Laurie Grove Bath House Research

Media Use: Official and Unofficial Media Use

Research Overview
I started the research with the ambitious objective of mapping all media use of the building both official and unofficial including, internet and network use. However, after inquiring with the Network services at the University I found that there isn’t sufficient equipment in the building to record this kind of information. So I have decided to focus the research on physical official and unofficial media in the building.

In a time of digital information and paperless communication, there is a surprising number of ‘physical’ forms of communication in the bath house, both official and unofficial media. I found it interesting how the occupants of the building choose to interact with the space through note postings and tagging. This research is an attempt to record and chart all the ‘physical’ media use in the building through pictures and note taking and also an attempt to see how all the media use connects to the social network in the building. A further step of the research would be to try and find a link between the social networks formed through all the physical media use in the building and the social networks formed through social net working websites on the internet by the users of the building.

My objectives:

• Analyse Laurie Grove Baths in terms of “ACCESS”

• Two paradigms for analysing “ACCESS”

1. Analogic Era: presence/absence (Victorian Age)
2. Information Era : pattern/randomness (Present)

1. Presence/Absence  Private/Public
2. Pattern/Randomness  Right/No Right to Enter

• Understand what is meant by “access” : social/ economic/ cultural/ political access, a way of entering, a right to use etc…
• Track any kind of access to the building (then and now)
• Research how access has changed, also in relationship to the two communities that in different times made use of the building (Local Community – Goldsmiths Community)

Here are the questions/answers for/from Network:

Hi,
thanks for your message.
I'll answer what I can however there are some points that I'm not able to answer as
they either relate to our security or to another group.
Hope this is OK.

> 1. How is the network secured from inside/outside intrusions,
> i.e. ports?
> firewalls? anti-virus? fixed IP? DHCP? etc...

We use firewalls and other applications and devices for security. These work on port
numbers, traffic content and other traffic/port behaviour.
We used both fixed IP and DHCP across the wired and wireless networks.
Anti-Virus software is on all College supplied computers.

Here is the email I got from Security:

I attach a list which provides the number of swipes through the card reader
at Laurie Grove Baths since January 2005. It has been broken down to
monthly reports as it would be too time consuming to produce weekly
records. Please bear in mind that the numbers are not necessarily the
actual number of people using the building as some may use their card
several times a day whilst others do not use it at all by tailgating
through behind other users.

The current system was introduced towards the end of 2002 and replaced an
extremely old card reader system. I have no record of what was used

The New Cross Sniff took place on 30th October. The following 'hot spots' were found:

Unfortunately, only one camera was found (twice) and there was no baby in baby monitor...better luck next time.

Here is a much longer piece that is an edited version of my dissertation on Deptford Town Hall, Deptford history, slavery, racism and resistance. It's over 8000 words so I recommend that you skim it for content!
The bibliography might be useful for your research. best Paul xxx

ABTRACT: Goldsmiths is the current owner of Deptford’s former Town Hall, an ornately sculpted building on a maritime theme. Controversially the figures celebrated on the front of this building have close association with the British slave trade. The paper attempts a new historicisation of Goldsmiths in relation to Deptford Town Hall, racism and resistance to racism. It further explores anthropological theory and methods in order to ascertain the institutional responsibilities of Goldsmiths to adequately address this controversial artefact. Finally I briefly examine how theory can inform action in the development of a local campaign.

Here is a paper I gave at the Migrating University which gives some background about Deptford Town Hall and its architects:

For the last couple of years I have been occasionally obsessing over Deptford Town Hall. As a self-financing, part-time student with a full time job and baby just embarking on a PhD in Anthropology this might not be the smartest choice as it doesn’t have a lot of connection with my proposed studies. However it is this obsession that has kept me sane and has given me an outlet for all the nonsensical hoops that I have been forced to jump through as a post graduate student such as ‘quantitative methods in social sciences’. I suppose that this obsession is really what I would propose as the antidote to the University as faceless entity. I have been attempting to approach activism as education. I have been playing with the notion that the University is ultimately the sum of its parts and that students and staff are a part of that sum. It seems clear to me that what the University does publicly reflects on the staff and students of the institution. It is my endeavour to make the institution more accountable to the people it represents. I have also been building local alliances in order to address national and global issues.

This page is Under Construction

Recording set up for Damien

We have already done some work on the field recording aspect of the project. I have for quite a few years gone out with a mic and minidisc recorder and walked about town to record sounds and townscapes. I have used some of them in ambient songs that I have made, mainly as layers underneath the main body of the tracks.

But for AWSoM I wanted Damien to record the sounds. Previously she has either used interpreters to "describe" the sounds to her and the effects that she has put on them (a very ambiguous process), or relied on a description of a source sample alone and not even heard the original sample at all, let alone the finished result.

Go to the Gearbox site here

Gearbox: a toolkit with tricks, hacks and pranks to reinvent the way we consume media and technology.

Gearbox is the outcome of twelve-months development work between the MediaShed and Eyebeam Art and Technology Centre in New York, to create a resource for low-budget filmmaking. Comprised of “how to” step by step examples, Gearbox shows people innovative ways of recording footage using unusual combinations of found resources (such as CCTV Video Sniffin’ or Spy Kiting) and low-budget methods of reproducing professional film making techniques (for example, achieving a crane shot using a fishing pole).