The word is out!

Chopping it up!

Apr 22nd, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

Well, what a way to start of my Easter break then to chop up an Epistle? That’s right! I went to town on 1 John. It was kinda fun actually. Confusing at some points but I managed to give chopping it up a (first) go.

I was able to go through some notes I had done on 1 John last year and work through from there. Here’s a thematic diagram a theologian had sketched on how John writes this particular letter. Notice the arrows going in different direction?… Very multi-linear.

Ultimately, there are 2 over arching themes throughout the passage; fellowship in light and walking in darkness. Under these 2 themes are 4 contrasts – confess and abandon sin / deny and pursuit of sin; love / hate; right belief / false belief; and obey God / love world.

I’ve stuck 8 colours on the the diagram in order to match it up to the passage. By doing this I was able to know the book better in order to break it down into units.

This is only my first attempt… There’s a lot of sentences missing sticky notes in the first third of the book so I’ll most likely continue to work at it over the rest of the break. So far I like how it’s shaping up.

Tags: Honours, Paper Prototype

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re·search part uno

Apr 19th, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

*BAM* That’s the sound of the question that was thrown at us this week…

What do you want to find out via your research?

I want to find out…

Well, first and foremost, how to tell a multi-linear narrative with a database

But to get there I need to answer these two first…

How to chop up a narrative into tiny little units in order to database it
The “true” definition of interactive narrative that’s multi-linear

So, what next steps do I need to take?

Research, research, research!!

I need to find out what methods digital storytellers have used in order to tell their non-linear narrative, what propositions they make and how their “chop it up” methods could be utilised in my project. With that said I need to “chop it up” myself… So, I need to start looking at the key themes the book’s got going on and break it down from there… Then justify why I’ve done that. The amount of units will matter to my database.

Best be prototyping this out ASAP!

There’s been a lot of reading being done, but I should really define what makes an interactive narrative an interactive narrative. Manovich confused me in this area and I guess he has a point he says that when a narrative becomes a database it’s no longer a real narrative. Who’s to say the viewer or user receives a narrative in the end of their experience? It could just become a glorified slide show.

Hmmm… That’s food for thought. Let’s avoid doing that, yes?

Tags: Honours, Research, Workshop

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ab·stract… version 5.0

Apr 14th, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

Here we go again!…

Is it possible to present the message of the Gospel in a hypermedia format since it’s interconnected by its themes?
Now with random access platforms in new media the literary text of the Bible is not limited by way of reading it thematically.
By using the themes of a particular book of the Bible I will create a multi-linear Gospel narrative through Korsokow.
With displaying the message of the Gospel in this hypermedia format it will allow audiences to see how interconnected the text is by its themes.

Why the changes?

Well, after pulling my abstract far far far back I’ve now pulled it into something much tighter. I don’t specify an audience this time around and I am now specific in what I want to make. Yup, this could be it… Who knows? It might change next week… Again.

Tags: Honours, Research, Workshop

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dis·ci·pline and me·thods… part tres

Apr 11th, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

This week we had to draw our research problem… Here is mine:

It’s a triangle with it’s a point pointing right and there’s a wall that’s fixed on the left with barbed wires across it. What does it all mean to me?

The triangle

It’s shaped like a play button, yeah? Well, that’s not what it means at all. It’s point is pointing right as if it’s the right way, get it? (har har har) And that’s the direction the problem, as in the point, should be facing. It gets smaller when you go the right direction… Ideally.

The wall

This was slotted in after I looked at the triangle and thought, “This problem looks easy if all I have to go is right.” So I put a wall. It’s in birds eye view so you can’t see how tall the wall is, but I would probably say it’s at least 8 feet tall. Definitely not a wall I can climb over on my own. I need tools… like a ladder or something… Hmm… maybe the ladder can represent my research method to solve this problem. I’ll draw that in later…

Barbed wires

Then I thought my problem looked too easy with just a wall. So then I added the barbed wire. It represents the painful process of the research problem. I think once I get over that part, then get (or fall) over the wall then it should be smooth sailing. That’s me being optimistic, I guess. I know they’re be snags along the way but I think the first part of solving the problem is that hardest… Once I get momentum there’s no stopping what can be achieved. Who knows, my problem could lie in pre-production as I test and map out my project and from there it’s just production values I have to worry about.

Why is there no colour? you ask? Well, because there is no joy in this project… Just yet. I think once it’s starts to take shape I’ll be able to see some life in it.

Then the question “What don’t I know via my project?” was thrown out to us.

Well, going on from my research problem… I don’t know if it’s going to work! So, what am I going to do about it? Adrian suggested that I paper prototype what I imagine my Korsokow project will look like. Sounds like a great idea to map out my thought process because it could be a design issue when building it in Korsokow.

What have I found this week?

Well, I found more authors:

George Landow – Hypermedia

Landow is a critic of Victorian painting and poetry, and theorist of hypermedia. Some of his works include:

Hypertext 3.0 : Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society), 2005
Hypertext 2.0 : The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society), 1997
Hypertext : The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society), 1991
Hyper/Text/Theory, 1994
Hypermedia and Literary Studies, 1994 (with Paul Delany)

I should really get onto his books.

N. Katherine Hayles – Electronic literature

Hayles is a postmodern literary critic, namely the fields of literature and science, electronic literature. She defines what makes electronic literature in her book Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary (2008). I tried getting into her book Writing Machines (2002), but it was quite messy as I assumed that the works she was talk about were all digital. Maybe it’s just me but “reading” about screen captures doesn’t have the same effect in an online form.

And what 2 things have I added to Zotero that I think we should read?

Well, not much. I’ve found Electronic Literature by N. Katherine Hayles. Now I need to figure out how to put it in Zotero… Seems drag and drop is not liking me at the moment.

Tags: Honours, Research, Workshop

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ab·stract… version 4.0

Apr 8th, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

Total transformation!

There’s very few interactive Christian media published online, and what’s currently exists are online gospel narratives that are not aesthetically attractive and limited in its stylised presentation.
This matters because this genre should not be limited in reaching its audience through this platform of media.
I propose to create a non-linear interactive video through Korsakow that clearly and concisely presents the gospel.
I believe it will potentially open doors for growth of this genre thought the digital realm.

Why the dramatic changes?

Well, because what I had before was not really a solvable media problem or have any measurable success so yeah… I’ve completely changed it. See? This is what happens when I store up all my thoughts in my head and not blert them out or talk them out… I get into this mindset where I think I’m on the right track because “I have a set audience, a clear view of my end result…” but in fact I’m not. I should be seeing what’s 2 inches from my face not what’s down the road! At least this was a learning curve, a big fat one, but a learning curve nonetheless. This is also results from getting too passionate about my fight against false or questionable Bible teaching that’s also attractive. But that’s a theology mountain that doesn’t have my name on it. Let’s move on…

So, this new abstract. It’s gone broader and now that I have identified the Scriptural text as a genre is should come secondary to the actual project problem; it’s the content. The “aesthetically attractive” part seems presumptuous about those that are already out there but seriously, the ones that I found were not… Well, anything spectacular. It’s like click this, click that… just clicking through. Nothing to it, no propositions to it besides telling the story of the Gospel. Christian media as a genre shouldn’t look so… dull. The Bible is an exciting story! If you make the reading experience so straight forward you’re not challenging the reader to see how that verse might correlate with other ones or how they’re intertwined with another. I think if the author of the text, or designer of the platform in which the text is presented, was able to somewhat control or manipulate the reader’s reading experience then it adds a layer to the interactivity. Hence why I’m using Korsokow. But we’ll see how that goes. I’ve never used it before so that will be a challenge in itself!

Tags: Honours, Research, Workshop

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dis·ci·pline and me·thods… part dos

Apr 8th, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

So, after being sick and absent for a week (and feeling worse as I type) I have been staring at my screen on the hunt for work on methods that would be helpful in my discipline.

To be completely honest, I haven’t been able to find anything “useful” on methods… I don’t know what it is. Maybe I should take a look at what keywords I’m using and keep track on which ones I’ve used and haven’t used. Hmmm… Yeah, that’s an idea. I mean, Google and Google Scholar have been on returns but I don’t want to read research methods on medical procedures or sociology research methods. Argh!… back to the search bar…

Oh… And here’s the sticky notes that are stuck on my abstract… We had to put more methods (frameworks) and theorists.

OK. I’m done here. Time to rest up before I feel sick again.

Tags: Honours, Research, Workshop

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Learning Contract v1

Apr 6th, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

CONTENT
Name of community:
City Unichurch.

Located:
Melbourne Multicultural Hub, Melbourne

Description:
City Unichurch is a Church that gathers in the city of Melbourne to hear God speak to them in his word and the Bible. They are reformed, evangelical and protestant. Their mission is to work together to remind each other and tell the world of how God has made himself clearly known to them in Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation, so that they will serve God in all their lives.
They are adults and children; workers and students; married and single; Australian and from overseas; male and female; enquirers and even skeptics.
They have strong links with RMIT University and especially the Christian Union with many RMIT students and graduates in their congregation.

Why do you think it is a community?
City Unichurch is a community because they are a group of individuals that come together for the same purpose; to learn more about God. Like most Christian churches they meet every Sunday at the same time and same place to ritualistically open the Bible and see how God’s word is relevant to their lives. Despite the name City Unichurch the congregation is not bound by it’s age or student/occupation and unlike most churches not all that attend are believers of the faith.

What theory about community have you read that is relevant to issues in this community? Summarise the relevant ideas.
Please read previous blog posts on Delanty and Tonnies.

Thoughts on these ideas of community (Are you in agreement or disagreement with these ideas?):
“Thus it is not important how big or small it is or whether it is an administrative unit, as in the German word for associative communities, the Gemeinde, or traditional or modern, rural or urban.” (Delanty, 2003, p. 40)

Delanty uses the idea of the unimportance of a community’s size and shows how Joseph Gusfield makes a similar point by quoting him, “Rather than conceiving of “community” and “society” as groups and/or entities to which persons “belong”, it would seem more useful to conceptualize these terms as points of reference brought into play in particular situations and arenas” (1975, p. 41). This is very true when it comes to religion, and church in particular. People are not Christian because they go to church they go to church because they are Christian. Despite what is traditional or modern, rural or urban, church is a place of gathering for God’s people as stated in the bible. These terms, “community”, “society” and “belong” come into play because of the individual; the Christian. Whether the church has 5 people or 500 people it’s still a church. When we refer to people communing together they essentially referred to as a community.

“Friendship is independent of kinship and neighbourhood, being conditioned by and resulting from similarity of work and intellectual attitude. It comes most easily into existence when crafts or callings are the same or of similar nature.” (Tonnies, 1957, p. 43)

Tonnies states that mutual connections between people help create a community. He then goes on to underline that such a tie must be made and maintained through easy and frequent meetings, like gathering in a church in the town or city. “A worshipped deity, created out of common mentality, has a immediate significance for the preservation of such a bond, since only, or at least mainly, this deity is able to give it living and lasting form,” states Tonnies. Therefore, the worship of God by Christians has sustained churches throughout numerous towns and cities. The gathering of God’s people on a regular basis is a great example of community friendship; a mutual intellect and moral standard is upheld.

Use of these ideas of community in the documentary:
Through my documentary I will show these two ideas and how they support City Unichurch as a community.

“We connect through Jesus, we grow to be like Jesus, which means we serve like Jesus” is the statement made by City Unichurch. The three key words in this statement are “connect”, “grow” and “serve’, and they do these actions together, as a community, as a church to more like Christ. My documentary will show how these three aspects reflect what Dalanty and Tonnies state despite how small and young CIty Unichurch is in such a large city.

Structure of the documentary (Short treatment):
The presentation of the City Unichurch documentary will be structured much like an essay; it will have an introduction, three sections in the body and a conclusion. By dividing, as well as unravelling the documentary as a whole, into these sections the audience will be able to see how the individuals within the church come together as a community. It will have stylised title graphics for the titles and credits. Title graphics will also be used to identify the interviewee for the audience. The lighting will be soft and warm in order to create a pleasant and inviting feel to the documentary. In addition to the audio from the interviews I will also utilise atmos sounds and up-beat music to add to the engaging and enlightening feel of the documentary. The two locations for these interviews will be at the Melbourne Multicultural Hub, where the church services are held, and RMIT University City Campus, the university Christian Union in which the church is associate with.

· Introduction. Title: “City Unichurch”
Questions: What is City Unichurch? What makes City Unichurch a community?

· Body. Title: “Comm-Unity”

o Section Title: “Connect”
Questions: What does it mean to “Connect”? How does this way of “connecting” define City Unichurch as a community?

o Section Title: “Grow”
Questions: In what ways do individuals “Grow” within the community of City Unichurch? How does this “growth” encourage those in the community?

o Section Title: “Serve”
Questions: How does City Unichurch “Serve”? How does this way of “serving” reflect the church as a community (or vice versa)?

· Conclusion. Title: “We connect through Jesus, we grow to be like Jesus, which means we serve like Jesus”
Question: To conclude, how does the saying “We connect through Jesus, we grow to be like Jesus, which means we serve like Jesus” make it clear to see the vision of the church as a community?
Voxpop question: What is it about City Unichurch that you love?

Style of the documentary:
The City Unichurch documentary will be a reflexive style as well as being slightly expository. The reason why it will be both styles is because it will be a representation of what the church is like as a community (reflexive) while speaking directly to the audience on why there is no argument that it is a community (expository). The relationship I aim to have as a documentary maker with my subjects is an intimate one. I want my subjects to talk openly in front of the camera as if they are having a deep and personal conversation with me whilst being informative about the church as a community. By producing this sort of style it invites the audience to engage with what is being said by the subject. As part of the conclusion I will make use of voxpopping in order to further the community’s personal level portrayed in documentary.

TECHNICAL
Types of media:
Video
Stills
Text
Audio

Tailoring production and post-production (for online):
1920×1080
30fps
50MB max
Copyright in credits and comments

Media production skills:
Camera operator – Advanced
Lighting – Advanced
Editing – Advanced

Crew:
Sound technician.

Borrowing technical equipment from the School techs:
Yes.
Items:
Audio mixer.
Mics.
Date:
TBC

PERMISSIONS
Talent:

Primary:
Nathan Burley (Father/Board Member)
Jean Burley (Mother)
John Diacos (Senior Pastor)
Elizabeth Diacos (Children’s Ministry)
Daniel Dixon (Christian Union Staff Worker)
Honoria Lau (Women’s Worker)
Meng Kit Tang (Student)
Darren Vanderkruk (FOCUS/Campus Ministry)

Secondary:
Fiona Lee (Student)
Ika Prasetio (Ex-International Student/From Overseas)
Will Ramirez (Student)
Sarah Ramirez (Student)
Allan Hortle (Student)
Nikan Revzadi (From Overseas)
Mina Saryvadi (From Overseas)
Kellie Vanderkruk (Mother)
Steve Williams (Christian Union Staff Worker)
Jean Williams (Mother/Children’s Ministry)

Minors:
Luella Burley
Zach Burley
Joshua Vanderkruk
Luke Vanderkruk
Lizzy Williams (?)
Ben Williams (?)

Location:
Melbourne Multicultural Hub
RMIT University (?)

POST-PRODUCTION
Software:
Final Cut Pro.

Skill level for software:
Advanced.

Access to software:
Over 20 edit suites in Building 9, and 2 x Mac computers with Final Cut Pro in Honours room.

PUBLICATION
Social software environment:
Vimeo

Appropriate for that environment:
Yes. It is video.

Member/Account:
Yes, I have a Vimeo Channel.

Conducted a ‘test’ publication:
Yes.

Limits to environment:
2GB max
15mins max
Copyright and legal issues stated here.

LEGAL
Copyright permission for all content:
TBC

No defamation or slander:
No.

Any other legal issues:
No.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Risk probabilities:	Damage control or Back-up plan:
Equipment* not working properly or batteries* are not sufficient	Reschedule to reshoot the following Sunday

Erratic weather	Relocate shooting location to indoors
Location authorities uncooperative	Relocate shooting location to a public place

Talent unavailable or uncooperative	Reschedule shoot to following Sunday or find other talent to interview
Talent or crew untimely	Make time allowance and push back shooting schedule

*Note: Equipment will be tested before hired. Batteries will be charged the night before shooting.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Rough cut due date:
18 May 2011

Final cut due date:
25 May 2011

Production start date:
15 April 2011

Post-production start date:
27 April 201

Booked any technical equipment:
No.

Do these dates work with:
Other class assessments?
Yes.

Talent?
Yes.

Do you have credit and talent release forms?
Forms are found here and will be signed by talent.

Tags: Community, Documentary, Honours, Transient Spaces

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com·mu·ni·ty and so·ci·e·ty (gemeinschaft and gesellschaft)

Mar 31st, 2011 by Lil' Leila Lee

Reading:

Tonnies, F (1957) ‘Gemeinschaft and gesellschaft’. In Community and Society (Loomis, C P (Trans.), New York: Harper & Row. Note: the following page ranges are sufficient: pp33-35; 37-40; 42-48; 64-80.

This chapter reading by Tonnies investigates the subject of Community and Society (Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft). Tonnies states that “there exists a Gemeinschaft of language, of folkways or mores, or of beliefs; but by way of contrast, Gesellschaft exists in the realm of business, travel, or sciences.” (p. 34) And so since I have chosen a church to do my community doco on this reading is very fitting as a Gemeinshaft can take on existences by way or beliefs. In the church’s way, a sense of faith in God.

The chapter goes on to describe how “one could speak of a Gemeinschaft comprising the whole of mankind, such as the Church wishes to be regarded. But human Gesellschaft is conceived as mere coexistence of people independent of each other.” (p. 34) Therefore, because a church is whole in form, unified in “communion”, it is a community not individualistic like a society.

Tonnies says unlike “Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft is transitory and superficial. Accordingly, Gemeinschaft should be understood as a living organism, Gesellschaft as a mechanical aggregate and artifact. (p. 35) Because a community is a “living organism” then a church should be just that; living. Therefore, with a church it should not only breathe “life” but it should grow. But then what sort of growth are we looking at? Spiritual growth or growth in numbers? Growth in numbers don’t usually mean growth in spirituality and when this happens the church could be deemed “mechanical” in the sense that “the more people come, the better we can do work”; making it superficial and about business.

And finally, I found this quote that speaks straight to churches as a community. “Friendship is independent of kinship and neighbourhood, being conditioned by and resulting from similarity of work and intellectual attitude. It comes most easily into existence when crafts or callings are the same or of similar nature. Such a tie, however, must be made and maintained through easy and frequent meetings, which are most likely to take place in a town. A worshiped deity, created out of common mentality, has a immediate significance for the preservation of such a bond, since only, or at least mainly, this deity is able to give it living and lasting form.” (p. 43) When individuals come together to church for a common purpose in faith they are taking part in “communion” and that is an act of community. Despite age, gender or class they are there to take part in spiritual learning, growing and immersion.

Tags: Documentary, Honours, Transient Spaces

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