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 readdy 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.
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 graph structures;
* 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 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 implications of the theoretical approach for issues in design and technology. 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.
The seminar's World Wide Web location is http://www-leland/~xinwei/pub/img/img.html. This site may be browsed by anyone interested in our seminar. It currently contains,
(1) an Agenda of topics and speakers (2) a Discussion trail -- transcripts of seminar discussion (3) a Bibliography -- a list of "readings" with WWW links to some full media (4) Sites -- WWW links to affiliate seminars and installations in other institutions
This year the IMG seminar 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 is a summary of topics and recent speakers.
We began by exploring participant interests in narrative, digital media representation, pictorial representation, theater, digital video, and documentary.
John Keeling discussed hypertext and narrative structures. Diane Middlebrook presented a case study of a multimedia biography of Tipton.
Sha Xin Wei gave an introduction to representations of digital media.
Barbara Tversky presented a broad survey of research on pictorial representations and diagrammatic communication. Bob Horn previewed his book on Visual Language (image+ text + shape).
Larry Friedlander presented some interactive theater projects with the MIT Media Lab. Invited speaker Glorianna Davenport from the Media Lab spoke about novel ways to make evolving interactive documentary video. Charles Kerns summarized five years of research at the Apple Media Lab on digital video as social forms. Most recently, invited speaker Daniel Potter introduced us to a study of the essay film and mnemonics in the presence of electronic networked media.
Please see the World Wide Web site's Bibliography page for a partial list of references cited in our discussions. (http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~xinwei/pub/img/readings.html)
For the future, we would like to begin work on two fronts: (1) a multi-faceted critique of interactive media and design; (2) a joint construction of a multimedia artifact, perhaps for a network audience.
We will start the first project this spring term (1996) by weaving together the several threads of analysis running through the year. To support this work, we will do a close study of some references from our Bibliography. 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 experiment, depending on the interests of IMG participants who will continue in next year's incarnation of the seminar.
Larry Friedlander, Department of English (larryf@leland.stanford.edu)
Timothy Lenoir, Department of History (tlenoir@leland.stanford.edu)
Sha Xin Wei, Libraries and Academic Information Resources (xinwei@leland.stanford.edu)
Alan Bush Philosophy bush@csli.stanford.edu
Marcelo Clerici-Arias Economics marcelo@Leland.stanford.edu
Margaret Crane Digital Pictuers mcarter@digipix.com
Gayle Curtis CDR / RR&D Center office curtis@roses.stanford.edu
Judith Anne Dolan Drama dolan@leland.stanford.edu
Doug Felt Taligent doug_felt@taligent.com
R. J. Fleck CCRMA rjfleck@ccrma.stanford.edu
Ross Frank History rfrank@Leland.stanford.edu
Larry Friedlander English larryf@leland.stanford.edu
Tom Hare Asian Studies and
Comparative Literature thare@leland.stanford.edu
Richard Holeton Writing and Critical Thinking holeton@leland.stanford.edu
Bob Horn Information Mapping, Inc. bobhorn@well.com
Micahel Irmscher German Studies irmscher@Leland.stanford.edu
Natalie Jeremijenko Center for Design Research njj@Cdr.stanford.edu
John Keeling English keeling@leland.Stanford.EDU
Charles Kerns Media Center kernsc@leland.stanford.edu
Karen Lee TOK Design karenl@cats.ucsc.edu
Larry Leifer Mechanical Engineering leifer@Cdr.stanford.edu
Claude M Reichard Writing and Critical Thinking reichard@leland.stanford.edu
Joss March English josslm@leland.Stanford.EDU
Diane Middlebrook English dwm@leland.stanford.edu
Caroline Nastro Drama cnastro@leland.Stanford.EDU
Eva Neuberg Religious Studies neuberg@Kzsu.stanford.edu
Greg Niemeyer Art otto@Leland.stanford.edu
Daniel Potter Interval Research potter@interval.com
Eva Prionas Linguistics eva@csli.Stanford.EDU
Benjamin Robinson Modern Thought and Literature jamb@Leland.stanford.edu
Janice Ross Athl Pe & Recreation jross@leland.Stanford.EDU
Christopher Salter Drama clsalt@leland.stanford.edu
Sarah Sarojini Jain History of Consciousness, UCSC ssjain@cats.ucsc.edu
Richard Schoch Drama schoch@Leland.stanford.edu
Sha Xin Wei Human-Computer Sys. Arch./SULAIR xinwei@Leland.stanford.edu
Barbara Tversky Psychology bt@psych.stanford.edu
Bill Verplank Interval Research verplank@interval.com
Decker Walker Education decker@leland.Stanford.EDU
Michelle Wang Computer Science mqwang@pcd.stanford.edu
Ann Weinstone Modern Thought and Literature weinstne@Leland.stanford.edu
Meg Worley Comparative Literature meg@steam.stanford.edu
Maria Yang Center for Design Research mcrane@leland.Stanford.EDU
Patience Young Art Gallery and Museum patience.young@Forsythe.stanford.edu
Paul Yung-Wei Chong Symbolic Systems paulc@Leland.stanford.edu
Drew Bamford Engineering drewcb@leland.Stanford.EDU