About
Jeff Watson is an artist, designer, and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Games at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
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Tag Archives: imap
Code and Materiality: Strandbeest and mechanical computing
Johanna Drucker’s discussion of code and materiality (”Code is not an immaterial ideal“) got me thinking about Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest project… Continue reading
Posted in Blog
Tagged analog computers, antikythera mechanism, charles babbage, ctcs-677, imap, johanna drucker, strandbeest, tara mcpherson, theo jansen
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David Golumbia, buzzkiller
I’m excited about all the new forms of politics, art and mischief that participatory technoculture seems to promise. I can get genuinely pumped-up about Kurzweilian “singularities,” the Planetary Society and the Long Now Foundation. Sometimes I actually think things could … Continue reading
Posted in Blog
Tagged co-optation, ctcs-677, david golumbia, imap, pessimism, tara mcpherson
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Sid Sackson’s Acquire
Since its release in the early 1960s, Acquire has inspired generations of game designers and enthusiasts with its elegant and replayable design. Many game designers, including Ticket to Ride designer Alan R. Moon, cite Acquire as a seminal work in the evoution of tabletop gaming. This post provides designer-centric coverage of the game. Continue reading
Posted in Blog
Tagged acquire, board games, ctin-541, game design, imap, sid sackson, tracy fullerton
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Online, Reading
Reading a novel is an intense experience. Even lowly grocery store thrillers are complex and multimodal textual-linguistic collaborations between authors, readers, and culture. That is, novels are awesome. Reading them is never going to be a thing of the past. … Continue reading
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Tagged comm-620, imap, literacy, motoko rich, nicholas carr, reading
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Blackboard Kills
Blackboard is an impediment to scholarship, and the sooner universities stop using it, the better. Continue reading
Polyhedral Dice
When I was a kid, I played a lot of role-playing games. The Marshall brothers, Lucas, Paul and Jonas, and my neighborhood pal, Ryan Sullivan, were my primary playmates in this regard. I played intensively between the ages of about nine and fourteen. After that, rock and roll and movies took over. Continue reading
Posted in Blog
Tagged ctin-541, dice, imap, rpgs, ryan sullivan, the marshall brothers, tracy fullerton
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Locative Media and Responsive Environments
This presentation explores the evolution and trajectory of ubiquitous computing technologies that enable designers to embed media artifacts and computational systems in physical space. Continue reading
Posted in Presentations
Tagged ctin-511, imap, locative media, responsive environments, spimes
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Useful Phrases
Useful Phrases uses Markov word/phrase probabilities to generate unique sentences by breaking apart a source text. These sentences are then added to a blog. Continue reading
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Tagged blogging, blosxom, ctin-544, experiments, grenville kleiser, imap, markov, processing, rita
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IMAP Manifesto
This manifesto describes my intentions, aims and perspectives vis-a-vis my role as a theorist-practitioner both within and beyond the academy. Continue reading
Posted in Blog
Tagged anne balsamo, cntv-601, featured, imap, manifestos, usc
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Transmedia Storytelling and Alternate Reality Games
I prepared this presentation as a primer for non-specialist audiences on the subject of Alternate Reality Games. Includes brief survey of prior art, diagrams illustrating the nature of networked fictions, and references to key scholars/innovators. Continue reading
Posted in Presentations
Tagged arg, ctin-511, imap, storytelling, talks, transmedia
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