[iDC] Introducing myself

[Mark Elliott]

I've been lurking for a few weeks now, getting a sense of the group and
waiting for an opportunity to hop into the discussion so here it goes...

I have a music composition background, though I've just completed a phd at
the Centre for Ideas at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of
the Arts with the title of 'Stigmergic Collaboration: A theoretical
framework for mass collaboration'. The thesis investigates collaboration
generally in order to theorise large-scale collective creativity (e.g.
Wikipedia, open source software and projects such as drawball.com). The
primary framework I have employed to these ends is stigmergy - the
biological mechanism first studied in ants and termites which explains the
'coordination paradox', that individually such creatures seem to be behaving
in a random fashion, but collectively they are able to achieve incredible
feats of organisation. Stigmergy explains this by exploring the capacity
that agents may have to make changes to the environment which in turn
illicit further changes (both within/upon the environment and behaviorally).
The thesis is currently under examination and I'm still anxiously awaiting
feedback :-7... During the course of my candidature I ran a number of online
collaborations as creative projects, most notably perhaps
http://metacollab.net - a collaboration on collaboration theory which is
still slowly ticking away.

I'm currently doing a large amount of teaching at the Centre for Ideas
(common curriculum subjects on theory / contextual studies for artists as
well as cross disciplinary collaboration), the University of Melbourne's
music faculty (teaching composition, orchestration & computing for musician
subjects), and in the University of Melbourne's media and communications
program, running the course, Media Futures & New Technologies, - see
http://www.unimelb.edu.au/HB/subjects/100-221.html

I've taken on a lot until I hear back about the phd and can then start
applying for new posts and projects mainly because I have 1 year old
identical twin boys and my partner is at home looking after them - so i
gotta work my butt off! :-) Along those lines, I'm not sure how active a
contributor I'll be able to be until semester finishes, though I'll do my
best (these days i seem barely able to cope with the tyranny of email)!

Glad to join your midsts!
mark elliott

-- 
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Mark Elliott
PhD Candidate

The Centre for Ideas
Victorian College of the Arts
The University of Melbourne
234 St Kilda Rd
SOUTHBANK 3006
Victoria, Australia

Mob: 0421 978 501
http://mark-elliott.net/, http://metacollab.net/
me at mark-elliott.net
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