Reading on a Holodeck

Peter Brantley MGMInternet Archive MilanoSan Francisco 02.2011

Originally published 1950September 23 issueSaturday Evening Post

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Doubleday & Co., 1951.

The rise in the popularity of television had a directinfluence on Bradbury’s story “The Veldt.” At thetime the story was written, many American familieswere acquiring their first television sets, and no onewas sure exactly how this new technology wouldimpact the relationships among family members. - eNotes, “The Veldt Summary”

Happy Life Home A pre-digital glimpse of an immersive and user-driven multimedia experience.

The nursery was silent. It was empty as a jungleglade at hot high noon. The walls were blank andtwo dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadleystood in the center of the room, the walls began topurr and recede into crystalline distance, it seemed,and presently an African veldt appeared, in threedimensions, on all sides, in color reproduced to thefinal pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above thembecame a deep sky with a hot yellow sun.

Now the hidden odorophonics were beginning toblow a wind of odor at the two people in themiddle of the baked veldtland. The hot straw smellof lion grass, the cool green smell of the hiddenwater hole, the great rusty smell of animals, thesmell of dust like a red paprika in the hot air. Andnow the sounds: the thump of distant antelope feeton grassy sod, the papery rustling of vultures.………

And again George Hadley was filled with admirationfor the mechanical genius who had conceived thisroom. A miracle of efficiency selling for an absurdlylow price. Every home should have one. Oh,occasionally they frightened you with their clinicalaccuracy, they startled you, gave you a twinge, butmost of the time what fun for everyone, not onlyyour own son and daughter, but for yourself whenyou felt like a quick jaunt to a foreign land, a quickchange of scenery. Well, here it was!

"Walls, Lydia, remember; crystal walls, thats allthey are. Oh, they look real, I must admit - Africa inyour parlor - but its all dimensional,superreactionary, supersensitive color film andmental tape film behind glass screens. Its allodorophonics and sonics, Lydia.” ...

The ultimate display would, of course, be a roomwithin which the computer can control theexistence of matter. A chair displayed in such aroom would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffsdisplayed in such a room would be confining, and abullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. - “The Ultimate Display”, 1965

There is a likely inexorable trendtowards increasing immersion inhuman story-telling through tech.

Campfire storytelling, Iga Warta, Northern Flinders Ranges

“For this invention will produce forgetfulnessin the minds of those who learn it through theneglect of memory, for that through trustingto writing, they will remember outwardly bymeans of foreign marks, and not inwardly bymeans of their own faculties. So that youhave not discovered a medicine for memory,but for recollection. ” (em. Added)

story telling issinging and dancing

New technologyalways augments expression. communication. sharing. We have some of the pieces.

Remote DanceTele-ImmersionUC Berkeley

In 2011: 3d projection augmented reality surround sound gesture detection tele immersion machine vision

Physical engagement: Nintendo’s Wiimote Microsoft’s Kinect Sony’s Move

Hamlet on the holodeck: thefuture of narrative incyberspace. by Janet H. Murray, Simon and Schuster, 1997.

The holonovel offers a model of an art form thatis based on the most powerful technology ofsensory illusion imaginable but is neverthelesscontinuous with the larger human tradition ofstorytelling, stretching from the heroic bardsthrough the nineteenth-century novelists. - Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck

Eventually all successful storytellingtechnologies become "transparent": we loseconsciousness of the medium and see neitherprint nor film but only the power of the storyitself. - Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck

If digital art reaches the same level ofexpressiveness as these older media, we will nolonger concern ourselves with how we arereceiving the information. We will only thinkabout what truth it has told us about our lives. - Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck

It’s not just data about the community, but alsocreations of the community that libraries can enableby giving patrons access to production tools, eventvenues, and – most importantly – a permanent,non-commercial, online home for our patrons’creative works, making the library the publisher –putting the emphasis on the library as a platform forthe community ... . - Eli Neiburger, Ann Arbor District Library

Holodeck interpretations would be akind of community based publishing.Interative, individual, and real.Foo-camp style share writing.

Cf. GAFFTA, San Francisco – “Guided by the principles of openness, collaboration, and resource sharing, our programs promote creativity at the intersection of art, design, sound, and technology. A conduit for multidisciplinary creative exchange, GAFFTA supports the creation and diffusion of works that engage and inspire audiences, and offer meaningful contributions to the global movement that is shaping our collective experience.”

Cf. Medialab Prado, Madrid – “Medialab-Prado is a program of the Department of Arts of the City Council of Madrid, aimed at the production, research, and dissemination of digital culture and of the area where art, science, technology, and society intersect. ”

“… MacArthur Foundation and the Institute ofMuseum and Library Services (IMLS) …announcedplans to create 30 new youth learning labs inlibraries and museums across the country. Inspiredby an innovative new teen space at the ChicagoPublic Library called YOUmedia and innovations inscience and technology centers, these labs will helpyoung people become makers and creators ofcontent, rather than just consumers of it.”

One, two! One, two! And through andthrough The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head Hewent galumphing back. - Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky

What are experience frames?Experiential – (take us to Patmos)Suspended – (play “Roman Fever”)Interactive – (enter “If on a Winter’s Night ... )Gaming – (contest the Jabberwocky)

What is a holodeck experience? Are they recorded for preservation? Do they have persistent identifiers? Is there re/use: playback and mods?

How can we describe the IP rights of aholodeck experience?Is the author of a holodeck experience the programmer or the participant?

What does moral rights mean in a craftedvirtual shared experience?What might be considered inviolate?Non divisible, inseparable?

Technology expands the boundaries andpushes out the limits of human creativity. ux design = performance = code

Where would holodeck “frames” orholodeck “modules” come from?Digital conversions of the analog?Newly authored holodeck works?Is to author, to program?

Holodecks are interpreters.Code factories.Select the components.Order the sequence.“Make” an experience.“Run” the program.

For the state to see, parse, and recordall the experiences its citizens design.To control the interpreter.To write the program.To make handcuffs bind and bullets kill.To make the deck a panopticon.

Are holodecks built or assembled?Apple iDeck with iTunes?Google Android Holodeck.app?Amazon 1-click Holodeck?Or the Valve Steam Room?

The real life fact thatone most enter a holodeckis critically important.Real things invite inspection.Sabotage can be detected.Hacking is possible.

Are holodecks the next-generation personaldigital experience? A private fantasy field?Or, are they the next “3rd Place” – a place ofself enactment and story telling in a socialcontext?

Cf. gaming – “The idea of the lone gamer is really not true anymore. Up to 65 percent of gaming now is social, played either online or in the same room with people we know in real life.” - Jane McGonigal, Smithsonian Magazine, February 2011

Libraries can offer holodecksbecause they are real. things.Entry points to imagination.learning. sharing. experience.and new poetries of expression.

“We founded Startl to pave the way for cool newdigital media learning products to move fromidea to funding and into learners’ hands. We’reworking outside the established systems in apublic-private partnership to break new groundin the education market and help to launch thenext generation of digital tools for learning.”

Fight to control the deck.Start to make your own.Don’t take experience for granted.Build you own visions.

Saturday Evening Post, cover image, 23 September, 1950. http://curtispublishing.com/images/NonRockwell/9500923.jpg“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, accessed on 14 January 2011. http://www.veddma.com/veddma/Veldt.htmHamlet on the Holodeck, cover image. http://covers.openlibrary.org/w/id/152123-L.jpgHamlet on the holodeck: the future of narrative in cyberspace. by Janet H. Murray, Simon and Schuster, 1997.“The Illustrated Man”, Wikipedia, accessed on 14 January 2011. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Illustrated_Man“The Veldt: Summary”, eNotes, accessed on 14 January 2011. http://www.enotes.com/veldt/summary“The ultimate display”, by Ivan Sutherland. Proceedings of IFIP Congress 1965, 506-508.

“veldt rainbow”, by David W. Siu, Flickr.“Campfire storytelling, Iga Warta, Northern Flinders Ranges” by 澳大利亚国家馆 || Australia at Expo 2010, Flickr. “Lontar”, naypinya, Flickr. Still of Zoe Saldana in Avatar, http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1265536512/tt0499549 “holodeck” by learn4life, Flickr. “The holodeck” by A Hermida, Flickr. Bali cakepung, http://blog.baliwww.com/ Tele-immersion dance, http://tele-immersion.citris-uc.org/ “Pest of Old Part 3” by starallenshaw, Flickr. “Teaching how to dance”, William Forrester, Flickr!

peter brantley internet archive san francisco ca @naypinya (twitter) peter @archive.org

Reading on a Holodeck

by Peter Brantley on Feb 05, 2011

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Reading on a Holodeck — Presentation Transcript