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Tagged with “mit” (9) activity chart

  1. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks | MIT Comparative Media Studies

    Ethan Gilsdorf discussed some of the themes of his new book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms, a blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis, and memoir as forty-year-old former D&D addict Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other worlds—from Boston to Wisconsin, France to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. He asks: Who are these gamers and fantasy fans? What explains the irresistible appeal of such "escapist" adventures? How do the players balance their escapist urges with the kingdom of adulthood?

    Gilsdorf talked about the culture’s discomfort with the geek/nerd/gamer stereotype and looked at society’s ambivalent relationship with gaming and fantasy play, and the origins of that prejudice, as well as the author’s own past misgivings and final acceptance of his "geek" identity.

    http://cms.mit.edu/news/2009/09/podcast_fantasy_freaks_and_gam.php

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  2. Robots and Media: Science Fiction, Anime, Transmedia, and Technology | MIT Comparative Media Studies

    Ian Condry, Associate Director of MIT Comparative Media Studies and Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures, will discuss the prevalence of giant robots in anime (Japanese animated films and TV shows). From the sixties to the present, robot or "mecha" anime has evolved in ways that reflect changing business models and maturing audiences, as can be seen in titles like Astro Boy, Gundam, Macross, and Evangelion. How can we better understand the emergence of anime as a global media phenomenon through the example of robot anime? What does this suggest about our transmedia future?

    Cynthia Breazeal, Associate Professor at the MIT Media Lab and founder/director of the Lab’s Personal Robots Group, will discuss how science fiction has influenced the development of real robotic systems, both in research laboratories and corporations all over the world. She will explore of how science fiction has shaped ideas of the relationship and role of robots in human society, how the existence of such robots is feeding back into science fiction narratives, and how we might experience transmedia properties in the future using robotic technologies.

    http://cms.mit.edu/news/2010/03/podcast_robots_and_media_scien.php

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  3. Communications Forum: “The Craft of Science Fiction” | MIT Comparative Media Studies

    The Craft of Science Fiction, featured Joe Haldeman, four-time Nebula Award winner and author of The Forever War, his forthcoming novel The Accidental Time Machine and many other books.

    This forum was moderated by CMS Director Henry Jenkins.

    http://cms.mit.edu/news/2006/12/mit_communications_forum_the_c.php

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  4. By Design 2011-05-18

    We need to ‘pivot’: Joichi Ito, MIT Media Lab, says why. ‘Pivoting’ says Joichi Ito is the skill we all need to acquire. Serendipity is also important. Meet Joichi, the new director of MIT Media Lab. Joichi is recognised as one of the world’s leading thinkers and writers on innovation, global technology policy, and the role of the internet. He is chair [formerly CEO] of Creative Commons, sits on the board of Mozilla Foundation, and was an early investor in Twitter and Flickr. Profile: Ilse Crawford, designer with soul Ilse Crawford is a designer sought after worldwide. She runs her own company, studioisle, and holds the rather intriguing post as Head of Department for Man and Wellbeing at the renowned Design Academy, Eindhoven. She has walked an intriguing path from her very early days as a sub-editor at the Architects Journal, followed by the World of Interiors — then catapulted into the job of launching Elle Decoration, in the UK, that went on to change the world of design magazines. She advises many of the world’s big design companies — Ikea and Volvo, for example — and has a list of private clients. Micromansions: The Hutwheels Project. In Trends this week we´re looking at a new push to encourage people to downsize into smaller homes, and an interesting project to reinvent the mobile home as an affordable and sustainable housing form. Listeners’ Letters Here is an audio clip of this week’s Listeners’ Letters. Enjoy. AA Gill on ingredients, restaurants and food culture Adrian Anthony Gill is restaurant reviewer and TV critic for the The Sunday Times in London and a frequent contributor to GQ and Vanity Fair magazines. He also writes for Australian Gourmet Traveller. Frequently controversial, he is a writer of noted and acerbic wit.

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  5. Robot Opera and Immortality

    http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/03/07/robot-opera

    In the new robot opera, “Death and the Powers,” humans are history. So is flesh and blood- as ‘so over’ as the dinosaurs.

    The high-tech drama, composed by Tod Machover, tells the story of how one eccentric billionaire led the way, by refusing to die. He uploads himself – his mind – into the realm of digital immortality, and leaves his worldly body behind. Machover, known as “America’s most wired composer” and director of the Opera of the Future group at the MIT Media Lab, thinks of his character Simon Powers, as “a combination of Howard Hughes, Walt Disney and Bill Gates,” who rather than wanting to live forever, desired “to leave the world, but leave everything about himself here.”

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  6. Seth Lloyd on Quantum Life

    Big Ideas presents Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology on Quantum Life, how organisms have evolved to make use of quantum effects.

    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcXSpXyZVuY

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  7. World (Inter)View with Nicholas Negroponte

    World (Inter)View with Nicholas Negroponte: "Computing is no longer about computers. It’s about life."

    With that opening slide, Nicholas Negroponte, creator of the MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC), began an authoritative and compelling review of OLPC in tandem with his philosophy for bringing technology to the world. Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Location: Amsterdam, PICNIC 2009, PICNIC Program and discussion: http://fora.tv/2009/09/25/World_InterView_with_Nicholas_Negroponte

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  8. Skinny Jeans and Fruity Loops: the Networked Publics of Global Youth Culture

    What can we learn about contemporary culture from watching dayglo-clad teenagers dancing geekily in front of their computers in such disparate sites as Brooklyn, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, and Mexico City? How has the embrace of "new media" by so-called "digital natives" facilitated the formation of transnational, digital publics? More important, what are the local effects of such practices, and why do they seem to generate such hostile responses and anxiety about the future?

    Wayne Marshall is an ethnomusicologist, blogger, DJ, and, beginning this year, a Mellon Fellow in Foreign Languages and Literatures at MIT. His research focuses on the production and circulation of popular music, especially across the Americas and in the wider world, and the role that digital technologies are playing in the formation of new notions of community, selfhood, and nationhood.

    http://cms.mit.edu/news/2009/11/podcast_skinny_jeans_and_fruit.php

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  9. “Opening Doors, Building Worlds”: The Origins of the X-Men (w/Chris Claremont)

    Chris Claremont is best known for his 17 year unbroken run on the X-Men comic series — a feat in world building that has supported many uses, from comics to movies to video games and more. Now Chris is returning to that world, with a new comics series titled X-Men Forever. This time, the rules are different. Mr. Claremont addressed thoughts and considerations that go into building a world that can support years of use, and variations. How has the concept of world-building changed over time? What is the purpose of continuity? Multiplicity? How to take into account growth and risk, and play outside the rules.

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