Welcome to mine!! I'm a DC native living at the intersection of the arts, the LGBT community, the nonprofit sector, politics & policy, social media, & technology!!
P.S. By the end of the portal hunt, in that last picture, he reached Level 3!!
P.P.S. The fountain of youth refers to a Mickey Mouse water bottle he lost somewhere between the first and the second portal. One of our teammates retraced our steps and met us at the third portal with it.
P.P.P.P.S. To clarify, the agent who started out at level one was Matt aka Scaevola. I reached Level 8 a month or so ago, but (even though we were on opposite factions) for the duration of the portal hunt, my fellow Enlightened operatives and I worked with Scaevola and the other Resistance agents to strategically build up and break down portals and resonators, as well as drop low-level items for his inventory.
This post is a little belated, but just wanted to share a couple of more public art discoveries I made. This is the first follow-up to my last discovery, the New York Avenue Sculpture Project. And you can read more about what has inspired this "rediscovery", I should say, from my post, Ingress: Rediscovering my world through public art.
I touch on it in that last post, but just in case, i do acknowledge the fact that these discoveries are merely taking the time and energy to take a closer look at work that I've honestly driven by most of my adult life, to know its name and the artist behind it.
"This steel (possibly Cor-Ten steel) sculpture stands like a sign in the middle of the intersection. It rises upwards and opens up into a large face created with heavy African influences. Greenish glass frames the face. The artist describes it as a "Janus-face"."
Everyday in the District of Columbia, 76 calls are made to the police for help with domestic disputes and violence. The mural will raise awareness about domestic violence in our city, and spread a message of hope and healing.
So yeah, that's a couple of more new public art discoveries for me.
By now you may or may not have heard of Ingress or the Niantic Project. If you haven't, here's a trailer I recommend checking out.
So what is Ingress? Wikipedia's entry is pretty thorough. Long story short, it's an augmented reality game. It's almost like if foursquare where more like capture the flag.
And you can check out my post, 10 things to know about the Niantic Project. What I wanted to focus this post on was the sense of discovery, and even ownership, of place that this game is cultivating, through its game play.
The main element players interact with are portals, which in the real word are represented by anything from public art to historical buildings, even post offices and libraries, among other things. But what's great is that if you see something that looks like a portal in the real world, but doesn't show up on the app, you can take a picture of it, making sure sure it's geo-tagged, and submit it to Ingress ops for consideration to be a portal. And if you're playing, you can go here for more detailed instructions on new portal submission.
Ingress has most definitely encouraged me to further explore an area I've grown up in my whole life, the metropolitan area of Washington, DC, and I wanted to share just a few of the "portals" which, in submitting, I took the time to look at and learn about, which I never had, despite having past them multiple times.
One is this piece outside of the parking garage I use at work:
Despite parking there for over a couple of years, this was the first time I stopped to look at it and read the plaque.
And no, I'm not going to tell you which parking garage, in case there is anyone from the opposing faction, the Resistance, who sees this post. I decided to side with the Enlightened, when offered the choice. And yes, this would be a curious side-effect of the game engendering a feeling of ownership of these discovered "portals".
Another portal I found again, for the first time, is one I've passed countless of times up & down Georgia Ave. Some of you might recognize it, but many of you (like me) might never have stopped to even just check out what it was called.
In case you're wondering, the Untitled poem referred to on the plaque is written on the sculpture, so even if you've seen the sculpture before, if you've never read the poem, you might want to take a closer look next time.
And third piece I wanted to share is this one:
Around the Void V, 1669
Brushed Stainless Steel
Eduardo Chillida
San Sebastian, Spain 1924-2002
"Sculptor Eduardo Chillida believed that, "All men are equal, and at the horizon we are brothers. The horizon is the common homeland." On behalf of the World Bank Group, I am honored to share this work of art with the citizens of Washington, D.C. and the world as we continue to work together toward the horizon of a better tomorrow."
James D. Wolfensohn
Dedicated February 10, 2003
Over the past week or so, I was quite pleased to see all of these portal submissions had been approved, and showed up in the game. To my dismay, the last one, had been claimed by the Resistance, specifically an operative of theirs who goes by "spliao":
And I sensed a determination to capture the portal previously not felt, because I was the one that found it, I took the picture which they used, and I had to protect it.
Yeah, I know, it's just a game. But when so many people bemoan how technology and particularly our mobile devices are disconnecting us from the real world, Ingress is a great example of how it can actually encourage our interaction with it.
And yes, the arts manager in me did bias my observation of game play, as well as my own actual portal discovery, in terms of looking for and at public art.
Anybody else playing, who's come across public art and submitted it for portal consideration? See something new, or take a closer look than you had before? Please share in the comments,
This is another Ingress-related post. And as the title suggest, it had to do with lights flickering...traffic lights...flickering...
I'm not even sure if flicker is the right term. Regardless, here's what happened. I was driving to drop-off my roommate at work at the Brixton for his brunch shift. I recently recruited him to join the Enlightened faction and have been walking with him through training as well as some of my portal missions.
Anyway, we make this turn, and we're stopped at this light. The light turns green, as does the couple immediately after it...it turns green just long enough for me (and the cars across the intersection from me) to release the brake pedal. And JUST as I'm about to step on the accelerator, the stop light and the two immediately after it suddenly change back to red.
Like, right away. No yellow, no flashing broken signal. The light turns back to red long enough for me to begin to ask "what the he-", and long enough for me to notice that immediately to my right, right at one of the corners of the intersection, is a portal that I upgraded and reinforced with shields only last night.
Just as I realized what we were next to, the lights turned back to green, and we were back on our way, like nothing had happened. I got my roommate to work, and headed home.
I'm sure there's some..."logical" and "rational" explanation involving a technical glitch that is more common than we think. But I couldn't help but wonder what was going on, if it might be related to Ingress and the Niantic Project? Did someone just attack a portal I claimed, or another Enlightened one near by? Is this only the tip of the iceberg regarding real-world manifestations of our struggle with the Resistance?
I hesitated to pull out my phone to check the Ingress "app", resting assured that should one of my resonators bite it, I would get an email notification in time to recharge and refortify the rest of them.
But I digress...just need to take this all day by day. And see what happens next.
- JR aka AWayofLife0, #TeamEnlightened #Enlighten DC
So for anyone interested, just wanted to blog about what has become my latest...obsession: Ingress. Here are 10 things you should know, primarily links. Also, please note, this is not a review, but rather more of a post for people interested in participating in Ingress, or who already are. Definitely check out Google news for "Niantic Project" as there are a host of individuals who have already covered the review angle better than I could.
1. XM (Exotic Matter) - "A rare and powerful form of tri-polar energy leaking into our universe from another dimension. This energy forms the basis for all Shaper technology. XM is needed to power your Scanner. If XM falls below critical levels, your Scanner will be disabled. You can collect XM (represented by glowing orbs on the Scanner Map) by moving through those areas. The XM will be automatically harvested by your Scanner." 2. Two Factions
The Resistance - Faction defending the Earth from the Shaper ingression. They are seen by some as being fearful of change or progress, but the Resistance is firm in its belief that it is protecting humanity.
The Enlightened - Faction attempting to help the Shapers infiltrate Earth. Followers believe that the Shapers bring a powerful Enlightenment that will lead to an evolution of humankind.
4. Support - General support, particularly for using ingress scanner technology and troubleshooting, as well as the root page for the previous link, can be found here.
5. Investigation - A brave young soul has been tracking...phenomenon and sharing his findings and musings at his page for the Niantic Project.
6. Intel Map - Players can use this intel map to strategize, either alone or with others in their faction, as the mobile app will only display your immediate surroundings.
7. Player Maps - Players from both factions are adding placemarks to their respective group's map.
10. Resistance is not futile - But humanity has constantly defined itself by change, our capacity to adapt to it as well as create it, especially by aspiring to ideals that transcend our immediate reality. Beauty, joy, truth, and the like...to say those belong solely to the human experience negates every ounce of humility we owe to the very fact that we exist, and that there is more to us than mere flesh and bones. To resist change is to deny our own fundamental humanity, and our capacity to constantly be more than we were before. No matter how much we grow and are inspired, whether by each other, nature, or any other source, it is not possible to ever become less human than we are. And there is so much more out there than what we can measure or explain, yet we've never doubted our ownership of our own fate, whatever combination of nature or nurture, of science or faith, affected our own growth as individuals or collective paths as communities. For any who are willing to take the ultimate leap of faith, you understand why joining the Enlightened in partnership with the Shapers is not a choice, but rather our destiny.
And that's all I've got. Anyone else 'playing'? Let me know, as well as which faction you chose and why.
Any others on either side in the DC area? Hit me up. We need to figure out a cover story so that local authorities understand (the multitude that we have), are informed as to any increase of activity around portals that they observe.
And if you're still not sure what Ingress and the Niantic Project are about, check out this trailer:
Post about actual Ingress use and strategy coming soon.
