This is ‘Me’

Hello everyone! This first blog post is to introduce me and give you a little bit of background about my job, my studies and some feedback based on the first seminar.

I have been a student on MA Creative Media, since Sept 2011 and have so far completed modules in Sonic Media; Querying ICT’s; Practicing Media Research; Beyond the Screen: Future Fiction and Audiences; and Digital Practice and Pedagogy. I came to the MA mainly from a creative/teaching background without really knowing which direction this was going to take me, particularly because I am a bit  of an information magpie, and love aquiring new knowledge. However, the broad boundries that corral most of my interests are collaborative digital communities and prosumer relationships between artists and audience. (This is the last module before major project/dissertation, therefore I really should nail down my research focus soon.)

Since 2002 I have taught at Sussex Downs College, mainly for the FdA Digital Media Design (a University of Brighton validated qualification), where my background before this was a variety of art and design teaching and working in graphic/multimedia design. I have two young children and currently juggle working part-time with parenting and studying. I am a bit of a sucker for having a busy schedule therefore I also have involvement with various voluntary, community based events.

Listening to the audio file, from this weeks seminar, was very interesting, it felt as if there had been a presence of me in the room, as I was referred to on a number of occasions. I look forward to placing an image to a voice for everyone involved, particularly Rachel who I met (virtually) last year when we did the Practicing Media module together.

In the seminar Frauke asked “What do you find most interesting/alarming about the idea of digital cities?”. My initial response was to wonder what difference it makes that I approach this as someone who has limited experience of living in a large city.

I then considered how difficult it must be to have a concrete definition of what constitutes a digital city, seeing as they are not bound by any easily defined perimeters. Where technology has allowed people to view, interact and work in cities without needing a physical presence there. Giving opportunities to those previously separated by distance to benefit from the features of a city.

One aspect which alarms me about digital cities is the reliance on technology and how technology is used to try add levels of control to an ultimately chaotic system. This thought comes from the current situation of extreme weather, where it disrupts infrastructures dependent on technology and electricity, particularly apt after Frauke highlighted that technology makes use of water based metaphors e.g. flood, torrent, flow and wave.

The content of the module looks very interesting, some of it looks like it might bleed into some of my current knowledge, which is comforting and some of it looks completely new, which is exciting. My current intention is to attempt the creative practice option for assessment 2, although I have no initial ideas as to content or platform. My plan for each module has been to enter it without too many preconceived ideas and enter a learning journey, where I am open to new ideas and straying down unknown paths.

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