Physical Plant & Video Wall

The Video Wall is up and user friendly. We'll go over switching between MAC and Windows tomorrow along with more talk about presentations. I would also like to discuss the physical plant of the FA.

First--generic definition: Physical plant or mechanical plant (and where context is given, often just plant) refers to the necessary infrastructure used in support and maintenance of a given facility.


And--the definition from the UGA website:The Physical Plant is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the University's physical facilities, grounds, and utilities. This encompasses responsibility for building maintenance and repairs, building alterations, maintenance of mechanical and electrical systems, custodial services, and related activities. Physical Plant also operates the central steam and chiller plants and provides construction, operation, and maintenance of utility systems. Other responsibilities include providing engineering support, maintenance of roads and grounds, landscaping, maintaining an inventory of university buildings and land, operation of a construction materials warehouse, operating a vehicle rental fleet and automotive maintenance shop.

So, just let your ideas about the definition roll around a bit prior to class.

VW - we are closer than we've ever been.

When you see our producer this week--show him your appreciation. He came in and helped us clear up a few things--and taught us some of the finer points of the care and feeding of the video wall.
Monitors are sequenced and ready to roll. We need to clean up some cabling issues which can happen tomorrow night. Let's continue talking about presentations including the date.

The process, MFA, and other thoughts

Indeed, the process has been tedious in many ways, which IF we allow can be prohibitive; however, I think coming in we all had some idea that there would be hurdles to clear. I don't want to get too Zen about this, but there is a journey that exists outside the text, outside the project, and even outside the university.

Now that the VW is moved and the cabling is underway, I think one of the tallest hurdles is behind us.

Perhaps a documentary or "making of" would be good, not only for us, but for those who come along after, that way we'll have an official way to track truly progressive moments, and a way to document the non-progressive moments as well. It could be interesting to come back to it, say two years later, to see how much has changed, or not changed.

About the MFA...yes, an MFA is a degree about "doing" things. It taps into a very particular intelligence--imagination. "Masters" degrees are meant to be apprenticeships. We are to learn the craft from the Masters who came before us. The efficacy of these apprenticeships depends, of course, on the skills of the masters who teach us. There's a lot that can be said about that, in terms of both the historical idea of the Masters degree and how that's changed, as well as what this all means in a university setting.

Cabling

We are close. So close.
Thanks for the work this evening.
I think it would be wise for us to label as much
as we can as clearly as we can for ourselves and future generations.
I want to continue the business discussion we began last week.
Interesting observations this evening--let's talk about the
acronym MFA and what it means in relation to what we are learning.
I think its very important to pay attention to the business aspects
of what we do. I have heard an MFA degree as a
"do something" degree. What are your thoughts?

State of the Quest

We have discussed a lot of ideas. That's good. We have been able to bring to fruition but a few of these. That is not bad. Our imaginations are held in check by speed at which the producorial vocabulary can move events. Getting the VW moved and now re-cabled has been a process that has taken longer than I would gave liked, but re-call that we discussed the vocabulary of leanness that we would have to adopt to make all of this work w/o friction. Acknowledging that we work in an environment with lean resources we must accept that efficient communication is a resource--perhaps one of the most important resources; more important even than even capital, for w/o efficient communication the dispensing of capital can go seriously awry. We also discussed the issus w/the Kinect. I am working to resolve those.
Tifany, Casey and I will now assume a more aggressive brand of guerilla art; taking the cellar by storm! When no-one's looking of course.
By now I hope the wisdom of Dark Ride as a vehicle is clear (especially from the resource perspective); it's a play with its own imagination we just have to complement it.


We are now concentrating our efforts on these objectives:
Cabling the VW and getting it squared away for us to play with.
Final presentations.

Alright. Comments? Fire away.