TITLE: The Power of an App or a Sideways Glance
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: December 22, 2017 12:50 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
 This morning I read
<A HREF="http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/steven-soderbergh-interview-mosaic.html">
   an interview with Steven Soderbergh</A>,
 which is mostly about his latest project, the app/series,
 "Mosaic". A few weeks ago, "Mosaic" was released as an app
 in advance of its debut on HBO.  Actually, that's not quite
 right.  It <B>is</B> an app, which will also be released
 later in series form, and then only because Soderbergh
 needed money to finish the app version of the film.  In
 several places, he talks about being a director in ways
 that made me think of being a university professor these
 days.

 One was in terms of technology.  There are moments in the
 "Mosaic" app when it offers the viewer an opportunity to
 digress and read a document, to flash back, or to flash
 forward.  The interviewer is intrigued by the notion that
 a filmmaker would be willing to distract the viewer in
 this way, sending texts and pushing notifications that
 might disrupt the experience.  Soderbergh responded:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 My attitude was, "Look, we've gotten used to watching TV now
 with three scrolling lines of information at the bottom of
 the screen all the time.  People do not view that stuff the
 same way that they would have viewed it 20 years ago."
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 ...  To not acknowledge that when you're watching something
 on your phone or iPad that there are other things going on
 around you is to be in denial.  My attitude is, "Well, if
 they're going to be distracted by something, let it be me!"
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 I'm beginning to wonder if this wouldn't be a healthier
 attitude for us to have as university instructors.  Maybe
 I should create an app that <B>is</B> my course and let
 students experience the material using what is, for them,
 a native mode of interaction?  Eventually they'll have to
 sit down and do the hard work of solving problems and
 writing code, but they could come to that work in a
 different way.  There is a lot of value in our traditional
 modes of teaching and learning, but maybe flowing into our
 students' daily experience with push requests and teaser
 posts would reach them in a different way.

 Alas, I doubt that HBO will front me any money to make my
 app, so I'll have to seem other sources of financing.

 On a more personal plane, I was struck by something that
 Soderbergh said about the power directors have over the
 people they work with:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 What's also interesting, given the environment we're in
 right now, is that I typically spend the last quarter
 of whatever talk I'm giving [to future fillmakers]
 discussing personal character, how to behave, and why
 there should be some accepted standard of behavior
 when you interact with people and how you treat people.
 Particularly when you're in a position like that of a
 director, which is an incredibly powerful situation to
 be in, pregnant with all kinds of opportunity to be
 abusive.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 ... if you're in a position of power, you can look at
 somebody sideways and destroy their week, you know?  You
 need to be sensitive to the kind of power that a director
 has on a set.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

 It took me years as a teacher to realize the effect that
 an offhand remark could have on a student.  I could be
 lecturing in class, or chatting with someone in my office,
 and say something about the course, or about how I work,
 or about how students work or think.  This sentence, a
 small part of a larger story, might not mean all that
 much to me, and yet I would learn later that it affected
 how the student felt about himself or herself for a week,
 or for the rest of the course, or even longer.  This
 effect can be positive or negative, of course, depending
 on the nature of the remark.  As Soderbergh says, it's
 worth thinking about how you behave when you interact
 with people, especially when you're in a position of
 relative authority, in particular as a teacher working
 with young people.

 This applies to our time as a parent and a spouse, too.
 Some of my most regrettable memories over the years are
 of moments in which I made an offhand remark, thoughtlessly
 careless, that cut deep into the heart of my wife or one
 of my daughters.  Years later, they rarely remember the
 moment or the remark, but I'm sad for the pain I caused in
 that moment and for any lingering effect it may have.  The
 memory is hard for me to shake.  I have to hope that the
 good things I have said and done during our time together
 meant as much.  I can also try to do better now.  The same
 holds true for my time working with students.
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