Virtual Lightbox

In the TAPoR project we are trying to figure out how to have virtual meetings on a regular basis (following the Extreme Programming model). James Chartrand has been using MSN and voice over IP to work with programmers at Ottawa. We are going to try The Virtual Lightbox that Matt Kirschenbaum and colleagues at MITH have developed. This should give us a visual space for back of a napkin drawings.

Does anyone else have experience in what works?

MFA as the new MBA

In the February 2004 issue of the Harvard Business Review there is a short article on “The MFA Is the New MBA” by Daniel H. Pink. (Pages 21-22). He argues that it is harder to get into good art schools and that businesses are hiring MFAs to get creative talent.

An arts degree is now perhaps the hottest credential in the worlds of business. Corporate recruiters have begun visiting the top arts grad schools … in search of talent. … McKinsey says other disciplines are just as valuable in helping new hires perform well at the firm. With other arts grads occupying key corporate positions, the master of fine arts is becoming the new business degree. (p. 21)

Why is this?
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PNG and GIF

So we were discussing whether the PNG (pronounced “ping”) graphics format included vectors. I thought it did since Fireworks lets you draw vectors and uses PNG as its native format. Turns out I was wrong. Fireworks extends the PGN format to include chunks for features others than bitmaps. See PNG feature support in Fireworks.
On a related note – PNG (Portable Network Graphics) was developed as a networked graphics format that was unemcumbered by patents the way GIF was until GIF Liberation Day (June 2002) when the patents expired. Now JPG is having problems as Forgent sues over JPG patent.
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Virtual Cities

Future Cities: Virtual Cities is up! Future Cities is an off-site exhibit curated by Shirley Madill while the Art Gallery of Hamilton is closed for renovations. Virtual Cities is the web site extension created by a team of us at McMaster. This was my first community research learning projects – the web site and art online are by students and organized by students. Liss Platt (my colleague) and I facilitated (or whatever you would call it – perhaps curated) the online site. I hope this represents an ongoing engagement of the AGH and Multimedia.
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