Blogs

Am I my resumé?

Am I even that person that goes by the name I call myself?

And how did FA get to be such a long, long way to run?

Weighty questions, not answerable by a Google search.

(Well maybe FA. That's Oscar Hammer-Styne trying to be clever.)

At the outset I would have said that I have been pretty much myself on-line. But my facebook page is rarely frequented by me, and when I do post, I generally try to be pithy. Pithy is not really me. I go on at length in person, and at even greater (endless) length in my own head. Sleep doesn't slow me down much, it just unleashed those demons of the id that want to rant and rave.

In the end, I decided that Googling "Ken Beck" did not shift my self concept very far. I was impressed by two of the "Ken Becks" that ain't me - the Boston Artist and the California writer - but this is not a mediated presence for ME.

My one whimsical, deliberate departure from literal interpretation of self is a significant one: I am jcraster on youtube. Craster was Lermontov's composer in "The Red Shoes," (Which Anton Walbrook pronounces 'shooss'). Walbrook's Lermontov gets all the great lines relating to Craster: "let's see what you can do in the way of a little REwriting." But Craster (Marius Goring) does get to say "you see this STICK! Follow it!!" He also gets the girl, if only for a short time. For me, taking up this identity is a way of acknowledging the hack work aspect of dance musicianship (or by extension, my career in general) which goes with the territory of collaborative work. Craster is my alter ego when I make work which is not up to par. The quality went out before the name when on.

Why did I take up that identity for youtube? I have not posted anything of questionable quality: my wedding video, a techno stunt in which I do about three significant things at once, and lately, three recordings of Edison records from my collection. Perhaps it frees me to be more mediated as a potentiality.

Who am I? I can't answer in a short form. Give me lebensraum: symphony or novel, body of work, a life. As a mediated presence, I get to inhabit some other plane: to be an actor.

ASSIGNMENT #1

“Who Are You?” #1: Construct your Internet identity using search engines,
video, and social networking sites.  Present to class via web or presentation software.

Jeff Zahos - An Internet Identity

First big question - "what other people come up when I search my name?"

Answer: Mostly me

• The first several results on Google searching "Jeff Zahos" go a long way to creating my online identity.  The first 4 results are pages from my personal/professional website "www.jeffzahos.com".  The page headings indicate that I am interested in "recording techniques", "music" and "sound design".  Pretty accurate, but that's because I made the pages.  Punching around the site is a bit confusing - Tags, categories and pages all kind of get mixed up - maybe this reveals something about my personality...  Haven't really created a well-designed, maintained site with a clear focus.  Maybe this is intentional, maybe not...  Only I and my "analog" friends know that the musician/recording engineer focus of my internet presence is not so up-to-date to my current station/interests/direction of life - There is a lag between my internet identity and my analog world identity.  (Maybe if I kept a blog religiously, it would be closer).  I have not been much of one for online social sharing - real-time modes of sharing suit me much more - I enjoy the in-the-same-space experience.
• My public Facebook page reveals quite a bit about me too.  (http://www.facebook.com/jeff.zahos)You get the sense that I am a drummer - my profile photo is me slamming away on some drums.  I'm a fan of the Foo Fighters and Ryan adams and enjoy hockey in addition to audio and music.  MySpace reveals less, but even the photos indicate an involvement or interest in music...
• My first post on dance-tech.net is referred to (and displayed) on dancebloggers.com "A Dance blog made out of all dance blogs!  Additionally, there is a link to my name on dance-tech.net in reference to our class last year.
• Jeff's minimal Twitter activity (the only entry on his profile is "Hello World.") maybe says something about his tendency to start things and not finish them...  Although those who know me know that I am tending away from technology-based social communication, and that I am definitely not in to texting.
• Other things revealed on the first page of results: Apparently I've been a member of I-Pan, a steel band at the University of Illinois, I am an influence of the band "The Dakota", and I once built a vibraphone damping pedal and mechanism and resonators.  Actually, there is ample evidence of the bands I've played in - show announcements all over from I-Pan, Backyard Shark, and starting to see more from Faster Forward. 
• You also find quite a bit of evidence of my involvement with the Audio Engineering Society - old newsletters I'd authored, a .pdf of a report on a project to build an infrasonic detector that I was involved in, Engineering Open House programs, etc.
• I am the subject of a podcast from the Champaign Central Bands website.  I was interviewed about my work as a freelance audio engineer.
• Later, you find an early attempt at a wordpress blog that reveals an even broader definition of myself: "Hi! My name is Jeff Zahos. Here you will find information on my work as a musician, electronics technician, audio recordist, instrument technician and music educator. Notice the different pages on the menu bar and feel free to browse to learn more about me."  Again, those who know the analog me know the exploring and honing that I've been undergoing, not reflected online.
• I also won some ESPN anchor bobbleheads back in 2001...
• One of my favorite links is a link to www.recordingjones.com (my old recording business) on http://sandpaper.twowik.com - the tag is "Making a shark using sandpaper"
• I find how many "linked" video sites have my name listed - mostly from a video used in a live performance that I was involved in - actually a kind of "mediated score" from a Cornelius Cardew piece which I performed as part of Colab, a class I was involved with last semester (FA10)
• Also the premiere of a very strange musical/theatrical piece I played in at Truman State University.
• It is also very interesting to look just at images - whether on Google image search or flickr pages that return my name - Backyard Shark.

Second big question:

"Does my internet identity 'match' my 'real' identity?"

• Maybe it's because I've been interested in my internet identity for a long time, but I really didn't find so many surprises on my search.  I feel like it does give a pretty accurate (if not incomplete) picture of my life path, at least for the last 10 years or so.  It is quite scattered, however.  ...but maybe this says something about my identity...

Thoughts:

• I think one of the most interesting things about this exercise is that an internet search instantly reveals so much contextual information about my identity - the people, activities, places, activities, etc. - much more quickly than knowing me, and learning these things over time, by common experience or by discussion.

So, to keep things easy, I'm posting the "journal enteries" on Youtube... I tried to experiment with the time feature of my computer's camera to give an idea on what I did this weekend... go to the website...

https://www.youtube.com/user/rdagit

And Yes, Tech is sometimes that boring, but I thought it was funny, as I didn't realize I twirrled my thumbs. LOL... Anywhoo, enjoy...

On other Note; Go to African Company Present Richard III if you get the chance, it should be good. Yes, I know that whomever did the schedule messed up a little bit due to the fact the dance is also having dress and opening at the same time, but I say that it's worth seeing both.

Tonight 6-8:30pm Dance on Camera at Big Screen Project

See Dance on Camera shorts tonight at The Big Screen Project (BSP) and meet over 45 artists coming to celebrate the screening of their work. BSP “A Real Space Where People, Media, and Culture Connect” is an innovative venue for video, film, live and interactive content that sets a new standard for the urban, cinematic experience. Its 30 x 16.5 ft. HD format LED screen is on a wall outside in a  public plaza adjacent to the Eventi, a new 54-story multi-use building on Sixth Avenue between 29th and 30th Street in New York City. BSP is viewable from 29th and 30th streets (close to 6th Avenue), the atrium, FoodParc, and Bar Basque, a striking restaurant designed by BLADE RUNNER’s Syd Mead. Headsets upon request. Visit : The Big Screen Project Schedule.

Dance Films Association’s 39th annual, internationally touring festival is co-produced by The Film Society of Lincoln Center, which provides its Walter Reade Theatre in Lincoln Center Plaza between January 28 and February 1st for 10 repeating programs, 4 shows daily, along with receptions, panels, talks, and an photography exhibit by James Starkman celebrating parkour. To buy tickets visit: filmlinc.com

Exhibit & Symposium in Walter Reade Theatre, Frieda & Roy Furman Gallery - FREE
For program details visit: Exhibit & Symposium Schedule.

11am, Friday January 28
Practice mash-up: dance/film/art (or how to work with rigor and risk)

noon, Friday, January 28
Distribution models for dance films

noon, Saturday, January 29
Screening opportunities for dance films

noon, Sunday, January 30
Felix presentation by Gabriela Estrada.

1-6pm, daily, until February 1 at Baryshnikov Arts Center at 37 Arts experience the master illusionist Billy Cowie's 3-D video installation. MEN IN THE WALL, a four-screen stereoscopic screen dance. 3D glasses allow the viewer to enter this multi-cultural world of four men, whose shared framed lives reveal a public quartet of private differences. Also shown are GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE and TANGO DE SOLEDAD. Award-winning Scottish video artist/composer Billy Cowie creates a delightfully amusing montage that beguiles as it inspires.

DFA’s annual Dance On Camera Festival celebrates the immediacy, energy, and mystery of dance as combined with the intimacy of film. Considered the “mother” of dance film festivals, DFA’s Festival presents a broad range of independent dance films, whether they be documentaries, shorts, narratives, or  animation. The year round touring program has been a revenue source for dance filmmakers since 2000.

Discounts for DFA member and Dance Affiliates Dance New Amsterdam, Movement Research, and Dance Theatre Workshop. Become a member of DFA now

Dance-techTVLIVE transmission channel of the forums to be held with leading academics in Chile. The talks cover topics such as: Dance and Philosophy, Dance and Public Policy, dance and education.

Wednesdays 26, Thursdays 27 and Fridays 28 at 18:00 hrs of Chile (GMT -4)

> This is the transmission link

This event will be in spanish only.

Hello all,

For a screening program that will take place at the Intersection project of the Prague Quadrennial, we are looking for video dance works which deal profoundly with one or more of the following subjects: location, duration, mood.

Please note that the deadline is very near!

For registration please send a filled form via e-mail by February 8

form-VideoDanceProgram-PQ.doc

A DVD (PAL) together with a printed and signed form should be sent to:

Lior Avizoor, 5 Shmaaia street, TLV-Jaffa, 68024, Israel - by February 15

For further information don’t hesitate to contact me.

All the best,

Lior Avizoor

curator and choreographer

+972-54-4840986

lior.avizoor@gmail.com

Between the Seas Festival

New York City, August 29^th- September 4^th  2011

Join us in celebrating contemporary Mediterranean culture!

MISSION:

Between the Seas Festival is organized for the very first time in New York City from August 29^th to September 4^th 2011 at the Wild Project theater space in the heart of the East Village. The festival seeks to engage performing artists and researchers from the Mediterranean and Mediterranean diaspora with the following goals:

-       Share with New York City audiences the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary cultural production from the Mediterranean, aspects of which often remain inaccessible and under-represented in North America

-       Encourage exchange and future artistic collaborations between NYC-based and Mediterranean-based artists

-       Contribute to the examination of Mediterranean identity/ies by encouraging discussion and exploration of the region’s commonalities and differences as manifested in arts, history, culture, geography and politics

-       Generate interest and debate over Mediterranean identity and culture, envisioning the region’s potential as a model of cross-cultural exchange beyond polarizing and homogenizing discourses.

The festival is produced by Les Manouches Theater Company with the collaboration of distinguished scholars, theater practitioners and festival managers from the US and Europe.  

We now invite submissions for artistic performances [music, dance, theater] and scholarly papers from emerging and established artists, researchers and academic practitioners. The deadline for submissions is March 30th 2011. Please see  www.betweentheseas.org for information and submission guidelines in each category.For information email lesmanouchestheatre@gmail.com

www.attakkalaribiennial.org/

opening 28th jan (friday)

There are really only 3 people that come up with my name

Myself

A Beth Parthum who does paper making/artist and is twice my age

And an Elizabeth Parthum who is married to my... great uncle? She's related

O YEA.. and Irine Elizabeth Parthum who is a lawyer. That's only interesting cause I'm pretty sure my great uncle is a lawyer.

I was suprised to see much more of myself come up as Beth rather then Elizabeth.  I have had a hard time trying to decide which to go with professionally, but I think my mind is made up. 

First is the typical, Facebook (not me), Linkdin, and Dance-tech ;).  There is a lot on myself from the university of illinois shows I've worked on. Killer Joe, Crucible, History of American Film, things like that. Studio dance 2.  I did an interview with the Buzz for the Armory Free Theatre. (http://the217.com/articles/view/one_on_one_with_beth_parthum_production_manager_of_the_armory_free_theatre) The things from my undergraduate suprised me, but I'm glad it comes up with my name.  "Relay for Life...." (http://www.desales.edu/default.aspx?pageid=6687)was certainly unexpected even though I'm not sure why. I was part of it for 4 years and co-chaired the event for 2.  I think it gives me hope that I will be able to continue doing good in the world even if I'm in grad school for a short time.

I think this almost gave me a new appreciation for how the world can see a person. I'm an eclectic soul with good parts involved.  It's nice not to see legal issues associated with you online :) 

Being a heavy internet user with a relatively uncommon name, the first thing that comes up when I look for my name in quotes is my "Linked-In" page:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfordchapin

Next is Facebook. My profile page, and then "The Bradford Chapin Appreciation Society" facebook group-- a group some friends from undergrad made as a (flattering) joke.

Next is the page for the theatre where I most recently worked - California Shakespeare Theatre. I was their sound engineer for 2 years, but the page that shows up is the one and only Sound Design I did for them - Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days." Ask me about the rattlesnake story from that play sometime (Cal Shakes is an outdoor theatre in the beautiful Berkeley Hills).

http://www.calshakes.org/v4/ourplays/happy_days.html

Next there's a reunion.com BS page, then an ancestry BS page, and THEN there's my DANCE-TECH.NET PROFILE! YES!!!

A fun fact I found farther down the google page:

When alphabetizing the major towns in Franklin County Iowa, Bradford and Chapin are right next to each other. COOL. Maybe I'll visit both one day...

Cheers,

Bradford

I have done this search on my name as "Robert Dagit" several times now, and it has come to the same conclusion... I can't hide...

Now,

Is this a good thing due to the fact that most people seem to remember my name fairly easily (where I have a hard time remembering names period) and can find me without much effort as a simple search will come up with my Facebook, linkden, twitter (forgot I had that), myspace (does anyone use that) and some other random cites allong with many of the press releases from the shows that I had the pleasure to work on....

Or a bad thing due to the fact that people can easily see if I am lying about X or Y show that I have worked on (most of the time) and those few people who I no longer want to talk to can stalk me.... easily...

Right now there are "four" people that I can see with my name, and someone named Arron Robert Dagit... I either case, It's not hard to tell the difference as one is an insurance salesman from Iowa, one is a Reverend in Flordia (I wish I were there right now, YEY warm) and myself. I can't seem to find anything on the fourth one exept he "exists". To be honest, I can't find anyone of the other Robert Dagit's on any other social site which I would suggest means that they just don't have a facebook account...

So, what does this mean? Do I have to live with some restrictions? I probably should, but I don't.... I do have my facebook with as high of a privacy restriction as possiable for people I do not know. There's also a privacy shield against old school mates, facebook game buddies, bosses I do not trust, etc... but exept for the facebook game buddies, most of these "groups" are no more than a dozen people. I guess it's my knowledge that me having a few pictures of me with a good burbon isn't going to cost me a job or friend that I needing to be dealing with. Strangely, I never restricted anything when my extended family (finally) started getting facebook account and most of them were actually suprised I haven't gotten in more trouble... But then you'd have to know my family to know how much trouble they got in as young adults....

Though, as far as the public sees... I'm A sound Designer that works for places that are not afraid of announcing the opening of a show 3-4 times a piece... oh well... I guess it's free advertisement for later on. No way I can hide the fact that I'm a Sound Designer and Student of USI (undergrad) and UofI.

If you Google search my name, you will first see my dance-tech.net account, and then you will soon find that I’m a hippie college student with canned heat in my heels.

My name is fairly uncommon so I don’t have the trouble that others have of coming up with a bunch of search results, on Google and other search engines, of strangers who share the same name. After searching my name using Google. Bing.com, and a few other search engines, I’m actually not sure if I would consider that to be trouble after all; it’s a tad unsettling to realize how quickly people can learn so much about me. Computer-mediated communication has become such a big part of our lives that the extent to which our identity is expressed and, in a sense, created through this medium can be taken for granted. Thinking about this also made me realize that, at least personally, a self-conscious approach to the use of the internet has almost become a second-nature of sorts. Using information from my social networking accounts and search results from Google and Bing I made an image to summarize my internet identity:

*This was the first picture that came up when I searched my name under images on Google

Photo Credit: Natalie Fiol

Poor Editing: moi

Special discount for dance-tech.net members in all tickets!
Show your profile page on dance-tech printed on in your smartphone (with a valid a ID) and you will get a special discount in all tickets.

Blooging about the festival?

VOLUNTEERS WANTED!

2011 Trailer/Dance on Camera Festival from Dance on Camera on Vimeo.

One day, (a year ago) I searched my name on google. What did I find? Just a few articles and websites in which I appeared. Nothing too special but certainly I myself came up. Today, in 2011 I search my name and I can not find my self. 

Who do I find?

Well, about five long years ago when I had a face book I was very much into photography and had quite a collection self portraits which caught the attention of another Jessica Cornish. She seemed to really like my work and low and behold, after visiting Jessicas facebook I saw that she too was quite the model/photographer and seemed to be doing a lot of what I was experimenting with.

So back to the question; Who do I find?

I find the same Jessica Cornish I met years ago only now she is a hot sensation in London, the star of her hit TV show which involves completing a variety of dares in social settings. People seem to love her!

I tried to escape this other Jessica on google and atleast find another Jessica, even if not myself but alas, I searched till the ends of google and could find this one Jessica.

The first few hundred websites that google displays are the ones which are the most viewed/relevent. Hence, the first page of search results of google might be what you call la crème de la crème. And often time, if the mass is not doing too much deep searching they do not venture far from the first set of results. But what if la creme de la creme is really la bullshit de la bullshit. it matters not. What matters is what is most viewed/relevent.

An article about rhizomatic learning discusses knowledge and what that means in todays technolically centered world.

"A clear definition of the word "knowledge" is difficult yet key to any search for shared understanding. Indeed, as Hinchley (1998) notes, "Like other cultural assumptions, the definition of ‘knowledge’ is rarely explicitly discussed because it has been so long a part of the culture that it seems a self-evident truth to many, simply another part of the way things are" (36).  However, the concept of knowledge is fluid and subject to cultural and historical forces (Exhibit 1); as Horton and Freire (1990) argue, "If the act of knowing has historicity, then today’s knowledge about something is not necessarily the same tomorrow. Knowledge is changed to the extent that reality also moves and changes. . . . It’s not something stabilized, immobilized" (101). The word itself is thought to have multiple origins, drawing from forms of "to know," "to recognize," and the Old Icelandic knà, meaning "I can." The combination of these origins suggests a relationship of knowledge, power, and agency that is grounded in both the social and the political spheres. Knowledge represents “positions from which people make sense of their worlds and their place in them, and from which they construct their concepts of agency, the possible, and their own capacities to do” (Stewart 2002, 20)."

http://davecormier.com/edblog/2008/06/03/rhizomatic-education-community-as-curriculum/

When searching my name on Google, the first item that shows up is my listing as a member of the 2010 Senior 100 Honorary at the U of I.  It directly followed by my professional profile on LinkedIn, my profile on Culturevulture.net and my Twitter account. Unfortunately, my personal website and my work for Dance Teacher magazine follow my Twitter account in the rankings, which is something that I would like to change.

I have made a conscious effort to build an online presence that is primarily professional; my Twitter and Facebook accounts are things that I use for more frivolous, social reasons, and I don’t necessarily want what I write on those sites to be directly tied to my name on the Internet. That in and of itself is somewhat of a conundrum – it seems as though the easy solution would be to make an effort to not act like an idiot on social media sites. But the reality is that for me, those sites are first and foremost social.  To do a “damage control” of sorts, I use “Limited Profile” settings and the like for professional correspondents with whom I interact on those sites.

A lot of my writing shows up on a Google search of my name – 10 O’s isn’t half bad at age 22!  I think one interesting thing about my Internet identity is that I am identifiable primarily as an intellectual – as a student and as a writer about dance – and though I spend the majority of my time playing those roles, I feel like the web minimizes my role and identity as a dancer.

I have been dancing since age 4, and it has always been the thing that has made my life exciting and manageable. The truth is, I don’t feel alive when dance is not a part of my life, and though I have made a living writing about dance (as both a reporter and a critic), the physical act of dancing is the thing that really defines me as a person (in my opinion). To exist and move in physical space – to negotiate my body through a series of movement with an added artistry and engagement, without a textbook in hand or a test looming in the future – is the opportunity that dance provides me in my now highly rigorous academic schedule.  The release I feel in physically dancing is something that no news article could ever provide me.

That being said, the art of the interview is the closest I thing I get in journalism to matching the high I feel when I am moving.  I try to convey the excitement I feel in my interview processes through my writing, so I hope that that character is conveyed in a web search of my work. Unfortunately, I somehow feel that the Internet paints me as somewhat static – especially in a photo search. Smiley photos of me are all over the place, but I don’t think I am always quite so cheeky in real life.

So I just have to find a place for my sarcasm to live online and I will be set. I guess Twitter may work to my advantage, after all.

The full title of the article:

"The Extended Body: Telematics and Pedagogy" (Kozel 2.5)

I have expressed my objection to the term pedagogy. Here's a link to a discussion of andragogy. "Telematics," the word, leads me to another objection, one that pertains in general to the writing in the article. Words can be stumbling blocks to meaning, and opaque sentences full of abstruse terms do not serve the cause of learning. See "On Bullshit."

Nevertheless, the article serves as a useful springboard for many obvious features of the technologically extended creative workspace. Considering 'mediated presence' in light of the several ambiguities swirling around the concept ('mediated' as 'generated by or aided by media' as well as in the sense of 'modified by an intermediary' and presence as defined by its opposite, absence), the article starts with a suggestion that technological breakdowns mimic human breakdown when it comes to communication.

The article predates Facebook by a almost a decade. The social networks make a point of being absent as well as present. Being 'friends' with someone one barely knows, and doesn't feel particularly comfortable with in 'real time' is a form of mediated absence. One can 'know' this person, and be known, in a way outside normal boundaries of social behavior. (Another example is the person that becomes a demon behind the wheel of an automobile. This person has just greeted you fondly on the way to the garage. A moment later, you are nearly run over by this same person, now a driver, enclosed in a mediating metal box, clearly in an impatient mode, aware only of being in a hurry, leaving you shaking your head to the sound of squealing tires and the pall of blue smoke.)

Communication breaks down. The networks have latency, and we are lost between the spaces on a virtual desktop. I find this embrace of 'space' particularly poignant and potentially useful. The interactive workspace and art form searches for meaning as much as it searches for the next breakthrough. Here is a metaphor that offers a meaningful clue. The spaces between windows are the spaces between us.