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Georgia Straight – Nov 13 – 20, 2003
Dot Comment
Local Graphics Interface Is No Geek Convocation
By Dave Watson
Speaking from personal experience, I’d say the community of computer enthusiasts was pretty small three decades ago. Not many people had access to such machines unless they were associated with a university or big business. And there was nothing you could actually do with a computer even if you could get hold of one, except marvel at the way it worked. There was no video-game industry, no MP3s, word-processing software, digital video-editing, spreadsheets, Usenet, or video streams playing in a little window on-screen; for that matter, most of the time there wasn’t any screen at all, just a teletype machine that tore through paper like a badger on speed. But there were computers, and a few people who were fascinated by the possibilities they seemed to offer.
These enthusiasts sought each other out, holding regular meetings to share their nearly inexplicable fascination, a trend that continues in the computer clubs that exist today. Because of those people meeting up back then, computers now can do all those things they couldn’t before. That’s how Apple and Microsoft started, for example. But then, as now, computers were recognized as multifaceted devices that interested people for different reasons. Some liked programming; others preferred hardware, telecommunications, or speculating on artificial intelligence. These subsections of the community were generally called special-interest groups, or SIGs.
The earliest computer society was established in 1947: the Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM (www.acm.org). It now boasts 75,000 members and has spawned some 35 SIGs, which operate both internationally and in the form of local chapters whose members gather together, as in the old days, to discuss matters of mutual interest. Most importantly, these forums are where people with different perspectives and skill sets meet up, educate each other, and sometimes embark on little projects together that become big companies.
The most famous part of ACM is the graphics forum, ACM SIGGRAPH (www.siggraph.org), which presents a conference every year – featuring the best research, artworks, software, and graphics equipment – that is probably the most prestigious computer event on the calendar. SIGGRAPH 2004 (the 31st such gathering) is scheduled from August 8 through 12, in Los Angeles.
The information presented above is a roundabout way to introduce Andrew Woo and Martin Talbot, two computer-graphics professionals who moved to Vancouver from Toronto and Montreal, respectively, over the past couple of years. As active members of the local SIGGRAPH chapters in those places (actually cofounder and founding member, in that order), they naturally went looking for this city’s branch, only to find that it wasn’t active anymore. Local branches are locally run; it’s not like ACM keeps an office in every town, and it’s not like there are connections between the levels of the organization. So when both Woo and Talbot started independently asking around, a member of the executive put them in touch with each other. The result? Thanks to them, Vancouver has a SIGGRAPH chapter again (vancouver.siggraph.org) that holds monthly meetings and is ready to welcome any and all interested parties. Membership and attendance are free.
“When I showed up here two years ago,” Woo says over a beverage at the Railway Club, “I said, ‘Radical’s here, Electronic Arts is here, NewMIC is here...’ ”
“UBC and SFU have graphics labs and students,” Talbot adds. “So why is there no activity going on here?”
“There must be a lot of interesting things going on,” Woo finishes for him, as he and Talbot shrug their shoulders and look baffled for a moment. (I later mention this to a cynical friend and, noting that these guys are from the East, she comments that they are about to discover the tar pond of Vancouver apathy. I hope she’s wrong.)
So, who should attend the evenings? Woo stresses that local meetings aren’t meant to be convocations of eggheads (my words, not his). These are his words: “You don’t need a PhD or to know anything about spherical harmonics.” In his opinion, the best meetings are the ones that draw people from across the spectrum of the graphics community – artists, scientists, video-game players, special-effects folks from the movie industry – and prompt them to mingle. Talbot adds: “It’s important to keep everything on a level everyone can understand and not be too technical.”
Since May, the revived group has presented six events, covering everything from how graphics help people work with computers to a trip to a VR lab to the making of the Hulk video game and the amazing Flash-based Broken Saints Web site. The next meeting (7:30 p.m. on Wednesday [November 19] at the Vancouver Film School [420 Homer Street]) is expected to draw a crowd because it will feature SIGGRAPH 2003 Electronic Theater, the annual showcase of the finest computer animation in the world. Some 25 works will be screened, and pretty much all of them will make your jaw drop. There’s a preview available at the main SIGGRAPH site (www.siggraph.org/publications/video-review/sig2003/144.shtml). If you have even the slightest interest in this, if only for a free night out at the movies, Talbot, Woo, and the other members would like to urge you to come by and hang out to chat afterward. You can unstick yourself from the tar pond for one night, can’t you?
© 2003 by Dave Watson originally published in The Georgia Straight November 13, 2003
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