The internet is dead. Long live the internet!

Crystal writes, “‘Dark rides’ like the Spookarama at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, those single-cart rides that take you through a haunted house full of ghosts and scares. They’re prime for teenage making out, have been around for 100 years – and they’re disappearing. Joel Zika, a 36-year-old art and design university professor in Melbourne, Australia, has been fascinated with the dark rides for years, reveling their connection to early horror effects in movies. So he decided to document them in the only way that would truly do them justice: virtual reality.”

Here is a great article by Julia Serano, who is a well-known transgender activist and writer. She talks about how people will act “outraged” over society being too politically correct, and instead of railing against sexism, racism, transphobia, muslimophobia, antisemitism, ableism (any other form of bigotry and hatred toward a minority group), they will spend more time complaining about being too politically correct and defending the said person who is being called out for their prejudice.

See, here is the thing: if you say or do something that is considered offensive about a certain community, you SHOULD be prepared for what consequences might follow. If you make/sell a costume making fun of a transgender celebrity for transiting in the public eye, do you think that transgender people will stay silent? Of course not! They would speak out, launch a petition, call for a boycott, etc. If you are a public figure and you have said or written that “MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS!!!” do you actually think Muslims would stay quiet? Of course not–they would protest and tell you that you are wrong and launch a campaign to counteract your Muslimophobic remarks.

 Here is my favourite excerpt from the essay:

Finally, to all the people who have written, or are considering writing, articles rallying against “political correctness,” or “call-out culture,” or the “Internet outrage machine,” or whatever you want to call it: This may surprise you, but sometimes I agree with some of the points you make. As I previously mentioned, I wrote an entire book about how activism — in the course of advocating on behalf of certain marginalized groups — sometimes veers into the realm of invalidating or marginalizing other groups. So I strongly believe that there is common ground for us to have smart and necessary conversations about how we can balance civil discourse and differences of opinion, while at the same time fully respecting one another as people.

I am a Mills alum (2009) with a Book Arts minor. The Book Arts programme was a big factor in my decision to attend Mills– I saw the studio on the student visiting day, had my chance to print something on one of the Vandercooks, and immediately fell in love. As a freshwoman, I camped out half the night to sign up for courses, with my eyes on one of the few open places in Intro to Book Arts. In succeeding years, I spend many afternoons, nights and weekends in the studio. Those are some of my favourite memories of Mills.

I am now finishing a PhD in human-computer interaction at the University of Edinburgh (UK), and absolutely believe that my years in the book arts studio were an important foundation for my current work in design, research, and teaching. Book Arts taught me about design thinking, making choices and justifying decision when there are 101 options, project planning, and the virtue of measuring twice and cutting once. The many hours around the seminar room table, learning how to constructively critique and give feedback on my own and others’ work, were one of the most valuable things I did at Mills in terms of preparation for graduate-level study. Constructive critique is hard. Giving feedback that others can understand, process and concretely use—but that still respects their vision and overall ownership of ideas and projects—is just as difficult. Learning how to be on the receiving end of critique and feedback of a very personal-feeling project is maybe the hardest of all! I did learn, partly because Book Arts had such a strong sense of community and collective spirit, with the same students getting to know each other and their work over time, feeling like we were a team that was part of something special and unusual. All of those critique, feedback, and discussion skills are a huge part of what I need to do as a PhD researcher, tutor, student project supervisor, and member of the academic community.

I immensely value my Book Arts experience and book-binding/printing skills and will always take an interest in this area, even though I am now at the computer far more often than the cutting mat. I would urge Mills to realise that Book Arts can benefit students in far more ways than in learning to make and appreciate artists’ books. It is an opportunity for skills and experiences that you can take to many different places.

Alyssa M. Alcorn, Mills class of 2009

This Camera Refuses to Take Pictures of Over-Photographed Locations

Every year, flocks of tourists travel to iconic destinations just to view them through a camera lens. Since the popularization of smartphones (and selfies), what were already the most overly photographed landmarks on earth are now more well-documented than ever. Camera Restricta seeks to reverse this trend by locking its shutter in heavily photographed locations.

DullTech

Real Kickstarter campaign organized by artists to produce a video player to easily set up and install video installations:

As artists we often had a hard time installing video presentations for exhibitions. How could we easily loop a video? And sync a video over multiple screens? Simple things that were time consuming while you would think it could have been solved easily…

Fact of the matter was, that if you wanted to play multiple videos in an exhibition or at a fair, it was always a problem! Remote controls that needed to be pressed at the same time, computers that needed to be programmed, professional companies hired to install. Or you always had to go yourself. What if there was to be a box that would just fix that. It would not be exiting, it would not offer anything new, it wouldn’t cost days to figure out, it would just make technology work. That’s it!

So we found a great engineer in China who helped us make our dream media player! A simple box that would take the first video on a USB key, and loop it. And when you would have two boxes they could sync at the flick of a switch! They even wanted to help us create a small production run! OMG. And it was possible to put on a custom screensaver! Just like the old DVD player screen savers. So we could put our own artwork on there, making it an art piece when it’s not used to play your video! A machine that actually works, and is an artwork at the same time! Your getting a limited edition art piece for free!

So we came up with the name for our company. DullTech. Technology that does not need to be exiting. It’s boring, you know why? Because it just works.