Colin Rhinesmith

I just finished reading Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential,” a book that my beautiful wife gave me for Christmas this year. She knows I’m a No Reservations nut. “Kitchen Confidential” made me a little nuttier, but definitely in a good way.

But this post is not about my inclination towards one chef and his show on the Travel Channel. Although, I’d probably like to write more about it. Instead, I thought I’d take a look back on this New Year’s eve at a few tidbits from 2007 before jumping head first into 2008.

2007 was an incredible year for me. I got married (most significantly), participated in a gathering with other educational podcasters at Apple HQ in Cupertino, CA, was invited to speak at Bentley College, built a virtual re-design of Boston City Hall Plaza, interviewed a visual artist in Second Life, participated in two conferences at Harvard and Columbia, helped rebuild a website, served on the Board of Directors for two amazing organizations, supported a really exciting research project funded by the NEH, learned a ton about the web and digital culture in grad school, produced a podcast about citizen media and the law, and had the good fortune to continue to work with and learn from some truly world class people at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, while attending grad school. I am very, very lucky.

Of course there was lots more geekery and fun (and not so much fun) along the way. Most notably, what I learned and continue to learn from the dedicated volunteers and community media workers struggling to remain relevant, and survive, in a changing media landscape. Particularly at a time when pressure from large cable and telephone companies = state legislation continues to beat down community media center after community media center slamming the door on opportunities for local voices and community concerns all across America to be seen and heard on cable television.

In 2008, this will become my world - even more than it already has been.

This week, I’m leaving my short, but life-changing, work experience at the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School, where I began as a Staff Assistant in 2005 to join the staff at Cambridge Community Television as Community Media Coordinator.

In 2005, while in my last semester at Emerson as an Continuing Ed student, I joined a dedicated group of student volunteers to shuttle (by foot) video tapes of Democracy Now! from CCTV to Boston Neighborhood Network, because BNN did not have a satellite dish to broadcast Amy Goodman and crew on cable access in Boston. The CCTV staff was incredibly generous in helping our effort to bring DN! to Boston, via their tape recordings of the show. Ever since, I’ve had a great admiration for CCTV and the people involved. Now, I’m joining the crew.

While it was a difficult decision to leave the Berkman Center and all the extraordinary people I’ve met there, I couldn’t be more excited to join this new, but familiar, community in Cambridge. I look forward to working with the staff, members, volunteers, the Board (which I previously served on) and other new friends I hope to make along the way. I also look forward to continuing the relationship that Harvard Law School Professor and Berkman Center Founder, Charles Nesson helped strengthen during my time there.

For all these experiences from 2007, I am grateful. For those yet to come in 2008, I couldn’t be more excited.

Share This

The following is my term paper for VM503 - Aesthetics and History of New Media (aka, Hub2). This paper is also available as a PDF download.
—

Abstract

Virtual worlds provide architects and engineers with design tools for collaboration across distant locations. These developments present opportunities for non-traditional designers, such as liberal arts students and faculty, to collaborate on the design of spaces in ways not possible in the real world. Recent studies report evidence that online environments ground collaboration by re-introducing the concept of place back into virtual spaces. Other studies have attempted to prove that networked design is more than simply a technical exercise; it is a social activity. As a result, the nature of both design and design studies is shifting to more nuanced and reflective practices. Researchers and practitioners have embraced this transition to explore the endless possibilities that virtual worlds provide to collaborative design projects.

This paper builds on these and other studies to provide a comparative framework for evaluating a recent collaborative design project, called Hub2, at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. In it, the author will (1) explore concepts relevant to design studies and the influence of networked technology on design practices, and (2) apply these lessons to a non-traditional collaborative design project using the virtual world Second Life. The author concludes with recommendations for future networked-design projects in higher education with a particular focus on the group formation process.

Collaborative Design

Architects and structural engineers have traditionally worked in teams to solve problems. They design models for others to construct physical objects, such as cars, airplanes, etc. Similarly, software and systems engineers have focused their group work on virtual/information objects. Collaborative design often involves large groups, sometimes up to thousands of individuals. But what are the distinguishing characteristics of collaborative design?

Collaborative design is performed by multiple participants (representing individuals, teams or even entire organizations), each potentially capable of proposing values for design issues and/or evaluating these choices from their own particular perspective (e.g. manufacturability). (Klein, et al, 2002)

Authors have commented on the often difficult and counter-productive processes present within these group initiatives (Klein, et al, 2002). Past studies have sought to better understand the nature of individual and group dynamics present in these collaborative environments (Petal, Cruz, and Holtham, 1997). Some researchers have developed models to help visualize, establish and improve team dynamics (Maher, et al, 2000). Others argue that collaborative design should be approached from a social-psychology perspective, because the “process of sense making” involved in such group processes should be considered in evaluating the design of physical environments (Larsson, 2003).

Networked Collaborative Design

Advancements in broadband technology and virtual software have created new opportunities for architects and engineers to collaborate across distant places. Recent studies have attempted to determine the value that new technologies present within networked environments with the purpose of making global design teams more effective (Patel, et al 1997). More recently, researchers have sought to document the role of place within virtual design.

Object representations of a person include characteristics such as a verbal description, messages about their movements in the place, and links to web pages and publications help establish their identity and personality. The visual presence of the avatars brings a new dimension in communication in virtual places. (Maher and Simoff, 2005)

Researchers have made recommendations to software developers that better reflect the practice of distributed design teams (Patel, et al 1997). These and other studies have shown that both the tools and practice of design are rapidly evolving. This opening presents opportunities for non-traditional designers to explore the tools and group dynamics involved in non-traditional collaborative design.
(more…)

Share This

QuickTime Video

Earlier today on a snowy afternoon in downtown Boston, students, faculty, staff, members of the Mayor of Boston’s Office and others convened at Emerson College to watch a deed and virtual key to Boston Island in the virtual world Second Life presented to the City of Boston. The video above features footage from the event, including a presentation by Gene Koo, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School to Bill Oates, Chief Information Officer for the City of Boston.

During the event, Emerson College Professor Eric Gordon said the event today was a celebration “to launch the work we’ve been doing in Second Life called Hub2 with the City of Boston and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.” Hub2 is a project “using Second Life to stir up ideas about our shared spaces. To build together and do something about the spaces that we share now.”

Gordon also said the purpose of Hub2 was “not to leave our bodies behind but to use virtual worlds to harness the physical world. This is a launching pad for doing more work in the future to change the way that we think about civic engagement.”

Bill Oates, the Chief Information Officer for the City of Boston said the project “Tried to carve out a piece of us to think about innovation, as technology evolves.” And he asked, “How can we utilize technology to engage better with the citizenry? We don’t know where this is going to lead.”

Oates said this project is a “great way to think about using new technologies” for

(1) Working with institutions in the areas
(2) Workforce development, and
(3) Socializing our youth into these technologies to think about how they can become better engaged.

You can read more about the event today, from the press release at Hub2.

RUNTIME: 00:01:49, SIZE: 320×240, 20MB, .MOV, H.264 codec

Share This

QuickTime Video

This is our group project video for Hub2, titled “Re-Imagining Boston City Hall Plaza Using Second Life.” See details below.

TIME: 00:03:41, SIZE: 640×480, 45MB, .MP4, H.264 codec

Share This

I’m editing our group final video project for Hub2 in preparation for our meeting with the Boston Mayor’s Office next Thursday (see press release). The video is a mashup of Creative Commons licensed Flickr photos of Boston City Hall Plaza with video captured from our group’s Collaboration space on Boston Island in Second Life. I hope to have something to share with our group tomorrow. If I get the thumbs up, I hope to share it here, as well.

Share This

I’m beginning my final paper for my directed study on issues related to open access to educational materials and copyright law. Here’s my working abstract:

In recent years, open access repositories have become increasingly popular tools for teaching and learning in the digital age. But copyright law remains a serious obstacle to these types of open sharing models. Further, it has created a culture of confusion and fear of legal backlash among educators and the institutions to which they belong. The result has led many to believe that locking down educational materials behind walled-gardens is the best path forward. This paper reviews recent educational and technological efforts towards overcoming these barriers. The author provides a literature review on the issues relevant to this heated debate between how to balance the rights of copyright holders with those who seek to use copyrighted materials for teaching and learning in the digital age.

Share This