On Thursday night, I had got to get up in front of a large auditorium full of people and talk about our work, for the second time in my life. The event was the launch party for USC's IML Vectors Journal. We worked with Erik Loyer to develop two of the journal's interactive articles, The Unmaking of Markets and Narrating Bits. My In The News project from last year was also included.
I get incredibly apprehensive in front of crowds: palms sweating, blood rushing, frantically scribbling a few notes so I don't blank, trying to picture the audience naked. When Andy and I first performed as BiPole, I spent the first 5 minutes of the set freaking out trying to replace a dead co-ax cable, and the remainder sweating while he pounded out a significantly more gabber-oriented set than I expected. Somehow, my up-front crowdfear and anxiety usually gives way to complete contentment by the time everything's over if I'm able to find a drink. It seems like the proper way to handle fear of speaking in front of groups, is to do it often enough that it becomes second-nature.
The biggest advantage of doing these things is that you inevitably meet the most interesting people afterwards. We were approached by Bob Stein from Future of the Book who had some nice things to say about Mappr back in January. We also got to visit Julian Bleecker at the ZML (URL MIA) where he showed some of his wi-fi art/tech projects.
Eric and I have been talking a bit about resurrecting 16thandmission, and a few of Julian's ideas about place-specific wireless access sound like a good fit. I don't know if the plaza at 16th and Mission has any signal now. Providing freebie coverage may help further rid the location of its junkie-stigma, especially since the city has recently rebuilt the square, and provided brighter lighting. We wouldn't be able to install any wi-fi equipment on-site, but our office is across the street, and I'm sure that there's a way to set up a reverse-cantenna for saturated directional coverage, instead of reception.