Turning the lights off on the way out

The final LAMP Post!

The LAMP initiative began in August 2005 but in the next few weeks AFTRS have decided to gracefully terminate all LAMP web presences. This coincides with its founding Head/Director, Gary Hayes, moving onto similar, external initiatives. This site and the hundreds of podcasts, PDFs, videos, wiki, flickr, YouTube & vimeo accounts will be ‘retired’ and the thousands of subscribers here on the site, other social media sites and on iTunes will have to be de-coupled. AFTRS may be re-purposing a range of content from sites like LAMP back into its hub site at AFTRS.edu.au and cycling content on pages such as the appropriately named Watch, Listen & View. So keep watching there.

One post is not enough to sum up the many and various activities that LAMP ran. But here is a quick summary of everything that will be erased soon (so download as much as you can!):

• Run eight national residential creative development labs for over 740 participants – see this post
• Over 40 seminars in all Australian states across the whole range of new media, some videos remaining on the soon to be closed Vimeo AFTRS talks account
• One of the first Australian educational podcasts, with over 130 episodes on the iTunes store and listed here
• An extremely busy wiki that has had hundreds of thousands of visits and an original miniARG resource and many other satellite sites such as transmediadesign.org
• 50 groundbreaking presentations (downloadable creative commons) from LAMP mentors on Slideshare here – many embedded on this site eg: transmedia here and social media here
• LAMP mentors and collaborators developed the Australia Council Story of the Future writers guide here
• Hundreds of images of the people on the labs on the soon to be closed LAMP flickr account and the hundreds of mentors & participants here
• As a matter of course the LAMP twitter account with 1800 followers will be closed
• Setup a range of AFTRS YouTube channels such as the Animation, Showcase, Radio, LAMP and Games channels where videos such as this Unity games video from Ian Brown has gained 17000 views
• Setting up Australia’s first full island presence in Second Life in 2006 and the space is still going strong, official directory listing here
• Developing a range of internal courses over the past 18 months (hence the hiatus) across grad certs and diplomas in multi platform, virtual worlds, innovation & form, creating experiences foundation, interactive music and sound and many more
• The list goes on …

Finally it is always hard closing down initiatives that have grown strong roots and many followers but we are sure the main AFTRS site will grow from strength to strength as the marketing department focuses it’s continued efforts there.

As this will be the last post on this site before it disappears a fitting poem

A rose once grew where all could see,
sheltered beside a garden wall.
And, as the days passed swiftly by,
it spread its branches, straight and tall.

One day, a beam of light shone through
a crevice that had opened wide.
The rose bent gently toward its warmth
then passed beyond to the other side.

Now, you who deeply feel its loss,
be comforted, the rose blooms there.
Its beauty even greater now,
nurtured by God’s own loving care.

‘The Rose Beyond The Wall’
Author Unknown

and the last words from those who took part in LAMP’s training & labs

• LAMP 08 was the most amazing professional development experience of my life!
• I can highly recommend LAMP to anyone with a great idea looking to turn it into a success.
• It was a totally immersive and focused, overwhelming experience – nothing like I’ve experienced before
• The impossible is possible
• It was a wonderful creative experience where I believe we were able to generate a wealth of truly new ideas. Marvellous!
• A creative vibrant practical atmosphere
• The lab exceeded my expectations as I thought it would have been a little more hands off. The way everyone helped each other out in an environment that was friendly, affectionate and creative allowed us to take our project in ways never thought of before.
• This has definitely been one of the best experiences of my life. Thankyou!
• It exceeded my expectations
• A week of inspiration, confrontation (of your own creative ideas) communication skills crash course and hard work (esp the Thurs night) just what I wanted. The lessons Ive learnt this week will inform and inspire all the advanced media projects Im busy pushing ahead. Loved the quotes posted on the walls too!
• I loved loved loved it!
• Concept of LAMP is wonderful and it was above and beyond expectation
• LAMP helped solidify confidence in the concept and creating a truly viable cross media platform
• Well structured, highly relevant information, carefully structured word flow, excellent tutelage, nurturing, humane and humorous
• I am feeling lucky to have done this workshop. Sincerely. Full stop.
• Hope to have the opportunity to attend another LAMP experience. As a direct result of LAMP, I have several new ideas for digital technology and cross-platform storytelling that would not have happened without LAMP
• Most intense week Ive had in many years. Maybe ever!?
• I didnt have any expectations because I was unaware of what the Lab entailed prior to attending. The Lab was certainly one of the best professional experiences Ive ever had. The generosity extended by the LAMP team and mentors was unparalleled
• We invented our project and were supported by people who were generous and helpful, people who we wouldnt normally have access to
• We developed an idea from scratch, expanded it from POV of a user (not the film maker) which was excellent
• Very intense but also an extremely nurturing environment that was particularly conducive to creativity and brainstorming. It opened my mind.
• I cannot speak (or write) highly enough of every single mentor at this residential. I will take something  a pearl of wisdom  away from every one of them.
• Well considered and organised, great to be able to think in such an environment
• Very professionally and thoughtfully structured, clearly the result of experience – worked very well
• Very busy and intense but very useful
• This workshop managed to elicit maximum product output and intelligent project implementation with a minimum of fuss
• What a privilege! All participants were challenged to reach for and achieve far reaching goals but were also totally supported in the endeavour by a united team of razor sharp professionals.
• Yes, exceeded my expectations. Forced me to think way, way, way outside my square.
• This was a highly productive, intensive session whereby all outside distractions were eliminated letting us focus solely on the job
• There was enormous value with mentor input, creative support from other participants and developers and insight from industry.
• The hothouse thrown in at the deep end technique created high anxiety but did a brilliant job of emulating the performance-under-pressure environment that causes many creatives to shine
• Superb, empathetic, committed facilitators enacted a disciplined, purposeful approach towards clear creative outcomes
• Seamless
• The experience will resonate with me for a long time to come. The energy, commitment, generosity and expertise of the mentors and organisers far exceeded my expectations.
• It was a great reminder that yes, there ARE people out there that have the same enthusiasm, drive and excitement about making something to entertain, enlighten and educate the world. LAMP was a great place to collaborate and explore what an idea can become.
• Perfect. Seriously its a great balance of challenges and support. A full process that ties in well
• Effective & challenging, in that it took me out of my comfort zone, highlighted my weaknesses & drew upon my strengths in an unexpected & surprising way.
• Our guardian mentor was crucial, providing not only support but also challenges, nurturing and encouragement
• An excellent overview of game and story design, social networking systems, current and successful project models, engaging usersthe list goes on. The presentations were excellent. The mentoring was engaged, generous and fantastic.
• The mentor presentations excellent, technical support brilliant, pace was exhausting but productive
• I didnt know what to expect but LAMP completely blew me away! I thought it would be more competitive and the teams more secretive about their projects. Instead I found everyone to be extremely generous and supportive and it was SO wonderful to be in like-minded company in an environment conducive to creativity.
• LAMP gave our project a deep focus and contextual awareness that made the idea much richer
• LAMP gave me clarification, I found a vocabulary and a voice
• Its a boot camp that canon-balls the development of an idea with great speed.
• Intensely challenging, Incredibly professional, Invigorating and fun. I feel cared for and respected
• Intense dialogue helped us understand what each partner values and wants to achieve then how to communicate our interest to the outside world
• I was transformed and uplifted with new confidence, a new sense of possibility. Now I get to go and make new rules in an exciting frontier
• The most important thing we gained was a business perspective. It was a very good thing for us to stop thinking purely as content creators, and think more business.
• Flawless
• Extremely intense, highly thought provoking and challenging
• The whole thing was life changing in regards to finding out who was out there. Working with them and being creative. Having almost a week to work on one project solidly with help & advise not just from mentors but everyone is the best thing about LAMP.
• Amazing luxury to have so many diverse mentors. Well paced, well moderated , well supported
• Access to such varied input from many different perspectives forced us to evaluate what was the really important feature, core of the project and what was right for it
• A rollercoaster ride of information – an intensive hothouse experience
• Full on!
• Great experience – painful but gainful!
• It was better than I could have ever imagined. I loved every minute of it.
• Well coordinated – responsive to all issues that arose The tech was great. No problems. It was good to have a real deadline at the end of the week.
• A great deal of direction, inspiration and information
• Keep going, its a worthy project getting us all converted!
• A+, Well run
• Very professional, and the enthusiasm was very impressive.
• Honestly! will not think about any project the same again and I hope to be involved in many more
• Process, process, process – the structural models extremely useful

Feedback from various one day orientation events

• Mind expanding – very commercially focused
• Excellent content on each presentation with practical hands on tips
• Good range of high calibre speakers
• Outstanding I found the day profoundly rewarding – I have truly moved into a non-linear dimension.
• Pointers to the future of video!
• Love the idea of LAMP residential – very exciting. Overall, a very inspiring day
• Very inspirational – a great variety of content & speakers
• Workshop provided good information on the various platforms to think about when developing new projects and ways to reach a greater audience
• The course was well worth the paltry entrance feee and was presented by enthusiastic, knowledgeable practitioner/commissioners. These type of courses/seminars are a must to drive new work
• Very informative, lots of valuable insights about now and the future off interactive digital media
• All the guest speakers were fantastic. The day was jam packed
• Choice of speakers was excellent
• Inspiring.

Tags: AFTRS, Australia Council, communication, Concept, confidence, confrontation, creator, drive, encouragement, enthusiasm, ENVIRONMENT, expectation, Film, Games, Guardian Mentor, hothouse, Ian Brown, information, inspiration, lamp, MULTI-PLATFORM, networking, opportunity, Perfect, Personalizemedia, platform, Podcasts, POV, product, Professional, REACH, SEMINAR, SERIOUSLY, social networking system, storytelling, Superb, technique, Technology, Thankyou, Virtual Worlds, world, Writer, YouTube

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