The Stanford Humanities Lab is a Center for
Transdiciplinary/Post-Disciplinary Study. We discover
fascinating futures to be explored in ignoring and crossing disciplinary borders.
SHL believes
that some crucial questions — about what it is to be human, about experience in a connected world, about the boundaries of
culture and nature — transcend old divisions between the arts, sciences and humanities; between the academy, industry and
the cultural sphere.
We engage in experimental projects with a "laboratory" ethos — collaborative, co-creative, team-based — involving a
triangulation of arts practice, commentary/critique, and outreach, merging research, pedagogy, publication and practice. Beyond commentary and discussion, we build: new media, interactive archives,
predictive models of social change, collaborative research workshops, art exhibitions.
The SHL agenda encompasses
• animating archives - regenerating, bringing to life,
and fostering new modes of interaction with the storehouses of human, cultural, artistic, scientific achievement - our focus is on the question of the relationship of the human past to efforts at conservation and preservation
• building bigger pictures - putting specialized in-depth research into the context of big human questions; questions, for example, of rapid social change and innovation, the ethical implications of information technology, the character of distributed digital communities, the politics of digital citizenship, the past, present, and future of intellectual property
• enabling co-creative collaboration - developing successful models of teamwork, learner-centered models of training (thinking through doing), and collaborative authoring tools and processes
• building bridges - establishing innovative partnerships between industry, museums, foundations, and high-level university-based research
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"The expanding universe of Second Life": Life Squared in the Mercury News
The Humanities Lab's Life Squared project is featured in this article in the San Jose Mercury News Tech Talk, under the byline of Dean Takahashi. "Many of the new uses involve making money and buying and selling goods. Corporations such as IBM are buying whole "islands" to show off their wares. [...]
"The educational and artistic uses of the virtual world are blossoming, too. A case in point is Stanford University's Humanities Lab, which has set up a virtual museum dedicated to the work of acclaimed performance artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson, who donated scores of boxes with her art works to Stanford. The virtual museum was created by Stanford professors Henry Lowood and Michael Shanks, as well as Humanities Lab project manager Henrik Bennetsen." Read the entire article here on the Mercury News website.
How They Got Game Workshop #1
Please join us on Wednesday the 4th of April 2007 at 3pm on the 4th floor of Wallenberg Hall at Stanford University for a How They Got Game workshop with Daniel Huebner. Speaker Bio:Daniel Huebner is director of community affairs at Linden Lab, where he seeks to bring a modicum of order to the virtual world of Second Life — without stifling its essential creativity. Previous, Daniel was a journalist, editor, and analyst for several publications, including stints at the helm of Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com. Abstract:Second Life is redefining the rules of online worlds, and in the process invaliding many of of the strategies that have thus far been used to govern online spaces. With it's mix of anonymity, real money, emergent social order, and rampant creativity, Second Life presents a potent blend for anyone hoping to bring order to the inherent chaos. From the beginning, Linden Lab has pursued a less-is-more philosophy, avoiding the urge to created strict rules and policies in favor of relying on social pressure and communication to instill values and norms into a new community. As the world of Second Life grows past four million Residents, new approaches to dispute resolution, identity, and trust are being added to Linden's toolbox. These workshops are open to all interested parties with a strong interest in topics surrounding new media, technology, and design. They offer the chance to hear talks by industry professionals and seasoned academics, but also offer the rare opportunity for one-on-one questions as well as collaborative work. How They Got Game is a research project at the Stanford Humanities Lab dedicated to the historical investigation of computer games and other related interactive technologies. Its diverse membership possesses varying academic interests ranging from machinima, virtual worlds and interactive storytelling. For more information or to show an interest in attending please contact Henrik Bennetsen - bennetsen@gmail.com
How They Got Game Workshops
[Cross-posted from the HTGG2 blog.] The How They Got Game group is launching a series of workshops on game culture and game studies. Organized by Henrik Bennetsen, the workshops will take place twice per month at the Stanford Humanities Lab (Wallenberg Hall, 4th floor) and they will have different formats, e.g. lectures, presentations, and conversations with game scholars, students, and members of the industry. Here are the details regarding the first two meetings: - Wednesday April 4th at 3pm
- Daniel Huebner, director of community affairs at Linden Lab, creators of Second Life.
- Tuesday April 17th at 3pm
- Jesper Juul, computer game researcher and designer.
Henrik says "I expect each of these to run for about 90 minutes, with at least the last hour for a lively discussion. They will take place on the 4th floor at Wallenberg Hall. Topics and further details to be announced." The meetings are open to the public, but if you are planning to attend, please send an email to Henrik.
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