Alternative

Digital Arts Festival Postmortem

Written by Iris Bull, July 2015

Introduction
The Alternative Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) of 2015 was a virtually-hosted
conference sponsored by Hitbox.tv. The festival was produced by Zolani Stewart,
Austin C. Howe, Solon Scott, TJ Thomas, and Iris Bull; and it was made possible, in
part, thanks to the support of Courtney West of Hitbox.tv and Rachel Raymond.
Lucas J.W. Johnson and Claris Cyarron of Silverstring Media, Zoya Street of Memory
Insufficient, and Aevee Bee of Zeal also made significant contributions to the
production of our live show.

This postmortem serves to recognize the process behind our production because we
think it is vital to the ongoing production of culture to document and remember our
successes and mistakes, and to share what weve learned with people who want to
listen. We hope that this document serves as a source of insight into the challenges
characteristic of virtual conferencing for a mass audience. Following this
introduction, we will contextualize ADAF historically, describe our production
methodology, and review our execution of the event. The conclusion details our
ideas for 2016 in the ways we hope to maintain and grow ADAF as an alternative
media touchstone for multimedia artists and appreciators alike.

The Project
ADAF was originally conceived as a spiritual successor to Indi3, a virtual conference
produced by Zolani Stewart, Austin C. Howe, TJ Thomas, Solon Scott, and James
Hearn in 2014. Indi3 ran concurrently during E3, and it was promoted on Twitter
and This conference demonstrated the viability of using a streaming service like
Hitbox.tv and a voice chat service like Mumble to bring alternative voices in
conversation across disparate locations around the globe. Although minimally
organized, the reception of Indi3 also demonstrated a demand for both critical
discussion of media production and showcase programming of ephemeral media.

Indi3 helped establish an ethos for ADAF that informed how we advertised and
marketed the event as alternative. For us, the games showcase needed to provide a
space for people and projects underserved by mainstream media outlets, and that
might not be complete or entirely actualized. The panels needed to engage a
diversity of topics seldom seen in popular discourse, but that nonetheless stage
timeless themes (e.g., marginalization, limitations, improvisation, etc.). Indi3 also
attracted a modest cohort of opinion leaders who have been working to establish,
support, and/or maintain a supportive, positive, and welcoming alternative arts
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scenethe emphasis on art and not necessarily game being a key facet to that
cultural project.

Methodology
As a virtual conference, ADAF was produced as an weekend event broadcast live
over the internet between the of 10am-10pm PST, July 24-26, with a preshow of the
event broadcast for about an hour on July 23. This date was chosen so as to not
compete with concurrent game-related conferences and festivals also being
broadcast online. The programming was free to watch, although Hitbox.tv users also
had the option to Subscribe for the privilege of select chat emoticons. Programming
was split across two channels, ADAF and ADAF2; the primary channel, ADAF,
showcased games, event announcements, and preshow material. ADAF would also
co-broadcast programming live on ADAF2 when the channel was not scheduled with
programming. The ADAF2 channel was principally reserved for showcasing panel
presentations.

Altdigitalfestival.com and Twitter.com/Altdigifest were used as the primary
conduits for advertising event information and soliciting suggestions for event
programming. Programming was curated by submissions to an open-call advertised
on Twitter. Festival producers participated in the submission process, and on
occasion helped people in the process of recruiting others for a panel presentation.
There was not a restriction on the number of panel proposals or games trailers
someone could submit, and a few people took advantage of that by participating on
several panels and/or pitching several video trailers.

One or two reviewers hosted the games showcases; they introduced each game
trailer and provided commentary following the video. We were very fortunate to
have representatives from Silverstring Media travel to the event from Vancouver,
British Columbia to help host several showcases. Commentary generally focused on
redeeming, positive, or critical aspects of the project showcased by each trailer.
Typically, a video would run between 1-4 minutes, and approximately 10 videos
were showcased in thematically programmed blocks scheduled for hour-long blocks
of time; blocks were followed by break periods of about an hour. Showcases
featured a live video stream of the hosts, who streamed their appearances from a
staged living room set run out an apartment in Olympia, WA.

Panels were hosted in an adjacent bedroom of the apartment, but they did not
feature a live video stream. Using Mumble, panelists joined a sanctioned ADAF chat
server in advance of their program time. A host in Olympia ensured that
participating panelists were able to communicate with each other before broadcast,
and that Open Broadcast Software (OBS) was properly configured with the
appropriate splash screen assets. Hosts would typically introduce the panel before
ceding the broadcast to panelists, and they would monitor the live stream for audio
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and visual quality; the host was responsible for concluding panel discussions, as
well. Panels tended to follow an informal, conversational format, and they were
occasionally directed with posed, open-ended questions. Panelists present in the
apartment used the computer and microphone dedicated to the stream, but on
occasion we used 2-3 additional laptops for sound monitoring. All except one panel
streamed with a static splash screen; the Emergent Architectures panel did prepare
a Youtube video playlist in advance for playback for during their discussion, which
Iris and Zolani helped manage while monitoring the stream.

Branding, splash screens, video playback, and other textual assets for each show
were organized in advance by Tess Young, Zolani Stewart and Solon Scott. We
infrequently used OBS to incorporate textual elements into the production, relying
instead on prepare slides in case of an emergency situation; these assets were
prepared and organized on multiple computers before the festival officially began.

Our set was arranged over the span of 2 days immediately preceding the festival. We
spent a few days surveying Craigslist for the most inexpensive solutions, but found
the most affordable options at Goodwill on July 22. The framed art of Mt. Rainier
was a donation from the Hoyle Family Estate. Light and camera equipment, folding
tables and chairs were supplied by Rachel Raymond. The microphone for the ADAF
channel was supplied by Iris; our standing microphone for the ADAF2 channel was
supplied by Zolani. Our backup web camera was supplied by Courtney West of
Hitbox.tv. Ethernet cable support for ADAF2 was supplied by Iris. The apartment
space and utilities were volunteered by Austin and his roommates.

Estimated Costs
Infrastructure
Apartment Rent
Apartment Utilities
Internet Infrastructure (e.g., installation, modem, router, cables)
Couch & Pillows
Coffee Table
Art
Fauna (i.e., 2 Trees, 1 Wreath)
Non-technical supplies (e.g., hammer, nails, adhesives, etc.)
Transportation
Labor

Cost
$1055
$100
$138
$25
$10
$0
$30
$41
???
???

Review
Generally speaking, were incredibly proud of the festival we managed to organize
and facilitate. Although we encountered some challenges and unexpected technical

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difficulties with the production of the festival, we felt very energized by the
contributions people made to ensure this event was representative of their work
and their interests. Overall, the attitude and collaborative spirit behind the scenes
was very strong and positive. Although this was the first time that many of the
festival organizers had met face-to-face, several of us have spent the last year
following Indi3 getting to know each other online both privately and on Twitter.
Although we were not entirely aware at the time of the dynamics that helped make
this festival a reality, in hindsight its clear that our willingness to navigate personal
and professional relationships with measured amounts of respect, trust, and
compromise was paramount. A few stressful moments tested our compassion for
one another, but our ability to problem solve through some of the most difficult and
tenuous circumstances was also incredibly rewarding.

Our initial organization of the event was sufficient, but our ability to locate a set for
the show was a journey on its own right. Austin moved into the apartment we used
for the show just a little over a week before the event, and there was a serial drama
ongoing with various internet providers for several days leading up to July 22. It
should also be said that Austin moved into the apartment with little more than a
single suitcase worth of possessions. Over the course of organizing this festival, we
helped Austin literally make his apartment a livable home. 1 person ended up
sleeping on the couch for their stay, and 4 of us enjoyed the firm embrace of a
carpeted floor beneath a nest of spare sheets donated from the Hoyle Estate. During
the event we fended for ourselves on a small selection of snacks and grocery-bought
foods throughout the day, and enjoyed local fare in downtown Olympia at night
(mostly because we were too exhausted at the end of each day to do much else).
@ceMelusine generously supplied celebratory drinks during the festival, as well
(which you may or may not have seen during the final hour of the show). This is all
to say that we literally didnt have much in terms of infrastructure for the event. In
some ways this helped with our ability to manipulate the space to suit our needs,
but at other times we struggled to make do with very, very little. It was also a fairly
rewarding experience to pop-up a set overnight, andfortunatelythis didnt
interfere dramatically with our ability to technically prepare for festival activities.

Our preshow of the event revealed a lot of problems with our original design of the
production set up. The first, and most notable, error involved the art we had hung
behind the couch. Thinking that punching holes in the wall might cause a problem,
we initially tried using special wall mount adhesives. We were confident that the art
was not too heavy for the adhesive, but we did not anticipate that the art was not
designed to hang that way. It tolerated the adhesive, at first, for 2 hours, and then
fell 2 minutes before we went live with the show. Iris applied double the amount of
adhesive seconds before going live, but the attempt was obviously not enoughthe
art fell, again, after about 10 minutes. The chat room went wild.

Other problems came up that related to our audio/video/streaming setup. We had
hoped to use a Canon 7D to stream the living room stage, but the camera driver
utility repeatedly failed during the preshow to consistently feed the video stream.
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This was a problem for OBS, which required we resize the capture screen every time
the source feed reset or failed. We were unable to isolate what the problem was
with the driver, but users online have reported problems with overheating, weak
cable/port connections, and buggy utility performance in the past. We also had a
problem with the microphone we used during the preshow; it was too sensitive to
the ambient sounds in the apartment, so we switched to a higher quality
microphone with a fitted wind screen. This necessitated an emergency supply run
for a mini-tripod and batteries. Desperate to dampen some of the ambient noise
sourced in the back of the apartment, we also tried hanging curtains but did not
have the resources for proper sound proofing measures on such short notice. We
experienced some mild problems with the wifi connection prior to the event, and so
also decided to invested at the last minute in a second Ethernet cablethis was
incredibly poor planning, as Ethernet cables are much more expensive when
purchased in-store than online (by about 3-4x). Iris spent about 2 hours running
around on the morning of July 23 scrounging for inexpensive solutions to these
immediate problems, but everything was found and fixed up by early afternoon.

In terms of technical performance difficulties during the festival, there were a
couple instances on the first day when hosts inappropriately set up the audio
stream, but these errors werent very egregious. Our second day was more varied.
One of the panels we hosted in the apartment was not properly prepared with
splitters for proper audio monitoring, which means we needed to set up 3 extra
laptops without notice. The problem lay in the fact that we had 3 people in the room
who were going to share a microphone, but who needed to be able to hear 1 other
panelist who was conferencing in with Mumble. Panelists needed their own
headphones in the room to prevent echo from reverberating with the microphone,
but we didnt have a working audio splitter to minimize the need for more laptops.
Our panelists were very flexible to the circumstance, but we wont be making that
mistake again in the future. Our last panel event nearly fell apart behind the scenes
because of problems with OBSfor inexplicable reasons, OBS crashed 3 times
during the presentation and required a restart each time. The laptop we used for the
stream had also lost its charger at some point during the afternoon, and we couldnt
locate it because of space and accessibility limitations imposed by our stage set up
(basically, there was too much stuff in the way to properly look high and low for the
proper laptop charger). We were able to appropriate a charger made for a
differently branded laptop, but it was a tenuous circumstanceone wrong move
and the computer would flash a big banner warning, WARNING! 10% BATTERY
REMAINING! It was a bit harrowing.

Finally, probably our biggest problem this year was timeliness and scheduling. We
didnt provide panelists with enough scaffolding in order to maintain a timely
schedule. Fortunately only one person wasnt able to get Humble to work for them
(they ended up Skyping in), but others generally didnt know when to connect to the
Mumble server. Most arrived minutes before their panel, but this didnt provide the
host with enough time to troubleshoot problems with their audio or internet
connection. We also didnt have an established protocol for starting panels late,
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which greatly affected the schedule for panels on the first day. A couple people were
unable to participate in the panels they were scheduled to give because of the
dramatic shift in time on the first day. Next year were going to provide panelists
with documentation on what to expect so that theres a general reference for people
to use in preparation for their panel.

Conclusion
Generally speaking, we learned a lot about small aspects of this production that
were going to carry forward in events to come. We found the sponsorship by
Hitbox.tv to be adequate for this years event, but we also recognize that this event
couldnt be done for less. We hope that next year were able to build upon the
foundation weve established this year because yes, were absolutely hyped and
energized (already!) at the idea of an ADAF 2016. Weve begun soliciting
suggestions from ADAF followers on Twitter (feel free to share your ideas here), and
we also have some ideas of our own for how to incrementally grow this project for
the #altgames and alternative digital arts community online.

One of the ways in which we would like to augment the video archives for ADAF
2015 is to have the panels transcribed so that more people can access, search, and
archive the sessions. We would like to institute this as a fundamental part of ADAF
and incorporate the costs associated with this effort in future budgets. We think that
archiving the work people are doing in #altgames and in alternative publication
spaces are incredibly valuable and incredibly vulnerable to digital rot and cultural
erasure. We recognize that the project of remembering alternative and marginalized
work is part of what it means to have infrastructure on which to build a future.

Another way we hope to grow and improve upon the festival format is to
incorporate more panels facilitated by non-English speakers. One of the seeming
impenetrable barriers between Western and Eastern communities is language, and
the other is obviously infrastructural. We think we can help facilitate a solution to
the infrastructural problem, but were not as well networked with alternative art
communities that exist online outside of North America. Over the course of this
coming year we hope to make some progress locating and networking with groups
and individuals who are every bit as committed to alternative digital arts work as
we are, but who also happen to be non-English speaking or multi-lingual.

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