http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron therourke@gmail.com http://rhizome.org/editorial/3964 The starting point of the book is that the label “New Media Art” does not identify an art genre or an art movement, and cannot be viewed – as it usually is – as a simple medium-based definition. On the contrary, a work of art – whether based on technology or not – is usually classed as New Media Art when it is produced, exhibited and discussed in a specific “art world,” the world of New Media Art. This art world came into being as a cultural niche in the Sixties and Seventies, and became a bona fide art world… ]]> Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:44:34 -0700 http://rhizome.org/editorial/3964 http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior Pac-Man is one of the most iconic video games of all time, and most people (even non-gamers) have at least a passing familiarity with it. The purpose of the game is very simple — the player is placed in a maze filled with food (depicted as pellets or dots) and needs to eat all of it to advance to the next level. This task is made difficult by four ghosts that pursue Pac-Man through the maze. If Pac-Man makes contact with any of the ghosts, the player loses a life and the positions of Pac-Man and the ghosts are reset… ]]> Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:10:00 -0700 http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/23960/Analysis_Portal_and_the_Deconstruction_of_the_Institution.php In this in-depth analysis, Daniel Johnson discusses games, language and sociology with regard to Valve's Portal - please note that the article contains story spoilers for the game.

In 1959 Erving Goffman released The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life; a book that went on to heavily influence future understanding of social interactions within the sociology discipline. In it, he discusses social intercourse under the metaphor of actors performing on a stage. Specifically, in the second chapter he shares the idea of a front and backstage to social interaction.

As with the theater, we… ]]> Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:33:00 -0700 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/23960/Analysis_Portal_and_the_Deconstruction_of_the_Institution.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr11PhgyOOk&feature=youtube_gdata ]]> Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:35:00 -0700 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr11PhgyOOk&feature=youtube_gdata http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2010-06-10-wagner-en.html Analytic philosophy has a complex history of more than one hundred years and this movement is so variegated that it can hardly be characterized by a single feature. Most of those who have tried to do so either were not aware of its diversity or considered only some part of its history. For example, it is sometimes believed that analytic philosophy is committed to a thoroughly anti-metaphysical stance. Such a belief may be rooted in some of the famous pronouncements of the logical empiricists, in the philosophical method put forward by Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-philosophicus, or in the fact… ]]> Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:56:00 -0700 http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2010-06-10-wagner-en.html http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mooney11-2009aug11,0,6581208.story This fall, evolutionary biologist and bestselling author Richard Dawkins -- most recently famous for his public exhortation to atheism, "The God Delusion" -- returns to writing about science. Dawkins' new book, "The Greatest Show on Earth," will inform and regale us with the stunning "evidence for evolution," as the subtitle says. It will surely be an impressive display, as Dawkins excels at making the case for evolution. But it's also fair to ask: Who in the United States will read Dawkins' new book (or ones like it) and have any sort of epiphany, or change his or her mind? Surely… ]]> Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:32:00 -0700 http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mooney11-2009aug11,0,6581208.story http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604-1,00.html Earlier this year I attended a daylong conference in Manhattan devoted to education reform. Called Hacking Education, it was a small, private affair: 40-odd educators, entrepreneurs, scholars, philanthropists and venture capitalists, all engaged in a sprawling six-hour conversation about the future of schools. Twenty years ago, the ideas exchanged in that conversation would have been confined to the minds of the participants. Ten years ago, a transcript might have been published weeks or months later on the Web. Five years ago, a handful of participants might have blogged about their experiences after the fact. (See the top 10 celebrity Twitter… ]]> Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:41:00 -0700 http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604-1,00.html