Can't sleep

I haven’t been sleeping well. We only have a couple of days to pull this together and I want to see it done in a way that maybe, just maybe, it can help make a difference. The tools are new and I wish I could learn them faster, better. I can’t stop thinking about the project, so even though I am tired and it is late, I go back in world and run into Peggy.

Building Cages

The fundamental building block for Camp X-Ray is a unit of razor wire. Thanks to google image, we can replicate it virtually. The first object Bubbuhcuh makes is a cylinder. In no time at all we have a cage, no a bank of cages. It’s starting to come to life.

BAVC Producers Institue for New Media Technologies

We are thrilled to be included with an amazing group of grantees at BAVC's Producers Institute for New Media Technologies with extraordinary documentary projects and Wendy Levy, Director of Media Arts and Education, has set up a program of panels and workshops on new media practice. We are mentored by Ben-Batstone Cunningham (aka Buhbuhcuh Fairchild) who will help us build the prototype. Where do we start? What are the fundamentals?

We start with the basics:
1. Camp X-Ray
2. Arrival
3. Insertion of Documentary Video Clips

Our list is much longer, but we do triage and plan to complete what we can in the remaining four days of the residency.

A real wake up call

Feb 12

It is one of those mornings when I really hate Guantanamo Bay Prison. In fact, it is anger I feel. How did the government get away with destroying habeas corpus rights in this country… in MY country? In 2003, when I was working on the documentary about civil liberties issues post 9/11, Unconstitutional, there were few stories in the American press about the prison. I had a good friend who would regularly call up reporters at NPR and say, “Hey, I really liked that story about Guantanamo Bay today.” The sur prised reporter would reply, “What story?” And he would shout back, “EXACTLY!” It was the kind of phone call I wanted to make to everyone in the nation. Instead, I dialed my good friend and creative collaborator Peggy Weil. There was this grant I just found that I was thinking we ought to apply for…

Learning to Navigate Second Life

(posted by ndlp)
One of my favorite moments occurs in a sort of newbie location called Japan Resort hanging out in a hot tub with a raw but effective translation program attached to my avatar. Joining me in the “bubbling water” are avatars controlled by someone in Japan, three people in Brazil and someone from Italy. We actually have a conversation through the translator program. I am having fun, but man, oh, man I can see the possibilities for interaction and diplomacy without the hindrances of geography, culture or language.

Now how to apply all of these experiences to our project…

Hanging in a hot tub

Learning to navigate Second Life. One of my favorite moments occurs in a sort of newbie location called Japan Resort hanging out in a hot tub with a raw but effective translation program attached to my avatar. Joining me in the “bubbling water” are avatars controlled by someone in Japan, three people in Brazil and someone from Italy. We actually have a conversation through the translator program. I am having fun, but man, oh, man I can see the possibilities for interaction and diplomacy without the hindrances of geography, culture or language.

Now how to apply all of these experiences to our project…

A Virtual ACCESSIBLE version of a Real but INACCESSIBLE Destination

I’d had minimal experience with Second Life (hey, I have a very full first life!), and although I had an account, somewhere, I wasn’t sure of my avatar name, let alone password. I’d first signed on when a student of mine in 2003 required me to log on in order to view a virtual book he’d built as an assignment for my class. But the exposure proved fruitful because here was an interesting application for a virtual space: Second Life offered the possibility of building a virtual but accessible version of the real but inaccessible (to all but the most dedicated attorneys, NGO workers and military) prison situated on an American base in Cuba.

We identify three key goals:
Raise Awareness Our government is denying the basic right of habeas corpus to
prisoners detained in Guantánamo Prison.

Expose the conditions and practices that occur in Guantánamo Prison to a new audience.

Engage Visitors in social policy dialogue and connect them with efforts to close Guantánamo.

We worked madly on the proposal and ultimately won a residency at the BAVC (Bay Area Video Coalition) Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, June 1-10. We begin preparations. Nonny became proficient at Second Life, I give up on my old account and avatar and make a new one – Ping Rau, and start exploring.

I realize we are going to need land and start searching. Joi Ito, (with thanks to Scott Fisher) kindly offers us use of his island, KULA. We’ve got land! 10384 Square Meters on Kula2 and Nonny has her first in-world meeting with Jeremy Hunsiger, steward of the Kula islands.

We are reading, drawing, sketching, collecting imagery, video and transcripts. We want to arrive ready to build.