Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Post Digital Publications / Web to Print / Print on Demand

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print process book on newsprint… related to “backpage ads” that may be lost in new laws

see about “self publications” / print on demand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_on_demand

http://soulellis.com/2013/05/search-compile-publish/

http://soulellis.com/about/
http://libraryoftheprintedweb.tumblr.com/
“Library of the Printed Web is a collection of works by artists who use screen capture, image grab, site scrape and search query to create printed matter from content found on the web. LotPW includes self-published artists’ books, photo books, texts and other print works gathered around the casual concept of “search, compile and publish.”

Artists featured in LotPW use vast landscapes of data to collect and transform digital information, visual and otherwise, into analog experience; every work in the collection is a printed expression of search engine pattern discovery. Many of the works in LotPW share common production and publishing techniques (e.g., print-on-demand), even as the content itself varies widely.

Founded in 2013 by artist Paul Soulellis, Library of the Printed Web presents evidence of a strong, emerging web-to-print-based artistic practice based on the search engine and other algorithmic operations; as this view matures, the collection will grow to reflect new concepts and methodologies.

Rather than draw boundaries or define a new aesthetic, the collection is presented as a reference tool for studying shifting relationships between the web (as culture), the artist (as archivist) and print publishing (as a new/old self-serve schema for expressing the archive).

By experimenting with the physical circulation of found images and texts from the web, and with the print-on-demand book form itself, we acknowledge that all books are digital products. All artists’ publishing straddles material/digital realms.”

http://www.newspaperclub.com/products
News Paper Club

Digital Broadsheet -

Width 375 mm
Height 520 mm
Minimum 4 pages
Maximum 40 pages
Multiples of 4 pages
No bleed
81.85 Canadian Dollar








How to Conduct a Good Interview Tips / etc

http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/13-simple-journalist-techniques-for-effective-interviews/
13 SIMPLE JOURNALIST TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE INTERVIEWS

1. Find a good location.
- something in “their territory”

2. Prepare your goals ahead of time.
- what are you looking for? (colourful renactment, on the record opinion, general background)

3. Write down your questions.
- go to an interview w/ twice as many questions as you expect to ask.

4. Work on your flow.
- natural conversation vs effective information
- segues, transitions

5. Think about the medium.
- audio / video - two part questions, longer blocks of time
- print - broken up questions, shorter more concise answers
- nod + smile rather than “yeah” + “uh huh”

7. Avoid obsessing.
- take notes do discern gems from chatter

8. Be a little annoying.
- relentlessly revisit a question that hasn’t been properly addressed, reword the question later

9. Be a little sneaky.
- take notes on things discussed even when not actively interviewing

10. Empower your subject.
- “What is your ideal solution/resolution?”
- clarify person’s pov / opinion

11. Work them up.
- “Why do you care about this issue?”

12. Endure awkward silences.
- allow for rehearsed / generic answer … see what comes next

13. Ask for what you need.
- tell them about your process,
“Listen, I really need a quote from you encapsulating your feelings on this issue,”
 “I really need you to walk me through the chronology of this,”
“I really need you to take me to a location that is relevant to this issue so I can set a scene.”

- is there anything else you would like to add
- is there anything else that would help the audience understand the situation?

“Share a bag of cookies or chips, or take them for coffee or a beer,” he says.


“Pay attention to the person also – is their office messy or neat? Are they talkative and effervescent when explaining their work, or low-key and laid back? How do they compose themselves when speaking? Focus your mind’s eye on every detail.”

 a little “small talk” upfront or to throw out a few “softballs” to begin the interview. A “softball” question is simply a non-challenging question that often gives the person license to brag about themselves or their work.

“You don’t really care about the answer, you just try to get the person loose and comfortable with you,” said Jones.


Prior to the interview, Bill Roth, Founder of Earth 2017 will ask his subjects, “What are the three key points you want to get across in this interview?”

He then discusses those points with the subject and asks, “Are those really the key points and if so, what are key facts or insights that support their point of view?”

skeletal list of questions s

 I let them know what I want out of the interview, how long it’s going to be, and where it’s going to be published.

TIP 9: Mimic body language

TIP 9: Mimic body language

TIP 10: Ask to spell and pronounce their name and title


TIP 12: Record the interview

It’s the ethical thing to do – Your notes are never going to be 100 percent accurate nor is your memory. When you don’t record the interview, you will get the quotes wrong.
You can actually have a conversation – If the subject is constantly waiting for you to finish scribbling/typing your notes, it won’t be a natural conversation, and you’ll have a hard time pulling out natural responses.
You can focus on the subject – You need to be looking at the subject when you’re interviewing them. If you’re constantly looking at your notepad or computer, you can’t do that.
You reduce the fear of being misquoted – “Fear of being misquoted is a key resistance people have to being interviewed,” said Susanne M. Alexander, Relationship & Marriage Coach at Marriage Transformation. “To help people relax and talk to me, I run a tape recorder and I assure the person that I’m taping to be able to quote him or her accurately.”

TIP 14: Test your equipment

“What were some of the unexpected hurdles” and “What were some of the unexpected benefits?”

“Looking back at where you were when you started this journey, where did you think it was going to lead you?”

“If you want your interviewee to be expressive, ask about feelings,” said Andy Wasley, Editor of So So Gay magazine. “How do you feel about x? What was it like to do y?”

“Always remember to ask why. Why do you do what you do? What motivates you,

TIP 22: For revealing interviews, share your story first

“Married Women Who Love Women.” She found that by sharing her own story, the women were more comfortable to share their story which resulted in excellent interviews.

 I’ll pause the interview and say, “Let me repeat back to you what you just said to me, to make sure I understand.”

http://www.sparkminute.com/2011/11/07/30-tips-on-how-to-interview-like-a-journalist/

Be a lab rat.

Record your interviews. Transcribe the questions as well as the answers. Do you ask more conversation stoppers than starters? Do you step on your subject’s words just as they’re beginning to open up? Do you sound like a caring, interested human being, or a badgering prosecutor? To be the best interviewer you can be, study yourself and let your failures and victories lead you to rich conversations and richer stories.

First off, record yourself having a regular conversation, just on the phone with someone or speaking with a friend in person. Then listen to it. Chances are, you will be very surprised with what you hear. We are used to hearing our voice in our own head, so having our actual voice played back is a strange phenomenon.

Once that’s done, try recording yourself reading some news copy (don’t just read an article online—go ahead and actually write yourself some news copy. Remember, the shorter the sentences, the easier they are  to say). Now record yourself, with headphones in your ears to hear the resonance, reading the copy. Try to make your voice sound powerful, use pauses and try to alter the speaking tone and insert emotional flourish when appropriate—no newscast should be read with a monotone drone. Practice and repeat.

You know you have found your broadcasting voice when you can listen to yourself without feeling embarrassed or self-conscious. You should be able to listen to the piece and hear your story instead of your performance. Then you’ve got it.\\

1.      Identify himself or herself at the outset of the interview.
2.      State the purpose of the interview.
3.      Make clear to those unaccustomed to being interviewed that the material will be used.
4.      Tell the source how much time the interview will take.
5.      Keep the interview as short as possible.
6.      Ask specific questions that the source is competent to answer.
7.      Give the source ample time to reply.
8.      Ask the source to clarify complex or vague answers.
9.      Read back answers if requested or when in doubt about the phrasing of crucial material.
10.  Insist on answers if the public has a right to know them.
11.  Avoid lecturing the source, arguing or debating.
12.  Abide by requests for nonattribution, background only or off‑the-record should the source make this a condition of the interview or of a statement.

Watch the clock. Try not to go over thirty minutes. You should be able to capture everything you need in fifteen minutes or less.


“Never ask, ‘What keeps you up at night?’ Ask ‘What’s going to keep you up tonight after this interview?’” says Porter.


1. Ask about the person’s actions.

2. Ask “forward” questions.

7. For more advanced tape recorder users…

“Writing down time codes as you go is smart,” says Porter. For example, “’Talks about Empire State Building at 3:01.’ You’ll be able to get back to that quote quickly.”

“Bottom line: Do for your interviewee what you’d like done for you if your roles were reversed.”

Monday, November 3, 2014

The Cumshow (Final)

cumshow makemoremoney final from josephine norman on Vimeo.

To Maggies

Hi Maggies,

To preface this email, I am a sex worker -- I have contacted Maggies before under a few different emails (and via phone) and appreciate the help I have received greatly.


I am also a graphic design student at OCADU doing my fourth year thesis on the sex industry -- in my thesis I am aiming to talk about the nature of work by talking about sex work, from an anti-capitalist/political standpoint. At this point the pieces meander and are not explicitly activist/advocacy in nature -- my graphic design practice is more in creating work that asks questions rather than solving problems. 

To give a sense of the kind of work I have been doing so far, “The Cumshow” (https://vimeo.com/110849832 - 6 minutes long) is a video I have just completed about my personal experience of being a camgirl.  The tone is not a feature I intend to carry through all my pieces, but hopefully it shows my personal investment and the level of care I put into my work. I have also created a quick poster critical of the monologue/dialogue nature of the reformation of Canada’s sex work laws.


I am contacting you about a several of possibilities in ways Maggies can help me with my project.  I understand the organization has limited resources, and appreciate any aid you can offer.  The three possibilities are interviews, participatory research, and/or advice.

The first possibility would be to help me find subjects for one on one interviews -- not for “gritty life stories” or on whether or not sex work is “exploitation or empowerment” -- but on their opinions of the nature of work in general, experiences with other jobs, as well as specific questions such as “what upsets you the most about the conversations happening about sex work (ex. in the media, between individuals)”, “what do you think is missing in conversations about sex work”, “what questions should we be asking”, and “who do you think the people who need to hear this the most are”.  I intend to use the material gathered in pieces (as direct quotes or storytelling), and to inform the overall direction of my project.  The final work will be shown in an end of year student exhibition at OCADU (in May), and will likely be published online.  I am not certain of what the mediums will be, but print, video and audio are all likely possibilities.

A second possibility is participatory research.  One of my professors, Sheila Sampath, has worked with Maggies before, and suggested this.  I will admit this is a methodology I am interested in but not familiar with -- however I have ample resources to guide me.  This would take up more of the organization’s time than the one on one interviews, but would ensure the outcomes aligns in a way that meets the needs of the organization.  It would also ensure that my research conducted with the help of Maggies is more of a give and take scenario, with regular check ins and benefits on both sides, than extracting information from individuals (although even that case I would like to keep everyone “in the loop”, if desired).  In this case we would meet and discuss needs Maggies as an organization has, and identify ways I can help.

If the above possibilities are not within the scope of what Maggies can offer, if someone could look over questions I have prepared for interviews (I know several sex workers who are interested), and advise me on questions/ideas I have regarding the safety and support of individuals participating (before, during and after), that would be very helpful as well. (And also, I guess, advice on safety for myself, as I am outing myself as a sex worker at a pretty pivotal point of my creative career).

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again I appreciate anything you can do to help.

Cheers,
Josephine

Vocal Lessons

vocal lessons -- $40 / hr - $80 / hr.
call teachers + let them know what i am interested in, see if it is possible in one lesson or two lessons.
ask if i can audio record the lesson for my process document.
practice walking in the park.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

some sex work links





http://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Columnists/2014-10-20/article-3908526/Where-is-the-outrage/1

Where is the outrage?

Almost three weeks ago, the Safe Harbour Outreach Project (SHOP), a new support program for sex workers operated by the St. John’s Status of Women Council, issued a red alert warning to the province’s sex workers.





http://www.nfb.ca/film/buying_sex/

Timely and wise, this feature documentary explores the state of prostitution laws in Canada.Buying Sex captures the complexity of the issue by listening to the frequently conflicting voices of sex workers, policy-makers, lawyers and even the male buyers who make their claim for why prostitution is good for society. With the landmark Supreme Court decision in Canada, the film examines the realities in Sweden and New Zealand. The film also challenges us to think for ourselves and offers a gripping and invaluable account of just what is at stake for all of us.

Pecha Kucha Oct 21



Pecha Kucha Oct 21 from josephine norman on Vimeo.

1. TOPIC - INTRO (cheque)
At this point, I am talking about the nature of work by talking about sex work.  This includes revealing or demystifying sex work and portraying it as a job like any other, something someone uses to pay bills, buy groceries, something someone finds both positive negatives in.  Some thing some people are more suited towards than others.

2. PROJECTS - POSTER
As my first project, I created a poster about the conversation happening about sex work laws in Canada and how they are being built on emotional reasoning rather than research and experience.   I did this as my first project as I felt I had to get it out of my system.  I felt I can’t talk about sex work without talking about this.

3. PROJECTS - VIDEO
For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a video about the discrepencies between fantasy and reality when working as a camgirl.  The voice over is a mashup of two stories, one is a description of an ideal experience and the other as a very raw and honest description of what camming is like when you’re having a bad day.

4. PROJECTS - VIDEO (sell your panties)
The video uses two types of glitching. A glitch, like a camgirl, is a fleeting and personal experience, and shows how flaws in technology can be beautiful.   Rosa Menkman and Nick Briz heavily informed my decision to use this process in my video, as a result all of the glitches in the video are authentic, not aesthetic.

5. TOPIC
Okay, to be honest… at this point I do not really, and do not ever really expect to feel equipped to discuss my desired core message in depth, partially because when I read others attempting to talk about what I want to talk about, my eyes and my brain glaze over and images of men in overalls with hammers fill my mind.

6. TOPIC
Instead I will tell you this story.  The other day I was talking to some students who graduated a few years ago, I told them about a joke I have with my friend -- I tell her I have this typography class, and we’re learning to do X Y and Z, but really, we are learning how to subvert capitalism.  They looked at me wide eyed and said, “really? Maybe OCAD has changed”.

7. TOPIC
That reaction sort of blew me away, but it revealed to me that my experience at OCAD and this lesson I feel it tries to teach probably speaks more to me and what I care about than the institution as a whole, and I should probably accept myself as product of not only my environment but also my choices and individual beliefs.

8. TOPIC
When I think of sex work, I do not think of people selling their bodies out of desperation.  I think of people working on the fringes of an economy that prioritizes jobs that do not offer what people need to survive.  I think of people who are scrambling to find an alternative to the status quo.


9. PROCESS - BLOG (disclaimer)
Since this summer I have been keeping a blog.  Every time I read, watch or make something, I make a post about it.  I try to include a name, creator, a link to the material, and  notes on what I thought about it.   It is not the most readable but I do have disclaimer that says any especially incoherent posts are coming from a phone, intoxicants, or geniune laziness.

10. PROCESS - ACADEMIA / MAP (map)

At the start of this semester, I read a lot academic material, and collected a lot of things I would never have the time to read or decipher.  I made a giant mind map that feels somewhat impenetrable to me now.  If I find this mind map scary, I can’t imagine how others view it. I will probably try to approach map concept from a different angle in the future.

11. PROCESS - PHOTOS (photogrid)
I have also been taking photos of material in my daily life relating to my topic.  While some of these photos are spontaneous, some of them are staged.  As I develop a better understanding of what I’m interested in exploring, finding inspiration will likely be easier.  I have found them helpful in my making.

12. PROCESS - WRITING
Using the motivation behind the photo project (daily experience as inspiration), I have begun recording  personal experiences relating to my project. For example,  one of them is about some monotonous manual labour I did a few weeks ago with two friends who live on disability, and the relationship they, and I, have with work.

13. PROCESS - WRITING
I also included a summary of a story someone in my writing group wrote about a very competitive, oblivious, work focused man who works at an escort dispatching service that shares the floor of an office building with the call centre of a women’s helpline.

14. PROCESS - DREAMS
In addition to this I am recording related dreams I have, through writing or drawing.  One was about fourth year at OCAD and a weird, emotional hivemind / unity activity that ended in glitching technology and tears of joy.

15. PROCESS - DREAMS
In another I dreamt I was an escort at a funeral and my client wanted to cry about his dead friend, but he had also brought me half a smartie mcflurry. The way I like to eat mcflurries is by sucking all the ice cream out of my mouth and chewing the smarties with my front teeth.  And it is very hard to talk or express sympathy while doing that.  And the ice cream was melting.

16. NEXT - INTERVIEW
Around week 4 I told myself I wanted to do 4 projects this semester, so I would like to do two more. One of the underformulated ideas that have been jumbling in my brain is to interview sex workers about work, not life stories or gritty details about the nature of their job, but about their opinions and experiences with other kinds of work.

17. NEXT - CONTRAST
I have also thought about personally talking about experiences with other kinds of work as a contrast the video I’ve made.  Examining fantasy and reality in another job in a similar way, for example … in a call centre, where - if you want to keep your job - when someone verbally abuses you you have no power to stop them or exit the situation.

18. NEXT - SPECULATIVE
As I develop further understanding of my topic I would really like to do a speculative project about the future of sex work using foresight methodologies.  At this point I’m still uncertain about what areas I’m really looking at and not sure if this is the right next step for me.

19. NEXT - DIGITAL LABOUR
There are key words that are in my brain as result of working on my video - words like commodification, digital labour and surveillance. I feel I would like to continue pursuing those topics, but I’m not sure if it’s a rabbit hole that will get more interesting as I go deeper, or if I want to stay on the surface and explore more

20. FINAL
In the past few weeks I have really opened up my process and become more comfortable with making.  I know I am talking about the nature of work through talking about sex work, and that I am interested in being critical of capitalism by doing this, but I am keeping an open mind about my next step and waiting to see where the rabbit hole leads me.

---------------------------------

ROUGH

At this pint, in my work, I am moving towards talking about the nature of work through sex work.  This includes revealing / demystifying sex work and portraying it as a job like any other, something someone uses to pay bills, buy groceries, something someone finds both positive negatives in.  Some thing some people are more suited towards than others.

One of the issues people have with sex work is that they view it as a form of exploitation.  In talking about sex work as work, I would like to talk about work in general, especially in regards to all work as exploitation.

I found a book called Work, Capitalism, Economics, Resistance by Crimethinc that discusses late capitalism.  In this book sex work is described as existing outside the capitalist / exploited classes, and in an “excluded” class -- a class that operates on the fringes of the economy.

… at this point I do not really, and do not ever really expect to feel equipped to discuss my desired core message in depth, partially because when I read others attempting to talk about the topic my eyes and brain glaze over and images of men in overalls with hammers fill my mind.

The other day I was talking to some students who graduated a few years ago, I told them about a joke I have with my friend who does not go to OCAD -- I tell her that the main thing OCAD has to teach its students is that capitalism is oppression, I tell her I have this typography class, and we’re learning to do X Y and Z, but really, we are learning how to subvert capitalism.  They looked at me wide eyed and said, “really? Maybe it’s changed in the past few years”.

That reaction sort of blew me away, but it revealed to me that my experience at OCAD and this lesson I feel it tries to teach probably speaks more to me and what I care about and the classes I choose to take, and the teachers I choose to take them with more than the institution as a whole, and I should probably accept myself as product of not only my environment but also my choices and individual beliefs.

As my first project, as you know, I created a poster about the conversation happening about sex work laws in Canada and how they are being built on emotional reasoning rather than research and experience.   I did this as my first project as I felt I had to get it out of my system.  I can’t talk about sex work without talking about this.  In the process of making that, I read a lot of things -- largely academic -- and collected a lot of material I would never have the time to read or decipher.  I also made a giant mind map that feels somewhat impenetrable to me now.

After this, I started reading academic material on camgirls. Most of this was written or researched over 5 years ago, and because of the speed the internet and our relationship with it changes, the material feels out of date already.  However, in reading this I pulled some keywords I felt were interesting, such as fantasy / reality, public / private, and authenticity.

As a result of my frustration with the reading material I was finding, I resorted to my own experience and past work.  I mashed together two stories I wrote this summer, one written to be an appealing description of what an ideal show is like from my perspective, for use as a marketing tool.  Another was written as a very raw and honest account of one of the worst days I had while working.  I spent fucking well forever rewriting, editing, cutting excess material, and showing it to trusted friends for feedback before coming to a point where I accepted it would never be perfect or talk about all the things I wanted it to talk about while being reasonably short and easily digested in time based media.

During this editing process I researched the relationship between design and film, essay films, typography in films.  In one of the original stories I wrote, I disassociate from my body and see it as a water wonderland.  In my mind, the process of disassociating in that way is visualized in a way that reminds me of a time when I was a child playing tag, and I fell and smeared the palm of my hand in red, wet dog shit.  In my research about essay films, I came across glitching, and found some types of datamoshing matched exactly the visual that existed in my mind.  I went down the glitch rabbit hole and became quite enamoured with Rosa Menkman and the Glitch Theory Manifesto, and Nick Briz’s desktop doumentaries / essay films about glitching.  It also helps that glitch theory speaks to a lot of the topics I was thinking about with my camgirl project.  A glitch, like a camgirl, is a fleeting and personal experience.  A glitch, like a live camgirl, is a live interaction between your system and the data in the video / audio / image file.  And a glitch, like a camgirl who lets her reality show, can be taken as an annoyance or be seen as an accidental thing of beauty.

I had a lot of fun with testing different ways to glitch images, audio and video, and exploring ways these things could infuse additional (subliminal) meaning into the material I was working with.

This video is very nearly completed, it just has a few imperfections related to audio/video syncing I have to fiddle with, and I’d like to explore the typography some more.  I’m pretty excited about it and feel like it will be really hard for me to move on from this format.  I keep saying to myself, augh, I’m a designer, I can’t make videos all year.

Through this whole process, I am keeping a blog.  Every time I read or watch something, I make a post about it.  I do my best to include name, author / creator, and a link to the material, and notes on what I am looking at / what I thought about it / what is important.   Like many of you, I am trying to take pictures of things revolving around my topic my day to day life.  Because I have opened my creative process to allow more personal things, I have also started collecting and writing about different experiences that relate in my day to day life.

For example, a few weeks ago I worked for a day filling nicotine bottles with two close friends who live on disability because they have such severe anxiety and depression they have difficulty holding jobs because they can not reliably show up to work.  One of them works at this nicotine place under the table, but he is literally always working (answering emails on his phone) because he feels so guilty for the times he misses a shift because he has spent 36 hours asleep. We spent the day trying to convince the owners to buy a machine we had seen that could do the job we were doing more efficiently, for cheaper.

 One of them is about some monotonous manual labour I did a few weeks ago with two friends who live on disability, and the relationship they / we have with work.

I also included a summary of a story someone in my writing group wrote about a very competitive, oblivious, work focused man who works at an escort dispatching service that shares the floor of an office building with the call centre of a women’s helpline.

In addition to this I am recording related dreams I have, through writing or drawing.  One was about fourth year at OCAd and a weird, emotional hivemind / unity activity that ended in glitching technology and tears of joy.

In another I dreamt I was an escort at a funeral and my client wanted to cry about his dead friend, but he had also brought half a mcflurry and the way i like to eat mcflurries is by sucking all the ice cream out of my mouth and chewing the smarties with my front teeth.  And it is very hard to talk/express sympathy while doing that.  And the ice cream was melting.

As for where I go from here… around week 4 I told myself I wanted to do 4 projects this semester, so I would like to do two more.  At week 4 I had the idea that I would do camming next, then the impact of the sex industry on the consumer, and .. something about archetypes and sexuality and creative flow.  But now that I’m in this lovely world of anticapitalism and glitch art and digital labour and feel like I’ve been exposed to a wealth of opportunities to criticise capitalism through this kind of sex work that is a type of digital labour, I feel like I would really like to continue pursuing those topics, but I’m not sure how to do that or if it’s a rabbit hole that will get more interesting as I keep going deeper, or if I want to stay on the surface and keep exploring.

Some more formulated ideas that have been tumbling in my brain have been
1) interview sex workers about work, questions people doing usually ask sex workers ie; not life stories or gritty details about the nature of their job, but about their opinions and experiences with other kinds of work.  I know some people who are open to this / interested in it, but I am concerned about writing questions that are open ended and not leading.  Would probably have to be more open minded than I currently am going into it.
2) As I develop further understanding of my topic I would really like to do a speculative project about the future of sex work using foresight methodologies.
3) But I would also like to keep making videos.

I feel like I have really opened up my process and become more comfortable with making in the past few weeks.  Although I know I am talking about the nature of work through talking about sex work, I am keeping an open mind about my next step.

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FEEDBACK

- who should my audience be / who is my audience
- how explicit, tone / content, contemporary / haven't thought of or need to rethink their position
- censoring myself
- talking in abstraction  - is that interesting, should be able to articuate core message at this point (in education)