-------------- Announcement for IMG 1995-96  --------------

From: larryf@leland.stanford.edu (Larry Friedlander)
To: innovation-center@lists.Stanford.EDU
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 11:50:35 -0700

...I want to invite those interested to particpate in a
Faculty Seminar, "Interactive Media: Theory and Technologies of
Representation," that I and Sha Xinwei have organized and which is being
sponsored by the Humanities Center.  The first meeting will be on
October 19th Thursday, from 4-6PM.   It will meet in 
[Sweet Hall Conference Room 303]

At the first  meeting we will work out an agenda and decide on suitable meeting times.
I append below an extract from our description of the seminar.

[If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Xin Wei at xinwei@leland.stanford.edu, 415-725-3152.]

------------------------------------------

The idea for this seminar flows directly from an informally organized
discussion group that has been meeting every week since the Spring Quarter.
The Interactive Media Group (IMG) was formed  by a group of faculty,
students, and professionals interested in theoretical and practical aspects
of interactive media.  The  group was inspired by some members' recent
experiences in tackling these issues: Decker Walker's informal multimedia
seminar; Larry Friedlander and Barbara Hayes-Roth's course on Interactive
Narrative and Artificial Intelligence; and Terry Winograd and Marc Davis'
course on Phenomenology, Cognition and Computers.

We have been engaged in a preliminary study of issues relevant to
interactive media, hoping to find our way toward a constructive theory of
how people compose and inhabit interactive media. We are now ready to
expand the focus of our discussions with more structured topics and with
formats which include guest speakers, panels, debate topics, and special
demonstrations. As an experiment, we have been recording the groups
discussions, comments, and readings on the World Wide Web. We would like to
explore further this use of the Web by creating a dynamically updated
journal which will reflect our ongoing deliberations but which will also
invite participation from both within and without the university.

FOCUS

Our approaches draw from a wide variety of fields: linguistics, artificial
intelligence, literary theory, cognitive science, mathematics, performance
art, music, and design. We plan to explore  a variety of theoretical topics
that have important but not always obvious connections to the formation of
new kinds of cyberspaces and narrative structures. In particular, we are
interested in

*  developing models of media representation (such as  algebraic video and
structured texts) which offer alternatives to traditional time-based or
graphic topologies ;

* articulating the dramatic and narrative theories embodied in emerging
interface environments;

* investigating the symbolic architecture  of cyberspaces and the influence
of architecture and urban design on systems and interfaces;

* tracing the connection of distributed models of cognition and other
systems designs with current socio-political and communication theories.

What seems most interesting to us is the way certain fields are yielding
unexpected and fruitful clues for practical developments in technology. So,
for example. theater may provide models for user-interface design, topology
and geometry for media structures, and urban architecture for cyberspace
design.

The seminar will have two aspects: (1) regular weekly  sessions in which we
will present and discuss prepared topics, and (2) a cybernetic space in the
form of a shared website which will hold references and media contributed
by local and remote participants.

In a typical session, a speaker will discuss a theoretical issue and
situate it with respect to some design problems.  We might have a series of
prepared responses to the presentation, as well as some discussion of the
practical implications of the theoretical approach for practical issues.
The discussion will be presented on the Web and further responses from the
community will be invited. The website will also contain a bibliography and
selections from the readings.

We anticipate that our interdisciplinary approach will draw participants
from diverse domains, and yield reconceptualizations of media and action
that will be useful in practical situations.   Some guest speakers we may
invite include Brenda Laurel (theater), Glorianna Davenport (interactive
cinema), Marc Davis (video) and Amy Radunskaya (music, mathematics).

The website will be based on a World Wide Web location,
http://www-leland/~xinwei/pub/img/img.html. This site may be browsed now,
for those wishing to have a taste of our procedures. It currently contains,
for each group meeting,

(1) a Discussion trail -- transcripts of seminar discussion
(2) a Bibliography -- a list of references with WWW links to multimedia
(3) Sites -- WWW links to affiliate seminars and installations in other insti
tutions

--------------------------------------------

Hope to see you all soon, one way or the other. Please feel free to send
comments or questions.

Best regards,

Larry Friedlander

Larry Friedlander
English Department
Stanford, CA 94305
415 723-2635

116 Divisadero St
San Francisco, CA 94117
415 621-1756

-------------- Attendees (1995-96) --------------

Bob Horn               Information Mapping, Inc.             bobhorn@well.com
Barbara Tversky        Psychology                            bt@psych.stanford.edu
Alan Bush              Philosophy                            bush@csli.stanford.edu
Christopher Salter     Drama                                 clsalt@leland.stanford.edu
Caroline Nastro        Drama                                 cnastro@leland.Stanford.EDU
Gayle Curtis           CDR     / RR&D Center office          curtis@roses.stanford.edu
Decker Walker          Education                             decker@leland.Stanford.EDU
Judith Anne Dolan      Drama                                 dolan@leland.stanford.edu
Doug Felt              Taligent                              doug_felt@taligent.com
Drew Bamford           Engineering                           drewcb@leland.Stanford.EDU
Diane Middlebrook      English                               dwm@leland.stanford.edu 
Eva Prionas            Linguistics                           eva@csli.Stanford.EDU 
Richard Holeton        Writing and Critical Thinking         holeton@leland.stanford.edu
Micahel Irmscher       German Studies                        irmscher@Leland.stanford.edu
Benjamin Robinson      Modern Thought and Literature         jamb@Leland.stanford.edu
Joss March             English                               josslm@leland.Stanford.EDU
Janice Ross            Athl Pe & Recreation                  jross@leland.Stanford.EDU
Karen Lee              TOK Design                            karenl@cats.ucsc.edu
John Keeling           English                               keeling@leland.Stanford.EDU
Charles Kerns          Media Center                          kernsc@leland.stanford.edu
Larry Friedlander      English                               larryf@leland.stanford.edu
Larry Leifer           Mechanical Engineering                leifer@Cdr.stanford.edu
Marcelo Clerici-Arias  Economics                             marcelo@Leland.stanford.edu
Margaret Crane         Digital Pictuers                      mcarter@digipix.com
Maria Yang             Center for Design Research            mcrane@leland.Stanford.EDU
Meg Worley             Comparative Literature                meg@steam.stanford.edu
Michelle Wang          Computer Science                      mqwang@pcd.stanford.edu
Eva Neuberg            Religious Studies                     neuberg@Kzsu.stanford.edu
Natalie Jeremijenko    Center for Design Research            njj@Cdr.stanford.edu
Greg Niemeyer          Art                                   otto@Leland.stanford.edu
Patience.Young         Art Gallery and Museum                patience.young@Forsythe.stanford.edu
Paul Yung-Wei Chong    Symbolic Systems                      paulc@Leland.stanford.edu
Daniel Potter          Interval Research                     potter@interval.com
Claude M Reichard      Writing and Critical Thinking         reichard@leland.stanford.edu
Ross Frank             History                               rfrank@Leland.stanford.edu
R. J. Fleck            CCRMA                                 rjfleck@ccrma.stanford.edu
Richard Schoch         Drama                                 schoch@Leland.stanford.edu
Sarah Sarojini Jain    History of Consciousness, UCSC        ssjain@cats.ucsc.edu 
Tom Hare               Asian Studies and
                            Comparative Literature           thare@leland.stanford.edu
Bill Verplank          Interval Research                     verplank@interval.com
Ann Weinstone          Modern Thought and Literature         weinstne@Leland.stanford.edu
Sha Xin Wei            Human-Computer Sys. Arch./SULAIR      xinwei@Leland.stanford.edu

-------------- Topics, Speakers for 1995-96  --------------

This year the IMG has begun a survey of work in several fields.
The set of past, current and proposed topics is described in the WWW page
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~xinwei/pub/img/topics.html
but here's a selection.

IMG Agenda and Topics
_

26 January 1996

Dear img folk,

Here's an attempt at a thematic agenda. I start with a small focus familiar to traditional computer software designers. This brackets out issues such as interpretive context, audience, politics of design etc. But it seems that one way to get started is to look at some digital media under a microscope so we can experience firsthand the eyestrain and the (necessary?) myopia that software writers endure.

This then yields to a survey of some particular examples of art and performance, which should inspire questions with an enlarged scope. These questions, for lack of a better term, I grouped under interpretation and manipulation of new media. In this context, we can visit problems of information, semantics, translation, metaphor, systems of reference or navigation, models (embodied or otherwise) of media structure or action, theories of time etc.

But we need not stop even at that, which would be the classical limit of concern for the study of literary artifacts. Especially as digital media is becoming distributed more commonly through network channels, and since designers of very large scale, complex software systems are now appealing to metaphors from urban design, it seems crucial to expand our critical study of media to include social systems.

Architecture and urban design are just one way to segue from "individualist" and dualist theories of interactive media/performance/art to systemic or historicist critiques of interactive technology in the age of the WWWeb. To me it seems that analyzing "interactivity" between technology and society at this scale would demand discussion of issues such as post-fordist models of production and the multimedia industry, the politics of technology-mediated "education reform," and the philosophical underpinnings of complex systems theory or object-oriented multimedia software systems.

All this should proceed spirally, so that we'll revisit issues from multiple perspectives. Along the way, and hopefully as early in the spiral as possible, we'll see examples of working software/art. But, personally, I hope that we do not lose ourselves in a thicket of examples. That's why we should try to stick to a thematic agenda, and fit particular demonstrations in the most appropriate moments. There's no aspiration to a Theory of Everything, just an attempt to let people know what to expect. Please comment on the agenda, and help focus the themes for this term. Spring term, I propose that we select one or two topics, perhaps from the undated lists, to explore in depth.

- xw

_

AGENDA 1995-96

· Survey of representations of digital media (January 18, 25)

· Modality-specific representations and art (February 1, 8, 15; March 7)

- Theater and narrative (last quarter)
- Photography
- Cinema/video
- Music

· Interpretation and manipulation (Feb 22, 29; March 14, 21 )

- Diagrams
- Metaphors
- Structures, models
¨ Hypermedia logic and semantics
¨ Topological theories

- Scripts, software, performable/executable writing
- Materialities of communication
- Bodies and action

· Architecture, urban design

- C. Alexander; N. Negroponte; W. Mitchell
- Case: SimCity
- Case: Object-oriented pattern langauge, E. Gamma et al.
- Politics of design: Theme parks -- Michael Sorkin et al. -- and museums

· Critiques and framing issues

- Computers and cognition, Winograd
- Designing information technology in the postmodern age, Coyne

_

SCHEDULE

· Oct 25 - Theater (Larry Friedlander)
· Nov 11 - Interactive Cinema (Davenport from MIT)

· Jan 18, _Representations of digital media_ I (Sha Xin Wei)
· Jan 25 - Representations of digital media II (Sha Xin Wei)
· Feb 1 - _Hypertext etc._(John Keeling)
· Feb 8 * ALTERNATE LOCATION -_A multimedia biography_ (Diane Middlebrook)
· Feb 15 - Digital video (Charles Kerns) _notes_
· Feb 22 - Logic and semantics of hypermedia (Alan Bush)
· Feb 29 - _Pictorial diagrams_ (Barbara Tversky)
· Mar 7 * ALTERNATE LOCATION - Performance (Mark Goldstein and Michael McNabb)
· Mar 14 Visual Languages (Bob Horn)
· Mar 21 _DocuMemory: Mnemonics and the Mutations of Documentary_ (Daniel Potter)

_

TOPICS

· Cinema and video
narrative, game, commercial advertisements, music, documentary and news
(Charles K., Marc D - video
Karen L. - cinema, interactive narratives)
Music
performance, composition, theory, notation
(Mark G., Mike M.)
· Animation
traditional tools -- analog, electronic tools, eg. Director,3D modeling, etc.; languages -- eg. ScriptX
(John K., Xin Wei)
· Visual representations and languages
maps, diagrams, text + graphics
(Bob H., Barbara T.)
· Theater and narrative
(Diane M., Larry F.)
· Historical museums, exploratoriums, art galleries and other simulations
(Sarah, Larry)
· Urban design and cyberspace architecture
C. Alexander, M. Davis, W. Mitchell, N.Negroponte, ...
· Geometry and topology of media
(Xin Wei)
· AI and A-life
Burke, Hayes-Roth, Oz, Alive, ...
· Systems theories; framing issues
(Ben R.)
· Logic of hypermedia
(Alan B.)

-------------- Future Plans  --------------

For the future, we would like to begin work on two fronts:
	a multi-faceted critique of interactive media and theory;
	a joint construction of a multimedia artifact, perhaps for
		a distributed audience.

We will start the first project this spring term (1996) by assembling
the several threads of analysis running through the year.  The form may
be some appropriately multi-vocal "document" springing from our current
website.

The constructive project may take the form of a socio-literary
experiement, depending on the interests of IMG participants who
will contitnue in next year's incarnation of the seminar.