Greetings all

Out of chaos, order emerges - below is the first cut for final project. We'll finesse in class on Wednesday, with an eye to balancing out numbers and skill sets.

VTY
JDD

Art of diplomacy: a short treatment (3-5 pages) and pitch reel that follows/is inspired by TB's documentary 'The Press Secretary , but in this case the documentary will follow an Ambassador for 72 hours (TBA): JDD and TBB

Gillian - sound design+, FCP-
Anna - editing/narrating+, dreamer+
Chris - apprentice filmmaker, words+

Art of war: a short treatment and a 3-5 minute trailer for Project Z: The Final Global Event: Phil Gara and JDD

Ian - editing+, keen to learn, passionate
Lily - music+, FCP-
Alisa - artful+, FCP-

Art of peace: a short treatment and pitch real, using footage shot in RI prison class that Santos and JDD taught and/or interviews that Udris shot at the Montebello Art of Peace conference. Udris bros and JDD

Lanna - Production+, writing+, editing-
Polina - editing+, fontmeister+, tone deaf

Wildcard - Art of Dissimulation?

Spencer - archival rat+, fcp-
Emily - fcp+, editing+, interviews+, overcommitted-
Deffarges - IR wonk+, filming-
Avery - FCP+-, production+, interviews+

Ted's doc (For your eyes only_

Roberto
Kevin
Rachel
Zainab
Addie
Madelene
Mabel
Maya
Lya

Posted by James Der Derian at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (254)

Greetings all

Mother Nature, aka Hurricane Sandy, Frankenstorm, and what we shall not call progress (bonus points to whomever identifies the author behind this bent trope), is acting out. If: a) Brown does not close; b: TB does not make it back from Zurich; and c: JDD cannot make it from Noho to Providence, then we must consider contingency plans. As a sometime advocate of chaos theory and systems emerging out of self-organizing units (see beating of butterfly wings), perhaps you all have some idea(s) to bend this weather event to our advantage? Say a gathering, formal or not, in J-Forum or virtual, to discuss/consider final projects, starting with treatments (samples to follow); how to make an art of war, peace, and/or diplomacy that keeps the audience, as Jarecki put it last week, in the popcorn zone; possible wildcard ideas; preliminary groupings based on personality tests and a smart distribution of skill-sets; and an auto-critique that will be blogged.

What say the collective you?

Stay high, dry, and safe,
JDD

Posted by James Der Derian at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (395)

Collect your thoughts and rev up your engines: after Tom Levin's mind-blowing data-mashing and Sondra Peron's photo-ruminations, we head back into political corrosive video, with Eugene Jarecki now confirmed. We'll screen his seminal Why We Fight on Tuesday at 5, in prep for his arrival in Wednesday's class (same format, first hour solo, second hour interview), and then the RI premiere of In My House with Q & A at the Granoff auditorium, Wednesday at 7 pm. Spread the word. And if you want to get a sense of Jarecki's gift for articulating complex and pressing political issues, check out his conversations last week with Bill Mahar and this week with Jon Stewart.

Finally, we now have a quorum of three killer vblogs, more than enough to pique a critique. Please offer your comments on, among other possibles: the matching of style and substance, clarity and complexity, pacing and editing, text and image, and.....? Consider this a gentle invocation to all, possibly to be followed by a more dire imprecation that will fall upon some.

VTY
JDD

Posted by James Der Derian at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (442)

Get ready to have consciousness and conscience tweaked by this week's multifarious guests.

First up will be good computer genius (Ron Deibert, CitizenLab) up against evil computer genius (Travis Dane, played by Eric Bogosian in Under Siege 2). Screening will be at 6 pm (NB change of time), Joukowsky, with Q and A. In class on Wednesday Eric B will lead off with short resume of a life in the flashier and more fictive dimensions of global media, followed by interview session with TB and JDD. For some diabolical background reading, check out wikipedia entry on Under Siege (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Siege_2:_Dark_Territory).

In the second half Ron will give a genealogy of the forces that lead to the creation of CitizenLab, and, if pressed, is willing to go back to the days of 'Parchment, Paper, and Hypermedia'. For a sneak preview, check out Ron's upcoming TEDx Toronto on the rise of hacktivism (http://www.tedxtoronto.com/speakers/ronald-j-deibert/).

Thursday we shift gears, for a special class (3 pm, Joukowsky) to explore global media for the disenfranchised with Nicholas Kristof, NYTimes op-ed columnist and another remarkable infowarrior for love,peace, and understanding (take that as hint for the video-blog soundtrack).

(And I've received requests if guests can be brought to these events: OK, but let's keep to max of 2 each, fellow Brown students only - ie, no outside press).

VTY
JDD

Posted by James Der Derian at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1326)

Great session today with Alison Klayman - can't wait to see the vblog. In the spirit of blogging, I'd like everyone to take a look at this weeks vblog (Mein Kaempf), and, if the spirit moves you, offer a constructive crit (knowing others will do the same back) via the comment page.

On to next week(s), which features three worthy guests. By now everyone should have a sense of what they want to do in the class. Please email back to globalmediaproject@brown.edu your first and second choices for vblog/thematic and book/doc review by Friday noon. We'll collate and post on the blog. If too many sign up for one slot, we'll go to second choices based on an equitable distribution system (coin tosses,stones/scissors/paper, terrordome contests).

If you are v-taping, Ron at MTS (see below) in CIT is our go-to guy. Be sure check out camera before class, make it your friend, and, if using the robotics cameras, get familiar with them at least one-half hour before class time.

Teaching moment #3: An important part of this class is taking the initiative, developing workarounds, learning by doing. We'll provide the ladder and a net but you gotta' do the scrounging, hustling, and climbing. Meet you at the top.

VTY
JDD

Here's the camera contact:
Ronald Dunleavy
Manager, Media Technology Services
Brown University
Computing & Information Services
115 Waterman Street, Box 1824
Providence, RI 02912-9016

rd@brown.edu

(401) 863-3368 vox
(401) 863-3600 ofc

Posted by James Der Derian at 06:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1398)

I just wanted to remind everyone we have a special guest coming to class on Wednesday , October 10,(name and details to follow), as well as a special one-hour Global Media class added on Thursday, October 11 at 3 pm, at which New York Times correspondent Nicholas Kristof will speak on 'Media for the Disenfranchised'. I copy below a note about getting tix for his film and public lecture

On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 9:52 PM, Cindy Oh wrote:

Hi James,

I just wanted to let you know that Lecture Board, along with Brown UNICEF and Feminists at Brown, is co-hosting a screening of 'Half The Sky', the documentary based on the book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, in anticipation of Kristof's visit. The free screening will be held on Tuesday, October 2 at 8pm in List 120. More information can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/289764897795448/.

Additionally, tickets for Kristof's lecture will be distributed on Wednesday, October 3, and Thursday, October 4 from 12pm onwards at Kaspar Multipurpose Room. Details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/157788234359677/

I would appreciate it if you could pass this information onto your students and update me on the number of students expected at the class visit. Thank you!

Best,
Cindy

Posted by James Der Derian at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (332)

Global Media will be having its own China Week (not to be confused with the ballyhooed 'Year Thereof or the famous 1980s TV series......?), with Alison Klayman, a brunonian extraordinaire, presenting her new doc on Chinese dissident Ai Wei Wei. To make sure everyone gets to see the film we will be screening it Tuesday (5 pm) for the class in Joukowsky, and on Thursday (7 pm) at List Auditorium, in collaboration with the Ivy Film Festival. Alison will talk doc in Wednesday's class, and also will be on hand for Q and A after the Thursday screening. Come primed and prepped!

VTY
JDD

(and it looks the prize will double since nobody got the answer to last week's question about PROFNOTES : Iran-Contra)

Posted by James Der Derian at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (284)

Because of the Steve Walt lecture today our class will be in McKinney seminar room - top floor of Watson. And we'll end 15 minutes early so students who wish to can attend the lecture (which means starting right at 3, and shorter break).

Posted by James Der Derian at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (410)

I think President Obama gave us the perfect one at the UN today. Here is your mission, should you choose to accept:

'But in 2012, at a time when anyone with a cell phone can spread offensive views around the world with a click of a button, the notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete.'
Discuss.

Posted by James Der Derian at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (821)

OUR guest this week is Seb Kaempf - yes, German, but via Australia, where he has been steeping in critical IR and media theory. He'll be speaking to us on 'Old' Media, States, Empire and War. I'll fill in the cracks that let the light in (who sang that?) with my only pp slide-show, on the global co-evolution of media and power. There will be some broad brush strokes as well as a connecting of the dots from the first intro lecture on classical and critical theories of IR and media....

RE screening: Since our favorite ethnographic videographer Thomas Balmes had to postpone, we're going deep into the vaults, screening Tuesday at 5 a slightly whacky but very informative doc on the first guru of global media, Marshall McLuhan. That means our videobloggers have only to shoot the second part of Wednesday class. Since it is the first of many to come, let's make it a teaching moment. And come ready to volunteer for future assignments.

OTHER news: Jonah caught the killer kold that is going around, so he'll be rescheduling the FPC tutorials.

AND let's be sure to start pronto - some from the IR clan need/want to duck out early to hear Steve Walt at 5 pm in McKinney.

Posted by James Der Derian at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1000)