Metaverse

A few nights ago I listened to Digital Planet on world Service. Soon got back to sleep but listened again later and put a clip on YouTube. 

Serpentine Gallery promotes MetaVerse as a way to describe online layers around normal work. Wikipedia shows it has been in use for a while.

I am starting on a few walks in Exeter as part of my #TempRadioStudio project. I am not quite sure how this will work out. It continues ways of looking at the HE campus and how it moves online. If it will do. Debate / drama conflict is around this. Walks follow the water, some underground. Taddiforde Brook is alongside new student accommodation on Exeter campus, then underground, then through space a bit closed in. It may just be me in nightmare mode, I cannot now discover any evidence this space was ever intended for student accommodation. But it is my mind somehow. So conversation could include how sensible it is to continue with buildings or if the peak pressure is over.

I saw an interview on BBC News telly from Birmingham. They discussed the post lockdown demand for shops and office space but nothing on the campus. I included @adam_matthews in tweet as he previously wrote a tweet suggesting a bus journey. He has sent links to two artcles, one about the purpose of a university, one before about two discourses - assuming campus returns to normal / assuming move online will continue. 

So I think I will explore these for a while and go back to the walk later. I still need to more on photography for a guide. there are just a few short videos so far. Look on YouTube for Follow The Water Taddiforde Brook and North Brook. North Brook is for comparison.

"Meta" keeps turning up but I am not sure what it means to everyone. I am trying out #MetaRadio and #MetaCampus . They find something. "Meta-Edtech" might describe activity around EdTech such as mainstream education , but I think this avoids thinking about existing sites as also part of EdTech. MIT has been on YouTube for a while.

I am still doing a radio show on FM. #MetaRadio may just be the digital / online content around this.

I also contributed a video to a conference on Urban Assemblage. this was organised by Architecture - Media, Politics, Society. I now have a better idea of the scope and am very interested in claims about architecture as code. Adam Matthews writes- 

Architecture

Lessig uses architecture and code interchangeably to describe the regulatory characteristics of the non-human. Code in online environments regulates higher education with all manner of systems – virtual learning environments, library systems, video platforms, exam proctoring. Lessig uses architecture interchangeably with code because the built environment also regulates behaviour in learning environments on campuses. This idea of architecture is getting more important as the cyber and physical become more intwined in the ‘fourth industrial age’.

I am still confused how the #mediatedcity conferences relate to a stream on pedagogy. There is a book out soon based on previous events so I will check this out and write more later.

Exeter Street Arts online option

 This post is just a guess /  explanation of what makes sense at the moment. I have a rough idea of what I am doing with radio shows and tweets etc. 

There is a hint on Facebook that something may happen on the Saturday of August Bank Holiday. But last year the Exeter Street Arts Festival had to be cancelled at the last moment. My guess is tyhat the current wave of infections will continue through September. The peak may before the end of August or it may not. Better info on the model may appear. But I guess many people will stay away from crowds anyway. There can still be small events, buskers, guided walks in small groups.

So I will mostly look at repeats of video from previous years. Clues and suggestions are welcome.

Sound Around the Outside Box

 This is an extended tweet just to explain my situation. I do a pre-recorded drama show on Phonic FM. Thursday 8 - 10. Mostly repeats of video sound and clips from internet archive. I have a project for a #TempRadioStudio , moving radio outside to follow up lockdown experiments. this has not had any funding but something continues. I will try to promote the Outside the Box events with at least a mention.

With pop and R&B for example radio can offer a lot of sound as samples of a performance or longer work such as a CD. So I need similar for the show. I can find links on social media but not mp3 that I could edit in. Help please finding the links. This could be short clips ahead of an event or recording of a performance.

Guardian news update on UK HE but still ignores the MOOC

 Today the Guardian has a report on how UK university policy is working out around a possible move online. there are direct quotes from Vice-chancellors. But no mention of the MOOC, online platforms or recent news from USA that EdX has been sold for $800m so HarvardMIT is to research a new level.

A while ago Peter Wilby did a Guardian interview with Peter Horrocks, then VC of Open University. A lecture at Durham about the Fortress University had been widely rejected as a rationale for investment in FuturelLearn and closing regional support buildings. However much has changed since though not often reported.

The story today includes suggestion "large cavernous theatres will be cut back" .."many in the sector predict a shift in investment away from shiny and expensive new campuses to the digital estate". Students still welcome personal contact but there may be more online or blended ( I still like the word blended ) . Online offers may be cheaper for an international student but there is resistance to lower fees. The online version has a photograph of students demanding a refund in recent times. 

Meanwhile the MOOC platforms are beginning to offer degrees. they can be cheaper than residential courses. At some time the print journalists will report on the options and what the UK policy might be.

I continue to imagine fiction and try to encourage people to look back at the Peter Horrocks take on the Fortress University. Read the Guardian today first, then the lecture and ask why it seemed in any way odd at the time.

Innovations in outdoor performance

 Tweet from Arts and Culture University of Exeter reminds me to respond to a survey for current research project. I have been thinking about this so try again but i cannot get past the first page of box to tick. Not sure I want to be anonymous or confidential. Blog and open tweets may get some sort of result as well as the research.

I work mostly in radio and online video thorough YouTube. During pandemic prerecorded shows from home and edits of Zoom etc plus a lot or repeats with comments. I have proposed #TempRadioStudio as a way to explore how the working at home methods integrate with the return to studio. So far not established as art for funding purposes but a video was accepted for an academic conference- Urban Assemblage /AMPS #mediatedcity .

Recently I have started on the Phonic FM drama show. I used to sit in but the storyteller is now mostly in France. Not sure when Widsith and Deor may return but they have a lot on Youtube and I also repeat from the Internet Archive. I find it much harder to find short clips that can be used for theatre or art than for pop music / R&B. So I would welcome bits of mp3 over the rest of the summer. Unfortunately studio not open to guests during lockdown but this may change.

It looks probable there will be something from Exeter Street Arts Festival on the saturday at end of August. My suggested research method is to check this out with close attention. Imagine Widsith and Deor teepee near cathedral. They use social media with energy and understanding. For example talks / promo are of length that most people will stay with. #esaf21

I am working on two plays/sets of words to explore moving education online. #CDWalk is a walk around where music retail used to be while talking about how much space will be needed for education. ( Student accommodation included as a topic - in the city it crops up ) Also #SiegeK set in Kendal castle as location for ruins of the Fortress University described by Peter Horrocks in Durham.

I think there have been three "Big Conversations" at Exeter University on policy around online. But only for staff and students. Impact on city, student accommodation not included as far as I know. #CDWalk and #SiegeK2 ( starting around Nov ) might be ways to make the big conversation a bit wider.

Tweets etc continue with links to shows on Phonic FM. mp3 links etc welcome.

drama in open space

These notes are for radio shows and tweets etc. over next few weeks. There is a sequence of open air performance ( dates in previous post ) and I hope to work out the background ideas as things continue. Exeter Culture has started resources on outside performance. 

I had thought of the temp radio studio as part of a mobile performance. It seems the idea of a walk or procession in street space is accepted. Sound may be less usual as art, or at least recording / broadcast. The Commentators were very welcome as part of Kinder Exeter. I have found some St Martins performance on YouTube that works fine as sound. there was only time for one extract on this week's show ( coming up on Thursday ) but I hope to include more over a few weeks. ( (Not sure about copyright, one of the things to consider) .

Clips of sound may not be available for radio. Theatre still seems less ready for sampling than pop music. So far I have not found anything from the Trade / Exchange windows but stills survive so this may continue. Outside the Box may offer sound, not sure. The pattern seems to be moving in space. I will continue with #CDWalk , looking at space needed for music retail. The drama shows can just be continuing conversations with We Don't Know and Wild Show.

I have tried out a Cambridge MOOC on play writing. I paid for the first one on finding a voice. I have only sampled two others. The one on space did not really cover outdoor performance I think. I could not get into it anyway. What happens through moving in the city? Some of this came up in the AMPS discussion on #mediatedcity. Design can be for scenarios not objects. Adding radio could be recent. I missed the one on writing for YouTube etc. but I look out for EdX on social media.

Some theory may follow from situationists but maybe with less controversy in the political content. I would welcome links to theory about this, best as mp3 sound or similar with creative commons licence.

There is probably going to be another Exeter Street Arts Festival at the end of August. I think probably Widsith and Deor Theatre will not be in UK this year but I will repeat video from previously. The street arts events have been working with social media for a few years now so I expect some ideas and demo events.

I am also interested in theory about radio. There seems to be more sound available as streaming / social media but radio formats tend towards short samples. there may be a flipped studio sometime but Phonic FM for example still follows lockdown approach of limiting numbers in studio. The idea of "guest" now means mp3 trade. Several clips on YouTube as Creative Commons. comment welcome.

Real news about UK education online

I am concentrating on the Fortress University ficion / drama partly because the real news is too distant from reality as I imagine it. That is I guess there is some planning on future policy, just not very open at this time. Couple of stories from newspapers - Times reports that UK universities will continue to offer online even thoug government encourages back to normal.

Also intention to ban phones in schools. This is another back to normal idea. My guess is that actual school pupils have realised online is possible and may be cheaper than other courses. Over five years or so they may do their own research about debt.

Meanwhile the EU is looking at research connected to Erasmus. 

In USA the EdX platform has ben sold so HarvardMIT has several hundreds of million dollars to research another level. There is some doubt about how this will work out but I notice almost zero reporting in UK. Fiction just makes more sense than relating to the depth of info allowed to be public.

Notes on Drama Show July to October

The show is usually pre recorded on a Saturday for the next Thursday 8-10 in morning on Phonic FM.

I mix clips from previous shows, the internet archive and Widsith and Deor Theatre / Storyteller / Standup Philosopher as this is how the show started.

I also contibute to We Don't Know and the wild show, both can be live in wed or Thur mornings so some updates are possible.

Clips exist on YouTube so the show can be extended.

I have been working on the idea of a Temp Radio Studio  ( #TempRadioStudio ) as a sort of reality / arts project if funded. Funding has been unlikely but a way to understand the arts process a bit better. The Trade / Exchange one early in the year was about images so sound not relevant anyway. Open Air Performance has events in July and August.

The idea of temp radio came over well with the Commentators as part of Kinder Exeter festival. I will try to find more sounds associated with this. Also my video was accepted for a conference on Urban Assemblage from AMPS

So I will check out the other videos in the series and look for links to Exeter. Arts credibility seems to need an academic base.

I am also trying out writing plays. I have done situations or drafts to try out with others as part of Wild Show chat. But I also tried a MOOC on "finding your voice" and wrote down some dialogue for Down Stage Write. If they turn up at Exeter Fringe in October they may have an offer to rewrite plays anyway. Meanwhile my idea for a walk in Exeter looking at  where CD shops used to be is continuing. Conversation includes how much space will be needed for education. Also student accommodation in Exeter, will it all be needed?

Another play is still a situation only - the ruins of the Fortress University using Kendal Castle as a location. One aim is to promote Peter Horrocks lecture on Fortress University. This was at a time when his support for MOOCs and Futurelearn was not widely understood or supported. 

The claims around #TempRadioStudio include that broadcast studio kit is now widely distributed. HE definitely went online some of the time. Colleges and schools also to some extent.

Exeter Culture is supporting outdoor performance

My guess is that Exeter Street Arts has good ideas about this. There is a hint on FaceBook about August Bank Holiday Saturday. Last year this was cancelled as it got too active for lockdown. However some buskers performed anyway. There is also MiDI TV, online video and social media. I find that drama has not got into this area as much as music performance. Sample sound clips are harder to find. For the drama show I can repeat existing stuff but any new content would be welcome.