Off Center

In this new episode of the podcast Off Center, Scott Rettberg is joined by Mario Aquilina, Associate Professor of English at the University of Malta. They discuss the definition of essay, the effects of AI on essays and whether there is an AI essayistic. Listen now! 

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References

Aquilina, Mario. 2021. The Essay at the Limits. Bloomsbury Publishing.  

Cayley, John. 2023. “Modelit: eliterature à la (language) mode(l)”. Electronic Book Review. https://doi.org/10.7273/2bdk-ng31. 

de Montaigne, Michel. 1588. Essais. Publishers: Millanges and Jean Richer. 

Johnson, Samuel. 1755. A Dictionary of the English Language. Consortium. 

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

In this episode of Off Center, Scott Rettberg is joined by Ben Grosser, a professor of New Media at the University of Illinois. Ben is a well-known software artist who critically approaches digital media and platforms in his work. Listen now! 

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References

Grosser, Benjamin. 2012. Facebook Demetricator. Web browser extension.  https://bengrosser.com/projects/facebook-demetricator/. 

Grosser, Benjamin. 2014. What do metrics want? How quantification prescribes social interaction on Facebook. Computational Culture. http://computationalculture.net/what-do-metrics-want/. 

Grosser, Benjamin. 2019. Order of magnitude. Video. 47:15 minutes. https://bengrosser.com/projects/order-of-magnitude/. 

Perrault, Ray, & Clark, Jack. 2024. Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024. Stanforth University. 

Mallapaty Smriti. 2024. AI traces mysterious metastatic cancers to their source. Nature, 628(8009). 699-700. doi: 10.1038/d41586-024-01110-8. 

Downey, Sean C. 2024. “The Godmother of AI. How Fei-Fei Li ’99 is safeguarding the future of human and artificial intelligence”. https://alumni.princeton.edu/stories/fei-fei-li-woodrow-wilson-award.  

Grosser, Benjamin. 2021. Deficit of less. Video. 47:15 minutes. https://bengrosser.com/projects/deficit-of-less/. 

Grosser, Benjamin. 2020. Not for you. Browser extension.  https://bengrosser.com/projects/not-for-you/. 

Smith, Ben. 2021. “How TikTok reads your mind”. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/business/media/tiktok-algorithm.html. 

Grosser, Benjamin. 2020. The Endless Doomscroller. https://endlessdoomscroller.com/. 

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

This time on Off Center, Scott Rettberg is joined by Sarah Edmands Martin, a designer and researcher at the University of Notre Dame. Her research takes place at the intersection of visual communication design, critical fabulation, and media aesthetics. In this episode they discuss speculative design. 

References

Bierut, M. 2015. How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world change the world. United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson. 

Berry, Anne, H., & Sarah Edmands Martin. 2020-2021. Ongoing Matter. Exhibitions at The Galleries at CSA, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Cleveland State University, and The Cook Center Galleries, Maxwell Hall, Indiana University.  

Jagoda, Patrick, & Sarah Edmands Martin. In Progress. Otherworldly Games: An Atlas of Possible Realities. 

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

Welcome back to a new episode of Off Center. In this episode Scott Rettberg is joined by Kristine Jørgensen, professor of media studies and PI at the Center for Digital Narrative. They talk about male gaming culture, transgressive games, and understanding male gamers. 

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References

Espen, Aarseth. 1997. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Smith, Paul, & Howard, Steve. 1987. Bride of Frankenstein. 39 Steps.  

US Army. 2015. America’s Army: Proving Grounds. US Army. https://store.steampowered.com/app/203290/Americas_Army_Proving_Grounds/. 

11 Bit Studios. 2014. This war of mine. 11 Bit Studios.  https://store.steampowered.com/app/282070/This_War_of_Mine/. 

Destructive Creations. 2015. Hatred. Destructive Creations.  https://store.steampowered.com/app/341940/Hatred/. 

DMA Design. 1997. Grand Theft Auto. BMG Interactive.  

Mortensen, Torill Elvira & Jørgensen, Kristine. 2020. “The Carnivalesque Aesthetics of Games” In The Paradox of Transgression in Games. Routledge.  

Den Norske Forfatterforening. February 8, 2024. “Enighet om KI-appendiks" Den Norske Forfatterforening, retrieved on April 3, 2024, from https://www.forfatterforeningen.no/artikkel/enighet-om-ki-appendiks/. 

Bjørkelo, Kristian, A. 2020. “Elves are Jews with Pointy Ears and Gay Magic”: White Nationalist Readings of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The International Journal of Computer Game Research, 20(3). https://gamestudies.org/2003/articles/bjorkelo.  

Bethesda Game Studios. 2011. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda Softworks. 

Blizzard Entertainment. 2004. World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment. https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/. 

Black Isle Studios. 1999. Planescape: Torment. Beamdog. https://planescape.com/. 

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

Scott Rettberg and Patrick Jagoda, professor at the university of Chicago, and cofounder of the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab and the Transmedia Story Lab, talk about alternate reality games and transmedia storytelling in this episode of Off Center. They talk about games Patrick has been working on. 

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References (in order of appearance)

Spielberg, Steven, director. 2001. A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Warner Bros. Pictures. 2 hr., 26 min. 

Gilliam, Melissa, director. 2013. The Source. Game Changer Chicago Design Lab. Alternate reality game. http://www.patrickjagoda.com/projects/the-source. 

Jagoda, Patrick, & Coleman, Heidi, directors. 2022. Cene. Fourcast Lab. Alternate reality game. https://fourcastlab.com/cene/. 

Jagoda, Patrick, & Bennett, Ireashia, & Sparrow, Ashlyn. 2022. Transmedia Stories: Narrative Methods for Public Health and Social Justice. Stanford University Press. https://transmediastories.org/.  

Slade, D, director. 2018. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. House of Tomorrow. Netflix. 1 hr, 30 min. https://www.netflix.com/no-en/title/80988062.  

Coleman, Heidi, & Jagoda, Patrick, directors. 2023. Encounter. Fourcast Lab. Alternate reality game. https://fourcastlab.com/encounter/. 

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

A new episode of Off Center in which Scott and Mathias Klang, a lawyer and professor at Fordham University, talk about surveillance microcosms and how spying is shaping our lives.  

In this episode, Scott and Jhave, a previous guest on Off Center, give the first 5-minute AI update.

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References

Rettberg, Jill Walker. 2024. Machine Vision: How Algorithms Are Changing the Way We See the World. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. 

Bentham, Jeremy, 1748-1832. 1995. The Panopticon Writings. London; New York: Verso. 

Orwell, George. 1949. 1984. England: Secker & Warburg. 

Foucault, Michel. 1977. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Pantheon Books. 

Suno Inc. 2024. Suno AI. https://www.suno.ai/. 

Johnston, D. J. 2018. ReRites. Anteism Books. https://glia.ca/rerites/. 

Forsgren, Seth & Hayk Martiros. 2022. Riffusion. https://www.riffusion.com/.  

sp0n, Inc. 2017. Citizen. Android & iOS. 

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

In this second episode of season two, Scott is joined by Jill Walker Rettberg, co-director of the Center for Digital Narrative to talk about her book on Machine Vision and how algorithms are changing the way we see the world. 

Sign up for ⁠⁠the CDN newsletter⁠⁠ here.References

Rettberg, Jill Walker. 2024. Machine Vision: How Algorithms Are Changing the Way We See the World. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. 

Vertov, Dziga, director. 1929. Man with a Movie Camera. All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration. 68 minutes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Man_With_A_Movie_Camera_(Dziga_Vertov,_1929).webm  

Hayles, N. Katherine. 1999. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

Ring LLC. 2017. Neighbors by Ring. Android & iOS.

Shusterman, Neal. 2018. Thunderhead. Simon & Schuster.Kronman, Linda. 2019. The deception of an infinite view – exploring machine vision indigital art. BCS Learning and Development Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/POM19.11.

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

In this first episode of season two, Scott is joined by David Jhave Johnston, digital poet, videographer, and motion graphics artist. Together they talk about digital poetry, cyborg authorship, and the use of AI for content creation.

Sign up for ⁠the CDN newsletter⁠ here.References

Johnston, D. J. 2016. Aesthetic Animism: Digital Poetry’s Ontological Implications. The MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262034517/aesthetic-animism/.

Johnston, D. J. 2018. ReRites. Anteism Books. https://glia.ca/rerites/.

Open AI.  n.d. “ChatGPT,” https://chat.openai.com/.

Google Deepmind. n.d. “Gemini.” Gemini, https://www.gemini.com/.

23andMe Holding Co. n.d. “23andMe,” https://www.23andme.com/en-int/.

Johnston, D. J. 2023. “Identity Upgrade Series”, https://glia.ca/.

Karp, A. C. July 25, 2023. “Our Oppenheimer Moment: The Creation of A.I. Weapons.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/25/opinion/karp-palantir-artificial-intelligence.html.

Luckey, P. 2017. “Command and Control.” Anduril, https://www.anduril.com/command-and-control/.

Suchman, L. 2023. “The Uncontroversial ‘thingness’ of AI.” Big Data & Society 10, no. 2 (July). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231206794.

Reardon. S. 2023. “FDA Approves First CRISPR Gene Editing Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease”. Last modified December 8, 2023. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fda-approves-first-crispr-gene-editing-treatment-for-sickle-cell-disease/.

Altae-Tran, H., Kannan, S., et al. 2023. Uncovering the functional diversity of rare CRISPR-Cas systems with deep terascale clustering. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.adi1910.

Lovelock, J. 2019. Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence. Penguin Books Limited.

Kurzweil, R. 2005. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Viking.

Kurzweil, R. 2000. “Ray Kurzweil’s Cybernetic Poet: HOW IT WORKS”. [Poetry machine]. https://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/poetry/rkcp_how_it_works.php.This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

Welcome back to the final episode of the first season of the podcast ‘Off Center’. In this episode, Scott Rettberg is joined by video game designer Doris Rusch, professor at Uppsala University. They talk about Doris' journey in game design and the creation of existential games for the soul.  

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We will be back in February 2024 with a new season.

References

Thatgamecompany. 2012. Journey. Sony Computer Entertainment.  

Fullerton, T. 2017. Walden, a game. USC Games. 

Play for Change. 2017. Blood Myth.  

Rusch, D. C., & Phelps, A. 2021. The Witch's Way. [Twine].  

Klimas, C. 2009. Twine. https://twinery.org/. 

Rusch, D. C. 2012. Zombie Yoga. [Kinect].  

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.

Scott Rettberg is back with a new episode of the podcast Off Center. This time he is joined by Roderick Coover to discuss filmmaking with the use of databases and combinatory cinema projects they collaborate on.  

Sign up for ⁠the CDN newsletter⁠ here.References

Coover, R. 1999. A Harvest in Burgundy. [first exhibited at Midway Studios Chicago].

Coover, R. 2010. Canyonlands: Edward Abbey and the GreatAmerican Desert. Unknown Territories LTD.

Coover, R., & Rettberg, S. 2014. Toxi•City: A Climate Change Narrative. [Recombinatory narrative film].

Coover, R., & Rettberg, S. 2015. “The Last Volcano / Det siste utbruddet.” Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, 12. doi:10.20415/hyp/012.me02

Coover, R., Montfort, N., & Rettberg, S. 2012. Three Rails Live. [Combinatory narrative film].

Coover, R., & Hafertepe, C. 2013. Estuary. [Large format book].

Long, L., Rettberg, S., & Coover, R. et al. 2015. Hearts and Minds: The Interrogations Project. Unknown Territories LTD. [Interactive virtual reality narrative].

This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway Centres of Excellence, project number 332643, Center for Digital Narrative.