to try an encourage an appreciation of theories of design and ways of seeing to demonstrate the links to theories discussed in History of Visual Design etc. What do you think?
7. We also talked about how we could possible use excerpts from books to aid in the conceptualisation process, ie the description of a room for example? Could you embellish on that?
8. How you any other ideas?
9. I intend to create a virtual world for them to act like a resource similar to Moodle with links to galleries, buildings etc to explore what else do you think I should include?
About what we can learn from games to create better learning systems as discussed by James Gee
This clip show James Gee exploring the problems student have with language and vocabulary, with the leap from high school to university. He asks if digital media can help with this problem. This reflects many of the problems my students face when they move from further education to higher, specifically when writing academic essays.
During research exploring how computer games and virtual environments can aid in education I have come across many articles from James Gee that have interested me. He has many interesting points of view on the subject of using video games to improve learning and motivation, some of which I will mention here.
His article GOOD VIDEO GAMES AND GOOD LEARNING sent me on some interesting journeys into the subject and gave me a starting point on which to ground my research. When roaming further I discovered his book Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy, which really pointed the way.
"I wanted to play the game so I could support Sam’s problem solving. Though Pajama Sam is not an “educational game”, it is replete with the types of problems psychologists study when they study thinking and learning. When I saw how well the game held Sam’s attention, I wondered what sort of beast a more mature video game might be. I went to a store and arbitrarily picked a game, The New Adventures of the Time Machine—perhaps, it was not so arbitrary, as I was undoubtedly reassured by the association with H. G. Wells and literature.
As I confronted the game I was amazed. It was hard, long, and complex. I failed many times and had to engage in a virtual research project via the Internet to learn some of things I needed to know. All my Baby-Boomer ways of learning and thinking didn’t work. I felt myself using learning muscles that hadn’t had this much of a workout since my graduate school days in theoretical linguistics.
As I struggled, I thought: Lots of young people pay lots of money to engage in an activity that is hard, long, and complex. As an educator, I realized that this was just the problem our schools face: How do you get someone to learn something long, hard, and complex and yet enjoy it. I became intrigued by the implications good video games might have for learning in and out of schools. And, too, I played many more great games like Half-Life, Deus Ex, Halo, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Rise of Nations, and Legendof Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Good video games incorporate good learning principles, principles supported by current research in Cognitive Science (Gee 2003, 2004). Why? If no one could learn these games, no one would buy them—and players will not accept easy, dumbed down, or short games. At a deeper level, however, challenge and learning are a large part of what makes good video games motivating and entertaining. Humans actually enjoy learning, though sometimes in school you wouldn’t know that." (Gee J, 2007)
I have always thought since playing games on my Commodore 64, that if someone could figure out how to use this media for making education more interesting, then more students would attend school, learn more and have fun doing so.
Like James Gee states, "good video games incoporate good learning principles" and this is what I want to take advantage of to improve the delivery of critical studies modules on my courses.
Anyone can pass a test by memorising facts and figures etc, but putting that knowledge to good use is another story. Gaming and the principles involved in succeeding in a game can surely be used to make the gaining of knowledge an easier task. Not only easier but allowing difficult concepts to be assimilated unconsciously whilst having fun.
It's the learning principles Gee mentions in his books that make using a virtual environment so appealing.
VIDEO GAMES, MIND, AND LEARNING
"You build your simulations to understand and make sense of things, but also to help you prepare for action in the world. You can act in the simulation and test out what consequences follow, before you act in the real world. You can role-play another person in the model and try to see what motivates their actions or might follow from them before you respond in the real world. So I am arguing that the mind is a simulator, but one that builds simulations to purposely prepare for specific actions and to achieve specific goals." (Gee J 2003)
Second Life is full of simulations created for educational purposes but many of them are just experiments or flights of fancy that don't really get used to the full. This is something I want to try an avoid in the construction of my SL resource. I want it to be a place were students can learn in a fun and familiar environment. A place to relax and not have to worry about looking nervous or learning at your own speed. Learning at your own speed is the key I feel and this is what gaming allows. It is often hard to learn at ones own pace in the classroom or studio, but virtual environments can provide a space in which this can be accomplished.
"Players must carefully consider the design of the world and consider how it will or will not facilitate specific actions they want to take to accomplish their goals." (Gee J 2003)
I have explored countless islands within SL and many of the learning spaces mimic the real world colleges, I don't see the sense in this. Why do this, surely it is a waste of modelling time, why not take advantage of what is possible in the virtual and create more inspirational locations and buildings. These will not only hold the attention of the "Facebook junkies" but hopefully engage them enough to take interest in difficult, or what they might call, non relevant subjects.
Why Are Video Games Good For Learning?
"You build your simulations to understand and make sense of things, but also to help you prepare for action in the world. You can act in the simulation and test out what consequences follow, before you act in the real world. You can role-play another person in the simulation and try to see what motivates their actions or might follow from them before you respond in the real world. So I am arguing that the mind is a simulator, but one that builds simulations to prepare purposely for specific actions and to achieve specific goals." (Gee J 2009)
Virtual environments like Second Life allow users to take part in activities and simulations that mimic real world scenarios but without the risk. This enables testing of practices to be done in safety, and in the case of educational purposes in an environment that allows different ways of seeing. You can build and explore whatever you like, and walk around objects to better understand them. Theories of design, composition, colour and art can be investigated in ways the real world doesn't allow. It is this I want to take advantage of, to make complex or often boring theories of design etc, more fun and easier to understand.
"Video games are good for learning because, among other reasons, they have the following features:
1. They can create an embodied empathy for a complex system 2. They are action-and-goal-directed preparations for, and simulations of, embodied experience” 3. They involve distributed intelligence via the creation of smart tools 4. They create opportunities for cross-functional affiliation 5. They allow meaning to be situated 6. They can be open-ended, allowing for goals and projects that meld the personal and the social
The cutting edge is realizing the potential of games for learning by building good games into good learning systems in and out of classrooms and by building the good learning principles in good games into learning in and out of school whether or not a video game is present." (Gee J 2009)
So there is no point in me using SL as a tool to improve delivery of the critical study sessions, unless it is used hand in hand with good educational practice and technique. I have already tried putting this to the test in a few SL tasks set for my students. They were successful mainly because I prepared the session well, and thought hard about how I could use SL to best explain what I wanted the students to learn. It was not just the case of mimicking what I did in the real world to teach, but thinking about how I could make best use of the tools in SL, to explain a difficult concept. Using technology that by students are familiar with proved to be very popular, as they could see how the knowledge they were assimilating in the virtual, was relevant in the real, something that has proven very difficult to put across using traditional techniques.
Bibliography
Gee J, 2003, Video Games, Mind, and Learning, International Digital Media and Arts Journal, volume 2 number 1 Gee J 2003, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, New York, Palgrave Macmillan Gee J 2007, Good Video Games + Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning and Literacy (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies), New York, Lang, Peter Publishing, Incorporated Leidlmair K, 2009, After Cognitivism: A Reassessment of Cognitive Science and Philosophy, New York, Springer
