Embodiment and Technology

The disembodied voice.  The meat.  Transcending the body, time and space...

From Nietzsche to Merleau-Ponty to Lackoff and Johnson, some of the best thinkers have been reminding us that there is no disembodied communication.  

While cyberspace may give us an experience of transcendence, for the most part, we're sitting in a chair using some type of date input device (usually more than one):  There's nothing disembodied about it.  Even with radio, the voice always reveals a body (this body is a sign, and may be used with all the attributes of signs; for example, you can "lie."  A person may "put on" an accent, but this is done to create a specific apperance of a body anyway).

There may even be extreme consequences of a computer-age body--eye problems and back pain come to mind of personal experiences.

Are we doomed to life of chairs?  I don't think so.  Laptops made computing portable, and tablets make computing readable.  Embodiment is becoming not just recognized, but used creatively.  The mouse may have started it, but the trackpad is not the end.  The WII was immediately used for many non-gaming applications, and many game companies (often on the cutting edge of computing) are moving to embrace embodiment.

Many of us were thrilled by the movie Minority Report, and to make matters more cool, that movie tried to show us technology that was likely to truly exist:  Speculation was built on the promises of technological innovation.

John Underkoffler is one man thinking this way.

Power and Power Point

I love digital slide presentations.  But I also love reading.  Note taking.  Re-reading. Writing.  Editing.  Re-writing.  Reading some more. You get the idea.  I'm the kind of guy who ends up in the clergy or academy.  I chose the academy.

For the past several years, the faculty of the COMM department has been thinking about what we do:  What DO we do?  What SHOULD we do? What do we have in COMMON.  How do we COMMUNE? What is COMMUNICATION?

Of course, many answers are possible.  We have been focusing on one: Story-telling. Humans are story-tellers.  We love telling-stories.  There's nothing abstract about it:  When we sing the blues; we tell a story.  When we talk about our day; we tell a story.

Most people are underwhelmed when they find that stories have an identifiable structure!  I understand.  But the structure is there (and for those who hate singularity (myself included) there are enough variations and angles to spend a lifetime working on this).

Nancy Duarte is as excited as I am. So let's watch her:

This is indeed what we are teaching, in the proverbial thousand faces. 

Please don't make a simple mistake:  This has nothing to do with us (the educators): It what we, you included, strive for in all acts of communication; it's the structure of successful communication.

And, for all who don't like structure--there is indeed a post, a post-structuralist place, for us to go and to continue thinking, growing, the untapped "country."
k

Normalization

OK.  First.  I am not a fan of normalization--social or audio.  However, it's a useful tool, and like auto-focus or auto-white balance on a camera, it has its place.

However, the use of normalization and (over) compression has led to a phenomenon called the "loudness war" and it's something we need to know.

So, let's a trip around the web, YouTube and Vimeo style and see what we can learn:

1. Anytime you can watch/listen to Bob Katz, do it: 
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCd6MHlo_iA&feature=related
2. Bob Ludwig was the king of sound; he mastered almost every album I bought in the 70's:  
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMWUOCbWp1M&feature=related
3. Loudness war
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSwLeLdkYjs&feature=related
4. Nevermind.  I mind.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v6ML2DsBfA&feature=related
5. The pro and the amateur 
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiQLmeSwtT4&feature=related

Autotune FX

Autotune has received bad press and great use (it's funny how often critics and performers disagree. I guess it's like Republicans and Democrats; it's no fun if you don't fight),

However, autotune is a great production device and a great post-production device.  Like most plug-ins, it can be used to correct sloppy performance or add flavor to a track while recording or mixing.  The way you use it (while recording, after recording, post) will make a huge difference.

Here's s decent introduction:  Don't watch if your easily offended by language.