OPEN STUDIOS
& HOSPITALITY
ESSAYS

Following is a fantastic story I wrote, and after the story, summaries of essays and short-stories I wrote on arts and good times. Community relations develop with storytelling, humor, food and hospitality, I believe. In my essays I go on verbal explorations of reinvented arts' studios and try opening windows on artists' sanctuaries. Artists are found offering hospitality in the reinvented media artists' workplaces. You may skip past my opening fantasy--about a vision of things to come on the SS United States--and view summaries of articles by year by clicking here:

2003 / 2002 / 2001 / 2000 / 1999 / 1998 / 1997 / 1996 / 1995 / 1994 / 1993 / 1992 / 1991 / 1990 / 1989 / 1988 / 1975

ritchie@seanet.com

Fantasy on the Theme of Restoring the Value of the SS United States

Dream. Eyes closed, so to speak, but read with your eyes open the story I have written here. To begin, put yourself behind the camera that took this picture. You will take three pictures with this imaginary camera (the real one which belongs to me, the storyteller). You will take several more with your own camera. Enter your dream another person. He pressed the shutter release. He was a Russian photographer, probably now living in Perm. But imagine, for now, that it was you who took this picture.

With a click!, you capture an event that took place in Seattle in July, 1998. Now, read the caption (a fictional caption) and with the imagination of a fantasy photographer. Now answer the questions: Who, what, when, where, how and why? Pretend that the man in glasses in the photo had handed you the camera to take snapshots while he told his story to the students seated around the table.

Above: Aboard the SS United States, Russian students listen as a storyteller (left of center, in glasses) recounts the background and his tale of the great craft's restoration. They are sitting in one of the lounge studio classrooms between formal sessions held aboard the big ship.

The snapshot could only have come about as a result of 30 years' improvements in photographic technology. I am the storyteller telling how I was experiencing these technologies thirty years before they became real. The camera that took the picture is a 1969 Pentax Spotmatic--the same one I take with me on my decades-long journeys in time and space. The contents of this photograph could--in those early days of media arts--only have been "made up." (Even the lounge did not exist--even as merely an idea!)

It was in the early 1970's that I wrote an essay called The Story of George's Art. Then, in 1972, this stage of the systemic creativity movement--so important to the spirit of the SS United States as an International Monument to Human Creativity--was just starting.

SUMMARIES OF ESSAYS IN O'STUDIOS 'ZINE

2003 Essays

NEW! The Payoff:
Getting Living Prints to Emeralda Works

Playing Emeralda has a magical quality because the inventor uses his computer to augment his intuition. By a chance encounter, using the search term Itinerate Professor, an obtuse reference to stochastic resonance turned up, leading him to rich metaphors. 1681 Words. 8016 Characters. 3 Pages. ios31228 The Payoff Getting Living Prints to Emeralda. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Thinking About My Gallery:
Towards a business plan

He’s committing himself to opening an art gallery to showcase and sell his collection of art. This is not his first attempt and so he writes about the venture in a business planning way. He’ll focus on selling but continue production and developing games. 390 Words. 1821 Characters. 1 Page. ios31218 Thinking About My Gallery. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Madrona Skunkworks:
Dog Island’s imagination station

He spends much of his time teaching in a virtual classroom, a like the real classroom/studios he worked in twenty years ago. As he puzzles over the problem of creating an online disc-based experience for fine print lovers he thinks of a distant community.1230 Words. 5739 Characters. 2 Page. ios31217 Madrona Skunkworks. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Visualizing My Studio:
Starting all over again

When he resigned from teaching college 18 ½ years ago his former student said, “Now you’ll have to start all over like we did.” But his vision was never the same as his students’—he was always ahead of the curve. Now he comes full circle, and starts over. 778 Words. 3653 Characters. 2 Pages. ios31203 Visualizing My Studio. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dreams:
What partnerships are made of

He’s meeting with some of his former students, searching for a group to take the place of the virtual community he created in his game-like fantasy world. He’s the “wizard” of Emeralda, and he’s asking for a kind of formula to help artists save the world. 998 Words. 4598 Characters. 2 Pages. ios31113 Dreams What Partnerships are Made Of. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

My Teaching Philosophy:
Persistent State World Education

Reading the words of a persistent state world game developer is, to me, like reading my own worlds about how and why I teach. I could call it a philosophy of teaching. It’s a philosophy that finds few homes in today’s US American education scene, however. 1194 Words. 5661 Characters. 2 Pages. ios31004 My Teaching Philosophy. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Fine Art Drawing in the Age of Digital Reproduction:
A proposed book that needs and gets attention

He had a vision of a new school for art students suitable for their future—a future he could only say was a vision. Now the time seems to have arrived when such a school is close to reality and needs a textbook, so he starts with one of the basic classes. 331 Words. 1652 Characters. 1 Pages. ios30914 Fine Art Drawing in the Age of Digital Reproduction. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How to Create A Living Prints Online Hybrid Distance Learning For Profit School:
Staying Alive in the Dying World of Fine Art Hand Printmaking

Taking his cue from an unlikely source (video games), the author connects the ideals expressed by today’s visionary game developers with his own vision of a perfect teaching and learning online art studio that’s focused on printmaking and multimedia arts. 1070 Words. 5147 Characters. 2 Pages. ios30904 How To Create Living Prints Online. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

I Get Letters:
The emotional value of feedback

E-mail and snail mail are the heart of the Emeralda Stamps ‘N Stories concept as the author reads a letter from a student to his professor in a distant state. His own e-mail carries value for him, and he wants to make this into a game that eases feedback. 1412 Words. 6599 Characters. 3 Pages. ios30716 I Get Letters. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Story of the Absent Professor:
Background for an on-line art education digital-game based learning experiment

I have told the story of the absent professor several times until I’m beginning to believe it’s the story behind my game, Emeralda: Stamps ‘N Stories. It’s about a teacher who never comes to class and how the students are better off because he planned it. 1621 Words. 7373 Characters. 4 Pages. ios30706 Story of the Absent Professor. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Putting the S in TRPS:
Service is where teaching, research and practice can take the virtual professor

The 21^st Century artist is a game inventor and developer, working in the art form of the times, which is digital games. Although new, it’s worthwhile to reflect on the past of art education in academe because the cornerstones of education haven’t changed. 1220 Words. 6276 Characters. 3 Pages. ios30626 Putting the S in TRPS. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Saving for College:
Two gateways

Billions of dollars are being put away for peoples’ plans for college. Colleges are changing, however, and one wonders if people are really certain higher education is something they think they’re saving for. “Going to college” is becoming something else. 1514 Words. 7355 Characters. 3 Pages. ios30606 Saving for College. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

We Build the Game As We Play It:
How Stamps ‘N Stories Got Its Start

Thinking ahead to a time when the game Stamps ‘N Stories would be a big hit, the inventor/mentor considers the essential questions that he’ll have to answer in order to achieve success. For example, who is the game for? Who is the market? Can anyone play? 1474 Words. 6615 Characters. 3 Pages. ios30527 We Build the Game As We Play It. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Imagine A Video Game:
A Proposal for the Tacoma Art Mus eum

Possessing a private collection of early video art and experimental video-based work by regional artists, this author considers how he might liven up the collection with a digital game-based learning product. Could an art museum sell games in their store? 1440 Words. 6669 Characters. 2 Pages. ios30507 Imagine A Video Game. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Kite Story:
Evolving a vision for animation

Sometimes a flash of an idea occurs and you want to write it down so you won’t forget it. It might be the subject for an essay or a picture. With today’s new animation software, it might be the concept for a movie—or, at least a flash. This describes one. 299 Words. 1425 Characters. 1 Page. ios30117 Kite Story. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

2002 Essays

Social Justice and Woodcuts:
Challenging questions and a singing Barrista

Asked to support a new course in cross-disciplines, the artist/scholar organizes his thoughts to resonate with his social mission. The student's pre-digital structural contract challenges his plan to be more effective by using his new technology paradigm. 706 Words. 3452 Characters. 2 Pages. ios21123 Social Justice and Woodcuts. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Sighting O'Studios:
Sense, nonsense and site unseen

The Emeralda Defender is flexible, but getting from one site to the next is demanding, almost ridiculously so because it is like nonsense. On the other hand, it's like Yoga in the morning-it wakes up my brain cells the way posing awakens up my enthusiasm. 495 Words. 2330 Characters. 1 Page. ios21103 Sighting OStudios-Sense nonsense and site unseen. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Publish Electronically or Perish:
Future teachers beware

A veteran of internecine battles in the US American professor power wars of the ‘80s describes how one has to experience death in the old system in order to survive and thrive in the future education field. He gives advice to young teachers on mobilizing. 715 Words. 3515 Characters. 2 Pages. ios21024 Publish Electronically or Perish-Future teachers beware. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Visualize This:
A WASHPIRG of Media Artists

His 1970s plan was a statewide multimedia center located in central Washington, but then an administrative coalition blockaded it. Thirty years later he’s back, with a plan to empower the rightful owners of the dream—future Washington state media artists. 7676 Characters. 1638 Words. 3 Pages. ios21014 Visualize This-A WASHPIRG of Media Artists. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Missing Professor’s Closet Re-Opened:
Another Paradigm for Art Ed On-line

Lines from another professor’s book inspired this artist/professor—aspiring to be a virtual public intellectual—to reopen his metaphor of the “mystery of the missing professor’s closet.” He suggests his is the turnkey approach to an art education on-line. 1165 Words. 2 Pages. ios21004 Missing Professors Closet Revisited. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Big Easy Education:
Taking the Easy Way Out

A new paradigm for the future teacher is to take a harder path. To be effective is to skip the easy, site/event specific education models of the past. Distance education is tough but a lot easier if teacher/learners would be tough on themselves and do IT. 6092 Characters. 1291 Words. 2 Pages. ios20924 Big Easy Education. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Mapping Routine Activity on the Web:
Art Students Seeking Experts Look on the Net

Expert systems—one of the 20^th Century engineering milestones—may now figure in art students’ early careers in the 21^st Century because information and communications allows them wider and deeper access to other learners, teachers, research and practices. 1224 Words. 3 Pages. ios20914 Mapping Artists Routine Activity on the Web. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Connecting Four Dots:
Art Festivals, Games, E-books and Artistamps

The 24/7 arts festival, Emeralda, a book titled the Artist’s Last Love Letter and artistamps—are they connected like a dot drawing? They must be—and they all can play on DVD, this author’s choice for his virtual, virtuous studio for this decade 2002-2010. 380 Words. 1 Page. ios20904 Connecting Four Dots. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How Mobile Devices Effect Education:
Mapping and Microeconomics

Adding value to products of the digital age, such as portables, adds value to the teachers’ assets because they do their best work when they move. Even on a short walk, they get better at teaching, research and practice, the keys for Itinerate Professors. 402 Words. 1 Pages. ios20825 How Mobile Devices Effect Education. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Investing in Labor, Not Silver Bullets
Not One Silver Bullet for Me

Having acted locally for six months, the Itinerate Professor—enjoying the fruit of his labor on 2 years of his retrospective project—reaffirms the wisdom of investing in his abilities to labor in a changing marketplace for education, his best alternative. 719 Words. 2 Pages. ios20815. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr

Artists’ Games:
Yesterday’s, Today’s and Tomorrow’s Computer Games as Fun and Community Building

He left school at 43 to learn art’s game, an artist and scholar’s game he could take seriously for the remainder of his life. Occasionally he tells people how to play but it may not be communicable, like a player of solitaire before playing cards existed. 659 Words. 2 Pages. ios20805 Artists Games Yesterday Today Tomorrow. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Stamp Uptown
Seeing the Neighborhood Through Stamps and Stories

The Seattle Space Needle stands for the old ways, Emeralda the new. In the author’s vision, stamps and cards are in space like satellites spinning in the orbits of their makers. People use templates to get art-starts; he’s got the Nitro to make it happen. 611 Words. 1 Page. ios20726 Stamp Uptown. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

New Game Club in Town
Artistamps and E-Artistamps

What is the product of your business, they asked me. Stamps, that is the easiest answer, and it may be the best. It may be the tipping point for Emeralda says the inventor as he prepares to meet the local Chamber of Commerce in the neighborhood of Uptown. 942 Words. 2 Pages. ios20716 New Game Club in Town. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Giant’s Shoes:
Caution-Visioneer At Work

On the edge of creating his life’s dreams—his Perfect Studios—the multimedia artist is interrupted in his morning musings by an unexpected, ghostly guest. Over coffee he describes to his phantom guest how he plans to walk in the Giants’ Shoes, his hero’s. 1809 Words. 4 Pages. ios20706 The Giants Shoes. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Do Real Artists Write Business Plans?
Betting your life on what counts

He wants to move on to the next phase of his 3-year retrospective, which is to reopen the artist’s gallery to the public; thus the artist-turning-business man calls for community support of his vast idea. He calls it Emeralda: Games for the Gifts of Life. 1175 Words. 2 Pages. ios20626 Do Real Artists Write Business Plans. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A Tale of Two Towns:
Prisoners Dilemma and the Web

An ITinerant professor strolls, wanders the Queen Anne Hill area of Seattle and finds, amid the parks and sidewalks of the artist’s haven, a contest between business and the arts. He suggests playing the game out in John Nash style, in a Nash Equilibrium. 1289 Words. 2 Pages. ios20527 A Tale of Two Towns. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Amenable Artist Interview:
A sentient look at the artist, his art, computers and the Internet

He is asked if he would be amenable to being Interviewed, so this artist writes about his background and why he thinks nature’s trees are like man’s logic trees, an important basis for computer science and the arts. The story is not over, his essay warns. 928 Words. 2 Pages. ios20517 Amenable Artist Interview. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Ethnography and Printmaking:
Worlds apart, worlds alike on the Web and CD/ROM

The inventor of an interactive game intended for hybridized disc and Web distribution learned of a like-minded professor in ethnography who conceived a game for her students called Ethnoquest. His quest—like that of a field scholar—is likened to research. 678 Words. 2 Pages. ios20507 Ethnography and Printmaking Worlds. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Another Printmaking Panel is Born:
Readying for the CAA Conference--again

Almost ten years ago the author made a presentation at the College Art Association meeting on the theme of Electronic Studios and the Artist as World Citizen. Another new opportunity is opening, but will he qualify? He studies the question like a student. 1788 Words. 4 Pages. ios20427 Another Printmaking Panel is Born. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

IT Works for Me:
Asset Management and Legacy Transfer from an Art Professor’s Viewpoint

The author takes the words Information Technology in the brief form, IT, and plays with phrases like IT works for me and IT works to put his arts and technology into perspective. Pictures, writing, databases and multimedia make his mediums for creativity. 436 Words. 1 Page. ios20417 Learning Backward to Live Forward. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

No Wieners, Please:
Winners in the Art Game

The author thrills over his newest digital print and recalls a cartoon of 20 years ago and connects it with the significant bridging of old, traditional printmaking with new digital printmaking. He says it’s a key part of his art education on-line vision. 1247 Words. 3 Pages. ios20328 No Wieners Please. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

At Last, Art-Ed Online in A Store Near You :
Merging of shopping AND learning on-line

As he starts printing images using a 17th-century Japanese printing process, the author is struck by the idea of merging three happenings that the modern technologies of printing have brought into being: On-line education, Giclee printing, and art supply. 889 Words. 2 Pages. ios20318 At Last Art-Ed Online in A Store Near You. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Resetting My Compass On Life:
Emeralda play is navigator’s work

Subject: One result of Emeralda play is freedom and mobility for artists, crafts people and designers. The inventor/author reflects on his own former teaching career, and how—when his usefulness surpassed the needs of the school—he re-invented the campus’ compass. 808 Words. 2 Pages. ios20308 Resetting My Compass On Life. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

If I Had IT to Do Over:
I’d get a certificate to teach art on-line

He’s already certified, in his mind, to deliver arts education on-line, but he has no papers to prove it. The author has plans, however, and he works his plan every day. Reading news of curtailments in music education makes him set to work on credibility. 1014 Words. 2 Pages. ios20216 If I Had IT to Do Over. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Practicing What I Preach:
Or, How I Lost A Job and Won A Life

Entering his studio and starting yet another day of multimedia work, where a woodcut in progress sits beside a powerful computer loaded with DVD software, the author pauses to ask himself what he’s practicing for. Like a concert musician, he waits a call. 2446 Characters. 533 Words. 2 Pages. ios20206 Practicing What I Preach. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

No Teacher Left Behind:
Closing the Art and Technology Gap

Passage of a bill in Congress may support arts education, and this writer sees opportunities in perilous times. He takes the first step, which is to match the bill with another real need, and names it: Teacher training for the age of digital reproduction. 1214 Words. 3 Pages. ios20127 No Teacher Left Behind. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Writing Between the Paragraphs – Part 4:
An imaginary dialog between two professors.

An artist offers his perspective while reading the vision of Mark Taylor, professor of humanities. Taylor is one of the few who are viewing the place of arts in trends toward using more information and telecommunications technologies for higher education. 1222 Words. 3 Pages. ios20117 Between the Paragraphs - Part 4. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

2001 Essays

Arts R Us
Art processes at a store near you

The wall between library users or art material suppliers’ patrons and the artist’s studio is removable by building an on-line database of art processes. Art educators need not teach everyone to be an artist, but they need to open windows on artists’ ways. 1544 Words. 3 Pages. ios11123 Arts R Us-Art processes at a store near you. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

D is for Disseminate:
Reviewing the ICED Principle of Art Ed On-line

“Gassing up for the road”—it’s an old notion behind disseminating ideologies today. But instead of cheap, petroleum-derived gas, this senior professor has taken a different road. He uses digital versatile discs to put his ideas out to worldwide audiences. 2506 Words. 3 Pages. ios11113 D is for Disseminate. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Thrill of Intercollegiate Arts:
New dimensions in art education

Art education is about to burst out of the print era into the digital era of information and telecommunications. This will give a new dimension in which people who know a lot about the arts can work together on fresh new ideas for the benefit of everyone. 1611 Words. 3 Pages. ios11103 Thrill of Intercollegiate Arts. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

New Fundamental Art Education On-line Curriculum:
How non-branded art serves a better vision

Driver education outsold art education, says an art professor as he develops a fundamentally new form upon which to build an art education on-line curriculum. He thinks that 19^th Century paradigms that dominated last century’s art teaching no longer work. 1880 Words. 4 Pages. ios11024 New Fundamental Art Education On-line Curriculum. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Stickers in Your Passport:
Ten stamps and the way they fit history

A stamp artist who makes stamps for use in his Passports (for playing his game Emeralda) reflects on how his digital stamps are navigation instruments. He explains the terms of fine art and free fine art, and how a high school failed regional art history. 1480 Words. 3 Pages. ios11014 Stickers in Your Passport. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Visiting Granny’s DVD Workshop:
Fancies of an inveterate printmaker

A way this writer creates essays is to copy down voices in his head (his grandmother’s ghost?), imagining dialogs and scenes he wishes he really heard, alive. In this essay, he reports as a tour group visits his dream school, a printmaker/DVDmaker heaven. 1079 Words. 2 Pages. ios11004 Visiting Grannys DVD Workshop. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

An Artist’s Legacy of DVDs:
Investigating A Missing Professor’s Closet

A novel by a university professor about a missing university professor comes to mind as the author—and creator of a series of DVDs—counts how many DVDs he made. The fictional professor resembles the role-player the author invented, and lived, for himself. 972 Words. 2 Pages. ios10924 An Artists Legacy on DVDs. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Basics of Art Education On-line Revealed:
Art Professor explains his invention

The Itinerant art professor, inventor of on-line art education lists and explains four basics: The history of the university; the history of art schools and studios; the history of the rise of intelligent agents; the economics of triple entry bookkeeping. 1128 Words. 2 Pages. ios10914 Basics of Art Education On-line Revealed. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Alert Artist’s Teach Their Survivors:
Teaching Wives to be Widows

First in a series that advise artists with ways to ensure the value of their legacy beyond their passing, saying that giving survivors the knowledge and skills for preserving the artist’s lifeworks using new technologies is better than insurance policies. 5821 Characters. 1261 Words. 2 Pages. ios10805 Alert Artists Teach their Survivors. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Ghost of Toulouse Lautrec in My New Machine:
What shows change, what does not

A Virtual Assistant gives a guided tour to a long-dead but not forgotten painter, and visits the closet-studio of the Itinerant Professor of art. This professor writes concurrently, in free style, while his file is uploaded to the Internet theater nearby. 1325 Words. 3 Pages. ios107267 The Ghost of Lautrec in My New Machine. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Tales and Details of a DVD Author:
Counting and Accounting for the Future of Higher Education

A phantom voice asked thia author, “What’s important about those two letters, S & P?” and he was reminded that if a person is making one’s own DVD, one must create a path that one can follow and a pathway one can trust. Others may follow, or they may not. Characters. 1733 Words. 3 Pages. ios10716 Tales and Details of A DVD Author. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Amazing Amazon:
What A Woman!

The author is a retired art professor, but you would not know it because he seems not to have actually retired. In fact, when you read this, you see he actually is a cast off from a sunken ship—art education. He proposes an art supplier with a difference. 3152 Words. 5 Pages. ios10626 Amazing Amazon What A Woman. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Why Play Emeralda?
So you and your imagination can fly away

You and your creativity, inventiveness, discovering nature and imagination can get carried away when you play Emeralda, like getting carried away on an updraft in a glider, or away in an airplane. You can be the pilot, co-pilot and navigator for lifetime. 2188 Characters. 464 Words. 1 Page. ios10606 Why Play Emeralda. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Teaching Machines:
Doing IT with Dusty

Art professor takes a new perspective on an old idea, getting out of his classroom to do some real teaching. Using new technologies to describe old methodologies, he starts with cave prints and ends up making DVD. He plots ElderVid, a series for MaturiTV. 1978 Words. 4 Pages. ios10517 Teaching Machine Doing IT with Dusty. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Benefit the Artist in Residence:
What’s in IT for You (WIIFY)

What’s in IT for an artist in residence who agrees to take part in the electronic age? As part of his K-6^th grade strategic alliance design for EarthSafe 2022—his way of answering the UCS—the creator of this educational plan offers a list of the benefits. 495 Words. 2 Pages. ios10427 Benefit the Artist in Residence. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Winning, and Losing My Next Job
Short Happy Career and Future Search

Beginning with the End in Mind ‘92, the author began a new search at the end of his last real job in 1985. To tell about the end of that job would go a long way toward explaining the end of his Next Job, he says, at some indeterminable time in the future. 2039 Words. 4 Pages. ios10417 Winning and Losing My Next Job. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How Do You Play Emeralda, Grandpa?
On The Prescience of A Three-year Old

The moment he reaches for a clean piece of paper to start the next chapter in his Emeralda Journal, the author imagines the voice of his granddaughter asking him how to play the game for the gifts of life. The answer touches on tetrahedrons paper folding. 881 Words. 2 Pages. ios10328 How Do You Play Emeralda Grandpa. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Passing Ferries:
A Screen Play

Viva’s VRAOB (Virtual Reality and Oxygen) Bar, first day of the year 2022. Evan, a tired-looking man about twenty--by his clothing and manner apparently a student--is taking a break from studies. Thus begins a screenplay by role-player, Emeralda inventor. 488 Words. 2 Pages. ios10318 Artist's Proposal for Passing Ferries. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artist’s Proposal for Alliance Marketing with Life Scientists:
A Bigger Better Deal

After years of quiet research and development, the artist brings his plans to the tables of potential allies who want reformation of art and life sciences education using both sides of their collective experience. The author copy-writes a marketer’s view. 1763 Words. 4 Pages. ios10308 Artist's Proposal for Alliance Marketing. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

True Artists Don’t Back Out, They Back Up:
My 4-D Catalog In-Retro

“Things that matter most to you should never be at the mercy of things that matter least,” so the author remembers as he reflects on his former students in business and professions. These people are the complements to his half of his retrospective in art. 2178 Words. 4 Pages. ios10226 True Artists Dont Back Out They Back Up. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

It was Bad in Toxi:
In Between Got Worse

Artist turns cook to escape life in the city but finds himself a prisoner on a yacht. Instead of finding a new life he finds a kind of living death suspended between the worlds of virtue and reality, tradition and technology and production and livelihood. 1567 Words. 3 Pages. ios10216 It was Bad in Toxi. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Image? You want Image?
I’ll Give you Image!

The ITinerate Professor, with profound commitment to an image, a dream of a private art university online, responds to a comment by a renown technology artist who said, “Nerds have no image,” when he referred to the dilemma posed to artists by technology. 825 Words. 2 Pages. ios10206 Image You Want Image. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

There Are VARs in the Stars:
Why the art in other peoples garbage out depends on garbage in

The author, an artist of the school of printmaking, observed his throwaway-become-artwork by a painter who later, became an art critic, turning garbage print into cash. By way of publishing he has a gift of horse’s mouth as a value added reseller, or VAR. 549 Words. 2 Pages. ios10127 There Are VARs in the Stars. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

When Professors Run Away:
Old Professors Don’t Get Gassed, They Get Gassed Up!

Art Professor Ritchie “escaped” from the university ivory towers more than fifteen years ago, going from the fat into the fire. Now, after his long ordeal, a new opportunity is about to open up, thanks to the Internet. Ahead in creativity, he’s doing DVD. 1247 Words. 3 Pages. ios10117 When Professors Run Away. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Problems Aliens Face
Language Barriers

He pretends to be pleased that his passport passed the test that morning. When first he opened and submitted his to the Inspector at O’Studios, it failed. He’s playing roles, so she suggested he take a position at a convenience system and seek his errors. 1020 Words. 2 Pages. ios10014 Problems Aliens Face. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

An Artist’s Legacy of DVDs:
Investigating A Missing Professor’s Closet

A novel by a university professor about a missing university professor comes to mind as the author—and creator of a series of DVDs—counts how many DVDs he made. The fictional professor resembles the role-player the author invented, and lived, for himself. 972 Words. 2 Pages. An Artists Legacy on DVDs. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr

For a download of the full text of these articles or for custom writing services email ritchie@seanet.com.)

2000 Essays

Learning to Make Waves
A day in the life of an Emeralda Apprentice User

He would be the Pied Piper for the cruise-based course on art asset management and e-commerce on the Internet. Nine months before the cruise is to take place, the teacher is at work, honing his skills so he can stay at least one day ahead of the students. 1923 Words. 4 Pages. ios01231 Learning to Make Waves. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Art Professor for Higher:
Printmaking On A DVD – Part I

Potential text for a letter to introduce college faculty to a service or product the author is planning for release in May, 2001 under the Living Prints label. It is a combination calendar and entertainment resource springing out of so-called edutainment. 840 Words. 2 Pages. ios01207 Art Professor for Higher. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dusty and Trixie on Holiday in Y2K:
A short story for a Greeting Card

Bill and Lynda Ritchie have a secret. Each Christmas, they pretend to go back in time one hundred years, and come up with an imaginary setting for their characters, Dusty and Trixie. This season they are living in Seattle, house-sitting, in the year 1900. 904 Words. 2 Pages. ios01121 Dusty and Trixie 2000. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dusty and Trixie:
1899

Dusty recalls when he first began to notice Trixie’s memory loss. He knows it is the Evil Prince—and that insidious plot to destroy Earth’s life sustainability—are the cause. Dusty has a photograph from the Winter of ’99 at the Toxi City Saloon and Hotel. 736 Words. 2 Pages. ios01121 Dusty and Trixie 1899. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Revisiting Stamp World:
Stamps and Stories and C. T. Chew

The author is a stamp artist, and discovered the stamp was also a subject dwelled on in a book about (and by) Charles Johnson—whose portrait is on a stamp. The words of its editor, Rudolph Byrd, were so appropriate that Bill appropriated and adopted them. 1569 Words. 3 Pages. ios01103 Revisiting the Stamp World of Chew. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

What are you here for?
Four jailbirds tell their stories

In the personae of four imagined prisoners, the author portrays the four people he is thinking that play the leaders in the next phases of Emeralda Works’ testing: As a drunken jazz musician, a cook, an artist and a teacher sharing their sad tale of woes. 2639 Words. 5 Pages. ios00801 What Are You Here For Four Jailbirds. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What Am I Good At?
Questions for My Art Patrons and Answers I Expect to Get

Raising capital for a new venture, the artist/author must face a test to see if he has what it takes to be a leader in the development of a business that sells specialized artists’ tools. Before he can commit himself, he tests his ability to stay on task. 1231 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00707. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

How myartpatron.com got its start:
Birth of a dotcom arts business

Developing a new branch of Emeralda Works requires exposing the basic idea. The creation of a so-called dotcom business is high-sounding and mysterious. This essay will explain there is no mystery but an ongoing tradition between artists and arts patrons. 1110 Words. 3 Pages. IOS00629. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Women Who Fell to Earth:
An Artist’s Story

Writing to the music of Mark Leonard’s “Sheer Horizon”, the Emeralda Inventor tries his hand at story telling to establish the background tale for his role playing game. Good games have stories to tell, and his is about four aliens from the Flower Planet. 2573 Words. 6 Pages. IOS00607. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Mr. Gates Meets Dr. Osler:
A Quick Look At What Might Have Happened a Hundred Years Ago

The author must have been daydreaming when he wrote it, but it is based on a sketchy outline about what might actually have happened between Andrew Carnegie and Dr. William Osler a hundred years ago. It’s tongue in cheek humor by one who’s on the pension. 794 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00601. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Gates:
Nerds in the Archives

No sooner had the smoke from the birthday candles cleared when a boy appeared and without apology said, “Mr. Gates, I wish you’d come and see something.” The birthday man looked around and smiled wanly, “Work calls . . ..” Thus begins a story installment. 1152 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00504 Happy Birthday Mr Gates. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Calendars—Virtuous or virtual?
The Ghost and his Bride

Based on the popular motion picture, Ghost, and an obscure letter from a dead dentist to his wife, the author compares himself to the living dead in this story about the artist continuing to live in an after-life before life’s end. He uses new creativity. 604 Words. 1 Pages. IOS00430 Calendars Virtuous or Virtual. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Register now for the Gates Prize:
You may already be a winner!

The lifetime of Elmer Gates is testimony to the importance of people being creative, inventive, discovering and imaginative. The Gates Prize, awarded in his name to people who use contemporaneous technologies concurrently solving world problems is coming. (fiction) 243 Words. 1 Paragraph. IOS00427 Register Now for the Gates Prize. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Geek Joke:
Itinerate Professors are a laughing lot

He’s trying out on-line auctions, thinking of ways to liquidate his life’s work as an academic, maybe move on to other fields. He’s caught by surprise when he gets a response about a houseful of theses and realizes it’s only a typo. But it made him think. 806 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00426 Geek Joke. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

MyProfessor.org:
What is it?

The professor died. Long live MyProfessor.org! In his mission to teach and learn, research and develop by practice and production, this ITinerate Professor launches a new course—the realization of the concept that failed under the third university system. 466 Words. 1 Page. IOS00420 Myprofessor.org What is it. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Up in Smoke:
In Memory of Paul

A tiny flame licked the trailing edge of a wing. Who held the match also held a beer. I remember how she held that matchstick. It was poised delicately between her long index finger and thumb, and a diamond on the widowed finger, glinted in the firelight. 538 Words. 1 Pages. IOS00414 Up in Smoke In Memory of Paul. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Playing Proximates:
Rules of the Game

Rule Number One is Do Not Procrastinate. Rule Number Two is Read Rule Number One. The Emeralda inventor seizes a day, as it is said, and the night, and casts his bid on the name of the game that will bring about another man’s fame. A happy ending welcome. (Incomplete essay) 251 Words. 1 Page. IOS00411 Playing Proximates-Rules of the Game. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Everyone laughed when I sat down to write:
Rear views are always funny

Want to know what the Emeralda Ball of 2022 would yield? A little rubbing and polishing, and here it is! In a room on the SSUS, the classmates are reminiscing—their 10^th reunion. They recall when ProxiMates was new, a time when no one heard of Gary Tripp! 485 Words. 3 Pages. IOS00403 Everyone Laughed When I Sat Down to Write. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Interview:
Bill H. Ritchie, Jr, founder of myartpatron.com

An imaginary interview with himself (a favorite method of self-talking) helps his understanding of the branch of Emeralda Works that focuses on new ways to communicate with the art patrons. He considers it to be central and important in his artistic work. 1158 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00401 Interview with Founder of Myartpatron.com. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Explaining Emeralda:
The Master Speaks to Beginners

At the threshold of a new experience as role-playing a day in the life of the Emeralda Master, he tells the ongoing, inner dialog as a way of explaining Emeralda to ghosts in the new machine. In pauses between virtue and reality, he adds more definitions. 1608 Words. 3 Pages. IOS00331 Explaining Emeralda-The Master Speaks. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Ticket to Ride:
Two Generations Going Nowhere

The ITinerate professor makes outreach efforts to contact the people with whom he went to school. Few show interest in what he is interested in—higher education on line, using the Internet to continue art education and the careers they once dreamed about. 507 Words. 1 Page. IOS00323 Ticket to Ride-Two Generations Going Nowhere. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Back to the Cascades:
Springtime, 2000

Launch your own school and begin with the class of 2002. Prove you can teach online. Make partners. Let Emeralda Works be the software tester and a Web company. The secret to success is you know how to train sovereign individuals global quality standards. 636 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00321 Back to the Cascades-Springtime 2000. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Problems and Solutions:
The Elmer Gates Prize for Online Art Ed

The problems that stand in the pathway the middle-aged and older people as they plan to fulfill their artistic, crafts person and designer visions are solved partly by solutions on the Internet. Specifying solutions is the job of the Emeralda inventor, and qualifies him for the Gates Prize. 1254 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00319 Problems and Solutions-Elmer Gates Prize. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

So you want to be a sculptor in 2022:
A letter to Old George

An ITinerate professor’s letter to a prospective student as a dialog that he sees could happen over the Internet in a few years. It is a glimpse of an arts-based strategy intended as the Emeralda Inventor’s proposal for an online K-K education curriculum. (Concept for an essay) 439 Words. 2 Pages. IOS00314 So You Want to Be A Sculptor in 2022. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Fastest Faux
Painter: Taking care of business

An exercise in fast thinking for the fast artist, and, self-talking, he addresses himself to business planning. It’s one he can share with another artist who says she wants to go back to the arts after a long absence from it. It’s a brainstorming session. 647 Words. 2 Pages. ios00309 Fast Faux Painter. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Seven Hundred Words of Wisdom:
The Prisoner Interrogated

A fantasy narrative or make-believe interrogation of the Inventor in his Emeralda Cell by a mysterious examiner who wants to know his plan for saving the Earth. The author is an artist with a vision that he follows in his practice of a game only he knows. 855 Words. 3871 Characters. 2 Pages. ios00308 Seven Hundred Years of Wisdom. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

My Dinner with Jose:
An Artist’s Journal Entry

Short fictional journal entry from the life of an artist who is in an online course in business communications. She provides a vignette to demonstrate her ability to play Emeralda, the game that all the student/providers are required to use in the course. 647 Words. 2 Pages. ios00301 My Dinner with Jose-Tutorial Essay. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Last Artist Left:
Please Turn Off the Lights

Role-playing as a student/provider in Art of Selling Art2 Online, a sales woman makes her journal entry on a trip to a northwest US city, Yakima, which she discovers has an amazing billboard. This suggests to her that Yakima might have a bad arts climate. 450 Words. 2127 Characters. 1 Pages. ios00229 Will the Last Artist Please Turn off the Lights. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Teaspoons and Tubfuls:
Data data doo doo

Experiments in Art and Technology were BIG in the 70s. A veteran from those salad days reflects on his story as his path intersected those of art students of that era. He describes one who maintained his course, but not by experiments with new technology. 2109 Words. 2 Pages. ios00222 Teaspoons and Tubfulls. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

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1999 Essays

Emeralda, So Easy to Look at:
(So hard to define)

A 20^th Century poem is revisited on the last day of 2^nd Millennium. The imagery in the poem gives the Emeralda Inventor a model and he attempts once again to describe his fantasyland, Emeralda Region, the jewel in the crown of his Perfect Studios Trilogy. 1269 Words. 4 Pages. OS991231. Copyright 1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. (Full text)

Departures from O’Studios:
Looking for the Pacific Digital Fine Arts Festival

Summer time in the Puget Sound--and in many states and countries around the world—it’s time for arts festivals, crafts fairs and design displays. Most people in today's cultural centers enjoy them. But, the rest of the year, people can’t attend—until now. 1076 Words. 2 Pages. os990705 Departure from OStudios-Looking for PDFAF. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Books and Poetry:
Protecting the Gifts of Life

Four gifts of life--love, control, esteem and life itself--are protected from fear of losses by book, poetry and art. Dr. Viscott's speaking and books explain the bases for the rules of Emeralda, the Game for the Gifts of Life in this account of the game. 1594 Words. 3 Pages. Os990704 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The fundamental conundrum of HSIC:
Least to own

To specify the action he wants his co-operative associates to take in his behalf, the inventor of Emeralda compares the background of his game to an artwork by the Dutch artist Mauritz Escher. "Drawing Hands" is a paradoxical work, rich with associations. 1023 Words. 2 Pages. Os990703 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

A Night at First Thursday:
My opening at Sam's

He was an artist as he started careerism and, when he is bored, looking back at Perfect Information, the Inventor of Emeralda has a rich history in his design and craft of printmaking. An art opening is a perfect example of the entertainment at O'Studios. 611 Words. 2 Pages. Os990702 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Look Back and Wonder:
Where did we go wrong?

Owning an invention is like owning a huge lake--hard to control, hard to get your arms around. Like the elephant in the fable of the blind men, identifying it is part of the difficulty. The Inventor of Emeralda compares it to flying with a lost navigator. 638 Words. 1 Page. Os990701 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Flight to O'Studios:
A side trip survey

An imaginary flight over the Great Lake of Emeralda region serves to orient Emeralda's inventor to his next days of Resident Stay. Flying back over the island he just left he compares it to looking back over his personal history of prints and printmaking. 764 Words. 2 Pages. Os990630 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

User's Groups:
WIFM?

User's Groups are like bridges over the chasm that separates IT industry's producers from consumers during their first generation. In it's next generation, communication technology will likely re-live this bridge building, and re-frame the question, WIFM? 585 Words. 1 Page. Os990506 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The Multifaceted Auxiliary:
New opportunities for knowledge workers

The Relationship and Experience Information Principle, or REIP, is the core of a new professional category called the MFA. The author is inspired by a guest editorial written by a dentist. As he role-plays as dental assistant, he opens gates to new ideas. 727 Words. 1 Page. Os990503 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. Full text.

When Professor Bloom Plays Emeralda:
Great Closings and Great Openings

Creating a new curriculum for on-line educational experience and relationships for knowledge workers requires research and what is called perfect information. In game theory, this means looking to the past for what is said happened and can not be changed. 1271 Words. 2 Pages. Os990501 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What's Your Problem?
Antidote for a sick country

This dialog is for a skit to illustrate how Emeralda might begin by preparing a funding plan to restore the SS United States by year 2022. EarthSafe 2022 is the author/inventor's game plan for his DVD-based on-line cooperative game for the gifts of lives. 467 Words. 1 Page. Os990306 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. (Note: this article available pending further research)

Roots of DISCO-OP: A Story of and for Friends

The author paints in the background of DISCO-OP--also known as Dentalisco--and then develops a picture that shows how a cooperative approach came to be the core value upon which DISCO-OP is based. He tells how co-operation is the keyword to his successes. 2275 Words. 3 Pages. OS990305 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Will this be on the final? Day one in the beginning course in Practice Management

The nightmare of finding yourself in class at finals testing time, and realizing it's your first day, may come true for the professor, too. From his 30-year old vision of a classroom of the future, the author describes a scene as if he sees it in a movie. 2050 Words. 3 Pages. OS990304 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Multi Asking and multi answering:
Conversing and scanning with the MFA

A fictional vignette by the creator of Emeralda and its islands, this one drawn from his role-playing in real life as a dental assistant’s assistant or Multi-faceted Auxiliary. It’s set on the fantasy island of O’Studios at lunch, and fun and games reign. 841 Words. 3920 Characters. 3 Pages. OS990303 Multi Asking and Multi Answering-Conversing and.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Critical Listening:
Marketing creativity

The author was reading a memory expert’s advice on improving memory, and listening to the audio tapes that coached him through the expert’s lessons. To make the learning more interesting to himself, he writes a narrative and applies it to his own history. 979 Words. 4626 Characters. 2 Pages. OS990107 Critical Listening-Marketing creativity. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Epiphany Economics:
Your mortgage or your life

As if he’s in the audience listening and watching a guest speaker (which is actually himself in role-play), the author relates how Epiphany is connected in his thinking to the mortgaging of your future and the connections to a general theory of economics. 1063 Words. 5227 Characters. 2 Pages. OS990106 Epiphany Economics-Your mortgage or your life. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

If Not for DVD It Does Not Exist:
A flash of insight by an early adopter

A cryptic note foretelling the end of the trail for desktop computers and CD/ROMs that were of concern in the past of this artist/author’s years. Now he says DVD is the end-all and be-all toward which his investments must be directed; nothing else counts. 321 Words. 1572 Characters. 1 Pages. OS990105 If Not for DVD It Does Not Count-A flash of insight.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artists Self- Esteem and Labor:
Wisdom of investing in ability to labor

Self-esteem is not dependent on the physical products of work in studios. They will change because we change from minute to minute, bound to time and time changes everything. Artist's esteem is not dependent on the physical products of labor, but utility. 682 Words. 3406 Characters. 2 Pages. OS990104 Artists Self-Esteem and Labor-Wisdom of investing.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dream Time at O’Studios:
Sharing a vivid memory

In Emeralda Region, the isle of the domains-of-expertise in hospitality includes storytelling and sharing of narratives in dreams, visions, flashes of insight and other entertaining and inspiring verbiage, pictures and performances. Following is a sample. 845 Words. 3912 Characters. 2 Pages. OS990103 Dream Time at O'Studios-Sharing a vivid.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Speaking of Bad Days:
A diary entry of an Apprentice User

In his diary of real-life and fantasy the Apprentice relates a remark about an impending doom. “Baby Boomers--numbering about 76 million souls of every race, credo and economic standing--have enough monetary wealth to destroy every living thing on Earth.” 375 Words. 1879 Characters. 1 Pages. OS990102 Speaking of Bad Days--A diary entry.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

1998 Essays

Wealth in Emeralda E-mail:
Watch those eggs

The Emeralda Inventor sees his daily e-mail as a special resource. He associates e-mail with wealth of mental and spiritual readiness to make wise choices. Watch the moments, as watching those moments is essential to human structural intellectual capital. 1800 Words. 8666 Characters. 3 Pages. OS981203 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The Basics:
Introduction to Emeralda at O'Studios

Short-term goals are like ripples on the surface of water. Small regular intervals, they ride on the larger waves of long-term goals. Together they form a concert, creating a rhythm all their own. Its inventor thinks of Emeralda in terms of musical forms. Statistics: 1592 Words. 7247 Characters. 3 Pages. OS981123 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Positively Curious About an Old Artist's Video:
Why do I Have These Doubts?

The author reflected on a meeting he ducked out of that was partly to honor a 92-years old artist who enlisted him to help her distribute her videotape she made at 80. It was remarkable at the time, but now video is commonplace. How quickly people forget. 1092 Words. 2 Pages. OS981024. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Q&A from O'Studios Agents:
Emeralda Inventor Interviews

The Emeralda Inventor is visited by O'Studios Agents and they ask him questions about how Emeralda works, how he--the inventor--reconciles several dilemmas and paradoxes that seem to rise up out of his game theory--the theory of cooperation among players. 8722 Words. 40262 Characters. 13 Pages. OS981014 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Focus:
Moving from focused individual to focus group

A cybernetic game starts with invention and then development-usually in that order. Between these stages is the focus group, which begins with a focused individual (the inventor) and continues to the focus group. This essay includes a sample E-mail Story. 1395 Words. 2 Pages. OS981004 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Media family tree:
Systems approach to Emeralda

Part XIII of Emeralda for Dummies. Drawing on a comparison with genealogy, the Emeralda newbie asks the question, "How do players get paid?" by looking at nature through the lens of the systems approach. Payment may come in forms of intellectual capital. 2322 Words. 3 Pages. OS980924 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Rewriting history:
The SS United States, from America with Love

The male storyteller entertains himself every day with photograph that he takes of his daily routine. The snapshots it seem to him were his experiences in other times and places. This is the vision of th SS United States' conception and its restoration. 1045 Words. 2 Pages. OS980914 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

That old hyperlink feeling:
Tracing a path back in time

Concurrently writing and inventing, the creator of Emeralda follows a thread so he can trace his own moves from his Score sheet model to the functions that each Cell may perform. In his imagination, an inspector questions him, police interrogation-style. 1641 Words. 2 Pages. OS980904 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

So you want to play Emeralda?
Filling in your form

To fill out an application form to play Emeralda before the game is invented is premature, but during the inventing or testing of the game it's and exercise that can serve different purposes, giving valuable feedback to guide design by the user developer. 639 Words. 2 Pages. OS980825 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What that professor said was boring:
Launching a new phase of Emeralda

At breakfast at O'Studios, a cynical visitor records his thoughts as he is introduced to the concept development history of Emeralda. he is surprised to be (in a surreptitious incident) reading her story at the same time he is experiencing the next steps. 1476 Words. 5 Pages. OS980815 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Automata in Emeralda Region:
Demonstration in dumping the B.O.S.S. avatar

In her book Wellsprings of Knowledge, Dorothy Lambert-Barton recommends four automata, or avatars, to populate certain cells of Emeralda. Their wake-up call comes at the juncture of the river and lake in the author’s visually-inspired design of his games. 1104 Words. 5532 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980805 Automata in Emeralda Region-Demonstration in dumping the BOSS.... ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The First Try of Printmaking On-line:
An evening to remember at Daniel Smith Inc.

The writer looks back at a two-hour event he planned and produced at Daniel Smith Inc.-a Seattle art supply store-in which he inked, wiped, and printed an intaglio and chine-colle print, converted it to a digital file and got it to his World Wide Website. 374 Words. 1866 Characters. 1 Pages. OS980726 The First Trial of Printmaking On-line-An evening to remember.... ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Outside the Box:
Demonstration for squares, cells and handmade graphics

In the science of cybernetics, from which the game of Emeralda evolves, there is a clue as to what it means to play "outside the box writes the game’s inventor, and here he describes a connection to Descartes, cartography and the prints of Mauritz Escher. 1413 Words. 6693 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980716 Outside the Box-Demonstration for squares.... ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How cells blend in Emeralda:
Bed-and-Breakfast Games for the Gifts of Life

The inventor of Emeralda uses an example a listserve member (Baren-list) posted as a comment about staying in a B&B while traveling. The author, once an avid traveler who now prefers virtual travel, presents his thoughts based on memories and experiences. 1253 Words. 6025 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980706 How Cells Blend in Emeralda-Bed-and-breakfast.... ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Which Robin?
The professor’s search among former students

Visualizing is thought to be the strong part of creative, inventive, discovering and imaginative people's qualities, writes the author while launching his essay on triple entry bookkeeping, illustrating the complicated moves he uses in Emeralda game play. 1664 Words. 7777 Characters. 3 Pages. OS980626 Which Robin-The professors search among former students. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Four Aboard A Watercraft:
Searching for peace, safety and joy on Earth

The author met three comrades on a watercraft to consider strategic alliances to benefit organizations with common visions of peace, safety and joy on earth. He engraved their meeting date of on a blue water bottle—a letter of intent, a noteworthy effort. 781 Words. 4036 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980616 Four Aboard A Watercraft-Searching for peace. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Free-style Writing for Emeralda Dummies:
Demonstration 3 at Emeralda Works

Free verse is the style here as the Inventor of Emeralda writes down what he’s thinking while role-playing for the Emeralda Interview tapes he’ll be making in a few months. This essay is a document made on the fly while the author works on his puzzlement. 1389 Words. 6435 Characters. 3 Pages. OS980507 Free-style Writing for Emeralda Dummies. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Explaining Emeralda:
The Master Speaks to Beginners

On the threshold of another new experience in a day in the life of the Emeralda Master poses the ongoing, inner dialog on explaining Emeralda to his ghosts in the new machine. Pausing between virtue and reality, he adds more definitions. 1039 Words. 2 Pages. OS980407 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Installment For Her story:
How the Titanic and the SS US crossed in the night

The creator of Emeralda: Games for the Gifts of Life, writes periodically in a story that is the background for the games. Every big game has a background legend or fantasy story. These are passages from it, set in Scotland at the beginning of the 20^th C. 658 Words. 2 Pages. OS980318. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

O'Studios Vision:
Getting to the Destination state

Third day of a User Apprentice' Residence Stay at O'Studios and a language lesson, based on the pronunciation of the name of an obscure printmaking tool. She is part of a vision in the eye of the Emeralda Master who shares his story on the World Wide Web. 697 Words. 3263 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980308 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Emeralda Daydreamer:
An Essay for Ellie

His friend, Eleanor Mathews, is on his mind as the author tries to communicate his invention, Emeralda. He pictures a print making studio and animates it with imaginary people with links to dentistry, computers, travel and investing. 2010 Words. 3 Pages. OS980226. ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

How do you play today?
Lost in the woods of O'Studios' Isle

A series of accounts for routine activities yields essays that resemble demonstrations by the Emeralda Inventor and Master at Play. In this account he begins with questions about the Cells in which he finds himself. In this instance, it is a virtual wood. 1184 Words. 5192 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980216 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Smooth Moves in the Heart and Mind of the Artist's New Machine:
Magister Emeralda's demonstration

A User Apprentice describes his final, sixth day at O'Studio's Residence Stay, when the Magister Emeralda appears and shows how smoothly he moves from one cell in the Vade Mecum to another. This demonstration previews what he must learn in the year ahead. 506 Words. 2397 Characters. 1 Page. OS980107 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Flying over O'Studios:
A Dreamer's Day

The author shares his first view of O'Studios Isle, the Domain-of-Expertise for outreach and community relations for artists, crafts people and designers. Flying high above the isle, he sees its shape for the first time, but he's confused by an old dream. 659 Words. 1 Page. OS980106 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Explaining Emeralda:
Stranded on a Desert Isle

The inventor of Emeralda--Game for the Gifts of Life, thinks about himself in comparison to someone who has been stranded for 15 years and suddenly faces rescue. 1782 Words. 8479 Characters. 3 Pages. OS980105. ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie Jr.

The festivals at Emeralda:
Glass Bead Game Reborn

The inventor reflects on the development of the Festivals that take place that give masters an opportunity to demonstrate their strategies without seeming to be ingratiatory. 812 Words. 3999 Characters. 2 Pages. OS980104 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Legacy Transfer:
High cost of living legends

The ways costs enter into the transfer of information are like engineering and economics welded into a basic theory for a new kind of investment. The author wants to invest in human structural intellect, one’s ability to capitalize labor over a long term. 731 Words. 2 Pages. OS980103. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Economics of Product Development by Apprentice Users:
First-day Notes of a Visitor to Open Studios and Hospitality

The Inventor-User is at the first day's lecture on the Island where entertainment and hospitality are supposed to be the reigning principles, but instead hears a management science specialist addressing the issues of the high cost of information transfer. 1099 Words. 2 Pages. OS980102 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1997 Essays

Grandfather clock:
Poem of a prisoner

The author, who works alone with only the company of a mantle clock, is carried away for a moment by self-pity. 301 Words. 1414 Characters. 1 Page. OS971107. © 1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Stamp Evaluation:
The Inventor’s Dissertation

The Stamp Game is a subdivision of Emeralda. This is a unique game. Because it is a subdivision of Emeralda, it is necessary to keep it in the context of the game itself. That means it has to be evaluated. Evaluation is the third step in six. 1567 Words. 7154 Characters. 3 Pages. OS971103 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie Jr.

Interview with the inventor:
Emeralda's Bill Ritchie

Fictional interview with the inventor of Emeralda: The Game For Life as the cybernetic artist/entrepreneur searches for ways to figure out what he is doing while he is doing it. 786 Words. 3582 Characters. 2 Pages. OS971014. ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

An art show is born:
Surprise outcome of economic modeling

Events from 1970 through the mid-nineties led to the creation of the Pacific Digital Fine Arts Festival. While the show seems simple on the surface, its roots go deep into a concept of creating a new economic model for cyber artists. Selection from the author's forthcoming publication, "Reinventing Arts Studios." 1330 Words. 6731 Characters. 2 Pages. OS970914 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Emeralda’s name and symbol:
History and evolution

Considering that a trademark registration of the name “Emeralda” is forthcoming, a review of the origins of the name and its logo is in order. 981 Words. 4298 Characters. 3 Pages. OS970419. © 1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

In a printmaker’s house:
An artist copy-wrights a writer’s words

An imaginary visit to the house of a printmaker in the cybernetic age takes the form of a dialogue with author Robert Grudin (On Dialogue: An Essay in Free Thought, Book: A Novel) who, a decade before, used a similar computer-aided, creative approach as a method to plumb the richness of his, the writer’s, art. Printmaking involves creating matrices and these resonate with potential for inner voices and virtual landscapes full of artifacts for the artist’s imagination to enjoy. 1455 Words. 3 Pages. OS970408 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Beautiful horses:
Parable of the Gates Prize

Keeping beauty in the gates of wisdom is like capturing wild horses in this parable by Bill Ritchie, whose Japanese-given name means “Keeper of beauty in gates” or, “Biru Richi”. 435 Words. 1 Page. OS970320 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Dialing the Dead:
Postscript to the underground

Random sampling of names from out of the past sometimes has a way of showing how fast things change, and in the passage of an entire year, unfinished plans seem to indicate a deadening effect has taken hold of some people. 1112 Words. 5092 Characters. 2 Pages. OS970319 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Let the games begin:
Planting the seeds of cooperation

Game theory and economic modeling may be the best combination for educational uses of information and telecommunications technologies. These words may be dry, but like dry seeds planted in a rich culture of human interaction, games, play and story-telling, they may develop and blossom in a wonderful, fruitful jungle of opportunity. 2580 Words. 4 Pages. OS970309 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Is there a Martha among us?
Craft and ability in the cybernetic age

The well-known corporate craft queen is compared to Wiener, Rosenblueth and Thomas Jefferson because her helpful hints can be adopted to solving big-picture problems. It may appear simple, but it is not easy. 1701 Words. 8324 Characters. 3 Pages. OS970217 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

How to butter your bread on both sides:
Churning your own HSIC portfolio

An old trick by unscrupulous stock brokers is to churn the portfolios of unwary clients, skimming the commission on transactions that, in fact, are unnecessary. Churning your own portfolio might make sense even if you don’t get paid for it. 1522 Words. 3 Pages. OS970128 ©1997 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1996 Essays

Another perfect day:
Scene at Open Studios & Hospitality

A Gruddite Apprentice-User (coming from MacRitchie’s Fast Art) expands his mentor’s directive, writing about a perfect day. It’s almost time for exercise, but there’s always time at O’Studios to do what one has to do to protect one’s most valuable assets. 640 Words. 2 Pages. OS961001 ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Virtual versus vicious games:
Paths toward Emeralda

Perhaps The Wizard of Oz is one of America’s greatest stories ever told, and it is based on fear of the unknown and a Yellow Brick Road. The pathways to Emeralda is based on faith in the unknown and intuition. 647 Words. 1 Page. OS960813 ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Roots of Emeralda:
Search for life

Games fascinate the artist who uses electronic tools in his art and craft, but why? When a telecommunications company makes a deal with a game company, many possibilities are raised and point to a famous scheme called “The Glass Bead Game.” 2656 Words. 5 Pages. OS960809 ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Alive and well among the metaphors:
Life in the tall forest

Where I live there once stood fir and cedar trees that were so tall that no one had ever been able to climb to their tops. Living among such giants made people think big. The trees are gone, but their spirit remains, and that is why I think big. 1233 Words. 2 Pages. OS960804 ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Flight of the 888:
A fanciful approach to quality teamwork

Last in this year's four-part of a story created on-line for people interested in arts, business, and communications technology education by a visionary intent on chartering a US Tech Corps chapter in Washington state. 735 Words. 2 Pages. OS960523. ©Bil H. Ritchie, Jr.

Flight of the 888:
Carla, the virtual flight hostess

A telecommunications pioneer suggested the need for a partnership for an upocoming conference and discussion. Her invitation inspired the story, “Muralism in the Age of Digital Communications.” 1005 Words. 2 Pages. OS960518. ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie., Jr.

Flight of the 888:
Muralism in the age of digitial communication

The outcome of this parable determine what, if any, is the common goal US West and AT&T Pioneers and Tech Corps Washington, as proposed by the first author, who filed an intent to charter Tech Corps in Washington state. 893 Words. 2 Pages. OS960517. ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Flight of the 888:
A tech-corps dreamer's sketchbook

Created to encourage communications among people interested in arts, business, and communications technology education. The image of the airplane was contributed by Jerry Ritchie, and the mountains and sea of edutainment were added by the author. 644 Words. 2 Pages. OS960515 ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Ritchie and the Witch:
Little Mind Workshop Book

Four elements are joined in an entertaining story about a witch, a cat and a Master of Digital Arts, a story about how Dreams Work to produce a Mind-Blending of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and grow rich” and Kevin Trudeau’s “Megamemory.” 828 Words. 2 Pages. OS960404 ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Visit to Open Studios and Hospitality:
Cybernetic Isle with heart among Domains of Expertise

The fourth stop on a ten-day tour of the Domain of Expertise, a fictional lake where arts, technology and business are mingled in the atmosphere of a future search. Excerpt from Reinvening Arts Studios Workbook. 1883 Words. 3 Pages. OS960316. ©1996 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1995 Essays

Tech Corps Emeralda:
Land of visionaries

You cannot have a Tech Corps chapter in Washington without approval from the national office in Washington DC, but can you have a virtual getaway by visioning one in an imaginary, sim state--like in my beautiful, imaginary country, "Emeralda"? 3148 Words. 4 Pages. OS951218. ©1995 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

A gift to LMASOCACAD

An open letter by Mark Leonard who, with his wife and co-worker Izumi Kurioiwa, donated a 1983 video camera and recorder that Bill Ritchie used to make his Travel Tapes. Mark describes how the system helped Kuroiwa-Leonard Media Arts get started.

Living Prints Travels World Class:
Reinventing Free Fine Art Printmaking

An "ITinerate Professor" sets course for a new way of looking at travel and study of fine art printmaking. 935 Words. 2 Pages. OS950826. ©1995 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Interview with the umpire:
Having a talk with ourselves

A fantasy interview written from both sides of his brain, the "umpire" explains how he got his name and describes why he chooses to do this non-artistic work. 2691 Words. 6 Pages. OS950408. ©1995 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

A Cybernetic Front-page Article:
A thread from Liner Notes

The author was to be a presenter at a meeting of Northwest Cyberartists. He was asked to provide a front-page article for their newsletter. From a previous issue of the newsletter, he resumes an inner dialog he left from November of the year before. 943 Words. 2 Pages. OS950128. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Proposal for W.R.I.T.E.:
Four dimensions of a story

Four dimensions face the Canada's W.R.I.T.E in this paper: The author as born-again art teacher, as an early-adopter of media arts, as self-appointed founder of a new museum school, and as a channel for a 30,000 year-old alien named Media. 716 Words. 2 Pages. OS950124. ©1995 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

1994 Essays

An artist's hyperbook show:
The ToolBook Example

After four years of casual writing, electronic painting, sketching and testing, the author imagines what it would be like to share a tour of his hyperbook. (Hand-written original) 1000 Words. 4 Pages. OS941230. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Peabody Sand & Gravel:
A painting story

Is it different to paint in the open air as compared to using computer graphics and paint programs? Definitely, yes. The outcome may be trivialized, though. The experience, to the creative person, is all that really counts. (hand-written original) 1200 Words. 3 Pages. OS941222. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Interview A PATC student:
The boredom of practice

Formatting an expert's unpublished essays is boring in this fantasy interview. The students at Pacific Arts and Technology College work for a small salary and dream of better methods. 1892 Words. 8682 Characters. 5 Pages. os941210 Interview A PATCWA Student. ©1994 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Cruising your studio:
Between virtue and reality

This article was copy-written while reading the tutorial for the world's first PC-based virtual reality planning software for personal architecture. Mouse in hand, or a grip on your joystick, you enter your studio and go to work. 1458 Words. 2 Pages. OS940228. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Rose thorns of silica:
Vision of a glass connection

After the author and his co-workers lost the battle to save Rose Hill Grade School, he occasionally goes back over his database and records for artifacts of the project. Better than any photograph of the lost school, his stories enliven his imagination. 933 Words. 2 Pages. OS940218. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Smart time share condo:
Plugged in and going

There is a way, now and in the near future, for smart people to get smarter about new technologies for home and work. They invest money in a time-share condo limited partnership, and in return they get a high-tech smart getaway without spending much. 1866 Words. 3 Pages. OS940210. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

LMASOCACAD Quintet:
Sould of the new museum

Five foci for a new living museum: One for text of all kinds. Another is for numbers. The third is for graphics. Fourth is sound and the fifth is called by various names such as telecommunications, electronic data transfer and data highway systems. 1280 Words. 2 Pages. OS940128. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Visualize Buying Rose Hill:
A Media fantasy

How do you save an old wooden school from demolition when developers move in? Is there a profit center in historic preservation? A business plan is needed, preceded by a fantastic visualization session for visualizing heritage development business. 503 Words. 2 Pages. OS940121. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

College in the palm of your hand:
Gleaning education on your PDA

The new college course will be palmtop-based. The author stares into the tiny screen on his Casio B.O.S.S. and, like a crystal ball, it tells him the past and future of the Personal Data Assistant itself in education. A game called Emeralda is born. 509 Words. 1 Page. OS940119. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1993 Essays

Interview with a data highway driver:
Tight turns and steep hills

Six months after an interview with a new data-highway builder, the author asks, "What if I had answered differently?". 1736 Words. 3 Pages. OS931125. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The New Glass Bead Game:
Emeralda fantasy

A fantasy - there is no electronic brochure named Emeralda but such brochures are coming soon. Ritchie estimates that in three years there will be a half-dozen. By the year 2000, travel magazines will include diskettes plus CD Multimedia products. 1329 Words. 3 Pages. OS931028. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What I want in a cruise:
Letter to the liner

A member of a special segment of the "geezer" generation fantasizes on what he would say if a cruise industry poll asked him what he wants in a luxury cruise. It's not what you would expect from the nations' richest population. 1983 Words. 3 Pages. OS931010. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Cruising Virtual Reality:
Fantasy coming about

Here is a whole-brain approach to members of the cruising industry to put art, education and technology into the picture of cruises. Content would be able to outperform most land-based settings with Computer Arts Stars Theatre. 2505 Words. 3 Pages. OS931008. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Food co-op metaphor:
Electronic peaches next?

This article suggests that the intellectual and social-emotional dimensions of the human personality can grow on the food co-op model by applying it through technology, the tools of the age of electronic reproduction. 2289 Words. 4 Pages. OS930920. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

TRPI:
The right stuff for investing

TRP Investment is a means of achieving financial, educational and social goals. A long-range plan, stretching fifty years into the future, makes TRPI an ideal way to invest time. How does one qualify? This article suggests some criteria. 222 Words. 1 Page. OS930706. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Narrative for a storyboard:
Fit for a hard-drive

Over time, the artist reinvented his studio to fit on a computer hard-drive. For each division, images evolved that were icons for each division. Finally, a storyboard resulted that suggests a fly-by tour of the Perfect Studios. 1154 Words. 3 Pages. OS930628. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

LUXury Club:
Investment clubs are the answer

The author says ideas of Kenneth Lux, economist, need to be examined to find answers to investors' questions. The sustainable investor needs to know how plans fit the next thirty years. Track investment clubs; see how they find direction and growth. 1500 Words. 3 Pages. OS930626. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Conversation of the Bored:
Hours away from a life

The reader is asked to imagine ten clones of Bill seated around a round table, a crystal ball in front of each seat. They see the logo of each of Ritchie's ten divisions. This article is self-talk that guides the reinvention of arts studios. 1061 Words. 3 Pages. OS930625. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Game round-table:
Dial 900 to get out

Reinventing arts studios began in the 80s after Naisbitt and Aburdene's Reinventing the Corporation. An artist invented an inner board of directors for his projects, and explains the diagrams of Meeting of the Bored. This is the base for Emeralda. 385 Words. 1 Page. OS930621. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

One wish:
Eve of an anniversary

It is the eve of my 29th Wedding Anniversary. In two days, someone might ask me, "If you had one wish that you think could come true here, what would it be?" 868 Words. 2 Pages. OS930613. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

US United States:
Her Story

The symbolism in the story of the luxury liner-turning-to-scrap-metal is prophetic. Reading that the 1952 ship, SS United States, was rusted and would be auctioned as junk, I began to make Her story into a focal point in The Woman Who Fell to Earth. 427 Words. 1 Page. OS930612. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. Full text.

Hit your wagon to a star:
IT Professor on interview

The story of a another encounter the ITinerate Professor counts as The 4th kind. Dependent on three industries (Transportation equipment, food processing and tourism) the educators / entertainers look for technology to move their information. 2216 Words. 4 Pages. OS930611. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Play Work:
For mature interactives only

Thinking of an electronic game for two that is part Pictionary and part Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego?, the author puts himself in the player's seat. Put the joystick in your hand and imagine this game you play on the data highway. 2170 Words. 3 Pages. OS930604. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Three little pigs:
Stories from Yakima

What Yakima needs is a story-telling monument to speak to the world about sunshine, food, fresh water and growing things. From this and the organization that maintains it the stories from many nations go out with every parcel of Yakima Produce. 505 Words. 1 Page. OS930528. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

I want my ITV:
Surfing downtown

The artist, crafts person and designers can use ITV in ways that commercial stores might not want us to think about, but this article suggests that it would be better for creatives if they do. 1444 Words. 2 Pages. OS930522. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Dear Media:
Postcards to my ghost

Herstory:
Script for the foyer

Collecting the numerous relations of Herstory (Media's) into a powerful crystalline lattice work and presenting them to a classroom of one-million students. 533 Words. 1 Page. OS930516. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Tip of the IceBerg:
Fifteen years after the Emergency Meeting

Ten days from the Fifteenth Emergency Meeting Anniversary, in sight of the tip-of-the-iceberg, zoomed-in on for a closerlook. Built on the plan to meet Jean Parrent, potential EarthSafe 2022 worker. 771 Words. 2 Pages. OS930508. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Valley dreamers:
Blending the two Washingtons

The author is roused from his computer dream-world. "How did I get here? What happened? Has the dream come true already?" He considers whether computer technology and agriculture will crest in the agricultural part of Eastern Washington State. Words. 1553 Words. 3 Pages. OS930428. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Automated Library Machines:
ALMS for the poor

As I unpack my electronic library of ToolBooks®, I find projects partly unfinished. It was years ago when I first created these, yet they are intact. What would a stranger, skilled with browsing electronic ToolBooks®, think of my crude sketches? 994 Words. 2 Pages. OS930424. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Reading an art magazine from 2022:
Loveletter to Media

Tetra's restaurant visit to Prism:
Taking home what you didn't get

Fantasy visit to Prism, a restaurant with a new way to take home what you could not order. The story describes what POP will mean in the future, and how computer kiosks will be more friendly and useful to our epicurean natures. 1880 Words. 3 Pages. OS930331. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

A fun letter to Professor Eckre:
Art and politics collide on the data highway

Was Professor Eckre being an absent-minded professor when he wrote a letter asking for free desk copies of my publications for his political science class in North Dakota? It's fun to imagine what he thought when he got this response. 324 Words. 1 Page. OS930312. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Ride the data highway:
An art store, a train

Excerpted from RIISMA Magalog's Art Classrooms of Tomorrow Today. The Art EarthSafe 2022 Class of the future is a multimedia work, and these were part of the essay that mixed business, retail, hospitality, marketing and sales with real and fantasy events. 1215 Words. 2 Pages. OS930304. ©1993 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1992 Essays

Ola! Ohaiyo! Hello Media!:
Concept for Media's KidsVid

Based on an announcement printed in a newspaper, this is a copy-written version of what might become reality. The computer revolution winds down, and arts education reform picks up. This program is as original as Sesamee Street. 1650 Words. 3 Pages. OS921220. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Jackson's rhyme:
Thinking of Pollack

What if Jackson Pollack had not missed the information age? It is a question for art education. This is a letter to the editor of CompuServe magazine with an offering to their Rhymes Book. 200 Words. 1 Page. OS921112. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Homeless computer users:
E-Mail to clubbers

After a generation of thinking that computers are a new way of doing things, people who are deep in the creative and productive potential of digital media may find themselves homeless. Neither real, permanent security nor true outcasts from the system. 363 Words. 1 Page. OS921006. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Knotty exhibit shakes up the mind:
A proposal for a REAL store

This is a futuristic conception of a downtown Seattle Information Technology Tower, a center showcase for northwest industries - large and small - and how they use Washington-grown technologies. The fictional story begins in 1992 with a sidewalk museum. 1078 Words. 3 Pages. OS920923. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The scholar and his son:
Parable from the Emerald Valley

A parable based on the development of the software known as KidPix, created by Craig Hickman. It was created to send to Haiyan Zhang, a friend of the author's, to encourage a Chinese language learning program for K-12 students using CD-I. 812 Words. 2 Pages. OS920623. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Perfect Studios that Bill built:
Calculus of a dream that remains

The author creates a line of statements like The house that Jack built and readers are invited to back-chain through his personal and professional story of concommitant trials, setbacks and intellectual gains all stuffed in a Perfect Studios anecdote. 1020 Words. 2 Pages. OS920608. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Scope for fiction:
The death tapes

The Death Tapes is a ghost in the new machine, voices of characters in the history of the creation of Perfect Studios. The seven-year development of Perfect Studios, pictured with a widening scope for fiction, is play-acted by writing a fantasy script. Unknown number of words and pages. OS920530. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Inventing Media's wheel:
Parable of a wood carver

A parable about a child and a crafts person and the creation of a wheel for a machine that had not yet been invented. Reprinted from Ritchie's Perfect Press Magalog because it is both practical and fantastic. 607 Words. 2 Pages. OS920511. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Ken's Golden Age:
The Rolling Summer School

Conversing with Professor Ken renews interest in a fabulous Summer-school bus. The author paints a background for the technologically-minded, creating edu-tainment in virtual reality and takes a strange turn into the realm of the soap opera. 4876 Words. 10 Pages. OS920510. ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

BillsGate' ToolBooks:
Drive-thru the F-Drive

Observing the 23rd Official Earth Day, the author begins a review of the ToolBooks® he created over three years. How can hypermedia books help in the EarthSafe 2022 program, part of Perfect Studios' mission? Perhaps retrospect will show. 1810 Words. 4 Pages. OS920422. ©1994 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1991 Essays

TESC 2011:
Dreamer awake

Reading history from the view of a TESC-education, the fictional teacher grows conscious of the origins of the college itself. Basic tenets endured forty years of political and economic change, despite change in technology. 1523 Words. 3 Pages. OS911020. ©1991 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Rings on water:
Inspiration for mosaic

These words were written in a tiny notebook which Bill Ritchie discovered when he was cleaning his studio. During his design of an ill-fated mural for Spokane Community College, its message seemed to make more sense. 461 Words. 1 Page. OS910303. ©1991 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1990 Essays

The Farmer and the Meritocrat:
Looking down, looking up

An old division between agriculture and culture-culture is examined by a former farm boy who moved to the city. 227 Words. 1 Page. OS900915. ©1990 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Positive Acceleration:
Outline for patience

Three paragraphs describing the metaphor of the dripping faucet of life. 164 Words. 1 Page. OS900914. ©1990 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1989 Essays

Life among the metaphors:
The bitter and the sweet

Account of the highs and lows of life among the metaphors, an imaginary people. Their values are sometimes found in the those living in the silicon forest. From the Emerald City to the Emerald Valley, life with the metaphors is bitter / sweet. 656 Words. 2 Pages. OS890804. ©1989 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

A soft joke:
Where's the video?

A joke about an art director, an artist, an art teacher and a computer artist and their dilemma in the face of life-threatening forces. 259 Words. 1 Page. OS890605. ©1989 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What is a Perfect Studio Seminar?:
Vision of consumer edu-tainment

In the first year Perfect Studios seemed to have the potential to be an alternative educational resource, this description was created to define seminars. This is accompanied by a press release. 303 Words. 2 Pages. OS890425. ©1989 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Locus:
Path of a moving point

Text for an exhibit by Bill H. Ritchie by Dr. Richard L. Brown, gallery director and the head of the Department of Art, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington. 441 Words. 1 Page. OS890115. ©1989 Richard Brown

1988 Essays

Art Student:
A path you can trust, a path you can audit

C. T. Chew attended the Orca Conference, showing the Art Student CD example and his 20 years’ work to illustrate some possibilities that are opening up because of new computer technologies. He highlights the CD/ROM Publishers Club and the print portfolio. 1635 Words. 7530 Characters. 3 Pages. OS881115 ©1988 C. T. Chew

A Tale of a Blind Elephant:
Who knows what computer art is?

Adaptation of the story of the blind men and the elephant to provide answers to the question, What is Computer Art? 1234 Words. 2 Pages. OS880210. ©1988 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

1975 Essay

Dreamer:
A Short Story

This original 1975 manuscript was re-discovered and reviewed in 1991 and 1993 It is an autobiographical fantasy about a man re-entering society that is starting over, without the encumbrances of recorded history. 2145 Words. 6 Pages. OS750615. ©1975 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

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OPEN STUDIOS& HOSPITALITYESSAYS

2003 / 2002 / 2001 / 2000 / 1999 / 1998 / 1997 / 1996 / 1995 / 1994 / 1993 / 1992 / 1991 / 1990 / 1989 / 1988 / 1975

Fantasy on the Theme of Restoring the Value of the SS United States

Above: Aboard the SS United States, Russian students listen as a storyteller (left of center, in glasses) recounts the background and his tale of the great craft's restoration. They are sitting in one of the lounge studio classrooms between formal sessions held aboard the big ship.

It was in the early 1970's that I wrote an essay called The Story of George's Art. Then, in 1972, this stage of the systemic creativity movement--so important to the spirit of the SS United States as an International Monument to Human Creativity--was just starting.

SUMMARIES OF ESSAYS IN O'STUDIOS 'ZINE

2003 Essays

NEW! The Payoff: Getting Living Prints to Emeralda Works

Thinking About My Gallery: Towards a business plan

Madrona Skunkworks: Dog Island’s imagination station

Visualizing My Studio: Starting all over again

Dreams: What partnerships are made of

My Teaching Philosophy: Persistent State World Education

Fine Art Drawing in the Age of Digital Reproduction: A proposed book that needs and gets attention

How to Create A Living Prints Online Hybrid Distance Learning For Profit School: Staying Alive in the Dying World of Fine Art Hand Printmaking

I Get Letters: The emotional value of feedback

Story of the Absent Professor: Background for an on-line art education digital-game based learning experiment

Putting the S in TRPS: Service is where teaching, research and practice can take the virtual professor

Saving for College: Two gateways

We Build the Game As We Play It: How Stamps ‘N Stories Got Its Start

Imagine A Video Game: A Proposal for the Tacoma Art Mus eum

Kite Story: Evolving a vision for animation

2002 Essays

Social Justice and Woodcuts: Challenging questions and a singing Barrista

Sighting O'Studios: Sense, nonsense and site unseen

Publish Electronically or Perish: Future teachers beware

Visualize This: A WASHPIRG of Media Artists

Missing Professor’s Closet Re-Opened: Another Paradigm for Art Ed On-line

Big Easy Education: Taking the Easy Way Out

Mapping Routine Activity on the Web: Art Students Seeking Experts Look on the Net

Connecting Four Dots: Art Festivals, Games, E-books and Artistamps

How Mobile Devices Effect Education: Mapping and Microeconomics

Investing in Labor, Not Silver Bullets Not One Silver Bullet for Me

Artists’ Games: Yesterday’s, Today’s and Tomorrow’s Computer Games as Fun and Community Building

Stamp Uptown Seeing the Neighborhood Through Stamps and Stories

New Game Club in Town Artistamps and E-Artistamps

The Giant’s Shoes: Caution-Visioneer At Work

Do Real Artists Write Business Plans? Betting your life on what counts

A Tale of Two Towns: Prisoners Dilemma and the Web

Amenable Artist Interview: A sentient look at the artist, his art, computers and the Internet

Ethnography and Printmaking: Worlds apart, worlds alike on the Web and CD/ROM

Another Printmaking Panel is Born: Readying for the CAA Conference--again

IT Works for Me: Asset Management and Legacy Transfer from an Art Professor’s Viewpoint

No Wieners, Please: Winners in the Art Game

At Last, Art-Ed Online in A Store Near You : Merging of shopping AND learning on-line

Resetting My Compass On Life: Emeralda play is navigator’s work

If I Had IT to Do Over: I’d get a certificate to teach art on-line

Practicing What I Preach: Or, How I Lost A Job and Won A Life

No Teacher Left Behind: Closing the Art and Technology Gap

Writing Between the Paragraphs – Part 4: An imaginary dialog between two professors.

More articles are being added in 2002 are awaiting uploads to this site. For full text and new listings please email ritchie@seanet.com..

2001 Essays

Arts R Us Art processes at a store near you

D is for Disseminate: Reviewing the ICED Principle of Art Ed On-line

Thrill of Intercollegiate Arts: New dimensions in art education

New Fundamental Art Education On-line Curriculum: How non-branded art serves a better vision

Stickers in Your Passport: Ten stamps and the way they fit history

Visiting Granny’s DVD Workshop: Fancies of an inveterate printmaker

An Artist’s Legacy of DVDs: Investigating A Missing Professor’s Closet

Basics of Art Education On-line Revealed: Art Professor explains his invention

Alert Artist’s Teach Their Survivors: Teaching Wives to be Widows

The Ghost of Toulouse Lautrec in My New Machine: What shows change, what does not

Tales and Details of a DVD Author: Counting and Accounting for the Future of Higher Education

Amazing Amazon: What A Woman!

Why Play Emeralda? So you and your imagination can fly away

Teaching Machines: Doing IT with Dusty

Benefit the Artist in Residence: What’s in IT for You (WIIFY)

Winning, and Losing My Next Job Short Happy Career and Future Search

How Do You Play Emeralda, Grandpa? On The Prescience of A Three-year Old

Passing Ferries: A Screen Play

Artist’s Proposal for Alliance Marketing with Life Scientists: A Bigger Better Deal

True Artists Don’t Back Out, They Back Up: My 4-D Catalog In-Retro

It was Bad in Toxi: In Between Got Worse

Image? You want Image? I’ll Give you Image!

There Are VARs in the Stars: Why the art in other peoples garbage out depends on garbage in

When Professors Run Away: Old Professors Don’t Get Gassed, They Get Gassed Up!

Problems Aliens Face Language Barriers

An Artist’s Legacy of DVDs: Investigating A Missing Professor’s Closet

OPEN STUDIOS
& HOSPITALITY
ESSAYS

NEW! The Payoff:
Getting Living Prints to Emeralda Works

Thinking About My Gallery:
Towards a business plan

Madrona Skunkworks:
Dog Island’s imagination station

Visualizing My Studio:
Starting all over again

Dreams:
What partnerships are made of

My Teaching Philosophy:
Persistent State World Education

Fine Art Drawing in the Age of Digital Reproduction:
A proposed book that needs and gets attention

How to Create A Living Prints Online Hybrid Distance Learning For Profit School:
Staying Alive in the Dying World of Fine Art Hand Printmaking

I Get Letters:
The emotional value of feedback

Story of the Absent Professor:
Background for an on-line art education digital-game based learning experiment

Putting the S in TRPS:
Service is where teaching, research and practice can take the virtual professor

Saving for College:
Two gateways

We Build the Game As We Play It:
How Stamps ‘N Stories Got Its Start

Imagine A Video Game:
A Proposal for the Tacoma Art Mus eum

Kite Story:
Evolving a vision for animation

Social Justice and Woodcuts:
Challenging questions and a singing Barrista

Sighting O'Studios:
Sense, nonsense and site unseen

Publish Electronically or Perish:
Future teachers beware

Visualize This:
A WASHPIRG of Media Artists

Missing Professor’s Closet Re-Opened:
Another Paradigm for Art Ed On-line

Big Easy Education:
Taking the Easy Way Out

Mapping Routine Activity on the Web:
Art Students Seeking Experts Look on the Net

Connecting Four Dots:
Art Festivals, Games, E-books and Artistamps

How Mobile Devices Effect Education:
Mapping and Microeconomics

Investing in Labor, Not Silver Bullets
Not One Silver Bullet for Me

Artists’ Games:
Yesterday’s, Today’s and Tomorrow’s Computer Games as Fun and Community Building

Stamp Uptown
Seeing the Neighborhood Through Stamps and Stories

New Game Club in Town
Artistamps and E-Artistamps

The Giant’s Shoes:
Caution-Visioneer At Work

Do Real Artists Write Business Plans?
Betting your life on what counts

A Tale of Two Towns:
Prisoners Dilemma and the Web

Amenable Artist Interview:
A sentient look at the artist, his art, computers and the Internet

Ethnography and Printmaking:
Worlds apart, worlds alike on the Web and CD/ROM

Another Printmaking Panel is Born:
Readying for the CAA Conference--again

IT Works for Me:
Asset Management and Legacy Transfer from an Art Professor’s Viewpoint

No Wieners, Please:
Winners in the Art Game

At Last, Art-Ed Online in A Store Near You :
Merging of shopping AND learning on-line

Resetting My Compass On Life:
Emeralda play is navigator’s work

If I Had IT to Do Over:
I’d get a certificate to teach art on-line

Practicing What I Preach:
Or, How I Lost A Job and Won A Life

No Teacher Left Behind:
Closing the Art and Technology Gap

Writing Between the Paragraphs – Part 4:
An imaginary dialog between two professors.

Arts R Us
Art processes at a store near you

D is for Disseminate:
Reviewing the ICED Principle of Art Ed On-line

Thrill of Intercollegiate Arts:
New dimensions in art education

New Fundamental Art Education On-line Curriculum:
How non-branded art serves a better vision

Stickers in Your Passport:
Ten stamps and the way they fit history

Visiting Granny’s DVD Workshop:
Fancies of an inveterate printmaker

An Artist’s Legacy of DVDs:
Investigating A Missing Professor’s Closet

Basics of Art Education On-line Revealed:
Art Professor explains his invention

Alert Artist’s Teach Their Survivors:
Teaching Wives to be Widows

The Ghost of Toulouse Lautrec in My New Machine:
What shows change, what does not

Tales and Details of a DVD Author:
Counting and Accounting for the Future of Higher Education

Amazing Amazon:
What A Woman!

Why Play Emeralda?
So you and your imagination can fly away

Teaching Machines:
Doing IT with Dusty

Benefit the Artist in Residence:
What’s in IT for You (WIIFY)

Winning, and Losing My Next Job
Short Happy Career and Future Search

How Do You Play Emeralda, Grandpa?
On The Prescience of A Three-year Old

Passing Ferries:
A Screen Play

Artist’s Proposal for Alliance Marketing with Life Scientists:
A Bigger Better Deal

True Artists Don’t Back Out, They Back Up:
My 4-D Catalog In-Retro

It was Bad in Toxi:
In Between Got Worse

Image? You want Image?
I’ll Give you Image!

There Are VARs in the Stars:
Why the art in other peoples garbage out depends on garbage in

When Professors Run Away:
Old Professors Don’t Get Gassed, They Get Gassed Up!

Problems Aliens Face
Language Barriers

An Artist’s Legacy of DVDs:
Investigating A Missing Professor’s Closet