From the creation of cinema, it has been one of the first human created cyborg experiences. Through out history we see the lasting and changing effects that cinema and its related technologies have brought onto humanity, and the fundamental shift that it has made to the human organism. Although not the first and certainly not the last cyborg creation of humans, cinema has made a fundamental shift in the ways in which humanity not only views itself, but also it has had lasting change on culture across the globe. Through examples of Australian cinemas Jedda (1955), the BBC production of Adam Curtis’ televised series, and early cinematic social work of Chaplin in Modern Times(1936), I will discuss how cinema is used not only to educate, but to fundamentally explore how it changes humanity.

Haraway gives the definition in the Cyborg Manifesto(2008)

“A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction.”.

Haraway Cyborg Manifesto 2008

This definition shows the relationship between humans and their created technology. Just as a physical object changes a users experience, so does the creation of the cinema change humanity. Cinema has become the tool of both the dispossessed and powerful to try and shape the reality of human experience. No longer is story time limited by the actors, or the book. Instead, stories can be shown, re-shown, edited, propagandised, all this fundamentally changes the effect of story telling.

A unique trait of modern life is the manipulation of people through mass communications… Movies manipulate emotions and values… In a time of change and conflict,… movies and other mass communications emphasize and reinforce one set of values rather then another.

Powdermaker 2002 Hollywood and the USA

Just as all good story telling tries to, humanity through the machines of cinema tries to alter the human perspective. Cinema creates a novel relationship between humanity and itself, we view, assess, and rework ourselves through the lens of the created medium, and critically we have the same effect on the cinematic experience. Extended beyond the earlier experience of playwrights, actors, set designers and costumers. Now we see from the earliest beginnings how cinema changes the rational as well as irrational, the science as well as the story.

Chaplin’s Modern Times.

One of Chaplin’s self directed works, Modern Times(1936) discusses even through its silent lens a range of issues at the time of the great depression. The modernisation of workforce, forced industrialisation of labour, prison and police brutality, and the desperate conditions of the working classes under capitalism are all covered in Chaplin’s work. Another clear example is Chaplin’s work on The Great Dictator. Chaplin highlighting the rise and corrupt nature of power of the ‘all powerful leader’, specifically Hitler in this guise. Chaplin’s continued usage of the means of cinematic experience to highlight different issues, his amazing career as a performer highlight many of the issues he saw in the world, portrayed back at humanity through the creation of the cinematic experience. We see from scare mongering of the time the effect, Chaplin’s character of the tramp had on American politics. Surely among some of the earliest red scare politics, directed back at Chaplin.

Chauvel’s Jedda.

Chauvel through his work Jedda(1955), a modern period drama set on a cattle station, shows the shifting rhetoric of the aboriginal experience through a white cinematic lens(NFSA). From the outset the films topical inclusion and exclusion of black actors, its discussion of the stolen generation, and the ideas of humanising the aboriginal peoples(Miller). The film surveys the discussions the wider public where attentive too. Through the films lens we see the discussions on black liberation, land rights, traditional and western education education, all with the inference of wider white colonial power struggles which have continued to this day(Moffat 1990). Chauvel’s part in the creation of the Australian guise of nationalism cannot be over looked, in various parts of his works we wishes to show off and display for the world to see the nature of Australia, and its various peoples. Similarly other cinematographers have used film to portray not only something of the aboriginal experience, but widen and explore the topic with substantial insight. As non indigenous peoples looking in, we see many parts of the cinematic experience try an explain a indigenous narrative through film: Walkabout(1971) Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith(1978), Rabbit Proof Fence(2002), Ten Canoes(2006).

Curtis documentary cinema.

The cinematic created experience continues to define education as one of its key components as Curtis’ documentaries clearly show. Through video montage, often graphic, with edited war photography and cinematic stock footage, Curtis’ narrative style aims to highlight educate and disrupt the viewers experience of modern historical perspective(Budzinski 2011). The usage of the stock footage, and over dubbed dialogue seek to create a narrative experience.

To explain and expose the modern world, the failures of artificial systems(Curtis 2007), and its suffering(Curtis 2011). Curtis’ cinema covers everything from the post war housing crisis of Great Britain, the working lives of people, to the current geopolitical events of the world(Curtis 2015 & Curtis 2026). Not forgetting his exploration of the creation of part of the cyborg experience – data creation and artificial intelligence, and its usage in modern technology, then shown through the lens of the cinematic cyborg experience. From his earliest works Curtis has used the created social reality of cinema of explain, educate, and reform the society at large, in many ways turning the lens of the created system back onto its other arms.

From the range of experience presented we see how the correlation of cinema being made by humanity, ties into the direct and fundamental discussion of humanities issues at a time.

The tools are often stories, retold stories, versions that reverse and displace the hierarchical dualisms of naturalized identities. In retelling origin stories, cyborg authors subvert the central myths of origin of Western culture. We have all been colonized by those origin myths, with their longing for fulfilment in apocalypse.

Haraway A Cyborg Manifesto 2008

Humanity uses the cinematic cyborg machine to create, discuss and evolve itself. This then directly feeds back into what and how we view cinema, and even if the screen size may change this is surely to continue.

 New Art is a fine arts Journal aimed at helping undiscovered and emerging artists become known in the Australian art scene. Our aim is to allow artists access to a dedicated research publication, which will also allow reviews of their work, research and exposure in a formal journal setting.  

New Art will focus on the creation of a fine arts research journal in both printed and digital forms. The journal will specialise in unknown and newly qualified artists. Its basis is in widening access to formal journals environments with editions being put over to explore specific topics, media, and artists of marginalised and underrepresented communities. 

New Art will be run as a cooperative, meaning any profit will go back into the business. Allowing for expansion of coverage and ending the cycle of advertising which so changes the landscape of the art world. In rejecting a for profit motive for production we hope to better represent artists across Australia, by allowing differing methods of expression on important topics.

 

New Art’s features:

A regularly printed and digital journal covering newly qualified and emerging artists in the Australian art scene.  

The journal will be printed as sustainably as possible, in line with industry’s best practices. Physical copies will allow sales through galleries and other outlets. In making a physical product we hope to engage with people who wish to have a product rather than just creating an online presence. This is important as it changes the dynamic of interaction pushing the journal to be more than just another online presence. By creating a physical journal, we hope to create a premium product beyond what is currently available. 

The website will allow for digital access to print version, along with other forms of work to be portrayed, and other usages include video interviews, online calendar function of gallery exhibitions etc. The digital presence will be an addition to the physical product, meaning that both can highlight the strength of the artist’s and editorial team’s work.  

 
New Art’s benefits:

Provide unprecedented coverage and research into the current and new movements within Australia art scene. We see historically the importance of avenues for amateur and inspiring artists work especially in things like the Japanese photography magazine. These are where some of the current mainstream artists sought initial recognition of their work which allowed them to access recognition and commence full time careers as artists. This type of physical production is missing in the move towards a more online presence in digital art spaces.  

Work towards the journal becoming one of the key and foundational academic research journals for artists and art historian researchers. seeking representation, but also in understanding the barriers non-traditional artists face. 

By allowing new artists to publish works. We are not aiming for an un-curated product like so many social media platforms have become. Instead, we wish to raise the bar of production to better value the artists’ work and help them move forwards in their artistic expression. One can simply look at works by Banksy and other urban artists to see how the world has changed since in recent years.  

Risks and limitations, and how we seek to address them:

The largest issue we see is the initial funding of the journal. To have a successful product roll out we will have to run a crowd sourced funding cycle. Due to the nature of Kickstarter proposals, we believe we have successfully mitigated the obvious risks for journal production: we will not commence the initial production without successful community funding.  

Obviously, there is the issue of continued production but with clearly set extended goals via Kickstarter, and clearly defined methods for subsequent funding we believe we can create a successful product. 

Secondary to funding issue, is making sure the journals production is noticed in industry. To this end we will seek a broad social media approach to advertising throughout the initial Kickstarter campaign but subsequently making sure the advertisement of the publication is widespread. This includes traditional advertising techniques such as mail outs to various industry bodies, but also spreading word via other means via smaller Artists Galleries, University Fine Arts departments.

What can you do to help?

Currently we have a cooperative start up in the development and we are looking for money to help fund 4 editions for the first year’s edition of journals via Kickstarter. Please support us via Kickstarter, like, share and subscribe our social media accounts and tell everyone you can about our important work. 

Credits:
Music:

‘Downtempo Electronic Music’ by Alexander Blu (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://orangefreesounds.com

Images:

‘artists book Notepads’ I and II by R. Perez (CC BY 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/naivepaintings/

‘handmade artists book’ by R. Perez (CC BY 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/naivepaintings/

All images property of Kim Marshall, unless otherwise specified.

Well surely the first rule would be make some video, and the second rule would surely be share it around and ask for feedback… sure it’s not as creative as Palahniuk’s character Tyler giving a monologue, but I’m a student making A/V projects and social not an Anarco-Primitivalist hell bent on crushing the credit and debt history of the modern governments.

A friend suggested I watch something they’d found as they knew my subject choices for University this year, they also know I make a lot of video footage and would like to make a lot more. So in terms of Learning by Doing…

Now on the surface that looks like a crazy amount of work, but then again with inter trimester break happening, it looks doable, even if the later weeks slow down as my subjects start weighing on me as University weighs back in, what a shame Deakin doesn’t regularly offer cloud students hands on design or fine arts subjects via cloud… Perhaps that might change, but I don’t hold my breath.

I think the old blog will need a update as the formatting for uploading vast quantities of visual material is very stifled by the template, Hopefully this doesn’t break everything else. Perhaps this is yet another chance to create and share as a part of a professional portfolio via cloud mechanisms like Flickr, Vimeo and Youtube. More importantly, I think at least, is the reflection part of the journey, one thing that come up again and again with well structured learning is you need to reflect on what your doing, or you’ll keep failing the same way repeatedly. To this end I hope to document the project as I go along, making more media and if nothing else giving me something to tweet about during the break.

The first week of course breaks down as:

1. Search composition and framing on YouTube. – Watch 3 videos twice. – Pick up your camera and go take 100 pictures practicing what you learned.
2. Composition and framing. – Go take 50 more pictures around a park or somewhere interesting practicing framing and composition, rule of thirds, etc.
3. Search three point lighting on YouTube. – Watch 3 videos twice. – Use lights around your house to replicate what you saw. – Take 50 pictures lighting a subject, if you don’t have a person to use practice on a toy or a big teddy bear.
4. Framing and composition and 3 point lighting. – Take 50 more pictures practicing framing and composition and 3 point lighting, take 20 of those pictures with a subject. close to a window and use window lighting.
5. Search depth of field on YouTube. – Watch 3 videos twice. – Take 50 pictures using your kit lens, experiment with different focal lengths, mess around with your aperture, and watch how both of them affect your depth of field.
6. Look up how to get the film look. – Watch 3 videos twice. – Record a two minute clip of anything using the proper settings you learned.
7. Camera tests. – record a few sample videos playing with just the shutter speed, then record a few videos playing with just the iso.

I’m going to try for a blog post a day summing up what was covered and documenting and reflecting on the process. Let’s see where this takes us…

Note: If you haven’t read Fight Club you should, if you want more reading advice you could look at this very long reading list I wrote.

Taking on board the review of the last assignment and wanting to delve deeper into a response to the topic given I choose to continue a similar narrative. Using the idea of movement even during ‘still’ frames and having played with the Pan and Zoom effect of Ken Burns previously in the weekly challenge, I decided to base the video again in the photo montage. I used stock images and expanded these out to cover the entirety of the main part of the video. Taking on board the response feedback, I included a still of two of the quotes I used. Music I kept the same intro music to delineate this from other media I produced during the Trimester, and added to this by including a song over the credits so they were not silent. As required in the brief, I included a spoken to camera piece, staging this purely as a more personal aside at the end of the video trying to give a clear delineation between the ‘work’ and my personal summation. Using the rule of thirds both within the spoken piece and also in the photo montage choosing imagery which delineated the screen.

I tried to include a varied range to reference points without losing the message, I admit this wasn’t hard given the range of reference material for the topic of surveillance, but hopefully, I did the topic justice in my quoting around the topic. Foucault is still fascinating to me, and Crime and Punish is a book unlike most in that you can pick any page and garner a quote from it. If anything this made it harder to not just overuse Foucault’s views as the sole basis for the work. As a secondary academic reference, I picked up on Peter Fussey’s work as a Sociologist of Criminality from Exeter University. His viewpoints on notions of Criminality via Surveillance where again something very on topic. Fight Club by Palanuk is a modern-day piece of literary genius especially in terms of how it deals with the notions of masculinity, modernity, and the rejection of the consumerist narrative. Similarly, Tyler’s voice through the book holding a lamp up to the realms of modernity made its inclusion an easy addition considering the idea of surveillance and commercialism. Which is obvious such a big part in the narrative of modern surveillance. Finally, I happen across the poem of Snickerdoodle by John Wedgewood Clark whilst searching Flickr for images to use as a part of the photo-montage which I felt summed up beautifully the message I was trying to conjure up.

The only difficulty I faced was in terms of trying to find space and time to film the spoken to camera piece. I still find these difficult with a busy household around me, although the rather cluttered desk could become a catchphrase of sorts. I specifically populate my two screens with different images by Banksy as I felt they summed up the message well and added an Easter Egg of sorts. I also made a couple of recordings of this piece and worked to fix myself within the screen to make the inevitable editing together of parts easier. I am still unsure as to whether I should have included a spoken of camera Introduction but felt given the limited time frame it would be convoluted at best, although I will try this in the future. I will certainly keep making videos and probably even more on the related topics we have covered. I think the editing and format style of the intro and outro sequences I have worked up in the titling and choice of background noise could easily be recycled in future projects now I have the timings better suited.

References:

Foucault, M 1979, Discipline & Punish: the Birth of the Prison, Vintage Books, New York.

Murray, D and Fussey, P 2019 ‘Bulk Surveillance in the Digital Age: Rethinking the Human Rights Law Approach to Bulk Monitoring of Communications Data.’ Israel Law Review, 52 (1). pp. 31 – 60, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021223718000304

Palahniuk, C 1996, Fight Club, W. W. Norton, New York.

Wedgewood Clarke, J 2015 Snickerdoodle,York Curiouser, York.

Dark Theme by Alexander Blu (CC BY-NC 4.0) http://www.orangefreesounds.com/dark-theme/

Dial Up Sound by Alexander Blu (CC BY-NC 4.0) http://www.orangefreesounds.com/dial-sound/

Images & Video:

FBI Aerial Surveillance of Black Lives Matter Protests – Baltimore, MD 4/29/15 Video 2 by Federal Bureau of Investigation (Public Domain Mark 1.0) https://archive.org/details/1D3001Part2

Global surveillance by Amir Appel (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/TMqXjC

SURVEILLANCE(1) by MANYBITS (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/pWHSKF

SURVEILLANCE(2) by MANYBITS (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/qAWEky

Bridge Blade Runner Atmo(1) by Valeri Pizhanski (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/23DTchY

Bridge Blade Runner Atmo(2) by Valeri Pizhanski (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/23rzBGh

Milano, Blade Runner 7:01 AM by Marko (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/yA78Ly

Empty face by Dmitry Boyarin (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ak1Yj8

surveillance job by gato-gato-gato (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2irVmcD

London, England by Dan Sakamoto (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/6tLxp2

You’re being watched by Atomic Tace (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/6BHmqV

Who’s watching who? by far closer (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/6hmAsu

bansky by JapanBlack (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/4X9xks

The Rat by Gordon Joly (CC BY- SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/7Qemz

In approaching the subject of surveillance and referencing the philosophical arguments for and against it, beyond the normal crime prevention trope. I wanted to breakdown the underlying notions of good versus bad – hopefully portray the interesting landscape of modern surveillance and the use that even indirectly to try and portray not just the negatives to also the positives that data mining can provide us as individuals. The ongoing surveillance notions as the course work from the Digital Media units details feed my reading beyond the limited scope required for this project – finding Foucault in the reading list steered my output directly as his works are fascinating if cryptic at times.

I choose to record various footage over the preceding weeks having tried to get a little bit done daily thereby allowing me a large range of b- roll to work from. With this work I tried to approach from a still surveillance ‘ orientation’ – not talking/looking at the camera, trying to show a closed-circuit television type footage – for example. Hopefully highlighting the distancing that surveillance footage portrays distinct from a to camera narrative. I specifically wanted to incorporate aerial footage from the recent street protests as this material stands at stark contrast portraying the other notions of surveillance and data mining – I benefit from my personal surveillance of my norms, the state apparatus uses the same ideal to oppress people, corporations use surveillance to feed a consumer narrative.

I hopefully succeeded in using the juxtaposition of the aerial footage versus personal footage as this was my significant aim in the portrayal of the complexities of surveillance narratives – obvious there is a lot more to delve into around the issue. Having shared an early version with friends and using their criticisms, I added a retro sound loop to the start and finish, hopefully tying the piece together better. I choose to edit down the audio to only the intro and outro tracks so as not to make the spoken audio track impossible to hear – something which came up from previous work podcasting. I still have not found anything ‘on brand’ which I can play under spoken dialogue. In using the various reading, I hoped to portray the historic, and current notions of surveillance and its use by states, corporations, and individuals for very different purposes. Highlighting the long history that the various differing worlds of surveillance.


As always, the limitation of time severely hampered any in-depth work. I hope to continue the ideas expressed beyond the ALM102 course work requirements going forwards as there is, obviously, a lot more to be said on the issue. Having tried to start early, I still struggled with the time restriction due to family responsibilities. My ongoing aim of trying to make even a short video piece every day has mostly held up with various lags in output being either lost footage or something hasn’t worked. These small videos primarily to be a learning method forcing myself to get better at quickly editing together footage and building a portfolio. Choosing simple template title cards and now having edited intro music clips to make a more polished work going forwards. This has made inroads at being able to turn out simple videos more regularly – hopefully, something that I will continue beyond the realms of required work.

References:

Doctorow, C 2007, With a Little Help, CreateSpace, California, US.

Focault, M 1979, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prisom, Vintage Books, New York.

le Carre, J 1974, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Hodder & Sloughton, UK.

Videos: ‘FBI Aerial Surveillance of Black Lives Matter Protests – Baltimore, MD 4/29/15 Video 2’ by FBI (CC)

Images: ‘Surveillance’ by Quinn Dombrowski (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnan…

Sounds: ‘Dial Up Sound’ by Alexander (CC BY-NC 4.0) http://www.orangefreesounds.com/dial-…

Self-critical to a fault, that pretty much covers my exploration in channel trailers thus far. I’ve got no problem standing in front of a camera, will happily edit myself via podcasts or video, but as yet I have never successfully created a channel trailer I like.

Why is that I wonder, well in the short term it’s a lot of time management issues being a stay at home dad, even more so with the current climate. Had I had free rein the channel trailer would have a been a very different kettle of fish – on location shots, dramatic effects, comic 4th wall breaks, and death defying stunts would have all featured, as it was I couldn’t even wrangle the next great YouTube star, my daughter Tilda, into being on camera for me. 

As such I choose the easiest option – filmed in a fairly well lit room, framed along the rule of thirds or as near as I could get it, sitting at my very cluttered desk – authentic desk mess as I’m sure anyone would attest that’s lived with me, I tried to stick very much to the provided ‘script’ Hello… I am… I like When I grow-up I want to be… etc. 

In reality it wasn’t authentic, as many people who have meet me in real life know – I don’t classically talk to strangers, at best I talk at them. My inevitable forced composure of trying to keep eye contact. I don’t maintain eye contact with anyone, apart from the dog. Nor was it ‘aesthetic’ – Wearing what I just got dressed into this morning rather than getting changed into some ‘fancy’. I don’t speak in the mode required for comprehension, sitting in a cluttered environment. Even my scripting was unauthentic, you wouldn’t know the current mess I find myself in, it’s really none of your business, but someday I might write about it when it’s all over and done with. If anything it feels like a cop out, even if that what was required, weirdly my fellow seemed to like it and if anything there opinion mattered far more than mine given the stakes – The channel trailer required wasn’t for me, it’s for everyone else, and I don’t think it’s meant to ever be ‘finished’. 

So, lessons learned – I need a better lighting rig – with spare bulbs. Support wise I need a tripod – you’ll notice the jumper I had wedged under my dslr in shot stuffed into the back on a wardrobe. Filming inside is a pain with I don’t normally run up against – it’s difficult to push equipment far enough back to get the composure ‘correct’. Making sure to schedule someone to take care of the child before your assessment is due – a constant battle given family circumstances. If I had my time would it be different for sure. To quote a song of the 90’s by Pauline Pantsdown “I don’t like it… Please explain? I don’t like it!” but it’s definitely something to start from, knowing what I want it to be in the future.  
 
And anyways when was I ever happy at anything I ‘completed’ for Uni, isn’t that the nature of assessment and reflective thought to spur you on?

This essay will deconstruct the idea of Tibetan Buddhism as a secular religion. To start in breaking down to the essential beliefs of the Tibetan schools – there god, demons, and practices as Kapsten(2014) shows. Highlight how Bubandt and van Beek(2011) see the creation of the western secular ideal specifically from the post-Reformation, which is distinct from the Eastern idea of a ‘secular religion’. We then compare this to the secular works by Tibetan Buddhist given examples from the Dalai Lama(2011) and Chogyam Trungpa(2007). Highlighting both the distancing yet still using religious ties to draw a connection between the secular and religious worlds. Finally comparing briefly this notion of the secular yet religious Buddhism to the works of wholly secular works of Hagan(2013) and other schools of Buddhist doctrine such as Zen schools through the works of Warner.

As seen in Kapstein(2014) explains, the range of faith practices involves for Tibetans worshiping and practicing Buddhism are varied and highlight the distinctive nature of Tibetan Buddhism. The practical nature of ritual worship is very specific and highlight distinctive methods of orthopraxy within the Tibetan Schools of Buddhism. To the average Tibetan, the practice is the faith, very distinct from the orthodoxy of the Abrahamic faiths where the right belief is fundamental. Pitkin(2011) highlights just part of this in their research on Yogic accounts, the nature of the story or myth highlights the specifics of the practices within Tibetan Buddhism. This is distinctive in its form compared to other secular accounts of Buddhist theory such as Hagan(2013). To the Tibetan Buddhist, the notion of faith relies heavily on the spirits around, and the interactions with these spirits are the basis of the religion.

These interactions and practices are in many ways distinctive to Buddhism. To the approach of Tibetan Buddhism as secular is ill-conceived, it has obvious notions of religion and belief as Pitkin(2006 p103) shows:
“Asian Buddhist communities’ involvement in ritual or in practices invoking supernatural phenomena and apotropaic concerns (including blessings, amulets, mantras, protective substances, relics, pilgrimage and circumambulation) are seen to disqualify them from both rationality and modernity. “ Pitkin(2006 pp. 103)

This distinct nature of the practical belief is highlighted elsewhere. As Kapstein highlights the every day of worship for Tibetan Buddhists is often that of Spirituality – Demons, Gods, and folk law, to remove this is to devalue its adherents method of worship. For the average believer, the practice is the notion of the divinity and the separate notion of a secular religion falls apart on closer inspection.

In noting the practical nature of the Tibetan people’s faith, the distinction of secular from religion is difficult at best. This distinction is difficult to gauge from within the Tibetan faithful. We see this distinction is oftentimes a purely western perspective of Buddhist practices as Bubandt & van Beek(2011 p8) highlights :
“deconstruction of ‘religion’ and its ‘other’, the secular… are the historical outcome of particular language-game about reality that arose in post-Reformation Europe and America.”

As they discuss the distinction of the secular from the religious is specific to a western model of Reformation. One example of the opposite connection between the world of the secular and the religious faith being the Dalai Lama’s recent works such as Beyond Religion. This from among the numerous authors of Buddhist works on or from within a secular world view. These works show that the secular/religious divide in the world is not as distinct as some modern western authors would have us assume. A simple line of the secular and the religious can not be drawn.

In Beyond Religion the Dalai Lama constantly distances his work from religion, but he never draws a line under his faith. He is not dismissive of his religion’s nature instead of using it as a start point, constantly moving between the secular and the religious comparing and contrasting each. Drawing from both to highlight the other. As he compares secular ethics and religious beliefs to be akin to water and tea(pp.17). But in the distancing, he constantly refers back to his beliefs not drawn on one without the other. This is distinct to the nature of reformation like thoughts as the Dalai Lama highlights with his words on the Marxist viewpoint(pp. 7) noting that the Marxist viewpoints to his mind are incorrect because of the distinction.

Further analogies can be seen in Trungpa’s Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. A book devoted to exploring the nature of a Tibetan Buddhist secular idea. In Trungpa’s work, the path was secular in nature but still relies heavily on the Tibetan notions of orthopraxy. Iconography, language, word choice all place the book firmly in the notion of the secular yet still religious. Trungpa clearly states the works are directed towards the western audience. Specifically in a non-religious fashion, having disrobed as a monk Trungpa is clearly consigned to a secular notion within his work, but throughout the book, we see the usage of language and beyond this, we see his continued usage of practical aspects of Tantric Buddhism. Other examples of Trungpa’s “secular yet still religious” methods can be seen in references to his teachings. These teaching although taught in a secular manner, are still relayed in accordance with Tibetan Religious notions: Tantric doctrine such as the practice of crazy wisdom taught only to those qualified, meditation practices as key to religious change, compassion as a vehicle for divinity, etc(Crazy Wisdom 2011). These among many other examples from Trungpa’s extended works highlight the connected nature of the religious practice to the secular presentation of Buddhist theory from a Western perspective.

In teaching in this way, both Trungpa and the Dalai Lama take specifics steps to engage with, facilitate, and teach the Western faithful. Often times in a secular mode, and this can be seen as distinct from the presentation of Tibetan Buddhism to Tibetans on or near the Plateau where the practical every day is not distanced from a tied religious viewpoint. An example of the distinction of the audience is highlighted in the explanations for Yogic superhuman myths or stories that Pikin(2016) collects. Of specific interest is the author’s reference to how the Tibetan teachers adapt or highlight the stories and myths to differing audiences. Similar to the work of the Dalai Lama in his works, or Trungpa presentations to a western audience.

In contrast to this is the purely western perspective taken by Hagan. This work is highly distinct from the other Buddhist works previously referenced. Hagan distances it fundamentally from the ‘faith’ or religion of Buddhism. Hagan goes so far as to use neutral or non-religious language specifically highlighting as such the distinction from the religion of Buddhism. Hagan explains(pp.4)
“Buddhism is not about these beliefs and practices. The observations and insights of the Buddha are plain, practical, and eminently down-to-earth. They deal exclusively with here and now, not with theory, speculation, or belief in some far-off time or place.” Hagan(1998 pp.4)

Hagan’s work removes all references to the afterlife, rebirth, and karma to explain a soulless version of the practice of Buddhism without faith. His work comes to a secular notion of Buddhism there are no gods, the practices are similar but nothing is held as divine. No method is, in distinction to Tibetan authors, work without connection with gods spirits or any other divinity. Hagan is specific in his secularization of Buddhism, consciously removing any notions of religion.

Hagan’s view is distinct but similar to other secular viewpoints such as Neo-Buddhist Zen practices. For example, those of Warner’s Shut Up and Sit Down and Hardcore Zen(2003). Both in part autobiographical but also deal with a westernized view of Buddhist traditions practices. Both books have also tried to remove the Japanese religious culture from a representation of Buddhist master Dogen’s work and practices. Warner highlight’s the nature of his own ‘secular’ or not traditional transmission by his teacher, highlighting a ‘non-religious’ style of Buddhism. His works strip away the mystery from the practices such as meditation, calling for the simple practice of sitting still and working towards a calm mind. We can see this as distinct from Trungpa’s Tantric meditation practices.

As another example of secularized practice, one example is the western secular incorporation of mindfulness meditation. Here the practices of meditation are completely devoid of any religious teaching having stripped away the religious notion to present a practice without faith. As part of a larger scope of practice, meditation is used to calm the mind, or quell feelings. This is very distinct from the work of Tibetan practices in empowerment through projection – calling on the Bodhisattva, imagining themselves as one with gods. This distinction is real and concrete, to one the meditation is a practice, to the other the practice is an act of faith. Even in Trungpa’s works we see again this calling down of the warrior to seek out an internal change. This is separate again from the methods and practice of the secular work of mindfulness training.


As shown the separation of the practical ritual of Tibetan Buddhism can not be separated from the faith. The notion that the practice of Tibetan Buddhism especially that of the Tantric practices can be devoid of the belief seems to separate the substance from a religious basis. Even in trying to distance their works of a secular Buddhism both the Dalai Lama and Trungpa have still drawn from the religious path not limited such as Warner, or completely stripped as Hagan has. As the Dalai Lama states the water from the tea is the basis but the water is not the same as the tea. In this way, I think he concludes the same way secular ethics can be the same no matter the basis of faith. But the Tibetan faith cannot be made distinct from the practice.

In conclusion, we can see a variety of different schools of thought when it comes to secular Buddhism. Of specific note is the distinction between Tibetan schools and their practical basis as Kapstein explains for Tibetans the practice of Buddhism as in some ways their faith. Pitkin(2006) takes these ideas of faith and summarizes the recordings as an oral tradition of the mystic Yogic practices. We see various Tibetan teachers such as the Dalai Lama and Trungpa have spoken to the idea of a secular Buddhist, and even moved to teach this perspective distinctly to western practitioners away from the teaching which continues for Tibetans practitioners. Widely within Buddhist schools of thought, we see reflections by Western teachers who have seen fit to distance themselves from the religious into the secular. Staging specific practices from the Mahayana and Theravada within a secular framework, some closer to some furthers away from religious notions. We see Warner’s example of Zen for Westerners and Hagan’s specific secular notion of Buddhism as a separation from the religious and into the secular in varied stages. Continuing this theme of secularization we see the usage of mediation practices compellingly devoid of religion in the uptake of mind fullness meditation.

References

Lama, T. 2011, Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, Harper Collins, New York.

Trungpa, C. 2007, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Shambhala, Boulder Colorado.

Crazy Wisdom The Life And Times Of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, 2011, kanopy.com, 25 November, retrieved 31 May 2020, <https://deakin.kanopy.com/product/crazy-wisdom&gt;

Bubandt, N & van Beek, M 2012, ‘Varieties of secularism in Asia and in theory’, in Varieties of Secularism in Asia, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, pp. 1–27.

Pitkin, AC ‘The “Age of Faith” and the “Age of Knowledge”: Secularism and Modern Tibetan Accounts of Yogic Power [open access]’, HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, vol. 36, pp. 96–115, retrieved from <https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=2204&amp;context=himalaya&gt;.

Kapstein, MT 2014, ‘The World of Gods, Demons, and Men’, in Tibetan Buddhism: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1–11.

Hagan, S. 1998, Buddhism Plain and Simple, Three Rivers Press, New York.

Warner, B. 2003, Hardcore Zen, Wisdom Publication, Taos.

Warner, B. 2007, Sit Down and Shut Up, New World Library, San Franciso.

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People who don’t follow my every move on twitter might not realise I bought myself a Amateur Radio, I also started studying for the Amateur Licence. Amateur Radio is one of those strange hobbies where you can get very in depth and learn a lot about random stuff just so you can talk to strangers (hopefully) around the world.

Essentially you take a Microphone input, attach it to an carrier wave, amplify your output and then bounce that down a wire length. Then you hope someone somewhere gets that bounced signal and can use their equipment to strip out the carrier wave and here you.

Now you can spend a lot of money to do all this, or you can buy a lot of second hand equipment that has been lying around for longer then I have and make all this happen. To get your transmit licence you have to learn a bunch of arcane facts, methods for being safe with high voltages and high currents, how to safely connect things to whatsits, etc. Anyone can listen, you just need the licence to transmit, this is all very much a gentleman’s agreement between Amateur Radio operators and everyone else that doesn’t know what how or why anyone would waste there time playing with coils of wire and strange circuits boards covered in valves and transistors.

No to learn said facts, there are many options, if you live in America or the UK there are quite a few free video tutorials taking you through the licencing requirements , one example being Dave Cassler KE0OG, there are numerous others. As with many things you quickly realise you live in a very small country when it comes to Australia. There are some resources available online for free, http://www.res.net.au released their foundation licence onto YouTube here for example. But nothing comes close to the output of various American Amateur stations and the access to information they have given away freely for others to learn.

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Gamification seems like an obvious solution, you could cover the entire Foundation course in a weekend residential, so why not just gamify it? You could very easily cover the course in a “choose your own adventure” story line. Having the relevant required information posed as questions to continue the story line. The ‘required information’ is covered in a licencing document called a LCD, and is highlighted in the Amateur Operator’s Certificate of Proficiency(Foundation) document, a heady read at the best of times. As the knowledge required could be considered dry at best, but also very limited in terms of scope, it does point to being attainable via a simple story telling method, using the required knowledge as the narrative for the game.

Along these lines I wanted to try something in twine so I figured this was a prime time to get started… But what to use as a story?

Astronauts, Solar storms, breakdown in communications…

Your day at school is going just like every other one, up until the second last period. Your normal class is taken over when the Astronauts and Cosmonauts start their broadcast of the first take over of the newly constructed ISRH – the International Space Ring Habitat. Your principle marks this occasion by allowing classes to watch to the live broadcast in each classes home room. There has been nothing but ISRH mania on the news broadcasts for weeks in lead up to this moment, some of your fellow students stare bored out the window using the time to nap, others send messages backward and forwards via their tablets, perhaps not the desired response your principal was looking for.

It’s no where near completed and will likely take twice as long as I think it will but if nothing else I’ve added another tool to the skill set, and it’s been fun to start crafting a story…

Living in rural Victoria, and being the worst person to take on holidays anywhere¹ I didn’t have much of a take on gamification and tourism, but something struck an accord with me from the linked videos for this weeks work. Tourism is interesting but who to talk to about it… I phoned a friend, explained what I meant by gamification, and wandered round the bottom paddock, watching the Pied Currowong chasing a couple of Eagles, this is what came out of the conversation – big thanks to Jason² for the virtual tour of tourism!

Within the world of tourism we see many examples of the various gamification elements, just some examples include the Taronga Zoo’s, Royal Easter shows usage of Passports. Where entrants have to tick off places as the explore the event, collecting various items from locations, and generally having a great old time running hither tither across the event or landscape. Taronga Zoo’s App sells it best, I think, with:

“Discover Wild Squad Missions for kids through a series of fun, quick and interactive missions that will help kids learn more about conservation and the animals they are seeing at the Zoo”.

From this we see a real concrete example of how game like elements reward the user experience all the while having the user engaged more fully with park as they hunt for solutions. We see similar exploration within History sites and museums, where hunt for the clues, fill in the blanks and find the hidden…

But what about using game like experience to teach history. Many years ago now I was in a various historical reenactment groups with Jason. He’s kept it up and so have I but in very different ways. Jason portrays Roman History dressed in amazingly accurate recreations of clothing armor and gear they kit up for various events, some just for fun and others as a educational community work – highlighting life and conditions during the Roman Empire. We see very similar experiences offered by locations like the Royal Armoury in Leeds where mock battles, displays and events all add to the visitors experience. Now obviously this isn’t gamification but it can be and is used for the underlying method of effectively teaching history.

I’ve been employed in various roles over the years as a Blacksmith and almost always this has required me to tour guide my way through the “How, What, Where of Blacksmithing”. To the point where I have a standard speech I give whilst demonstrating. Again this isn’t gamified but it is about engaging an audience and making the learning come alive. Beyond that it could easily become gamified, as in the example below, why couldn’t guest interaction be more gamified, especially in learning environments where half the battle is getting a little mind to flick on in the first place, and having someone to quiz and interact with?

Lastly I want to turn this all on its head, in my conversation with Jason we got talking video games. He asked had I played Assassins Creed, I asked why? Then he stated asking had I seen the accurate layouts of the Greece and Roman locations, the recreation of Notre Dame masonry³ etc. the military camps, and game elements are all superb and there are cases of tour groups knowing where to go having explored in game the environment to such an extent they know where the next stop will be…

Food for thought in the educational crisis of engagement. Perhaps the brighter future of history education is traveling with an App and talking to real people telling past histories of life as you explore the landscape?

If anyone wants the have a go at being a roman soldier you can contact Legio VI Victrix – Sydney via Facebook.

1 – For holidays I like to… climb mountains, sometimes I go on holidays to get a week away forging, I like visiting collieries and other historical places where steam engines and plant exist all without ‘rewards’ – yes I’m all sorts of weird no you don’t want to come on holidays with me, I also don’t want you to come on holidays with me.

2 – For holidays Jason likes to… go skiing, do reenactment, and lot’s of other stuff. He traveled widely in his youth and lived in such amazing places as the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Hence why I called him! he’s also clever enough to never invite me on holidays…

3 – I spent a while working in stone masonry it’s another one of those things I like looking at, if you ever want a really intersting walk around Sydney looking at stone work, I know a bloke.

Over the last three months I’ve incorporated a variety of different gamification applications into my life, some I’ve looked into before, others I researched just to see what’s new in the world of gamification fitness applications. This blog covers two commercial applications Strava and Samsung Health, a look into commercial applications tied to these apps and just some of the research into community and gamification.

Strava

Strava is massive, its functionality is great and it does really what it says on the tin. It gamifies fitness. With its Points, challenges, clubs, etc, it’s one of the largest usages within the gamification application landscape. Of specific interest is the Segments functionality which allows users to compete over various parts of a map in various exercises, most notably running and cycling. These segments are created by users and allow others to race to complete the segment in personal bests, and competitively against other users. With the addition of various sensor extra elements can be tracked, such as heart rate, cadence in cycling, etc. Strava takes the principles of gamification to heart and the positive outcomes for users can be seen in research by Harris(2019). Harris took a group of cyclist and had them track usage via Strava, positive outcomes were witnessed by many of the participants. More rides completed, better tracking meant the participants used time more efficiently and more time was spent engaged in cycling.

I’ve seen similar circumstantial evidence in watching similar results, via Social Media, in the rucking challenges posted online by companies such as All Day Ruckoff and Go Ruck. Both have used the Strava application to allow participants to log their workouts around a community built on rucking – where participants carrying a weighted rucksack exercise by walking, or running to increase effort will complete various challenges, often 5k timed in real life and simulated events. At the heart of these challenges, and I would posit the real success, both the real world and simulated camaraderie of community building, so much so that Go Ruck has built its business in terms of community creation.

Samsung Health
Samsung Health, which I’ve previously written about here, is again very widespread. It’s main appeal being that it is tied to the Samsung android system, and thereby comes default installed on the platform. Again like Strava, it has various ‘Together” challenges allowing users to ‘race’ against one another and tracks themselves versus a wider community. Beyond that, it has built-in features allowing users to track Calories consumed, weight gain/loss, sleep cycles, heart rate, etc. The discover segment of the application allows users to explore various exercise programs, along with much broader articles on health, nutrition, and various fitness programs, podcasts for sleep and meditation, etc. The gamification elements stand out particularly because of the choice of graphic style and the stylized elements

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The real need for community
In both these applications and ones, I have previously discussed, to me the real stand out in both my usage and in what I have seen via research is the community aspects. I think a real distinction between the long term successes and failure of any gamified application in fitness rally comes down to the harnessing of an online community. I’ve previously noted the success of the US Army’s recruitment exercise program in real-world community building through its recruitment schemes compared to the British and Australian Armies gamified yet non-communal efforts in gamifing fitness applications which at times seemed like mere token elements.

Harris'(2019) works in the usage of Strava in competitive cycling, and Barratt’s(2017) research in more general fitness, point to the need for real community participation if business or governments what to harness the power of gamification. With this community involvement pushing it is much harder to ignore doing the right thing. No matter what kind of player you are, no matter what kind of rewards you’re seeking the challenges come alive when you are not only challenging yourself but when you involve others.

References:
Intro/Outro music was Elevator Music by Kevin Macleod the song is permitted for commercial use under license “Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)“ http://www.orangefreesounds.com/elevator-music/

Barratt, Paul 2017, ‘Healthy competition: A qualitative study investigating persuasive technologies and the gamification of cycling’, Health & Place, vol. 46, July 2017, pp. 328-336.

Harris, Marc Ashley 2019, ‘Maintenance of behaviour change following a community-wide gamification based physical activity intervention’, Preventive Medicine Reports, vol. 13, March 2019, pp. 37-40.