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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Monthly Archives: September 2010
“We always thought we would use Second Life as the enemy, that it was the exact opposite of what we…”
“We always thought we would use Second Life as the enemy, that it was the exact opposite of what we were trying to do. If Second Life was about trying to simulate reality optically, what we were interested in was … Continue reading
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“[We have] a focus at area/code on the interesting ways in which games overlap with the real world…”
“[We have] a focus at area/code on the interesting ways in which games overlap with the real world. Where games insert themselves into your life and the kind of surprising ways that they can overstep the boundaries, and how that … Continue reading
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Tagged area/code, frank lantz, jesper juul
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“People’s creativity and participation can only be awakened by a collective project explicitly…”
“People’s creativity and participation can only be awakened by a collective project explicitly concerned with all aspects of lived experience. The only way to “arouse the masses” is to expose the appalling contrast between the potential constructions of life and … Continue reading
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“The revolution of everyday life cannot draw its poetry from the past, but only from the future.”
“The revolution of everyday life cannot draw its poetry from the past, but only from the future.” – Instructions for an Insurrection (Situationist International)
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“In closing, we should briefly mention some aspects of what we call ultra-détournement, that is, the…”
“In closing, we should briefly mention some aspects of what we call ultra-détournement, that is, the tendencies for détournement to operate in everyday social life. Gestures and words can be given other meanings, and have been throughout history for various … Continue reading
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Tagged detournement, guy debord, remix, situationism
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Fandom Squared
My paper, “Fandom Squared,” was published this month in Transformative Works and Cultures. From the introduction: Being a fan has always been about more than just “voting” for a particular story world. Indeed, in contrast to the streamlined logics of … Continue reading
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Tagged fandom, fannish production, fans, remix, transformative works and cultures, web 2.0
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“We might frame the question this way: does the need for the ground-level agreement of participants…”
“We might frame the question this way: does the need for the ground-level agreement of participants pull social artworks towards a uniformly positivistic or even utopian tone? If participation is furthered by honesty, fairness, giving, and helping, does this prevent … Continue reading
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“There are interesting parallels in the debates between Williams and McLuhan and those between STS and ANT…”
“There are interesting parallels in the debates between Williams and McLuhan and those between STS and ANT . . . Williams and many STS traditions can be seen to foreground the social at the expense of an appreciation of the … Continue reading
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Tagged ANT, marshall mcluhan, raymond williams, STS, tara mcpherson
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“Culture in all its early uses was a noun of process: the tending of something, basically crops or…”
“Culture in all its early uses was a noun of process: the tending of something, basically crops or animals. The subsidiary coulter — ploughshare, had travelled by a different linguistic route, from culter, L — ploughshare, culter, OE, to the … Continue reading
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“Popular was originally a legal and political term, from popularis, L-belonging to the people. An…”
“Popular was originally a legal and political term, from popularis, L-belonging to the people. An action popular, from C15, was a legal suit which it was open to anyone to begin. Popular estate and popular government, from C16, referred to … Continue reading
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