what:

dorkbot-nyc is a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), designers, engineers, students, scientists, and other interested parties from the new york area who are involved in the creative use of electricity. dorkbot meetings are free and open to the public. Since we started dorkbot-nyc in 2000 many other dorkbots have sprung up around the world. See them all at: http://sites.music.columbia.edu/dorkbot

the purpose of dorkbot-nyc is to:

imaginary presentation topics:

demos of commercial software are not appropriate, unless you wrote the software or you are making it do something particularly novel or interesting. on the other hand, presenting a piece that was created using commercial software is fine.

dorkbot-nyc meetings are free and open to the public. space at some events may be limited, so you are encouraged to rsvp to help us make adequate arrangements for each event. rsvp at: dorkbotnyc@sites.music.columbia.edu/dorkbot

who:

dorkbot-nyc meetings are coordinated by douglas repetto. the email address for dorkbot-nyc is: dorkbotnyc at sites.music.columbia.edu/dorkbot.

when:

dorkbot-nyc meetings take place the first wednesday of each month from 7pm to ???. the dorkbotnyc-announce mailing list is used to send out meeting announcement reminders and other pertinent information. please subscribe to the list if you'd like to receive such information.

where:

dorkbot-nyc meetings have gone mobile. Sometimes we're at the Computer Music Center, sometimes at Location One in SoHo, sometimes in some other strange place for a one-shot. See the front page for the current month's location.

Directions to Location One: http://www.location1.org/gallery.html

Directions to the CMC: we're located next to the lovely hudson river on the edge of harlem and morningside heights in new york city.

computer music center
prentis hall, 3rd floor
632 w. 125th street
new york, ny 10027

to get to the CMC via subway, just take the 1/9 train to 125th street. walk 1/2 block on 125th street towards the river. the CMC is on the left side of the street, in prentis hall. you'll have to be buzzed in. press the buzzer that says "electronic music."

to get the the CMC via car, take the west side highway and get off on 125th street. then drive around for a few hours looking for a parking spot. then drive back to where you started and take the subway, following the directions above.

how:

to attend a dorkbot-nyc meeting, let us know you're coming via email or just show up and hope there's room.

to give a presentation at a future dorkbot just send an email or talk to douglas at a meeting.

dorkbot presentations are meant to be fun, friendly, informal chats. They're short, just 20-30 minutes, including questions. The standard "artist talk" format (my life history in slides + narration) does not work very well at dorkbot. What does work well is a casual talk about something you're currently interested in. Pretend you're at a dinner party and someone has just asked you, "so what are you working on?" We encourage people to ask questions during the presentations, rather than always waiting until the end. The audience is quite diverse, with a mix of arty/techy/dorky folks, so presentations with a good balance between why and how tend to work best. You're having a friendly conversation with some nice, interested people, so enjoy it!

meeting format:

dorkbot-nyc meetings are largely informal, but to save everyone time and energy a certain amount of planning goes into each meeting. the current structure is:

which means that each meeting is about 2 hours long and features three presentations.

resources

you are encouraged to provide most of the resources needed for your presentation. however, some CMC equipment will be available for your use. available resources include: