As of September 4, 2007 I am officially a resident of the Canadian Film Centre Media Lab. The Lab is comprised of 3 programs:

1. TELUS Interactive Art and Entertainment Program
2. Interactive Project Lab
3. Interactive Narrative Feature Program

Ours is the IAEP, though amongst the 10 residents, we just call it the Media Lab or the Lab. The program is 5 months long and full-time. The first part is primarily theory and workshops. Modules in this section include: interactive narrative, user experience, history of new media, and also sections on leadership and business development. There is a strong emphasis on teamwork. Indeed, in the second part of the program we form groups to collaborate on the creation of a prototype. Here are two examples of projects that have come out of the lab.

[murmur] – a documentary oral history project accessible in a given geography (the first location was Kensington Market in 2002) via cellphones.
Pax Warrior – an educational game about the Rwandan genocide.

I’m quite impressed so far with the diverse backgrounds my 9 colleagues seem to have. We’ve got a musician, a dancer, a painter, a performance artist, a programmer, a graphic designer, a filmmaker, a cultural policy analyst, an artist, and me. Really, though, everyone is multi-talented, and it’s unfair of me to peg some people to only one discipline.

The campus is on a former estate dedicated to horse race breeding. There is lots of green space, and trillia thrive (ephemerally) in the surrounding woodlands. Our space is the converted stable building. It’s nice. We each have a computer terminal and most of our days are spent on an informal formation of beanbags (they’re more like styrofoam bead bags; very comfy).

This week we’re going through team building exersizes and are getting to know one another in a very interesting way. Lots of blind folded exercises with rope, but it’s good. We’re also having some really honest communication, which I think is good foundation for things to come.