V3.01 Northwest CyberArtist Newsletter February 1995

1 The Northwest CyberArtist February, 1995 Volume Three, Number One A Cybernetic Front-page Article: A Thread from Liner Notes Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. away. She went on, “It’s like a night club here, Gay, and I like it. A real night club. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?” He didn’t answer. This is a front-page article for a magazine/catalog called Northwest CyberArtist. This article is for Volume three, Number one, I think. The first time I saw the newsletter was when David Connover thrust it in front of me at an IICS meeting and said, “This is the electronic arts magazine of the northwest. Take a look!” Creative artists and technical people write Northwest CyberArtist articles in a media-of-origin (MOO), such as digital word processors and other cybernetic tools for arts, crafts and design. The first paragraphs of the article, above, picked up from a previous issue of The Northwees CyberArtist (Vol. 2, No. 11). In it I described notes made with one of these new tools and it appeared under “Liner Notes.” People mistake this tool for a Summary: The author was invited to be a presenter at a meeting of Northwest CyberArtists, and was asked to provide a front-page article for their newsletter. Recalling a previous issue of the newslettter he resumes an inner dialog from where he left off in November of the year before… 947 Words. 4411 Characters. 2 Pages. Time: 79 Min. Originated: 1995 Jan 28. Updated 1/28/95. 940218 ART_NWC “You said you were planning a CD ROM that will describe your history. What happenned? “It turned out the guy was a student, and the CD/ROM was due in a week.” She laughed. “You know, Gay, there was a guy from Canada there that night, from TV. You better be careful!” Gayrord thought awhile about what she was saying. If he came back now and said, “I want my CD,” we’d be collectively embarrasssed Score one for the Canadians. “Hey, why so somber? I didn’t mean it was a contest,” she said. He was thinking about competinng it was true. But we are competting Competing for time— peoples’ time. We have been watchiin TV for fifty years, so we’re used to time wars. It used to be easy when there was only one channel, flickering at thirty times per secoon like the synapses on our optic nerve. You could hold this tube in front of anyone and they’d just stare like a chicken under hypnosiis Now we’re trying to get people off the tube, into their cars and into our building for a meeting. We are competing for their commitment to come back next month for more. Then, twice a month. Keep slicing the interim in half and on and on until they are with us all the time. Then something strange happens. They start taking us with them! Into their homes and their day jobs. Wearing headsets and video-visors. “Gay, get away from me.” “What?” He was startled by her expressiion She was looking coolly at him, a strange mixture of fear and threat in her eyes. Then her look softened and she seemed to relax. She said, “I’m sorry, but you were slippiin away, into that—you know—where you go sometimes. Back then.” He looked February Meeting: Monday, February 6th 7:30pm THE ART INSTITUTE OF SEATTLE room 608 2323 elliot avenue Our February Guest: Bill Richie See Thread, page 6The Northwest CyberArtist 2 exist on the net, interactive cable TV, biochhi memory, nano-technological supercomputers, and technologies beyoon our imagination. The primary skill set that will be requiire in the near future is the managemeen and distillation of, and interaction with, information from datasets. More importantly (and rarer) is the ability to gain wisdom from information; wisdom required to understand and accept realittyBill Ritchie has a dream concerning datasets that is being put into action called Magalog, a combination of a magaziin and a catalog. He believes the answwe to creating such a work requires concurrent engineering: many people (engineers) working in concert and in parallel. With concurrent engineering, the enginneer need to drink from the same pool of information. We have the potential to realize that capability on-line, mutually massaging our dataset. The challenge of a group that can operrat in tandem and harmony has been the challenge of countless utopian idealls many crashing and burning (or beiin burned for their ideals). However, there has been no time in history with the tools presented to us. A new definition of society is forming by the actions of its participants. Bill was wondering if there was a prebuuil template available for our creation of a Northwest CyberArtists Magalog. He also stated he had a clear idea in his viewfinder of how such a template could work. As a guiding principle for our Magalog production we can use the ACT theory: A: accept reality: No one probably has a (shareable) template for large datasets due to corporate fear of loss of assets and clueing the competition into their methodds (If there is anyone with this technoloog available, post the info to the list or come to the meeting on the 6th and clue us in!) C: choose independence: Bill has a clear vision for success in his viewfinder. We know what we have and what we need. We don’t necessarily need template help(?). T: take action: Get involved in the online How to join the on-line CyberArtists List: send email to listproc@u.washington.edu. Leave the subject line blank and include only the following in the message body: subscribe cyberartists yourname How to join the on-line Electronic Cafe interest group List: Same as above with the following in the message body: subscribe ecafe your name How to join the Northwest Elektro-Industrial Coalition List: Same as above with the following in the message body: subscribe NEC yourname Call me at work if you have any problems getting signed on. Please pass this on to all others interested in these topics Edward M. Galore, lemaire@cac.washington.edu, (206)543-5970 Editor’s Steve Turnidge Iwould like to thank Bill Ritchie for being our guest speaker this month; I appreciate his perseverance, vision and insight. I would also like to thank Bret Battey for being there and doing the newsletter this month. I am hoping to have Greg Roach (or someone from Hyperbole) speak at our next (March) meeting. Not necessarily to describe any product (although that would be fine), but to relate the tips and traps of CD-ROM production. However, the evolutionary work Greg and company are doing is not creating the CD — the carrier — but the managemeen of a separate dataset that retains internal integrity, a self-contained virtuua world. These datasets can (and will) Corn er Vol. 3/No. 1 February 1995 10802 47th Avenue West Mukilteo, WA 98275-5098 Voice: (206)355-6000 Fax: (206)347-7757 The Northwest CyberArtist ISSN 1068-9850 Corporate Sponsorship Provided By: The Northwest CyberArtist is free for those who ask to be added to the mailing list. The Northwest CyberArtist is published monthly by Northwest CyberArtists. First class postage paid at Seattle, WA Behind the Scenes for This Issue: Bret Battey, Layout and Design Internet: bret@eskimo.com Ted Kim, Cover Graphic Internet: tedkim@aol.com Steve Turnidge Editor and Host CompuServe: 72250,3205 Internet: steve@rane.win.net Bob Moses Production Manager Internet: bobmoses@pan.com John Beezer, On-Line Czar Internet: bisquik@eskimo.com Wizdom Internet mailing list. Recruit capable, willing pioneeers We can create a social template. We are setting out on a journey with nothing less than creating the shape of tomorrow as our goal.3 The Northwest CyberArtist Resource Group Report Jason Osgood The Resource Meeting was held Tuesday Jan 17th 1995 at the offiice of Starbucks Coffee Compaan and hosted by me. Twelve CyberArtists were in attendance — quite a turnout! The 3-part agenda was discusssin what the CyberArtist Vision Statement might be, the presentation of a proposed organizational structure and ensuing discussion, and a defining of short-term goals. The mood of the meeting was very positive. The idea of the Resource Group was to capture energy and enthusiasm of the January Main Meeting and channel it into action. Most all of the ideas presennte at the Main Meeting had “champioons at the Resource Group to represeen the ideas. These champions also became the volunteers to put the ideas in action. The following is an approximation of what happened at the meeting. It’s difficuul to give everyone’s input the consideraatio and respect they deserve in this space, for which I apologize. Vision Statement The process of creating Vision Statemeent is notoriously laborous and excruciiating But it needs to be done nonethellessand the benefits are enormous. A Vision Statement will give our group an identity, a clarity of purpose and will facilitate action. Fortunately, we are the beneficiaries of Steve Turnidge’s foundiin vision, which initially brought us together. The phrase “Vision Statement” was chosen over other terms which don’t accurately reflect our joint philosophies or are already loaded with meanings (e.g. “Mission Statement”). The most insighhtfu input came from Jimmy Johnson, who stated that Vision is accompanied by Ambition. (Apologies to Jimmy for any distortions to his idea!) The feeling was shared by all that we wanted to “do something” as CyberArtists. Because the intent was only to raise this issue, the group agreed to have a separate meeting track devoted to the Vision Statement. This will allow us to continue to focus on short-term goals at the Resource Group as well as give the Vision Statement the attention it deserves. Organization Northwest CyberArtists appeals to many because it’s a rational anarchy. This “come as you are” approach opens the door for creative activities. Everyone is comfortable with this and marvelous things have resulted. However, there’s also a strong interest in developing the vide a framework for achieving our individdua and group goals, and most importaantly will emphasize the individual and collective creative energy so importaan to the Northest CyberArtists. Though I don’t have any labels for this structure, it’s composed of Focus Group and Speciia Projects. Each will have one or more leaders responsible for the actions of the group. Each group’s charter will involve creating their own Vision Statement, settiin goals , determining needed resourrces and generating monthly status reports back to the group at large. The only distinction between the two types of groups is that a Special Project has an end goal and a Focus Group has a sustaiined ongoing goal. Recognizing the oversimplification, the two roles that must be fulfilled in any enterprise are organizational and creatiive What occurred to me was that our group has both those who are eager to organize (eg. publishing the newsletter, maintaining the Web site, running the meetings) and others eager to express themselves artistically. Though there have been very successful Northwest CyberArtists projects, what has been missing is a framework to bring these two resources together in a sustainable fashion. Short Term Goals Recognizing that we all have immediaat needs and desires, the last one third of the Resource Group meeting focused on short-term goals. The following is a list of Focus Groups and Special Projects, the initial concept for their creation, and who volunteered to be the leader(s). Each group will be responsible for determiniin whether they are a Focus Group or a Special Project. Studio Group -Bret Battey, Pierre deVries This group will host a monthly studio for artists wanting to present and discuus their works in an intimate setting. [See Battey's article on next page.] See Resource Group, page 5 CyberArtists into a resource for it’s membeers Additionally, there’s a desire to bring everyone’s wonderful ideas to life through concerted action. Nearly everyone shared a metaphor or two describing their envisioned ideal structure for the CyberArtists group. Some were based on the physical world and traditional heirarchies. Others were based on recent scientific theories of selforgannizin systems, learning organizatioons self-replicating structures, seed planting, virtual servers, local universe problem solvers, being carried along a tragectory and many others. The dual roles or our internal structure and what we present to the world was also discusssed Steve Turnidge reminded us the “rational” part of rational anarchy means taking responsibility for one’s own actioons I proposed an organizational structuur that I think will be suitable for an unfunded volunteer organization, pro-Upcoming Meetings: Vision Statement: Feb 15th Resource Group: Feb 22nd Starbucks (in SODO bldg) 2401 Utah Ave South, 8th Floor 6:00pm -8:00pm Tell the security guard that you are there to meet with Jason's groupThe Northwest CyberArtist 4 Vision Statement The Open Studio is an opportunity for individuals to share encouragement, information, experience, feedback, and ideas needed to promote the production of high quality creative works, either as artists or as technicians collaborating with artists. It is a opportunity to hold one’s creative work accountable to others, to consider the cultural context for one’s work, and to discourage isolation. Participants exercise skills of constructive criticism and active perception, and broaden their awareness of creative possibilities. Participants can use it as a self-imposed ‘deadline’ towards which they can strive to have works or worksiinprogress ready for presentation and ideas ready to express. It is aesthetically open, with participants focusing on the creative goals of the individuals presenting. It is challenging, with participants asking how those goals can be better achieved. It presumes that quality art is a goal, and that technology is only a means to that goal. As such, it encourages learning from the full historical and categorical range of artwork. It presumes that dialogue between perspectives and disciplines is preferable to polarization, and that such a dialog is a source of creative insight in itself. Open Studio promotes collaboration by providing participants with a positive experience of sharing the creative process with others and by providing a chance to move beyond knowledge of what means an artist uses toward an understanding of what the artist’s work is about. Goals for 1995 • Meet monthly, using preferably one—and no more than three—locations during the year. One or more meetings may be involve a gallery visit, concert, or other venue, followed by a discussion. • Have at least five participants appear at each meeting. At least two individuals will bring either their own work, someone else’s work, and/or ideas that they wish to share and discuss with the group. (These two presenters will be determined ahead of time by the facilitator. Others may bring works on an ad hoc basis, but in-depth discussion of the planned works will be given priority.) Coming Soon to Northwest CyberArts: The “Open Studio” Bret Battey As one outgrowth of this last month’s planning activities, we are moving forward on establishing a mid-month art discussion and critique session. Pierre deVries and I developed a draft Vision and Goals statement for the activity. It is presented below for your feedback. If you have comments, even if (particularly if) you think we are being complete CyberBozos, please respond by February 17 to bret@eskimo.com, or phone me at (206) 281-8639. Your comments will be folded into the final version and will guide our efforts towards putting together the first session in March. We are proposing a mid-month date, perhaps the second Monday after the regular meeting, at 7:30 pm. Nothing here is in stone, including the name, so let us know how this can be shaped to best serve your needs and the future of Northwest CyberArts. Your Opportunity to Get Involved… Please let us know if you want to: • offer or suggest space to do this in (see the first “short-term objective” listed below, which describes the desired characteristics of the space); • come early and help with setup, and/or maintain the attendee list, and/or write a monthly “what happened”; • be involved in the steering committee for this activity; or • contribute in some other fashion to the effort. Facilitators: Bret Battey and Pierre deVries Open Studio, v.02 (DRAFT)5 The Northwest CyberArtist • Have the group be of value to its participants, as indicated by a move towards a deeper level of discussion, greater productivity of its members, increase in positive collaborations, and higher quality artwork being developed. This would be measured by an end-of-year survey of the participants themselves. • By the end of the year, have at least one participant—other than the initial facilitators—who becomes invested and facilitates at least one session. Short-term Objectives • Locate and use one centralized location that has a wide range of audio and visual equipment and the ability to patch-in external equipment. Should be able to hold up to 10 people initially. The list of available equipment will be publicized. Individuals needing equipment outside of the list will be responsible for ensuring that the needed equipment will be available and checking with the facilitator to ensure that there is a means for hooking the equipment up. • Draft an introduction that will be presented (orally?) at each meeting to keep people focused on the goals, particularly in the arena of how we critique each-other. • Try to have the first meeting by March, 1995, requiring having a location and equipment list identified by February 20. • Advertise monthly in the newsletter and provide a short summary of presenters and activities. • Have a system setup to maintain a list of participants and their addresses, to facilitate the end-of-year evaluation. Resource Group, continued from page 3 Web Site -John Beezer John will continue the admirable job of setting up, maintaining and moderatiin the CyberArtists list server (for emaai distribution) and Web site. The group will also explore the technology of the Internet, such as authoring using the hyper text markup language (HTML). John deserves our highest praise and needs our support in these very labor and time consuming tasks. Social Issues/Education -Garrett Cobarr Garrett wants to explore the issues facing a technical and information based society, including ethics and education. Newsletter Publishing -Steve Turnidge Steve is continuing at this time to be the managing editor and publisher of our monthly newsletter. Vision Statement Definition -Jason Osgood This group, which all CyberArtists are encouraged to attend, will undertake the task of defining the CyberArtist Visiio Statement. Performance Group -Auriana Marici Though it was hard to state specificaall the role of this group, Auriana wants to be the interface between the CyberArtists and the outside world. This could involve public relations, helping to organize shows, acting as a referral service for members and so forth. This is partly in response to Bob Moses's requues for assistance in this area. Resource Group -Jason Osgood This group’s goal is be a resource all the other groups can draw upon. My hope is the organizational structure of the Resource Group, namely the Vision Statement, managing tasks by objectives, delegating, monthly status reporting to the larger group and the role of taking responsibility, will be adopted by the other groups. Online Publishing -Jimmy Johnson Jimmy is very enthusiastic to explore ways of publishing and publicizing artisst on-line. He’ll work closely with the John Beezer’s Web Site group exploring the future of this endeavor. Unclaimed Ideas -Your Name Here There were some potential Focus Group or Special Projects that were not championed at the Resource Group meetinng creating a bartering system for CyberArtists; exploring how to secure funding for projects and organizing the quarterly show-and-tell. Wrap Up At the end of the meeting, we all voiced our personal goals and vision. For me, it was a really stirring moment. Everyone’s deep sense of self , spirituality and the strong desire to be involved really moved me. My personal goal is to learn how to be effective in an information society filled with knowledge workers. Through the Resource Group, I want to explore, defiin and learn to use the tools for being effective. Then I hope to share with otheer what I’ve learned.CYBERARTS INTERNATIONAL IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF MILLER FREEMAN INC. NORTHWEST CYBERARTISTS AND THE NORTHWEST CYBERARTIST LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF NORTHWEST CYBERARTISTS AND OF THE DESIGNER. The Northwest CyberArtist 610802 47th Avenue West Mukilteo, WA 98275-5098 Northwest CyberArtists Is this Junk Mail? Please Mark “RETURN TO SENDER” and drop in the mailbox. Thank You! ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED FIRST CLASS MAIL palm-top computer. Technically it is an organizer, like the Secret Sender or My Magic Diary (Casio), An (Sharp), My First Diary (Mani), or the IR-7000 (Sega). These are toys, kids’ stuff, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and during the holiday season they sold most of them to girls. I got mine in 1990, a B.O.S.S.(Casio) and I use it all the time. To me, the prospect of writing a frontpaag news article is daunting. (Would YOU like to try it?) My B.O.S.S. is a good tool, if you know how to use it and if you practice with MOO a lot. I was practicing that night, November 7, 1994, when Liner Notes was born. This practice brings me to my article (or, Media, my electronic associate, brings my article to me, I think) and my presentation on February 6th, 1995. I have old and new media tools to show, like printing and video, for exampple Prints are second to music among the arts when it comes to ubiquity. The roots of prints go back almost as far as music; I think music is the ancestor of About the author: Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. is a professor of art, formerly with the University of Washingtto where he worked for 19 years. He left campus in 1985 to develop the Perfect Studio, where teaching, research and practice are concurrent. He calls himself an ITinerate Professor, capitalizing the IT to stand for Information Technology. He lives in Seattle. Mailing address: PO Box 19243, zip = 98109 Telephone: (206) 285-0658 E-mail: CompuServe 76670,621 America OnLine LivnPrints Internet 76670.621@compuserve.com prints. Recently I began meeting other cyberartists at the Seattle Art Institute, and that is a part of a story that, I think, goes back 30,000 years. She sat, sullen, while he labored over the keys. So many times before, she had seen this. A guy agonizing over his wording, the order of his sentences, the vocabulary. English! There were so many languages from which to choose. Why this one? It wasn’t always so. She began to hum, softly, barely audible. “Tonite we’re going to start our Tech Talk with Bill Ritchie,” Steve is saying. “And he’s going to show a video called Rolling Sorceere which has the qualification of having been shown in the Museum of Modern Art and written about by an art critic. This is fun, Media. Why so sullen?” She stopped humming and smiled at him. Copyright © January 28, 1995 by Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. Thread, continued from page 1