Michael Anthony Tribone | portfolio and blog of an ex-multimedia specialist

Web and Application Design as Public Pedagogy

In order to adapt the assignment from a traditional unit of study to one that is suitable for generating awareness about accessibility with online resources in the workplace, I’m going to take the outline from the assignment and reconfigure it so that it becomes part performance, part demonstration, and part activity. The goal of the activity is to use an action-based activity with one or more currently running projects that are familiar to people on my team and generate a new perspective or understanding about the educational resources that are built at the university level. At times we are more apt to build for ourselves than for others. If education is the goal, then our processes and outlook needs to be changed.

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Performed Networks of Relations

My idea for performing/creating something in my everyday environment that calls attention to the everyday scene or routine in a new way, is inspired by Janie Leck-Grela’s blog post on yarn bombing, Deb Ryland’s blog post on culture and reality TV, and Lindsay Bayer’s blog post on personal space and objects. The idea is to engage people without disabilities and create awareness about people with certain disabilities (such as color blindness, low or lack of vision, and mobility) and how they access and consume information via the internet. The goal is to bring to light how our actions in building online educational resources can have a direct impact or be an impediment for others. Hopefully it will generate enough awareness about culture, ourselves and the connectedness to others, and how objects and information can be understood in different ways.

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I was going to say something witty, but I forgot it. Fuck off. Love Walter

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Making Visible

I used to ride my longboard from the parking garage to my office downtown in the early morning. Just after the dawn breaks and before the first class in the morning, I would carve my way from parking garage to office. However because of campus police and being relocated, I no longer ride my board in the morning. No more moment of Zen. Then I parked in the garage on Penn State’s central campus and walked past the student union building and a string of science buildings, over the bridge that is the base of the Information Science and Technology building, and across Atherton Street to my building. On my walk in the morning, at lunch, and on the way home, I get to see a lot of things. I get to see a segment of student life outside of the classroom. I get to see people moving from class to class, heading to lunch, heading home, heading downtown, etc. I get to see different things at different times relative to my mode of transportation. When I’m on the longboard, how I look and interact with my environment is much different than being on foot. Being on foot means I get to experience things more slowly. I can pretty much observe nuances much differently than when I’m on the longboard. When I’m on the longboard, I’m worried about matching my carving to the pitch of the road, how many people are in the environment, rocks and pebbles, bicycles, cars, cops, etc. I get to surf the concrete wave. My focus is on that momentum and how that momentum makes me feel. Continue Reading →

Founders - The Great Wall of Los Angeles

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Critical Public Art Pedagogy

I would approach teaching the concept of critical public art pedagogy with future students by first defining what is meant by critical public art pedagogy, show students examples of public art, provide students with examples of organizations, groups, or institutions engaged with public art, have students evaluate and reflect on the mission or objectives of those engaged in public art through journals and class discussion, and have students create public art individually or in groups that addresses their relationships to their community and/or school.

What is critical public art pedagogy?

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James Rosenquist (1961). I Love You with My Ford

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Contemporary Art Concepts: I Love You with My Ford

In terms of metaphor, James Rosenquist’s “I Love You with My Ford” addresses the modern proclivity for consumerism and the critique of the idyllic future. During this time, the automobile and canned spaghetti were conveniences and women during this period were associated with certain roles and objectification. There were modern conveniences for the home and the freedom associated with the automobile and the buying power of Americans. The future was bright with innovation and stuff–things to make your life easier. Automobiles, TV dinners, and spaghetti can be seen as status symbols for middle America.

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Contemporary Art Concepts: Meshes of the Afternoon

In terms of code switching, I’d like to use one aspect of the linguistic definition that it is a “strategy at negotiating power for the speaker.” The female character moves between dream and reality to negotiate existence, her relationship with herself and the male character, and to deal with emotion. It is set in a familiar environment, most likely her home, and becomes an environment of unrest as the familiar becomes unstable. She has to negotiate the familiar objects, settings, people, etc. as she switches between dream and reality.

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Extending an Invitation

Marie Curie

She was the first woman to win a Noble Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris (La Sorbonne), and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in Paris’ Panthéon. During World War I, she established the first military field radiologoical centers. In 1900, Marie became the first woman faculty member at the École Normale Supérieure. To attain her scientific achievements, she had to overcome barriers that were placed in her way because she was a woman, in both her native and adoptive country. In a 2009 poll carried out by New Scientist, Marie Curie was voted the “most inspirational woman in science.” – Wikipedia

Nominator

Michael A. Tribone

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Public Pedagogy of Everyday Objects & Spaces: Table Talk

Deodorant. It’s a western norm. I wear deodorant and antiperspirant to avoid the giant, armpit rings and smell that comes with daily activity. It’s part of our cultural conventions. Cleanliness, I have been told, is next to godliness. At what price this cleanliness? According to EGW’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database:

Ecotoxicology
Allergies/immunotoxicity
Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)
Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)
Cancer
Developmental/reproductive toxicity
etc.

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Meet and Greet – Skateboarding as Expression of Self in the Public Sphere

In terms of a public sphere of influence, it is not specifically a particular location for me but an action within the public sphere. It is art. It is feeling. It is emotion and a connection to my surrounding environment. Riding for me is meditation. It is zen. New places are improvisation. The same places depending on time of day and light are improvisation. Skateboarding roots are based in surfing. It was created to fulfill a need for when the weather and surf weren’t right. It is expression. It changes moment to moment.

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Serial Dilution

This is one of many animations that I created for the Environmental Toxicology Inquiry Curriculum at Penn State targeting STEM education in high school. The “Everyday Toxicology” module uses commonplace substances to illustrate basic concepts at the interface of toxicology, pharmacology, and nutrition.