a.ponter@btinternet.com

Briefing and Theory.

This project as been hard work (due to working full time), but also enjoyable and great fun. This idea of an imaginary world is interesting in many ways, related to interaction, games and multi-media. I think the exploration and experimentation in this area could realise some interesting thoughts and working ideas related to how people interact in different ways and using different methods of communication / interaction. With time constraints we have chosen well in producing an installation idea which is effective. It will be interesting to see how people interact with it and the different characters / events. Will they get it? Will they guess who done it? etc etc. The idea of using email and MySpace and other web 2.0 aspects is again interesting. Posing questions such as. Where will it all lead in terms of society? What is real/ What is not real? Also how the technology will develop to allow people to do complicated tasks easily and also in a fun and rewarding way maybe. Social networking is also interesting and to me I would like to know. How much time people spend using sites like MySpace, Flcker, bebo etc? What advantage do they have over say using email, text message or even the phone. Anonimity and autonomy come to mind as does this idea of Generation Content. People using these site are empowered to create, act and imagine in different ways from before. Anyway I’ve looked at several sites and read a few things from the briefing sheet below; (please look at My Delicious on my personal project blog for other site I have looked at).

Interactive Narrative Imaginary worlds: Group Project

An imaginary world is a setting, place or event or scenario at variance with objective reality, ranging from the voluntary suspension of disbelief of fictional universes and the socially constructed consensus reality of the “Social Imaginary”, to alternate realities resulting from disinformation, misinformation or imaginative speculation, and the subjective universe of altered states of consciousness, psychosis or dream sleep.
Wikipedia

The aim of this project is to jointly create an imaginary world, which can be accessed through any chosen means, from the internet or mobile connection to distribution on CD or DVD or display in an installation. This story world can be in the form of a game, a website, an artwork or an interactive film or a combination of all these. It is often best to imagine one small change to our real world, which results in enormous changes to an imaginary world. For example: a place where water is never liquid or language was never invented.

You may wish to devolve the production functions to different members of the group or to take on a section each following a communal design session.

Ask yourselves if this artefact has a specific purpose and audience : Simulation. Education Entertainment etc.

Outcomes for assessment
1 Research notes
2. Design Plan
3. Storyboard
4. Visualizations
5 Working model/demonstration

Links:
http://www.baddaystudio.com/gravityblog.html

http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2001/tc20011212_9434.htm

http://www.thepublishingspot.com/2006/02/feature_story_writing_inside_s.html

http://www.electricsheepcompany.com/

http://multiverse.net/

http://www.areae.net/

http://www.there.com/

I have found this very interesting and it is posing more questions than answers but I am trying to see the potential and how ldeas and working prototypes could be developed from these ideas and influences.