Posted by jerry on July 13th, 2008 — Posted in Journal, New media, Technology, Writing
It’s official. Steampunk is a global phenomenon. This mouse mod which turns the humble computer rodent into a Victorian-style aesthetic masterpiece was made in Russia, where there is apparently a strong modding community.
Steampunk itself is derived from a sub-genre of cyberpunk science fiction that emerged with the likes of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling in the mid 1980s. Steam-punk is a spin-off that postulates an alternative future in which contemporary functionality is produced in a kind of Victorian/Edwardian era. It was given huge impetus by the publication of Gibson and Sterling’s “The Difference Engine” which envisages a world in which Charles Babbage’s programmable mechanical computer develops into a steam driven Victorian version of today’s world.
In keeping with that aesthetic, enthusiasts have shoehorned modern computer equipment into elaborate brass and leather devices which have today’s functionality with the aesthetics of yesteryear – when machines were handcrafted with pride.
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Posted by jerry on May 31st, 2008 — Posted in Journal, New media, Writing
I have been part of a writers’ group in the virtual world SecondLife for some time, and last year was asked if I’d like to submit something for the literary journal SLiterary. The deadline was only a few days away, but I had been toying with an idea for a novel for some time and thought I’d try out a sample piece and see what the reaction would be.
That was Part 1 of SLeuth – a kind of detective fiction set partly in SecondLife and partly in the real world. The piece was accepted and I was paid in real money – a bonus in my view – and received very good feedback from the editors – two real-life literary editors.
Later, I was invited to speak in-world as an invited guest at a ‘meet the author’ gathering in SL. There, I got to meet a number of my readers and engaged in really stimulating discussion. But one of the key things that came out was that they wanted to know what happens next. I had kind of thought of this as a one-off to test the waters, but as the deadline fast approached for the second edition, the editors approached me and specifically requested part two, and they would keep the deadline open to give me time to submit it.
In the end they won and I wrote the second part – but it has shown me above all that there is a real appetite for this tale. You can download the journal by clicking on the images below and the pdf will be delivered to your machine. It’s free and gratis as the costs of the journal are met by advertising. So here are the journals with part one and two of SLeuth – let me know what you think… 🙂
fiction New Media second life SecondLife sliterary writing
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Posted by jerry on April 11th, 2008 — Posted in Journal, New media, Technology, Writing
The Virtual Shakespeare Consortium is a consortium of individuals and organizations dedicated to bringing Shakespeare and his culture to the Internet and beyond.
View my page on vShakespeare
Partly it’s about bringing together people from all over the world – virtually – to perform his plays in virtual worlds, like SecondLife.
Shakespeare’s sonnets are often forgotten in such ventures, but I think the richness of their imagery and of their conceits would lend themselves to creative treatment in SL, along with sonnet readings in-world.
This venture will celebrate the polyglot nature of Shakespeare’s language – he emerged after all, at a pivotal point in the development of the English language, benefiting from the three major language groups that made up English, in a context in which new words were being coined daily and entered the language with the kind of speed not seen again until the birth of the internet.
I look forward to see how this develops
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by jerry on February 20th, 2008 — Posted in Travel, Writing
Think of a newspaper and look at the headlines – perhaps you have very little time in your day – a well-crafted headline can peke your curiosity and make you read further. It’s the same with blog titles. If you are writing a travel blog, you are less likely to read a post that declares : “My trip to Singapore”. But if instead your title was “Five top shops in Singapore” – wouldn’t you just quickly check out the list? People love lists. There are whole books of them.
Or what about a question? “Why are Tokyo’s drain covers so pretty?” Again you’d be reading that post pretty quickly – if only to disagree with the answer.
Lists and questions are just two of the techniques listed in BraveNewTraveler.com – check it out!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by jerry on December 21st, 2007 — Posted in Journal, New media, Technology, Writing
With 200,000 sign-ups daily, Facebook has become the social software phenomenon of 2007, according to New Scotsman newspaper. Facebook has been added to the 2008 edition of the Collins English Dictionary as both a trademarked noun (the site) and as a verb – ‘to facebook’ – meaning to search the Facebook profile of someone.
This underlines the way in which social software is fast becoming mainstream, as opposed to a youth culture fad. Businesses are rapidly developing Facebook profiles and developers are producing new applications for Facebook each day. And that is part of its success – its open architecture enables it to grow organically as people see new ways to use the medium to make new socail connections and build larger or more specialised relationship networks as appropriate.
Alongside Facebook, related words have also been added – like an extension to the current definition of ‘poke’ to take account of its specific usage on Facebook. According to Collins Dictionary, Facebook was recommended ten times more than any other word in the dictionary’s webiste for a new listing.
It just goes to show that the dynamic nature of English is undiminished – in fact, quite the reverse!
Cheers
Jerry
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