SIGNIFYING & SIGNIFICANCE

REFLECTIONS ON A STUDENT PROJECT TO INTERPRET RUINS AND A GLASS HOUSE IN AS A MOBILE GAME

ARIS & MENOKIN: NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR A RENEWED HOUSE

A project by Laura Heiman & Caitlin Miller students in my History and the Digital Age course. The course is a research methods course for doctoral students at American university and an elective for students in their Public History Master’s program.

Caitlin Miller: http://www.dighist.org/2012/04/remembering-rebecca-a-new-way-to-engage-with-historic-houses/

Laura Heiman :http://www.dighist.org/2012/02/aris-menokin-new-technology-for-a-renewed-house/

SCREENSHOTS FROM PROTOTYPE

SO WHAT’S SIGNIFICANT?WHAT SHOULD WE KEEP AROUND? THE APP, THE OS, THE GAME? THE DOCUMENTATION? REFLECTIONS? THE SCRIPT?

THE APP IS IRRELEVANTAS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED ALL OF THE THINGS THAT MATTER ABOUT THIS PROJECT EXIST IN THEIR REPORT, STORYBOARDS & REFLECTIONS

ON MEANING & MATERIALITY IDENTIFYING WHAT MATTERS AND THEN ATTENDING TO FACTS OF ITS EXISTENCE

WHAT IS THE E.T. ATARI GAME?

FROM IAN BOGOST’S ALIEN PHENOMENOLOGY: OR WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A THING

1. E.T. is 8 kilobytes of 6502 opcodes and operands,

2. E.T is also it’s sourcecode

3. E.T. is a flow of RF modulations that result from user input

4. E.T is a mask ROM, memory etched on a wafer.

5. E.T. is a molded plastic cartridge

6. E.T is a consumer good, a product packaged in a box

7. E.T is a system of rules or mechanics that produce experience

8. E.T is an interactive experience players partake in

9. E.T is a unit of intellectual property that can be owned, licensed, sold

10. E.T is a collectible, an out of print scarce object

11. E.T is a sign that depicts the video game crash of 1983

THE E.T. ATARI GAME HAS AT LEAST 11 EXISTENCES, EACH OF WHICH ARE IMPLICATED IN DIFFERENT ARTIFACTS

1. ARTICULATE SIGNIFICANCE

WHAT MATTERS ABOUT THIS? WHAT DOES THIS WORK REPRESENT? TO WHOM DOES IT MATTER? WHAT ABOUT IT MATTERS?

2. IDENTIFY WHERE THAT SIGNIFICANCE DOCUMENTED?EVIDENCE OF MEANING MAY EXIST IN THE ARTIFACT, IN A WAKE OF OTHER ARTIFACTS, OR IT COULD EXIST IN AN ARTIFACT YOU CREATE (EX. VIDEO OR AUDIO RECORDING OR A PHOTOGRAPH)

3. ATTEND TO FORENSIC MATERIALITY OF THAT THINGONCE YOU’VE IDENTIFIED THE THING THAT HAS IN IT TRACES OF WHAT MATTERS DO YOUR BEST TO BE SURE YOU ARE DOING AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE TO THE QUALITIES OF THAT THING.