Slideshow/Giving a talk using Croquet

Hello all,

I work on Linux. I know smalltalk reasonably well. I don't know the
Croquet APIs. I am interested in using Croquet as a platform to develop
more engaging slideshow presentations. My talks are normally about
formal presentations or results in programming language semantics. I'm
tired of the tedium of slides produced by beamer.

I saw the keynote by Alan Kay in 2004 at OOPSLA.  I want to create a set
of APIs for myself to make presentations like that.  Can anyone confirm
that the slides for that talk were written in Croquet?

I assume I'm not the first person to think of this. Is there any other
work that I can look at that does something like this? Have any of the
users on this list given a slideshow/talk that was written in Croquet
that they would be willing to share? Is this a common way to use the
media/animation capabilities of Croquet?

Any pointers to resources that could assist in this task would be
appreciated. Also any suggestions on approaches to get a bare bones
slideshow going would be good, for instance, an example that could be
quickly modified to get something close.

I checked the FAQ at croquetproject.org and couldn't see anything. If
there is a more extensive FAQ that addresses this question please point
me in the right direction.

Cheers,
Ben

On May 17, 2007, at 12:28 PM, Benedict Kavanagh wrote:

It's been a while since I watched that video, but any 2D presentation  
that Alan was giving would have been in Squeak, not Croquet.  I  
believe that Alan's presentations are in a "Squeakland" version of  
Squeak (http://www.squeakland.org) rather than the, um, "Squeak  
Foundation" version (http://squeak.org).  The tutorials at the  
Squeakland site should be useful.  The squeakland mailing list should  
be able to answer any additional questions that you may have.

Josh

Joshua Gargus wrote: Thanks. I noticed there is a project called Sophie at
http://sophieproject.org/ that has a lot in common with what I'm
thinking about, that is linked from the squeak.org site.

I'm still curious about 3D presentations. Has anyone on this list
written a 'presentation' world where the sole purpose was to step
through a sequence of media for expository purposes that you could use,
for instance, when giving an academic talk, or a lecture?

-Ben

Some experience:

* I tend to move around too much, which the audience finds distracting.

* Any turning creates the opportunity for motion sickness in the audience
watching on a big screen.  One technique is to have the slide arranged in a
straight line, and then move the avatar in a completely straight line from one
slide to the next. Applications that have keyboard or button navigation (KAT,
Forums, ...) do this better than the default mouse navigation.  Of course, this
linear approach gives up a lot of the flash of Croquet, reducing the show to
merely a really cool 'breaking through' slide transition.

* It's kind of cool to do a linear-presentation for a while, and then turn to
the side for a side discussion or example (e.g., in an embedded Web browser). It
knocks their socks off, AND it keeps them grounded. People intuitively
understand that you are making a side discussion, and they understand when
you're going back to the main thread by "physically" turning back to it. And it
keeps the demo (e.g., the Web browser) in proximity to the slide from the main
thread. Context is king.

* Remember that you can have movies. Background music can be nice, too.

* The transparency of images is kind of nice, what with being less transparent
when the mouse is over the image and all. However, it might not be optimal. The
linear-presentation technique lets people see upcoming slides through the
transparency, which can be good and bad.  Backgrounds and horizons matter, too.

* Even if you're going to be in first-person during the show, it's really cool
to have the projector showing the avatar in third person before the talk starts.
Especially if there's moving clouds and music. You might have the first slide,
or even the first several slides going (especially video). Or maybe something
spinning. It's trivial to do, and good eye candy before you start. People know
they're going to see something special.

* Beware: I've given talks IN Croquet that quickly devolved into being ABOUT
Croquet itself. That's party my fault, but I suspect the medium itself tends to
invite this. Avoid the temptation to talk about the medium unless that's really
your subject.

* It's nice to put the talk in a public, persistent world after the
presentation, so that people can review, comment, and discuss as a 3D wiki.
(This is an advantage that survives the linear-presentation technique.)
See http://www.wetmachine.com/itf/item/477

* A billboard feature (so that the picture is always individually facing each
individual observer during their own rendering) makes it easier for later
visitors in a public persistent world. It puts less demands on their driving skills.

* The quick and dirty way to build (using the KAT): 1. Generate individual
slides as images or movies outside of Croquet. 2. Position yourself just in
front of where you want the next slide (possibly by aligning yourself with the
down-arrow on a picture frame and then driving), and then drag in the media file
from your desktop.

-H

Joshua Gargus wrote:
--
Howard Stearns
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Division of Information Technology
mailto:[hidden email]
jabber:[hidden email]
office:+1-608-262-3724
mobile:+1-608-658-2419

These are great hints for any presentation, Howard.  Thanks.

Regards,
Les H
On Thu, 2007-05-17 at 15:44 -0500, Howard Stearns wrote:

Some experience:

* I tend to move around too much, which the audience finds distracting.

* Any turning creates the opportunity for motion sickness in the audience 
watching on a big screen.  One technique is to have the slide arranged in a 
straight line, and then move the avatar in a completely straight line from one 
slide to the next. Applications that have keyboard or button navigation (KAT, 
Forums, ...) do this better than the default mouse navigation.  Of course, this 
linear approach gives up a lot of the flash of Croquet, reducing the show to 
merely a really cool 'breaking through' slide transition.

* It's kind of cool to do a linear-presentation for a while, and then turn to 
the side for a side discussion or example (e.g., in an embedded Web browser). It 
knocks their socks off, AND it keeps them grounded. People intuitively 
understand that you are making a side discussion, and they understand when 
you're going back to the main thread by "physically" turning back to it. And it 
keeps the demo (e.g., the Web browser) in proximity to the slide from the main 
thread. Context is king.

* Remember that you can have movies. Background music can be nice, too.

* The transparency of images is kind of nice, what with being less transparent 
when the mouse is over the image and all. However, it might not be optimal. The 
linear-presentation technique lets people see upcoming slides through the 
transparency, which can be good and bad.  Backgrounds and horizons matter, too.

* Even if you're going to be in first-person during the show, it's really cool 
to have the projector showing the avatar in third person before the talk starts. 
Especially if there's moving clouds and music. You might have the first slide, 
or even the first several slides going (especially video). Or maybe something 
spinning. It's trivial to do, and good eye candy before you start. People know 
they're going to see something special.

* Beware: I've given talks IN Croquet that quickly devolved into being ABOUT 
Croquet itself. That's party my fault, but I suspect the medium itself tends to 
invite this. Avoid the temptation to talk about the medium unless that's really 
your subject.

* It's nice to put the talk in a public, persistent world after the 
presentation, so that people can review, comment, and discuss as a 3D wiki. 
(This is an advantage that survives the linear-presentation technique.)
See http://www.wetmachine.com/itf/item/477

* A billboard feature (so that the picture is always individually facing each 
individual observer during their own rendering) makes it easier for later 
visitors in a public persistent world. It puts less demands on their driving skills.

* The quick and dirty way to build (using the KAT): 1. Generate individual 
slides as images or movies outside of Croquet. 2. Position yourself just in 
front of where you want the next slide (possibly by aligning yourself with the 
down-arrow on a picture frame and then driving), and then drag in the media file 
from your desktop.

-H

Joshua Gargus wrote:
> 
> On May 17, 2007, at 12:28 PM, Benedict Kavanagh wrote:
> 
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I work on Linux. I know smalltalk reasonably well. I don't know the 
>> Croquet APIs. I am interested in using Croquet as a platform to 
>> develop more engaging slideshow presentations. My talks are normally 
>> about formal presentations or results in programming language 
>> semantics. I'm tired of the tedium of slides produced by beamer.
>>
>> I saw the keynote by Alan Kay in 2004 at OOPSLA.  I want to create a 
>> set of APIs for myself to make presentations like that.  Can anyone 
>> confirm that the slides for that talk were written in Croquet?
> 
> It's been a while since I watched that video, but any 2D presentation 
> that Alan was giving would have been in Squeak, not Croquet.  I believe 
> that Alan's presentations are in a "Squeakland" version of Squeak 
> (http://www.squeakland.org) rather than the, um, "Squeak Foundation" 
> version (http://squeak.org).  The tutorials at the Squeakland site 
> should be useful.  The squeakland mailing list should be able to answer 
> any additional questions that you may have.
> 
> Josh
> 
> 
>>
>> I assume I'm not the first person to think of this. Is there any other 
>> work that I can look at that does something like this? Have any of the 
>> users on this list given a slideshow/talk that was written in Croquet 
>> that they would be willing to share? Is this a common way to use the 
>> media/animation capabilities of Croquet?
>>
>> Any pointers to resources that could assist in this task would be 
>> appreciated. Also any suggestions on approaches to get a bare bones 
>> slideshow going would be good, for instance, an example that could be 
>> quickly modified to get something close.
>>
>> I checked the FAQ at croquetproject.org and couldn't see anything. If 
>> there is a more extensive FAQ that addresses this question please 
>> point me in the right direction.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Ben
>