Micro-project V: My Desktop World

By: Randall Packer |

Screenshot 2015-02-20 09.04.06
My desktop is a repository dump for files and downloads and miscellaneous attachments that will someday be filed and organized. I don’t know when! The background is a glitched out image of my physical desktop placed on to my virtual topic. Together they meet in my desktop world!

 

As we have discussed this semester, we live partly in the physical world and partly in the virtual. Our desktop is more than just the place where we keep our folders and files, it is a world we personalize and inhabit. The desktop is an extension of who we are. You can see this in the way that we organize our data, configure the desktop image, and use it as a launchpad to extend ourselves into our reach into cyberspace. This project will involve a presentation (performance?) from the desktop, and the Internet connected webcam will be our broadcast medium as we share it with the rest of class.

This Micro-Project will be created in class. Using Adobe Connect in Share Screen mode, each student will share their desktop and discuss how the images, files, music, etc relate to their everyday virtual lives. Describe the significance of the digital objects that reside in your virtual space, their significance, how they are part of the larger narrative of your life (or not!). You can become as personal as you like, or you can role-play and describe your desktop space in an entirely made up fashion. This is intended to be informal, improvised, spontaneous, like any conversation you might have with a friend sharing the artifacts that define who you are, this case virtually.

Here is an example of a Skype conversation that was created by a former ADM student:

As you can see, this student was carrying on a long distance relationship via Skype as a telematic performance using their desktop as a space for sharing.

Instructions:

  • In the Share Pod in Adobe Connect, choose Share my Screen
Screenshot 2015-02-24 15.16.03
  • Then select My Desktop
Screenshot 2015-02-24 15.21.09
  • Go to your Finder and in the Finder menu, choose “Hide Others”
Screenshot 2015-02-24 15.22.35
  • Your Desktop will now be viewable and broadcasting to the rest of us. Keep the “Mini Control” in the lower right hand part your screen.
Screenshot 2015-02-24 15.22.48
  • Execute your presentation/performance over an approximately 2 minute time period in Adobe Connect in class
  • Give us a virtual tour of your desktop, putting it into a narrative context if you like
  • You can show everyone a file by opening it.
  • Take screenshots during the presentation/performance
  • Use one or more screen shots, create a post and add a 200 word description describing how your desktop is an extension of your physical world and your everyday life.
  • Remember to use Micro-Project as your category.

If you weren’t able to share your desktop in class, or you don’t have a screenshot from when you did, just take a screenshot of your desktop and use in your Micro-Project post. Let me know if you have any questions!

Due on Friday, February 27th prior to the spring break.

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