Here is another TED speaker that is worth paying attention to: Scott McCloud. McCloud is famous for his early work deconstructing comics, and as such deconstructing image, narrative, abstraction, connections and meaning. If one wants to build a new type of interaction or story, this video is a great place to start. The meatiest part of the presentation starts around 10 minutes in.

Wooster posted the video as a piece of art. But it is more than that–it is a challenge to remove the traditional thinking about narrative. Art does not have to be static (painting) or uni-directional (movie, song, music). It can be multi-directional, multi-media, and fully engaged with the user. It can be customized to the user.

Customization is incredibly powerful. For example, Pandora has been able to completely reinvent the radio industry by customizing the listener’s experience based on her input. And it takes so little to drive that customization: a computer’s IP address is enough. So, what is the next step?

The goal of the new project will be to: (1) draw on user input or characteristics to drive randomization, (2) utilize a library of multimedia elements, including video, photography and sound, (3) create a specific and fully customized artistic experience with unique narratives.

A thought experiment, and the beginning of a roadmap for a new project (tentatively “Dream:Engage”).

One aspect of new media is the ability of the artist to relinquish control. “Random” or “living” pieces can be produced by introducing (literally programming) an element of self generation, or re-generation, into the code of a piece. The creative process is then not just limited to symptom (the visual work), but starts in the DNA of a subject (conceptual definition). All sorts of unexpected twists and turns are born through randomization. See below for a stark example at the Victoria & Albert museum.

A more familiar randomized world would of course be the ITunes Visualizer (found here).

Once the definitions and boundaries are set, this approach becomes all about the input that triggers programmed DNA to spread its feathers. Music, and audio in general, is one attractive way in. Another is direct user participation. Make the consumer of the media engage with her consumption. Pull her in. This line of thought brings us to the use of narrative. A rudimentary exploration of this can be found in the Panels project, where a user’s click to refresh the page brings in new elements and storylines. A logical direction is to
“float”, unfix, abstract not just the direction of the story, but the story-telling elements. Mix media in the delivery of the message. Pull continuity apart, and branch out from concrete realistic text into visual chaos.

Next up, Scott McCloud on experimental narrative and our take on how to use the idea …

The last of Frank Gehry’s IAC shots. These play on sunlight and reflection, a glimmer of another world beyond.

How do we read and consume media online? This Slate article makes a strong point regarding our fickleness as an audience. Our attentions are minute, skimming text for links and names rather than thoroughly understanding the information. We are looking for snacks, nuggets, bits. We jump from paragraph to video to conversation. Trap us!

This is also true for other types of content. People routinely only watch the first 60 seconds of web video, and episodes/virals get shorter and shorter. Unless we are primed to consume something like a full episode or movie, we simply nibble along.

Slate brings up an interesting aside: a 1988 study about Lucid Reading, or reading for pleasure. To quote the paper’s conclusion:

The processes of reading gratification begin with the subjectively effortless extraction of meaning from the printed page (Study I), the rewards of which appear to be augmented by flexible control of reading pace (Study 2). The harsh judgments elite criticism has made of pleasure reading interact with text difficulty and reader preferences to determine the reader’s selection of a ludic vehicle (Study 3). Fluctuating physiological arousal (Study 4) and cognitive consciousness-change mechanisms (Study 5) combine to confer on the skilled reader the sovereignty of the reading experience through which, with striking economy of means and
precision of outcome, readers transform fear to power, gloom to delight, and agitation to tranquillity.

A deliberate slowing-down of the process and a focused reading approach lead to a meditative result. A ludic consumption need not be limited to reading however. This was the driving idea behind Sokolin’s 2004 project Pause. If we sit down and resign ourselves to taking enjoying something, to really knowing it, there is a tangible benefit to slowing down.

This idea is eloquently explored by Carl Honore in his book “In Praise of Slowness”, and this video for the TED Conference.

However, the verdict is that we see the web and technology as junkfood. Change must come within, which is unlikely. The alternative is to encounter (or to create) some new media experience, artpiece, or text, that is so compelling it stops in our tracks.

The penultimate shots of Frank Gehry’s IAC. Playing on thin lines and opaque surfaces, bouncing off clouds.

Another stark juxtaposition of shape and reflection.

Swim away in the reflection, in the world of other. Fall through into the bottomless clouds, bottomless thoughts, imaginations.