New Media Missive
October 1, 2001
The New Media Institute

1.Director's Cut -- Crisis: New Media Legs Shaky but Strong -- Scott Shamp
2.Digital Content Cluster in Athens -- October 4th, 12:30
3.Webcast -- A Local Voice in Troubled Times -- Brett Robinson
4.The Magic is People in Interaction Space -- Jennifer Maldonado
5.New Media Capstone Classes
6.Help Wanted:  New Media Institute Project Manager
7.Synergy At Work: ArtBuy
8.Holiday Picnic

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1. Director's Cut -- Crisis: New Media Legs Shaky but Strong -- Scott Shamp
        Athens is a land of shaky tables.  Packets of raw sugar (matchbooks and
Sweet and Low are passé in this progressive city) are jammed under uneven
table legs.  Every time someone new sits down, everyone reaches for his or
her coffee.  The balance has shifted.  The dynamic changes.  Everyone
adjusts.  Balance is restored -- for now. Change is good.  Balance is
temporary.  Creativity is the process of moving through change with that
goal of balance tempered by the knowledge that balance is always fleeting.
In Athens we talk technology over tables sticky with creative spills.
But on September 11th, it felt like every cup of scalding coffee in the
world landed squarely in our laps.  We have never felt more wobbly.  What do
we do now?  Well, there is one thing for sure -- we cannot stop.  If cowards
can stop us with carnage, they have won.  We all have jobs to do.  Doing our
jobs is the best way to honor those who lost their lives.  It is time to
move forward.
        As individuals with knowledge of technology, we have a special job to do.
Our society's relationship with technology will change as a result of this
crisis.  Technology leaders have a responsibility to make sure this change
is in a positive direction.  As we encourage our national leaders toward a
reasoned response to this crisis, we must discourage reactionary approaches
to technology.
        Technology did not cause this crisis and technology cannot fix it.  But
technology played a part in the cause and it will play a vital role in the
cure.
        The first Thursday after that terrible Tuesday, our Digital Brown Bag
focused on the role of new media in the current crisis.  Students, faculty,
Athenians, and other cool folk talked about new media's responsibility in
this new American era.  It was sometimes sad, at times angry, always
thoughtful, and a good first step toward healing.  Many great ideas were
shared.
        There was a consensus that this crisis presents a challenge to way that we
deal with information.  Clearly, government will expect more latitude in
monitoring all types of information.  In fact, the first week after the
tragedy saw new proposed policies regarding access to information.  The
government is investigating new ways of increasing intelligence through
electronic surveillance.  And these efforts are certainly well intentioned.
Now the challenge for America is balancing the need to protect our rights
against the need to protect lives and property.
        A reactionary view would suggest our rights take a back seat.  These deaths
seem to demand tighter restrictions.  But we need to think closely about the
trade-offs.  At our Digital Brown Bag, Bud Hamilton ([log in to unmask]), a
very smart Management professor at Georgia State University made an
observation that I think will help us think this challenge through.  Bud
encouraged us to focus on three things when consider information policy:
Freedom, Security, and Discipline.  Freedom is that basic right of Americans
to do as we please (so long as we harm no one) without government
intervention.  Security is our need to be safe.  And discipline is the
requirement that we use the power of information technology responsibly.
        I see these three as the spindly legs on Athens' coffee shop tables.  In
the past, the table was heavy on the freedom side.  New capabilities
empowered us in ways that we hadn't even imagined.  Our enthusiasm
overloaded that side of the table.  But now there is a definite list to the
security side.  The spills on that side will leave stains the future will
find hard to ignore.  But detecting the imbalance provides opportunities.
The third leg of our shaky table provides the counter-balance -- discipline.
We will have to change the way we use information.  We will have to exercise
greater caution.  We will have to constantly examine and debate the
inevitable trade-offs that lie ahead.  We must not blindly label as
repressive those who advocate new controls on information.  We must not
brand as unpatriotic those who question new information policy.  Now is not
the time for this polarization.  Instead, we must be disciplined, cautious,
and considerate in our investigation of what to do next.  We will right this
table in time.  The mess otherwise might be too difficult to clean.
        Scott Shamp ([log in to unmask])

2. Digital Content Cluster in Athens -- Thursday, October 4th, 12:30
        I have told you about the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) many times.  The
GRA leverages the intellectual strengths in Georgia's universities to
enhance the state's economy.  The GRA encourages and helps secure funding
for university research that contributes to economic development.  OK, you
have heard that before.  But on Thursday (10/4) you have an opportunity to
see how all this works.
        The NMI is involved in GRA's Digital Content Cluster (DCC).  This cluster
of research units and researchers at Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and the
University of Georgia are working on research projects related to the
creation, management, and distribution of innovative digital content.  On
10/4, the cluster will be on the UGA campus exploring what UGA is doing and
telling us what they are working on in their places.  The DCC will the focus
for our Digital Brown Bag.  The following units will be giving us short
overviews of their activities:
·       The Digital Arts and Entertainment Laboratory -- Georgia State
·       The Center for Signal and Image Processing -- Georgia Tech
·       The Graphics and Visualization Laboratory -- Georgia Tech
·       The Interactive Media Technology Center -- Georgia Tech
·       The New Media Institute -- University of Georgia
These are cool places with cool people working on cool projects.  Come find
out more about them and explore ways you can get involved.
        And don't forget, since 10/4 is the first Thursday of the month, we will be
doing a tour and orientation of the NMI and Athens New Media Synergy Center
at 12:00.  If you haven't seen the NMI -- this is a great chance.  If you
have, you won't believe the changes.

3. Webcast -- A Local Voice in Troubled Times -- Brett Robinson
        For the first time in recent memory, I was not offended by the amount of
media coverage that a story has received.  I'm talking, of course, about the
terrorist attack on September 11th.  The fourth estate, the watchdogs, our
journalists, have provided an invaluable service to our country, and it has
never been more evident than right now.  In the spirit of this free flow of
information, the NMI's webcast team set out to provide what information we
could in a streaming video format.  While toppling buildings were shown more
than enough times on the major networks, it was time to reach into the local
community and offer insight, reactions, and thoughtful retrospection on the
recent tragedy.
        When the webcast team heard about the UGA panel discussion sponsored by the
Center for International Trade and Security and the Political Science
Department, we felt it was the perfect venue for streaming coverage. With
our brand new portable streaming system in tow, we set up in the balconies
and back rooms of the chapel.  The students that volunteered for the
production are still wet behind the ears when it comes to high-end technical
performance, but the resulting 60 minutes of streaming video is an honest
look at the well-informed panel members that spoke that day.  The audio is
crystal-clear, and the camera angles offer a "from-the-audience" point of
view that is a refreshing departure from the TV-model of "talking heads."
        I've said it before, and I'll say it again, streaming video is not
television.  And the more we can do to break the TV mold without sacrificing
the integrity of the content, the more we will be doing to further research
and enhancement in the field of streaming media production.  This watershed
time for our national consciousness should offer innumerable opportunities
for regular citizens to speak out, provide support, inform, counsel, and
persuade.  While the CNNs and NBCs of the world continue to call upon the
same 'talking heads,' we as a grass-roots information technology
organization will continue to give a worldwide voice to the people that
matter to us most, our friends and neighbors.
Brett Robinson ([log in to unmask])

4. The Magic is People in Interaction Space-- Jennifer Maldonado
        There has been this magic in the air since fall semester began and I think
everyone who participated in the planning of the New Media Institute has
been feeling it.  Just months ago we toured folks through our wonderful
space in the Bank of America Building waving our hands and saying, "Here is
where the production classes will meet.  Students will connect to the
Internet via a wireless network, and when their classes end they can take
their computers back to the Interaction Space and keep working on projects
or just hang out."  We needed this to happen.  We needed the students to
feel at home here, to feel like they have ownership, and to want to work
hard.
        The magic we have been feeling is the awareness that the space works just
how we thought it would if not better.  But what is so really cool is the
fact that it is not just the technology or the floor plan or the location
that makes our space feel so right.  It feels right because people are
making things happen here.
        On September 17th, Didi Dunphy and Beth Thompson, a NMI student, installed
a collaborative project in the NMI's Interaction Space.  Once Modern
Convenience, an installation with digital media projects, went up, our
students really started taking advantage of the Interaction Space.  They had
worked there before, but there was a noticeable difference in the use of the
space.  Not only is Modern Convenience compelling and delightful but its
freshness is dynamic, and I think that's why the students enjoy working
there -- a perfect reason for the NMI to pursue purely creative projects.
        Kudos to Didi and Beth for the tremendous ideas and inspiration they have
brought to the NMI.  Please come see Modern Convenience at the NMI or visit
it online at http://www.nmi.uga.edu/resources/artgallery.html.
        Jennifer Maldonado ([log in to unmask])

7. Help Wanted:  New Media Institute Project Manager
        Jennifer Maldonado is moving on.  She has been with us from the very
beginning.  She helped bang out the idea for the NMI, she ran the first
phone system in the new space, she moved furniture, she managed projects,
she created the website, she did it all.  Now she is going back to school to
get her Master's Degree.  She is still going to be working on some NMI
projects, but the majority of her time will be devoted to school.
Now we need to get someone to fill the void she is leaving.  Soon we will be
creating a new position in the NMI that will do some of the things Jennifer
did -- and more. This person will need to be a person that steps in to do
all the crazy things we all do to make the NMI work, but specifically we
need someone to:
·       Manage the online materials of the NMI
·       Oversee and manage student projects
·       Coordinate NMI events and activities (tours, panels, workshops)
We are looking for someone who has project management and new media skills.
And they should be fun to work with.  If you are interested drop Marshall
([log in to unmask]) an email.  We will be distributing the job description
soon and it would be good to have a list of potential candidates. If you
know someone who might fit the bill, tell him or her about the job.  We want
to have the new person in place by the beginning of the new year.

6. New Media Capstone Classes
        Next quarter the NMI will be offering special projects classes for advanced
new media students.  If you have completed NMIX3110 or a NMI New Media
Production class, you are eligible to participate in the New Media Capstone
experience.  In this class, teams of students will work on a single project
for the entire semester.  This project will be for a real client and must be
complete by the end of the semester.  The class will meet on MWF 4:40 - 5:30
Spring semester.  If you are interested in taking this class, contact
Marshall at [log in to unmask]
        And we are still lining up projects.  If you have a new media project that
you think might be appropriate for student work, contact Jennifer Maldonado
at [log in to unmask]

7. Synergy At Work : ArtBuy -- Beth Hall Thrasher
        The Athens New Media Synergy Center is proving the truth of its name.
Several of the new media business accelerator resident companies and their
entrepreneurs are involved in the upcoming BuyArt exhibit at The Bottleworks
at 297 Prince Avenue which will run October 12-21st.
        Carol John, Director of Arrow gallery, and Betsy Dorminey are organizing
BuyArt-- a group show and sale featuring 63 Athens artists.  Carol John’s
involvement with the Synergy Center began in March when she curated for
display in the center an exhibit of her own paintings and Didi Dunphy’s
colorful naugahyde sculptures. Jason Thrasher, of Dreamspan, Inc., one of
the original Synergy Center resident companies, Michael Lachowski of Candy,
"the new idea advertising agency" and resident in the Synergy Center, and
Didi Dunphy will each have several pieces exhibited in the BuyArt show.
Dunphy, Lachowski and Thrasher were also previously featured in solo shows
at the Arrow Gallery. In addition, Dreamspan and Dunphy have currently
installed a video lounge at the New Media Institute upstairs from the
Synergy Center; this piece will later tour the state in the Georgia
Triennial. Also of note, fellow BuyArt organizer and attorney Betsy Dorminey
is the wife of Blair Dorminey, principal of WebEsq, another Synergy Center
company focusing on uniting law firms and clients via the web.
        Michael Lachowski of Candy designed the publicity materials and website for
BuyArt.  EO Studios, a Synergy Center web design and new media production
company, also worked with BuyArt on the coordination and hosting of the
exhibit’s website, www.buyartathens.com . Jennifer Maldonado, Director of
the New Media Service Group at the New Media Institute, and Beth Thompson,
an intern at the NMI, designed a web site for Didi Dunphy that features an
interactive play on modernist painting. The website address is
www.nmi.uga.edu/art/mc/ .
        The Athens New Media Synergy Center, sponsored by the University of Georgia
Research Foundation, unites innovative new media entrepreneurs within a
dynamic environment of creativity and collaboration. The Synergy Center
provides entrepreneurs with the essentials and expertise to foster and
encourage company growth and success while instilling the importance of
community involvement and cooperation.
        For more information about the Synergy Center, please contact Beth Hall
Thrasher at [log in to unmask] or (706) 613-7646. For more information about
the BuyArt show or the Arrow gallery, please contact Carol John at
[log in to unmask] or (706) 4561-3798.

8. NMI Holiday Picnic
        Each year, we celebrate the holidays (and the end of another semester) with
a get-together for NMI people and new media students of the past.  This year
we are planning a NMI Holiday Picnic for December 7th.  We are still working
on the plans, but we wanted you to mark it on your calendar.  We all need to
have a little fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott A. Shamp
Director
New Media Institute
http://www.nmi.uga.edu
Bank of America Building
110 E. Clayton Street, 5th Floor
Athens, GA 30601
Voice: 706.227.7237
FAX: 706.227.7236