Greetings, social media and Metaverse, Wombles. Yeah, that's been added I think because it's needed. Welcome to the very first West Park Park Bench Podcast.
My media tends to name itself and that's a bit of a mouthful, but the fates deemed that that's what this should be called.
Episode One always a bit of an trepidation when you start something that in itself is episodic, because it kind of means you got to do episode two at the very least. So usually I get to six. Six is a nice number for me for episodes within a series. So should I go for round 10? Let's see if I get six and let's see if six gets to 10 rather than doing a restart.
So it's mid April 2022. Wow. I'm having each year, a word that I try and and guide my life by something that will influence my work life balance and for the last few years, I've been very aware that my weight is higher than I would like. My flexibility is lower than I would like. And generally I don't have time to stretch and live in my body because I spend a lot of time digital. I sit at my desk a lot. And my mind itself spends a lot of time within digital and virtual spaces and with the emergence of the metaverse concept more and more of my projects are extending into that realm too. Yeah.
So the word is posture for 2022 and beginning of the year I spent the good old usual New Year's resolution period of six weeks see there's not six again, doing some stretches and enrolling in some apps that I would be able to do some dancing and stretching and things that were comfortable and fun but the world doesn't necessarily make time for fun and priorities exceed those little times that that needs to be planned to put aside so you can switch your brain off on one thing and switch to another and it has to be part of a work life flow.
So I started my year on a high because in August 2021 I was awarded my developing creative practice grant from Arts Council England, which gives me 10,000 pounds. For me to fund myself part time sort of one day a week for a year and a day that I'm putting it in kind that's going to extend or has been extended to three days with me trying to look for prospective clients to fill up those other two days, but because of the way my life works, I am very fortunate that no money coming in is problematic. But I became 50 this year and there's things that have happened in the roots of my life that has meant that I don't have a mortgage. Believe me, although I have all the other stuff and some very wonderful patrons. That wouldn't be possible without that.
I think it's important to kind of try and talk about where money comes from because it's hard and the thing that has emerged most recently beginning of April, everybody taking their metre readings, because the cost of resources, of fuel, of utilities has gone through the roof. The cost of living is rising and as someone who was already living quite frugally. I can see the people who haven't had to strip back to quite that extent are feeling the shocks of that.
Sitting on a park bench does mean you have people wandering past I tried to pick somewhere that didn't kind of make like a crazy lady but then people do talk to their phones all the time. Yeah, I found this park bench just outside West Park Sports Centre because today, my word of the year be a posture I really like to swim, least not to swim but I like to be weightless and be able to stretch in ways that I can't with gravity applied to my body in the walking around world. I'm certainly a lot calmer than approaching this swim. I'm not quite sure what this podcast is going to evolve into because as someone who's neurodivergent I know that the world works differently to my brain. And I struggle with trying to live within it, within this world. With my neurodivergent brain. But I also realise of me having that perspective that the world just doesn't actually work. And people who are neurotypical probably don't see that component that everybody knows that the world doesn't work in some ways, whether it's the broken down capitalist structure, or whether it's the broken down metropolis. Local structures civic service, civic service, and there's just the planet just doesn't really work for people, as a species as a collective, as a community, as a collaboration, and they're all words that are richly prized, and they are mechanisms of existence that are really prized, but they're really hard and not done very well and very hard to implement, very easy to critique, I will confess. So I really wanted to start swimming and that was the one thing that really does lighten my mood and whether it's a depression or whether it's a struggle with my diet, dyslexia, or whether it's a questioning of gender perceptions around existence, and whether it's orientation of sexuality, all of these things now in 2022 for someone who was born in 1972 has had a long time to think about as someone who thinks a lot. And personality types also affect this greatly. I've just as beginning of my developing creative practice the very first thing was I really wanted to do the Chris Grady Organisation, creative producers diploma. It was a 14 week course 16 weeks if you Class A break that you get in the middle to really solidify what it was that I wanted to do as a as a producer. And the last couple of years and especially just prior to COVID I really identified that that's that's what I had become, a producer. But I didn't have any lines. I couldn't join the dots between all of the projects and all of the roles and jobs I'd done over the years. And then someone in fact, not someone Jen Toksvig introduced me to a concept called a Portfolio Career and the penny just dropped that I have this career, I have this portfolio of projects that I've participated in really deeply on my level, and contributed in a way that might not have been fundamental to the delivery of the project, at least not in my perception. But it was still something that consumed my time and it was the thing that only my living. And in a world where we have to do a CV to try and champion ourselves and try and compete with other people. Often for the same roles that you previously performed. It's really hard when you're not someone who looks to be the winner and doesn't look to be the centre stage champion. You are the glue or the material that binds a project and makes it participatory or collaborative or taking a role where you need to be. So I did that.
I really wanted to do this swim. I will keep pulling us back to why it is that I'm doing podcast in the park. And I wanted to go for the swim and processes now after COVID of engaging with everything. Don't want to go for a swim and there be so many people there that it's claustrophobic. Because I don't like lots of people in any case, I never liked crowded pools. Now that we have COVID I also don't want to be in so much close proximity to people that I'm being breathed on and I wasn't sure how that was going to work for swimming. So I did make some inquiries, I looked at the website and they have split the swimming sessions into 45 minute chunks, but it's identifying 45 minutes that you want to swim in. And there's limited spaces. There's Lane swimming, now I am not a conforming walking aline kind of person and my swimming is the same. I do swim up and down. But I like to have the freedom to stop and look around and stretch and just relish in that gravity lessness which you can't really do in lane swimming because you've got people coming up behind you and there's this kind of whirl of up and down and you know and if you're too fast you do go in the medium lane or do you say in the slow lane and who is the slowest lane and do you take the pace by the fastest person in the slow lane or the slowest pace in the slow lane. And that goes on with it and thinking about that and thinking how people are placing themselves in those lanes is too much for my head to deal with. So when I looked at the shedule and saw that they had with swimming, this is a part of West Park pool that it's kind of in an L shape. So you've got lanes which I think are the 50 metre up and down and then you kind of got this square extension that is forming the L shape and that is deemed as with swimming so good but my mind then went to all those numbers on the website actually accurate. Does the website actually integrate with the physical venue? Or is it a we wish this worked properly, but it doesn't. And you get there and you find that actually know that number that was there isn't actually accurate and I have a lot of this time when physical doesn't coordinate and sequence with digital, digital works. I mean I myself my website is no real reflection of all the stuff that I do. It's a reflection that people seem to look at and can get a sense of what I do, but it's certainly so out of date and it doesn't have any you know, maintaining a booking system. You know I have I suppose the newest or booking system I have is Calendly which does actually synchronise with my Google Calendar. But it's not something that people get a confirmation of or you know, and sometimes even then people will book on to sessions that I've just talked to people and offered and then someone just happens to book that session. Then I'm back to a position where I try not to be which is the whole point of having Calendly which is where I don't have conflicts and I'm able to kind of flow through my day.
So practice swimming back to getting into the pool. So went on the website today knowing that I want to do this with swimming, it's half past 10 to a quarter past 11 on a Tuesday which is probably when I'm going to be doing the West Park Park Bench Podcasts. So be great to have people join me here either to come swimming or they meet me at half past 11 for this podcast would be cool. We'll see how that goes. Hey, there's all these things I would love to do.
West Park itself. There's some great augmented reality projects that I'd like to develop in here that are kind of half here. And half could be and were intended to be AR layers on the park. But I'm not sure where the apps are for that. So we're kind of going to do a gathering and and reframing of all of the awesome projects. That kind of exist in liminal liminal virtuality. Some great words that I'm starting to absorb from some of the projects and partnerships that I'm starting to get engaged with, they're going to be other stories. This is about swimming.
So I managed this morning to pack my bag yesterday for swimming. So I was definitely committed to doing this and just had dogies pop into the podcast.
So I definitely committed to today. I had packed my bag last night. And this morning nine o'clock I sat down to pay for my session. logged on to the website. I had the link in my Google Calendar and everything clicked on it. Click the session, and actually I needed to enrol in the leisure centre app. Okay. So I filled in the screen with my web with my email and my password and then it kind of didn't finish and it felt like it hadn't finished the sequence it didn't put up a congratulations, you've made it through to the end of that process. So I I kind of suspected that that didn't work. But it did tell me that there was an app. And it did give me a QR code and gave him my number and everything and I was intending to blog this today anyway. So I did a screen grab and put that in my notebook, which is how I compose my blog posts. And then I went back to the site to see if I could then book the swimming session. And I put it in and it said, a pay as you go. I was like, Yeah, that's probably me put it in there. And then it wanted me to register. So I was like, okay, so I registered and this time it gave me a different form. This did actually asked me for a lot more of my information. So I was like, okay, and then it said that I would get a I would get a confirmation which I didn't get from the last process. So I was like, Ah, okay, when to my my email? And sure enough, that was an email with the QR code and, and the code number that I had screen grabbed from the previous process or Okay, good. So let's book a swimming session. And time is creeping by at this point, and I'm looking at my clock going, I am gonna go swimming, I am gonna go swimming. And there was one place remaining and that place has been there all morning. I'm like, that is my place. That is my place. So I went to the site, tried to go in. Are you registered Yes. Connect apps. Yes, that's good. I clicked on that. It asked me for my barcode, but it didn't have a barcode and it didn't trigger a camera for me to show the QR code but it did have a number so I put that number in. And they asked my email address, which I put in to which then said this email address is used by another account. To which I looked at the screen and actually said out loud, Yes, that's me. So I could see this going round and round and time is going on. And the session is half past 10 to quarter past 11.
Okay, what am I going to do what we're going to do, and I've been quite distressed this week with trying to move forward with my developing creative practice which encompasses three components. I've got the stage, immersive stage show, which is at minimum viable production stage, and how the tech works. and I've got that there's also a component I've been investigating which is about blockchain and NFT and authentication for artists and and can we capture a performance and give it an authentication so that we can use it really as a as a proof of project, proof of work for ourselves not proof of work, as in blockchain proof of work, but anyway, you know, can we stick our stuff on the blockchain and I'm just interested in all that and then the final part is the final part of it all is an audience extension. Can we make a virtual audience palace that will allow this digital show to be performed physically, with a physical audience, but also have 360 degree observation from a digital audience and a experience that is a virtual experience and the reason why I really liked it is because the metaverse component gives you an offworld, it gives you an offworld presence.
Point of Presence is really, really important.
I saw a lecture at TEDx York, which was done by Alex Kelly. I'm so glad I remembered his name. And at this, Alex was talking about telephone boxes, and the notion of point of presence that you could always walk to one of those telephone boxes and you could either call another telephone box, or you could call a person and that that old school Point of Presence, really important.
And through my work as a practitioner, I spent quite a few years working with crypto crypto champion, I think I want to call him crypto champion at the moment, technologist, Phil Campbell, who used to talk about the telephone, the dial tone being online being the new dial tone, presence, I've got that completely wrong. But this notion of Point of Presence, dial tone, being the old you picked up a phone, some people listening to this you might not even know what dial tone is dial tone was whenever you picked up a landline telephone and I don't even know if landline telephones do it now I don't think they do. I think you just dial shows how long it's been since I used a landline phone. You used to pick it up. And the reason you'd know it was kind of operational. Is that it had this this, this dial tone is puurrr. And that let you know that it was active. And then you dialled your number.
And so yeah, so that point of presence is really important. And I think that's where the metaverse is going to come into its own the ability to have a 24/7 point of presence that can be accessed.
I'm just thinking it does take electricity and that's another difficulty point because geographic point of presence which I guess is where we come back to the West Park park bench podcast, which is the point of presence at this point in time. You can look on a Google map and you'll be able to see the bench that I'm sat on.
Which takes me on to another cool little thing that someone said to I was in a webinar, and they were talking about frame rate and how 5g and the speeding up and latency of data through internet connections means that frame rates can be faster. And one of the things that was cited was Google Maps, having a really slow frame rate of once every three months, which I really liked the idea that that Google Maps was a film that was always running but its frame rate is so slow that it's just one picture every three months or six months or every year depending on when the car goes past. I really liked that.
So Westpark park bench podcast. I was struggling. I was struggling to get the app to work. And I'm not stupid with technology, but I do. It did feel like I missed a step. And I think it didn't guide me through the steps in a linear fashion. It didn't give me any guidance. And it was only because I didn't get the rewards at the end saying you've been successful, that I knew something had gone wrong. And whether it was two browsers, I started two sessions or that link that I started had a session cookies as part of the URL meant that it already thought I was in the system and then I started it. Anyway, I was determined. So it got to a point where I thought you know what? That one space is there. That is supposed to be my swimming space. So it's only a 15 minute walk at my pace right now. So I walked from the house through West Park to West Park Leisure Centre, approach the counter and there was a lovely guy dressed in white jacket so I kind of it looked a little bit like a dentist. It felt a little bit like I was going into the dentist except that all around me there was swimming accoutrements that were for sale. Just like in a supermarket where you get sweets on the aisle except these were goggles and swimming costumes and earplugs.
So I approached the desk and explained what I'd gone through which you've just heard. And he was lovely. And he he said, Okay, show me your code. So I was able to show him the screenshot that I had grabbed that was in my notebook, digital notebook, and he was able to scan that and confirm that. Yes, I did have an account but it wasn't connected to my email address. I'm not sure why. But with a scan of the code and a tap of my screen, they were connected. But I looked at the clock and the session started at half past 10 It was now quarter to 11. But that would have been a 30 minute session to swim and 30 minutes to swim when I've not swim for a long time was going to be okay for me. But I wasn't sure if they would allow me to go in. So I looked at him and said It's quarter to can still go in. And he looked at me and said oh go on. So I was able to go into the pool. Have my swim have a stretch which was just wonderful.
Get dressed which is always with swimming, swimming, swimming. It's not the best. It was like the north wind coming out of the pool. I was able to have my swim and have my stretch. And I think when you swimming this this sense that the I don't I'm thinking so much about moving my body that I'm not thinking about my brains ticking process. So for that moment for that half an hour, I'm just focusing about how I'm stretching my body and it's you know that for me, as great. As I was trying I was just thinking all of the things that were whirling around in my head. What I was gonna do about a podcast I'd already thought about the West Park park bench podcast, and add a little chortle to myself. But I was determined that I was going to come out and I was going to find a bench and I was going to sit down and I was going to record an episode one of West Park Park Bench Podcast.
I have no idea how long this has been. I really appreciate it if you've stayed to the end. I'm Caron @PCMcreative on Twitter. And that is not the sirens coming to get me. But it is me signing off and fingers crossed, do join me for episode two.