After a lot of hard work KOLABO is over. It was a very intense but fantastic week. Some documentation of the workshop can be seen here.
KOLABO: networked narrative workshop (2009)
Aug. 10-11 Turbo cook character and story
Aug. 13 Editing (morning)
Aug. 14 Final presentation of all projects
About the workshop:
Bruno Setola asked if I could program a workshop under the umbrella of KOLABO, an experimental collaborative lab that ran from July 27 to August 13th, 2009 in Rotterdam and Schiedam (NL). The lab was organized on a volunteer basis, meaning there were no fees or honoraria exchanged. All you had to do was donate your time, bring your ideas and extend a willingness to work with others.
For my workshop, I wanted to set the challenge of creating a networked character and story. Having only two days, we invented Me Genesis, an avatar in Second Life. But unlike most avatars she had no first life and was in search of a third. Defined by Linden Lab’s default settings, her personae was less defined by her looks and more programmed by her experiences which were told through social networking/sharing sites such as Tumblr, facebook, Vimeo and Twitter. Her story and the core of her reflections can be found at My Third Life.
Most of the participants in KOLABO came from a graphic design background and ranged in experience from second-year design students to professionals in the field. For many of us, it was our first intensive immersion into Second Life, and while our main protagonist spoke English, we playfully negotiated the perils of working in both English and Dutch while inventing her character. (This hybrid language is also known as Dunglish.)
My workshop took place at my home in Rotterdam and the final presentation was in Schiedam at the Nieuwe Haven 91 Studios.
To view the collaborative project made during the workshop go to My Third Life.
Last but not least, a big thanks to the following KOLABOrators 😉
Annemarie van den Berg
Erik Kroes
Noortje van Eekelen
Vera Verberne
Michelle Sipers
Michiel van Heeswijk
Bruno Setola