Week 4: EMT & Metacommunication

The idea of the "extended mind thesis" has stuck with me the most this past week. Not only because of its imperative concept that connects the tangible with the theoretical and developing, but also because of its direct link to the notions of memory and internalised recall.

I work in a Perfumery. A small one I'll admit by commercial standards, but frankly I don't think of over 750 different fragrances as 'small'.
One the days where sales are a bit slow, we like to play a little game of 'scent recall' between fellow collugues. The object is for one person to select the three most different or hard to recognise fragrances they can think of, and for the second person to attempt to guess which fragrances they are, only by getting a sprayed sample on a tester card. The guessing person may have hints they wish, but ultimately they have a time limit to work out what fume they are sampling.

This game, though playful and only for fun, actually holds a lot of value between the ideals of EMT with the challenges of memory recall. According to the Weizman institute, your sense of smell is closest linked to your memory above all other senses, however, in a form different to the other four.

Let's take a contrasting look at this game in depth. I'm up first. The intangible scent of peony and tonka beans strike me first. I can immediately recall them. I picture them in my mind written down in in the fragrance encyclopaedia kept at work, and i visualise the list of matching perfumes. Completely internalised. completely recalling based on memorised experience. I search through the shelves looking at each bottle for a visual cue to set off the connection. Finally i come across a small square bottle with a diamond lid and the notes click. "It's this one!" i claim in excitement. And to my success i select correctly.

My opponent takes the floor. i hand her my selected fragrance. She smells and then immediately begins to write down her thoughts. She scribbles down each note in a hurried manner before coming over to me and asking "are these right". I look to her notes and find a list of ingredients she claims to have experienced in the scent. I cross off the ones that aren't there and leave the correct ones. She now continues to externalise the problem. now writing down a list of all possible fragrances. Again she comes to me and asks the same question. Without completely answering i say 'yes, the correct one is on there'. Finally, after much writing and logical elimination she selects the correct fragrance.

We both win!!

But more importantly, we both achieved our goals through divergent ideals of the EMT. She externalised the situation and used notes and submissions to solve the problem, whilst i, at first, internalise the response and used memory to solve the problem, then  proceeded to externalise using visual cues.

Week 1- "Events"

Kath n' Kim- Happy New Year!

Ok. So perhaps not the best and most eventful night for Kimmy, but still and event none the less! Infact, one of the largest events on the global scale! The new years countdown. The only world holiday event that is celebrated in almost every Sovereign State. And furthermore, one of the largest media events too, pulling in celebrants all over the world. But this by no means, defines any clear lines of a media event. mainly because a media event can really have no lines!... no form, or set rules. Over the last half century we have seen the evolution of media events transform and manifest to a plethora of viewer and particiopant opportunities. From that of the grand plan scale setup of the moon landing (and by that I mean no reference to the possibility of its rumoured forgery; just the planning and set up it needed in general to be seen across the globe), to the recurrent traditions of the US superbowl and Dick Clarke 'Rockin Eve', to the ever incumbent and what seems, omnipresent inclusion of the ultimate PR buzz word; 'social media event!' Heck, event memes seem to gather enough attention these days that I guess you could say their viral spread could be considered and event...

Particularly this one:

Traditionally, media events sought after publicity as well as provide a sense of entertainment. Examples such as the moon-landing generated tremendous improvements in global and particularly US spirit as well as giving a generation a 15 minute time slot to never forget. But today's stemming seek a multitude of goals spanning from corporate trading, to education and development and of course to the general and traditional use of public sphere stimulation.

Of course it would be right to mention a media event without the brand name infamous for their product launches and endless releases of expanding ideas. Apple Inc today is the largest company on the plannet with an estimated $651.5 billion gross worth. That's higher than the total value of the US economy of any year prior to 1977. Needless to say, their events are so anticipated their are usually pre-events before them!- Plus the endless crowd lined up out the door the day before.

Aiding to this is the newest craze to capture events. When previously the best and most sought after coverage was Live film for any event. Options of interest today have expanded to the concept of 'live blogging'. That is, posting live whilst the conduct of a media events goes on. This cultural zeitgeist has been gaining popularity within the last 18 months and even apple now have joined the fad.

But what holds for the future of the media event?... Well... I don't know!.. but I hope to find out over the course of this semester and comment on this weeks blog with my own answer in 12 weeks time! (Hi future me!)