literacy everywhere
Posts tagged #ala10
Amateur Video Game Composers
Sep 3rd
Coming off of yesterday’s post about the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom Machinima contest, I decided to talk more about using video games as a medium for creative expression. Yesterday I talked about video games & film, today, video games & music!
Chiptune is a genre of music where the composer and/or performer uses the sounds generated by “retro” video game or computer hardware as the instrument. Instead of playing a guitar or a trumpet or a violin, they play a Gameboy. Or a Commodore 64.
The phrase “8 bit” evokes a certain nostalgic emotion attached to video game culture, which is why the movie we linked to in yesterday’s post was titled 8-bit, why we’re called “The 8bitlibrary”, and where this collective of chiptune musicians get their name:
Before I was a librarian blogger, I was a video gamer. And as such, I got into this crazy genre of music called chiptune. The 8bitpeoples are a collective of musicians who use classic video game hardware to make music and then give it away free on the internet. I actually think they are at least part of the reason why I ended up becoming a librarian: the idea that information and expression should be free (including artistic expression) is one of the core principles of librarianship. The contest that spawned yesterday’s post, and inspired today’s, is thanks to the efforts of the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom in fact!
8bitlibrary.com is inspired a bit by them as well; while the “8 bit” in the name we took because of its nostalgic nature, and the “library” because of our love for Library Garden et al, the idea of “a collective of creative outside-the-box thinkers” in this field is at least partly inspired by the 8bitpeoples.
This is something librarians should seriously think about as we move forward: we aren’t book depositories. Even things like literacy are only part of what we do. Let’s take our inspiration from a variety of sources. Musicians. Chefs. Artists. I would love to see a wave of librarians who say “I became a librarian because of an example set by a musician“. I had a convo with Allen McGinley on our way down to #ALA10: he said he would love to see a librarian on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, not as a musician, but as a librarian. I ended up using that as one of my two goals for an exercise we did during an ALA Emerging Leaders event.
Anyway, enjoy some free Chiptune music via the 8bitpeoples:
one of my favorite Christmas Albums, ever:
Who doesn’t love Axel F?
Post-ALA Dance Party 2010 (cool down mix)
Jul 23rd
Just a little something to relax to over the weekend.
Have a fantastic weekend from the entire 8BitLibrary crew.
ALA10 Battledecks: JP Porcaro
Jul 2nd
Mad love to my 8BitLibrary brother JP for representing 8BitLibrary at the ALA 2010 Battledecks competition. I’m proud of you bub.
Want to see the rest of the videos? Click here to be taken to Librarian by Day and the rest of the videos!
QR Codes and Libraries
Jun 29th
If you’ve come to this page from the ALA Annual Conference QR Code Scavenger Hunt, WELCOME! & congratulations! Email me [jp@porcaro.info] the full “path” you took, from Cognotes to now, and we’ll be sure to send you a prize!
So let’s talk QR Codes in libraries. I’d love to hear what you’re doing with QR Codes in your libraries, so leave us a comment and we can discuss!
So it seems the buzz around QR codes in libraries takes a few forms. Some libraries are using codes that leads users to the OPAC data on a book or shelving area, depending on the physical location of the code. In the case of our ALA Conference hunt, we had the codes lead participants to physical locations, presentations, and digital destinations. Since the codes embed a tremendous among of text in a small box, the sky is the limit to what libraries can use these codes for. How about placing them around your community announcing a event (there’s a certain amount of excitement and mystery surrounding these codes!). Libraries can connect users to who interested in certain topics to different places in the library and beyond with these codes.
This is a new topic in libraries. We all need to work together on how far we go with this topic, so let’s the convo started right here in the comment box! Look to the right of the page, and you can even login using your facebook account to post comments here.
Go forth! – JP
Project Brand Yourself A Librarian
Jun 26th
THE TIME HAS COME.
BRAND YOURSELF A LIBRARIAN TODAY!
The 8BitLibrary team and YOU (well, if you want to) will be going to Jinx Proof Tattoos in Washington DC on SATURDAY JUNE 26TH at 4:30PM.
The bummer? They don’t take appointments. JP and myself will be getting tattoos and we’d love for you to be there to support us (one of us will cry, but who?) or get your own tattoo. Of course, there will be lots of pictures and video. Which leads me to this:
TAGS: Twitter: #librarytat8bit Flickr, Etc: librarytat8bit
AFTERPARTY!
Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 9:30pm
WHERE: RFD Washington
ADDRESS: 810 7th Street
If you support the project, please add this to your blog/wiki/facebook/myspace:
PROJECT BRAND YOURSELF A LIBRARIAN FLICKR GROUP!
OTHER PLACES TO GET TATTOOS IN DC
- Fatty’s Custom Tattoos PHONE: 202-452-0999
- Tattoo Paradise PHONE: 202-232-6699
- Off The Hook Tattoos PHONE: 202-581-2018
- DC Ink PHONE: 202-232-7711
ALA 2010 Badges
Jun 15th
SO are you going to the ALA 2010 Dance Party?!
BOOM, SHOW YOUR PRIDE!
Also, are you getting a tattoo or supporting the Project Brand Yourself a Librarian??
BOOM!
Thanks folks,
Signed, JP “the 8bit Brawler”
ALA Open Gaming Event & free stickers at ALA
Jun 8th
FYI, the largest gathering of gaming-in-libraries personalities from across the country will be at the ALA Open Gaming event on Friday, June 25th at 7:30pm in the Renaissance Ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel. You can RSVP on facebook here. It is an official ALA Annual Conference event hosted by the Games & Gaming Members Interest Group and sponsored by Neal-Schuman and Information Today.
The 8bit team will be in attendance handing out 8bitlibrary.com stickers and promoting the message that “games in libraries = good”. JP & Justin will, in fact, be handing out stickers everywhere we go, from Thursday night before conference to the very end of the conference on Tuesday, so track us down :)
So what if aren't the PRETTIEST bloggers in libraryland?! We're handing out free stickers!
Pokewalking at ALA Annual 2010
Jun 7th
Hey all,
Since I’ve spent so much time on SoulSilver, I have yet to get around to cracking open Pokemon HeartGold (despite buying it the day it came out). This set of Pokemon games were released with an accessory called a “Pokewalker“, which is like a combination of a pedometer and a Tamagotchi.
The Tamagotchi-like Pokewalker! Looks like Pikachu has taken 367 steps so far :)
It’s a fun device on a few levels. Firstly, in the game, you can take your Pokemon for “walks” and they accompany you in your travels. This is a more literal manifestation of that idea, in that you load a Pokemon into the Pokewalker, and as you literally walk, your steps are counted and your Poke walks with you :)
How to load Pokemon into the Pokewalker!
Second, it’s fun because there are times where you gotta take a bunch of steps before youe Poke can level up. These games came out right before Pax East 2010, and I always knew who was trying to add steps to a Pokewalker, because they’d be frantically running around for no reason. Funny!
Third (and this leads into my “project”), it is a highly visible device, so people can see you are “playing” Pokemon. As the ALA’s resident “King Pokemon Fanboy”, everyone will be SURE that I’m a true Pokefanatic now.
SO I’ve decided to spend some time playing HeartGold before the 2010 American Library Association Annual Conference, and the morning the conference kicks off, I’ll load it up with a Pokemon. I’ll carry the Pokewalker everywhere I go for the entire conference, and by the end, I’ll know how many steps I walked for the entire conference, and hopefully my Pokemon will have leveled up a few times. But I need your help:
Loading ...Here’s pics of the Pokes, in case you wanna see them:
Growlithe
Mudkip
Pichu
Primeape
Gyarados
Also, don’t forget that this Poke will be dancing with me at the ALA DANCE PARTY!
ALA 2010 Dance Party!
May 28th
Put on your glitter boots librarians, it’s time to dance and party like it’s 793.3
WHEN:
FRIDAY JUNE 25
WHERE:
APEX NIGHT CLUB
ADDRESS:
1415 22ND STREET NW, WASHINGTON DC
TIME:
10PM TILL THE SUN COMES UP
SOME HELPFUL LINKS:
LISTEN TO THE ALA 2010 DANCE PARTY MIX TO GET THOSE HIPS SHAKING.
Suggestions? Please post a comment and we’ll add it!
