New Media, Cthulu, & the Adjacent Possible
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Transcript of New Media, Cthulu, & the Adjacent Possible
New Media, Cthulu, & the Adjacent Possible
Ed RodleyPeabody Essex Museum
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I’d like to tell you a little bit about what I find so interesting about digital media in museums
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icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
The Internet - a disembodied computerinteractivity = visiting a website
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
The Internet - a disembodied computerinteractivity = visiting a website
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
The Internet - a disembodied computerinteractivity = visiting a website
Web 2.0/SM/etc... - the crowdinteractivity = interacting with each other
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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“In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”
- H.P. Lovecraft
Cthuluby Tiina Aumala
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In new media, all those other “old” media lie waiting.
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But first, a brief history of new media in museums
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icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
7Friday, May 31, 13
Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
7Friday, May 31, 13
Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
7Friday, May 31, 13
Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
The Internet - a disembodied computerinteractivity = visiting a website
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
7Friday, May 31, 13
Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
The Internet - a disembodied computerinteractivity = visiting a website
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
7Friday, May 31, 13
Screens - the original New mediuminteractivity = watching television
The computer - a different kind of screeninteractivity = engaging with a computer
The Internet - a disembodied computerinteractivity = visiting a website
Web 2.0/SM/etc... - the crowdinteractivity = interacting with each other
icons courtesy of The Noun Project
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“In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”
- H.P. Lovecraft
Cthuluby Tiina Aumala
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In new media, all those other “old” media lie waiting.
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Now, some general thoughts on new media, old media, and media media
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“The medium is the message”
the symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived
- Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan from Library and Archives Canada reference number PA-172791
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“The medium is the message”
the symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived
- Marshall McLuhan
still
Marshall McLuhan from Library and Archives Canada reference number PA-172791
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“The impact of new media... is evolutionary, not revolutionary,”
- David Thorburn & Henry Jenkins
080523 Henry Jenkins-1 by Flickr user Dan4th (CC-BY-2.0)
Face by Flickr user GregPC (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
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“New media do not make old media obsolete: they assign them other places in the system.”
- Friedrich Kittler
tm07_Friedrich Kittlerby Flickr user transmediale(CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
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Old media don’t go away just because newer media appear. They live on after death, just
like Cthulu.
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What makes new media “new” is their position in the adjacent possible
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What makes new media “new” is their position in the adjacent possible
otherwise they’re just media
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The adjacent possible
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is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
The adjacent possible
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is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
The adjacent possible
Flickr user jdlasica(CC BY-NC 2.0)
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is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
- Steven Johnson
The adjacent possible
Flickr user jdlasica(CC BY-NC 2.0)
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is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
- Steven Johnson- Stuart Kaufmann
The adjacent possible
Flickr user jdlasica(CC BY-NC 2.0)
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is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
- Steven Johnson- Stuart Kaufmann
Teemu Rajala(CC BY 3.0)
The adjacent possible
Flickr user jdlasica(CC BY-NC 2.0)
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old media
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old media
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old media
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old media
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old media
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old media
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old media
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the adjacencies are well-understood
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"The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations. Think of it as a house that magically expands with each door you open.”
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new media
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new media
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new media
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new media
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new media
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new media
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new media
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new media
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new media
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and so on...
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And this matters because...?
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“A museum exhibition is ‘the medium of media’”
- Dan Spock
by @danspock
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An exhibition can utilize:
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,• moving image,
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,• moving image,• performance,
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,• moving image,• performance,• installation, and
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,• moving image,• performance,• installation, and most recently, Gallery One
Cleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,• moving image,• performance,• installation, and most recently,• digital media.
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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An exhibition can utilize:• the written word,• sound,• image,• moving image,• performance,• installation, and most recently,• digital media.
Gallery OneCleveland Museum of Art
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Part of the joy of our work is that anything is fair game for inclusion in museum experiences
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Part of the joy of our work is that anything is fair game for inclusion in museum experiences
Part of the challenge is figuring out what are appropriate uses for a given technology/medium/device
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Our audiences are out there, already using these media
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Our audiences are out there, already using these media
Wherever we want to move their understanding, we need to meet them where they are.
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What are some ways museums are experimenting
with new media?
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Games & Gamification (ack!)
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Games & Gamification (ack!)
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Games & Gamification (ack!)• In 2013, people (young and old) don’t come to most museums with the expectation of gaming, and treat “games” with suspicion.• Exceptions include actual games used in museum settings, like Minecraft, or Wii/Kinect hacks
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Game Overby Flickr user Jennie Faber(CC BY 2.0)
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Museum games tend to suck
Game Overby Flickr user Jennie Faber(CC BY 2.0)
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Museum games tend to suck
Game Overby Flickr user Jennie Faber(CC BY 2.0)
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Museum games tend to suck
because bolting game mechanics onto an activity doesn’t automatically make that activity “fun”.
Game Overby Flickr user Jennie Faber(CC BY 2.0)
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Rather than gamifying (ack!), we should be working more
towards making hard fun.
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Hard Fun
by Flickr user ak_mardini (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Hard Fun
by Flickr user ak_mardini (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Hard Fun
“Everyone likes hard challenging things to do. But they have to be the right things matched to the individual and to the culture of the times.”
- Seymour Papertby Flickr user ak_mardini (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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“Hard fun” is hard
Hard to find, and hard to make... but not impossible
4 Keys 2 Funby XEODesign
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“Hard fun” is hard
Hard to find, and hard to make... but not impossible
4 Keys 2 Funby XEODesign
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Actual prototype interface
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It looks like a real tool, not an “educational” experience
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3D Scanning & Printing
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3D Scanning & Printing
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New media now includes reality
thanks to 3D scans and prints
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Meet Liz
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Meet Liz
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Meet Liz
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Meet Liz
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Questions?
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