RIISMA
'ZINE
ESSAYS

Summaries of essays about not-for-profit and fee-based teaching, research and practice. I used to be published in paper-based media and occasional exhibition catalogs. Today I publish on-line from my electronic research "think tank" studio in Seattle.
If full text to read on-line is not indicated below, it is available by request. E-mail me at: ritchie@seanet.com

View Summaries for the years: 2003 / 2002 / 2001 / 2000 / 1999 / 1998 / 1997 / 1996 / 1995 / 1994 / 1993 / 1992 / 1991 / 1990 / 1989 

(To preview or get full-text downloads or custom service, send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

2003 Essays

NEW! Treading the Web in Emeralda:
Studying Donald Kunze

When he surfed the three or four sites on the Internet created by or about professor Donald Kunze, this Itinerate professor has a gut-wrenching experience of having arrived at the reality he called Emeralda region, where lofty ideals and new art converge. 892 Words. 4169 Characters. 2 Pages. iri31206 Treading the Web in Emeralda. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Vision:
Another year of living copiously

A payoff in Emeralda is a year of living copiously. It means planning a departure on December 15th of each year—a tour of duty for this artist, teacher, researcher and service provider. As his 7th year in Emeralda Region comes to a close, he says goodbye.1422 Words. 6310 Characters. 3 Pages. iri31128 Vision Another Year of Living Copiously. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

  Play Art is Dead:
I begin my new career

When he was a student and he had to choose one career path. He chose printmaking and let his other two passions—ceramics and sculpture—wait until he completed his printmaking journey. Printmaking led him to a new level, creating digital art games on a PC. 1407 Words. 6236 Characters. 3 Pages. iri31126 Play Art is Dead. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Live A Perfect Day:
My idea of the Perfect Studios

He’s faced with the risk of turning his back on his talent, he thinks, so this artist/essayist writes down an accounting of how he should spend the first hour of a day. One small project may be enough to anchor him as he faces a troubled time in his life. 822 Words. 3774 Characters. 2 Pages. iri31116 Live A Perfect Day. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Thoughts at the Hotwire:
Ending one career, beginning a new one

For three years this artist has been in a retrospective mood, thinking about the things he may have done wrong and things he may have done right. In a coffee shop he sits amid selections from of his 40-year career and writes these comments about his life. 1153 Words. 5128 Characters. 3 Pages. iri31106 Thoughts at the Hotwire. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Gamer Designers Warning:
Take notes!

He isn’t designing a video game, but he is reading a video game designers’ advice book while he’s making a hasty version of an electronic portfolio for one of his traditional drawing class students. This story is about taking notes on this new experience. 771 Words. 3627 Characters. 2 Pages. iri31027 Gamer Designers Warning. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A User Interface for Online Art Ed:
One application in beginning drawing at a distance

What is the reason that the fine art studio practices teacher is trailing behind other efforts to extend the traditional educational forum to the web? There’s one way to create a new approach, this teacher says, and its by using an element of pop culture. 1339 Words. 6969 Characters. 3 Pages. iri31007 A User Interface for Online Art Ed. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Stuck in A MUS on RIISMA:
Comparing Dungeons with Studios in Emeralda

While admitting he’s not a video game developer, the author—who’s also an artist and academic—wants to find a way to win his way into the game world by mapping his domain of expertise onto the milieu of online games. He thinks dungeons compare to studios. 1446 Words. 6684 Characters. 3 Pages. iri30907 Stuck in A MUS on RIISMA. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

From Designing Virtual Worlds:
By Richard A. Bartle

The author (a professor) has been living in an imaginary world since he resigned—or was expelled—from an art school in ‘85. There’s the real world he’s dreaming about, an art world with an art education foundation rooted in an age of digital reproduction.1656 Words. 7813 Characters. 3 Pages. iri30828 From Designing Virtual Worlds. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Widow and Me:
A short story

An art museum worker who hates his job but loves art discovers a talking black widow spider in a mysterious artwork he’s preparing to catalog. The talking spider spins a yarn that’s a web-like network connecting the pieces of the art to one central theme. 1782 Words. 7714 Characters. 3 Pages. iri30709 The Widow and Me. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How to Succeed in Distance Art Education:
Going after the right audience

Studying an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the creator of a digital game-based learning program for art education gleans ideas for a needs assessment phase. He’ll need his assessment as he gets ready to approach an art museum with his idea. 1608 Words. 7869 Characters. 3 Pages. iri30609 How to Succeed in Distance Art Education. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

What’s in this Game for Me?
Random notes from my stamp diary

The inventor of a digital game-based learning product and service must search everywhere for clues to solve the riddles in a new medium. Content seems to be important at first and then context. He makes random notes while working on his electronic stamps. 460 Words. 2284 Characters. 1 Pages. iri30609 What is in it for You. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Where Do We Go From Here?
Reflections on Emeralda

Watching himself as if from outside his body and mind, the Emeralda inventor pauses to think about the last move he made—saving a stamp image in two file types in two places. Does this compare to a pre-meditated move in a chess game? Reflection is key. 1115 Words. 5238 Characters. 3 Pages. iri30530 Where Do We Go From Here. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Marvelous Artist Stamp:
Flight from 1964

Before he composes his new stamp titled “Flight 1964,” the artist comments on the process unfolding before him on his PC. He taps the words of an MIT architecture prof as a template to explain what makes his stamp a cyber art work and an electronic stamp. 906 Words. 4270 Characters. 2 Pages. iri30331 Marvelous Artist Stamp Flight. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Are We Having Fun Yet?
Days in the life of a SIMaller.

The missing professor from the story, Women Who Fell to Earth, role-plays as vendor at the Seattle Independent Mall. He describes the activities that happen while he's at his new location - the Professor's Cabinet - at the temporary location he calls SIM. 1076 Words. 4855 Characters. 2 Pages. iri30110 Are We Having Fun Yet. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

2002 Essays

Purpose Statement:
The Professor’s Cabinet

After renting 160 square feet on Seattle’s Pike Street he wrote: Professor's Cabinet is Bill's Gate to his family's legacy of art, crafts, design and memorabilia, a garage sale and digital estate liquidation, on site and out of sight, off-line and online. 875 Words. 4096 Characters. 2 Pages. iri21126 Purpose Stat. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

SIM-U - A modest Proposal:
A new operating system

Subject: The artist/scholar reads the Chronicle of Higher Education thinking it will help him prepare for lifelong teaching and learning. Seeing an article about the need to reform higher ed he starts re-writing it to fit art education, a basis for art ed on-line. 1132 Words. 6172 Characters. 2 Pages. iri21116 SIM-U A Modest Proposal. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Questions to an Arts Director:
Answers you should get

It’s the island of RIISMA, but he’s stranded at the Seattle Independent Mall, overseeing The Professor’s Cabinet’s space. Searching the missing professor’s files, he finds a forgotten essay written years ago when he was applying for a job at a new school. 5946 Characters. 1197 Words. 2 Pages. iri21106 Questions to an Arts Director. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Professor’s Soup of the Day:
Public Intellectual’s recipe for success in the marketplace

The virtual, virtuous public intellectual, in this case an artist/scholar, has a recipe for his routine practice. With descriptive names, he keeps a digital record on a PDA, recipe book of ideas, and then looks for an incubator, a place to let these rise. 809 Words. 4000 Characters. 2 Page. iri21027 Professors Soup of the Day-Public Intellectual recipe.... ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Imagination Database:
A Mountain of Gold and How to Mine It

Imagination is worth more than knowledge. He who said this also said that man’s most powerful invention was compound interest. Einstein was a man of diverse knowledge and, apparently, imagination. The age of digital reproduction brings new mining methods. 4164 Characters. 864 Words. 2 Pages. iri21017 Imagination Database-A Mountain of Gold and How to Mine it. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

CD or Not CD:
That is the Question

At the age of sixty, an artist/scholar’s mind may turn to notions of retirement and old age security. Or he or she may have seen the myth of retirement for what it is—a choice between deposits of intellectual capital or capital of more conventional kinds. 832 Words. 2 Pages. iri20927 CD or Not CD That is the Question. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Thrills of A Change Agent in the Age of Digital Reproduction:
Reflections on Being An Art Student in the Sixties

Born in 1941, this artist/scholar looks back and sees he was lucky to have been watching the radar screen closely when the blip that was video crossed in front of him in his art classroom studios thirty years later. Now he’s got a better economic outlook. 531 Words. 1 Pages. iri20917 Thrills of A Change Agent in the Age of Digital Reproduction. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Beyond Face Value:
Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction

A printer explained how the diplomas on true sheepskin used to be made. They made a striking image—had high face value and indicated the prestigious nature of the school. In the age of digital reproduction this author says interface value makes more sense. 593 Words. 1 Pages. iri20907 Beyond Face Value. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

In Back of the Latte Shop:
Off Center and Mobile

Where will he write his next interesting book, and for what kind of audience? This author looks back and realizes he’s done most of his creative work in back offices, store rooms, and on the streets or Seattle’s bus lines. Off-center or mobile—that’s key. 1162 Words. 2 Pages. iri20828 In Back of the Latte Shop. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A Pitch to Kinko’s:
The Loveliness of A Cross-country Printer

The artist in a reinvented arts studio may not want to continue his printmaking in the manner of the past century, but it is lovely to be able to share images on paper with someone across the country. Kinko’s has the best way to do it, this artist thinks. 652 Words. 2 Pages. iri20828 Pitching to Kinkos as Kinkos Pro. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

In A Moment the Death of the Professor
But First Here’s A Word from Our Sponsor

As he goes through his routine, burning his CD/R discs on one computer to transfer them to another, he gets an eerie sense he’s part of a dramatic tale in which his life is being told in the future via a handheld reader—the kind college students use then. 903 Words. 2 Pages. iri020828 In A Moment the Death of the Professor-. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

My First Gain from the After School Program
A Frequently Asked Question about DVD

On an outreach project to teach artists’ e-folios, the author meets with a person who provides him with the first question about the e-folio medium he’s chosen—Digital Versatile Disc—as the goal of his art education projects. Why DVD and not CD? she asks. 489 Words. 1 Pages. Iri20818 My First Gain from the After School Program. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

At the Beach, Are Things Different?
Notes from A Traveler

During an overnight trip the Itinerate Professor looks out on the Pacific Ocean and tries to relate his daily routine activity to this unusual location. He’s far from his neighborhood and his prospecting for the next step in developing his game, Emeralda. 1044 Words. 2 Pages. iri20808 At the Beach Are Things Different. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Your Neighborhood CTC-A Smart Investment:
Distance Learning Gets Close to Home

The Great World Teachers were envisioned long ago, but not far away by global standards, and today their own neighborhoods will bring their classrooms closer to home and yet far away. New generations are getting on-line for their educational buck’s worth. 755 Words. 2 Pages. iri20729 Your Neighborhood CTC-A Smart Investment. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Tipping-in Artistamps at RIISMA :
Using Women in Seattle

He’s looking for the tipping point to cause an epidemic of interest in EarthSafe 2022. In several women he recently encountered in his search he’s found the formula for causing an epidemic in the form of artistamps, he dreams the best will happen at last. (Incomplete copy-written essay)  6911 Words. 12 Pages. iri20719 Tipping In Artistamps at RIISMA. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artist Aboard the Board of Trustees on the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce?:
IT’s About Building Trust in Artists, Crafts People and Designers

Believing there’s a need to improve communication between the worlds of business and the arts professions, the artist/scholar considers the merits of being on a board of trustees of the local Chamber of Commerce. He lists what he would do if on the board. 1116 Words. 2 Pages. iri20719 Artist Aboard the Board of Trustees. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Where The Rubber Hits the Highway:
(Or) We hit the ground running on the Information Highway and build our lane as we travel IT.

For anyone planning an on-line, interactive hybrid class in DVD, it is a challenge, especially when no one has ever done it before. In the whole wide world, there’s only one place and one time it could happen—here in Uptown Seattle, in the Summer of 2002. 436 Words. 1 Pages. iri20709 Where the Rubber Hits the Information Highway. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Teaching Frank Emeralda:
Ground rules for a beginner

Restoring files from a “cured” computer named Susan Frank, the author pretends “Frank Susan” is a newcomer to Emeralda play. It’s a surprise benefit from a near disaster that almost doomed his legacy to permanent cyber amnesia, so like the story he wrote. (Incomplete essay awaiting recovery of lost reference book) 246 Words. 1 Pages. iri20709 Teaching Frank Emeralda. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Frank’s Story:
True Stories from A Silicon Machine

Always as interested in anthropomorphizing his computers as using them as cold, dead devices in his re-invented arts studios, the author pretends his new computer he named Frank Susan is speaking about the way he’s treated alongside others that Bill uses. (Incomplete essay) 337 Words. 1 Pages. iri20709 Franks Story. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artist’s Games:
Past Present Future

There’s a new game in town, according to this artist. He’s a scholar who believes games are the portals for the lifelong learners who strives for a safe Earth. He promotes the new games as being the town, and explains how he views past, present and future. 971 Words. 2 Pages. iri20709 Artists Games. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

IT IS Rocket Science:
And Brain Surgery Cannot Be Made Fun and Easy

Looking back on forty-years in higher arts education, the author concludes that the age of digital reproduction holds promises and perils for adult learners. Trying the precarious professions in the arts and education are not as simple as grown-ups hoped. 770 Words. 2 Pages. iri20629 IT IS Rocket Science. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Lex and the Chair:
My Night at Vel’s

The artist/scholar visited the home of Vel, a neighbor who promotes creative writing by having people in her home every two weeks. For about ninety minutes they write and then read. They do it for themselves and one another in a truly creative convention. 814 Words. 2 Pages. iri20619 Lex and the Chair. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Bill Makes A Poster for Fran:
Challenging the Art Committee

On the pathway toward Emeralda City and his Perfect Studio, Bill-an artist—makes a poster for his patron named Fran. She sponsored him in the event-driven stroll so he could indulge in an old-time poster project. Now he recounts the steps and looks ahead. 1363 Words. 3 Pages. iri20619 Bill Makes A Poster for Fran. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

New Vision for LMASOMACAD:
A cooperative

After eight years, the Living Museum And School for Computer Arts Crafts and Design rises again for artist/teacher. He contemplates the availability of more pro-active members closer to his own community. He envisions the beginning in artist’s solidarity. 1343 Words. 3 Pages. iri20609  Living Museums. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Living Museums:
Showing works of art in the age of digital reproduction

The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction was severed from the artist, as in Adam Smith’s philosophy of dividing laborers from the products of their labors. In the age of digital reproduction, maker, made and making are reunited as one action. 924 Words. 2 Pages. iri20609  Living Museums Showing. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

12 Free DVD Talks:
Twelve-step primer for PC/DVD making

Introduction to hybrid online classes in making Digital Versatile Discs by cooperative coalition of creative artists, crafts people and designers living in Uptown Seattle. It’s a tuition-free, noncredit class intended to promote community among neighbors. 406 Words. 1 Pages. iri20530 12 Free DVD Talks. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Four Ways to View Emeralda:
Gates to A Paradigm for Looking

The inventor of Emeralda muses over the possibility of entering the fantasy regions from which he derived his methods of play in The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, and how he would describe and style Emeralda Region and its ten islands in the great lake. 1777 Words. 3 Pages. iri20510 Four Ways to View Emeralda. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

John Nash Upstaged:
Dare to say No to Analysis

The attention to John Nash’ mental illness and consequent development of the film A Beautiful Mind gives rise to this author’s memory of his experience. The difference is that today there’s an alternative to damaging the beautiful mind, thanks to the Web. 1132 Words. 2 Pages. iri20321 John Nash Upstaged. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Passing the Electronic Passport Test:
The Bar of Art

Role playing a beginner who’s trying to gain entry to RIISMA’s phrontisterion—the island’s think-shop—the author plays two roles: the Tester and the Tested. His passport fails the strict, standardized tests, but he fixes it after getting help on the ‘Net. 961 Words. 2 Pages. iri20301 Passing the Electronic Passport Test. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Stamp Collecting in Emeralda:
Passages into artists’ phrontisteria

Emeralda is a game of stamp collecting. Reality and Emeralda are worlds apart, and the passport of the inventor allows him a passage into the worlds of other creative people. They become his main pathway of experience and relationship over space and time. 615 Words. 2 Pages. iri20209 Stamp Collecting in Emeralda. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Gate Key to Success in Printmaking:
Globalism and Living Prints

The gate key to success, this artist/scholar believes, is the print exchange. The exchange of prints is more important than prints themselves, for it’s the report on the exchanges that we actually communicate using alternatives that the Internet gives us. 553 Words. 1 Pages. iri20130 Gate Key to Success in Printmaking. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Writing Between the Paragraphs – Interval 2:
The man with two brains

Writing a series of paragraphs between those of a favorite professor/author, this man sees himself doing a bunch of somewhat unrelated tasks. This handyman, computer geek, author and artist. explains that he has two brains each with a left and right side. 4219 Characters. 904 Words. 2 Pages. iri20110 Between the paragraphs - Interval 2. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

(To preview or get full-text downloads or custom service, send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

2001 Essays

AUREL, The Filing System for Art Ed On-line:
An art professor’s modest proposal

He claims to have a better idea for art educators in the 21st Century, calling it Art Ed On-line. At the heart of the proposal is an intelligent agent called AUREL, a means by which anyone can be located as a “resource” for art, craft and design services. 1164 Words. 2 Pages. iri11231 AUREL, The Filing System for Art Ed On-line. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Reflections of An Angry Professor:
A life’s work going into a dustbin

After two generations in the arts—the first in learning and the second used to un-learn and re-learn new ways for the re-invented arts studios, an older, wiser artist/professor contemplates his past, present and future while taking artifacts to a dustbin. 1723 Words. 3 Pages. iri11126 Reflections of An Angry Professor. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Notes on A Future Printmaking Class:
Observations by an outsider

An article about the successful adaptation of role playing game theory to teaching history inspired this art professor to describe a make-believe class. Students can learn art processes on-line, he posits, by role playing and then meeting in real studios. 1164 Words. 2 Pages. iri11116 Notes from A Future Printmaking Class. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Teacher’s Anxiety Dream Coming True:
First day of class since I don’t know when

Teaching anxiety dreams are described in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and it says every teacher has them. They are nightmares, actually, and follow the same general pattern. Students, too, and former students. The artist/scholar, also. 1581 Words. 3 Pages. iri11106 Teachers Anxiety Dream Coming True. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Far Away from Emeralda, So Near
Mobile studios in the age of digital communication

On an overnight getaway, the Seattle-based Itinerant Professor reflects on the mobility of his virtually perfect studio at a mountain lodge 150 miles from home. His invention, a game called Emeralda, makes it possible for him; he believes anyone can play. 1197 Words. 2 Pages. iri11027 Far Away From Emeralda So Near. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

(Article titled Rays of Hope for On-line Art Ed was corrupted by a virus and appears to be lost. It was dated October 17, 2002. The author is on the lookout for a thread that would lead to its recovery perhaps on the Web, in e-mail exchanges, or correspondence, hand written journals, etc.)

Routine Activity of the Emeralda Master:
Opening your passport DVD

He is the inventor of Emeralda: Games for the Gifts of Life, so he has given himself the title of “Master” and proceeds to write about his typical routine activity. He conducts a self-test to see if his passport works, describing what you’d see on screen. 1214 Words. 2 Pages. iri11007 Routine Activity of the Emeralda Master. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Art Teachers On-line Not On Time:
On-line art teachers of tomorrow are in class now—but not for long

Future art teachers, while they’re students, are learning to use new technologies that their teachers are slower at adopting. Continuing growing in that usage, the next stage they’ll reach is to create their own resource--plus the all-important interface. 2033 Words. 4 Pages. iri10927 Art Teachers Online Not On Time. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Getting, and Giving, Away:
Kicked out of my studio

Itinerant professors are nomads, with no permanent classroom. This art professor has no studio, either, unless you can call a studio apartment a “studio”. It is likely, however, he requires instead a computer, database and dial tone in a global.edu world. 1646 Words. 3 Pages. iri10917 Getting and Giving Away. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Why No One Thought of Emeralda Before:
One-hundred years of bad art ed

Asking this question himself and searching for the answer, the inventor of Emeralda lands upon a possibility: That after one-hundred years of misguided art education, how could anyone think of a revolutionary game and align the arts and economic theories? 983 Words. 2 Pages. iri10828 Why No One Thought of Emeralda Before. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

What You Are Looking At:
My DVD—Blue book of the 21st Century?

He’s thinking to find another way to explain his DVD. He believes he is the only person in the country who is making Digital Versatile Discs with the idea to develop a new approach to universal education using the Internet and newer communication systems. 1630 Words. 4 Pages. iri10719 What You Are Looking At My DVD. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How would you do IT?
Professor fakes answer

Taking a test in the game of life, an older person remembers the tactic of skipping those that are hard and going back later. Doing Information Technology—IT—was an unanswerable question that now isn’t. Teaching art ed on-line, for example, is answerable. 1306 Words. 3 Pages. iri10629 How Would You Do IT Professor Fakes. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Fallacy of the Hand Print:
Reminder from the Cave

A rally for standards that define handmade prints and calls for written standards to help the printmaking community, reminds this author of the arguments he heard in the past. Attending to this he reviews what his research discovered when the storm ended. 1014 Words. 2 Pages. iri10619 1 2 3 Fallacy of the Hand Print. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Putting Susan to Sleep:
She’ll Never Know

A theme of EarthSave2022 copies advertising, which effected the last century in the USA in the way of a national religion. Ad campaigns always had a theme. Awakening is my core theme, and as its chief architect I wind each thing around it—even a car trip. 1101 Words. 2 Pages. iri10609 Putting Susan to Sleep She Will Never Know. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Opening Soon Near You:
Reform School for Educational Miscreants

I reach for my textbook, starting again from the cover. I’m in reform school, and I wonder how many tries I will get before my time is up. Reform school is hard, but harder I think than it should be. Oh, if only I had some classmates! But, would we cheat? 448 Words. 1 Page. iri10530 Opening Soon Near You Reform School. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Testing 1- 2- 3:
How I Make My DVD

While working on the world’s first DVD about printmaking, the author takes a break and goes to test a new software company’s online service. It is a little like the company he made for himself to test his DVD. He compares it to an enterprise, and risking. 992 Words. 2 Pages. iri10510 Testing How I Make My DVD. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Forty Remarkable Years :
 Re-interrupting the Past

“Interfere, always interfere” is the author’s restatement of a famous quote by Goethe: “Connect, always connect”. Twenty years into a now forty-year long career he saw electronics’ interrupt human interaction with Earth and we find ourselves in a dilemma. 1207 Words. 2 Pages. iri10420 Forty Remarkable Years Reinterupting the Past. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Mindless Games in Mindful Times:
Contemptuous in Seattle

Times try an artist’s soul as he tries to comply with a grant application. It’s too big to ignore, and too little to take too seriously. Compared to what he could be doing, he thinks it is a mindless game. He could be playing a mindful game, like his own. 982 Words. 2 Pages. iri10410 Mindless Games in Mindful Times. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Tres Passing Ferries:
A Screen Play

Setup for a screen play this artist/scholar uses to visualize his ideas that would be a suitable back ground for his game, Emeralda. As Dusty he’s putting his mustache, getting ready for his four-second shot at fame. He’s talking to himself in the mirror. 845 Words. 3 Pages. iri10331 Tres Passing Ferries. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Ask A Computer:
Immutable Dolphins

Where does wisdom come from? John Lilly said Ask A Dolphin. But if there are no dolphins, then whom do you ask? The author invents a computer game to find answers he can share through technology, and a magazine he named Emeralda, a Digital Versatile Disk. 1098 Words. 2 Pages. iri10331 Ask A Computer Immutable Dolphins. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

RIISMA Screenplay Workshop:
Dusty Appearance in Tres Passing Ferries

Exploring ways to weld traditional screenplay writing (as in movie and TV traditions) to emerging technologies promises artists, writers and teachers new opportunities. In a fantasy workshop a theme has been chosen and the action started before breakfast. 1238 Words. 4 Pages. iri10321 RIISMA Screenplay Workshop. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

My First DVD:
Reflection on A Silver Disk

Excited as a kid with his first working gizmo, or like the time he helped make the first laser video disk over fifteen years ago, the author thrills at the prospect of sharing his achievement. He has a fantasy visit with a DVD producer and museum curator. 1242 Words. 3 Pages. iri10311 My First DVD Reflection on A Silver Disk. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Beans Started Grandma’s School of Multimedia Arts:
Not Everything I learned on Grandma’s Knee

It must have been the beans in the Chili Bilo he ate that gave him great dreams. From discovery of early work to the naming of Grandma’s School of Multimedia Arts—what fine visions! The author explains events that lead to a new approach to art education. 2135 Words. 4 Pages. iri10301 Beans  Started Grandmas Multimedia Art School. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dreams Work at RIISMA:
Recurring Revisiting the School of My Dreams

Writing about a dream within minutes of having it is a good way to start a day at RIISMA. A dream that is about institutional art education is especially well suited, and that it should be about the start of a woodcut class is probably the very best kind. 2482 Words. 4 Pages. iri10219 Dreams Work at RIISMA. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Assuming Foot-shooting:
Auctioning Art On-line

An on-line art auction will be the only manner in which the dying artist can insure that his or her legacy turns into bankable cash. Transferring legacy is the goal of Emeralda play, but one can shoot oneself in the foot if one repudiates the value of it. 1482 Words. 3 Pages. iri10209 Assuming Foot Shooting and Art Auction Online. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Living Prints Goes to Japan:
The Mystery of the Missing Casket

The mysterious disappearance of a little casket almost a hundred years ago is recalled by an unlikely encounter in a sushi bar in Nara, Japan. The Emeralda Player dreamed this story up one morning, thinking he was part of a digital versatile disc project. 4015 words. 7 Pages. Filename: iri10130 Living Prints goes to Japan. © 2001 Bill H Ritchie Jr.

Dimestore Dreams and Inventing Emeralda:
A Boy Choosing Model Airplanes, A Man Choosing Metaphors

Smells evoke memories of the most surprising kinds, sometimes bringing with associations that are even more surprising. Boyhood model airplane-building came to mind as this Emeralda Inventor made coffee, and he speculates on those experiences and today’s. 1642 words. 3 Pages. Filename: iri10129 Dimestore Dreaming and Inventing Emeralda. © 2001 Bill H Ritchie Jr.

Emeralda Dreaming:
Painting the Big Picture of the Big U

While planning a pleasant summertime art workshop experience at a local art supply store, the dreamer unveils a bigger idea that is the true mission of his wildest dream: The restoration of the SS United States, a cruise ship stilled partway through life. 1590 words. 3 Pages. Filename: iri10120 Emeralda Dreaming Painting the Big Picture. © 2001 Bill H Ritchie Jr.

Silverpoint Comes to Your Screen:
Vision in My Viewer

There is an artist presenting a demonstration of silverpoint drawing in my area, and I want to capture what she says so the whole world will know about this way of drawing. She’s more practiced than I, so why not imagine what could happen, soon? Why wait? 1178 words. 2 Pages. Filename: iri10110 Silverpoint Comes to Your Screen. © 2001 Bill H Ritchie Jr.

(To get RIISMA 2001 essay full text uploads or other custom services, send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

2000 Essays

Disattentuation:
Loosing the Press

Paradoxically it is the printmakers who can loosen the chokehold of the printing press that too often slows information about creative arts, design and crafts opportunities for older,  retirement age folks. The author introduces the Printmaker’s Bluebook. 959 Words. 2 Pages. IRI01231. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

I couldn’t believe what that guy said!
Report from an intern sent to RIISMA

A  fantasy story to help illustrate a new product and service the author is designing that helps teachers create an on-line and actual printmaking class. He imagines what an art student printing intern at a museum would think after learning all about this. 1411 words. 3 Pages. Filename: iri01227 I could not believe What That Guy Said. © 2000 Bill H Ritchie Jr.

Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Cancer, of An Art Patron in Portland:
Interview with the Author of Ghosts in the New Machine

A mock interview with myself with a fantasy “FS”—voice from a ghost in my new machine. I thought of this “interview” as I was unpacking my newest computer, and how the late Gordon Gilkey, revered patron of printmaking, exemplifies the sacred cows we love. 568 Words. 1 Page. iri01104 Refusal to Mourn the Death of an Art Patron. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

AFAQ about Myartpatron.com:
Turning point

It was a trip around the world and a chance encounter with a dead teacher’s family in Montana that turned this artist’s lifelong mission toward opening his own gallery, studio and school. He answers the question, “What made you drop out of the art world?” 1551 Words.  3 Pages. iri00919 Myartpatron dot com Turning Point. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

EarthSafe 2022:
Revisiting and revising

On June 29, 1998, Bill Ritchie wrote about using miniature, postage-size artwork as part of his 1992 vision of a saved-Earth (EarthSafe 2022) project. He played a game: Getting into and out of Kinko’s for less than $5 and 5 minutes with a sheet of stamps. 1324 Words.  3 Pages. iri00810 EarthSafe 2022 Revisiting and Revising. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Children’s Games:
Small Human Structural Intellectual Capital

Why do grownups hesitate to join HSIC clubs, and children don’t hesitate? Even investment clubs, of the usual kind, strike many adults as suspect; they hesitate to become members. Compared to children, adults seem to have more obstacles to joining groups. 916 Words. 2 Pages. iri00806 Childrens Games Small HSIC. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Startup Assistant Needed:
Equity Position

Discussions by people who have a vision of a business come to this question: “How do we bridge the gap between having money to invest in an assistant, on one hand, and the assistant—on the other hand, is not trained? Can we afford it?” What is the choice? 1097 Words. 2 Pages. iri00727 Startup Assistant Needed Equity Position. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Business, Games and Emotional Intelligence:
Traumatic Invention Intervention

The combination of his boyhood experiences and career changes causes the author to create a game, much like the way children deal with traumas. According to Daniel Goleman, the inventor of Emeralda—an online interactive game—is a notable example. 1445 Words. 3 Pages. iri00629 Business Games and Emotional Intelligence. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artist in the Library:
A New Look at Artists’ Legacies

Considering a possibility of teaching a new approach to fine arts education in a local library computer classroom, the ITinerate Professor reflects on the history of ideas of art and technology from a personal point of view. The essay includes a proposal. 750 Words.  2 Pages. iri00605 Artist in the Library A New Look at Artist Legacies. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

The Gates Prize:
Statement of Completion

After scanning the biography of Elmer Gates, namesake of the Gates Prize, the emphasis on an Emeralda player’s mind is finish, as in the word finish carpenter compared to framer. A Certificate of Completion and a finishing school then came to mind, below. 1410 Words.  4 Pages. iri00525 The Gates Prize Statement of Completion. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Taking Mr. Saylor’s Class:
A Good Idea That Shouldn’t Wait

Over dinner, after reading the announcement of Mr. Saylor’s plan to offer free education on the Internet, he said to his wife he wanted her to take a writing class. But instead of waiting for the next college, she might begin by taking it from SaylorU! 452 Words. 1 Page. iri00415 Taking Mr Saylors Class A Good Idea. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Reliquary in Pacific Digital Fine Arts Festival:
Ghosts in the New Museum

It was not an apparition nor was it his imagination, but a real living display in the real time of year 2000: The prospectus from the art museum that billed itself as the Museum of the 21st Century. A hundred years from now, it will get laughs. Not today.  1572 Words. 5 Pages. iri00406 Reliquary in Pacific Digital Fine Arts Festival. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Mystery of Love and Legacy Transfer: :
Following in Napoleon Hill’s Footsteps

The artist/scholar is struck by the resemblance between his own philosophical idea and those of the popular mid-century author of Think and Grow Rich. He sets out to copy and rewrite, word for word, the idea in that book so it fits his role play approach. 2616 Words. 4 Pages. iri00319 Mystery of Love and Legacy Transfer. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Carpenter and the Web Guru:
Conversation through a hole in the wall

An inner dialog is recorded to illustrate how a statewide online service can be designed by observing the making of a hole in a wall. The author, whose woodworking is relief from cybernetics, imagined the dialog and helps explain to himself his next step. 1204 Words. 2 Pages. iri00318 The Carpenter and the Web Guru. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How WAUREL Relates to Experience Washington:
Vivid Pathways to Washington’s Arts

The architect of a game-like computer interface for creative people offers a plan for state Web sites. After attending two conferences sponsored by his home state’s arts commission, his design reflects feeling that arts-passionate people need vivid paths. 1186 Words. 3 Pages. iri00312 How WAUREL Relates to Experience Washington. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Top Thousand Topics:
Washington State Arts Commission’s Y2K Challenge

Choosing from their 162 Topic list of that he gleaned from the proceedings of the Washington State Arts Commission’s 2000 Strategic Plan survey, the author describes how a Top 1000 Chart can make its mission statement a dynamic process using the Internet. 1169 Words.  3 Pages. iri00306 Top Thousand Topics of the State Commission. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What I Would Do If I Had a Million Dollars:
Dilemma Dream Resolution

Based from real events, these paragraphs prove the truth of that old saying, "Where there's a Will there's a way." Told by educator William “Will” H. Ritchie, who began online teaching in what he calls the Emeralda Region on the Pacific Coast of the U.S.. 2058 Words. 4 Pages. iri00228 What I would do with a Million Dollars. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The Dolphins:
Another view

One who professes to be an online art ed specialist copy-writes over an article by another professor because it reminds him where he was almost twenty years before—Sea World—on the first leg of a world wide tour. He remembers the primary value of his Father’s lesson in responsibility.  1257 Words. 2 Pages. iri00218 The Dolphins Another View. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artists and Dentists with Hearts:
DentalISCo Congress Proceedings

Keynote speaker, the visionary Professor Ritchie (also known as “H. S. MacRitchie, Multi Faceted Auxiliary”) recites the state of developments of the Dental Internet Services Cooperative as he sees it in its third year. It is a 24X7 service in the making. 1209 Words. 4 Pages. iri00214 Artists and Dentists with Heart. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

(To preview RIISMA 2000 essay summaries, get downloads of full text or get custom service, send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

1999 Essays

Spineless Writing:
Breaking a back to break new ground

Perplexed by the mystery of writing the background for Emeralda, Her Story: The Women Who Fell to Earth, the author cuts off the spine of a 20th Century How To Write manual and starts over. He suggests that old How To manuals need to be recycled this way. 1077 Words. 2 Pages. iRI91222. Copyright 1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. (Full Text)

Ah, So Simple:
Frontispiece for the Emeralda Inventor Interviews

A hundred-fifty page transcription of videotape auto-interviews is made a little clearer by preparing a visual exercise for a would-be reader. Describing the room setting for the tapes, the author (the Inventor of Emeralda) sets the stage from his memory. 1209 Words. 2 Pages. RI990723 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Introduction to Emeralda Interviews:
Robert Grudin, virtually speaking

Searching for a way to introduce himself to a phantom reader, the author takes on the disguise of his favorite living writer, Robert Grudin,, as introducer. The Oregon professor seems to have anticipated the Emeralda Inventor's actions and known his past. 3992 Words. 5 Pages. RI990721 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Dead Artists League:
Paradigm for a new subtitle

The inventor of Emeralda is nudged into altering his course on his locus of beauty, the invention of the Game for the Gifts of Life paradigm shifts to the Game for the Dead Artists League. Life-changing events happen that way, he writes, in Emeralda Play. 999 Words. 2 Pages. RI990524 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

The Soul of The New Game:
Four Cornerstones for a Greenfield Works

A new DVD-based on-line interactive game experience is opening up, thanks to digital communication. Standing next to Myst and Magic the way a recording stands next to a live concert performance, Emeralda takes us toward the spirit of adults' leagues play. 747 Words. 1 Page. RI990523 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Covert Operations:
Return to RIISMA

My cooperator loaned me an audiotape from his library. It was recorded twelve years ago, on an August morning at a place called Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The title of the tape was Feels Good to Feel Good! And the name of the speaker is Jim Kern. I forgot about the tape, and it lay on my shelf, not listened to, for about two months. I was reminded of it when I was asked to return it. 163 Words. 724 Characters. 1 Page. RI990519 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

520

Let me see if I understand you:
Diagnosis and Treatment Planning in the Information and Communication Age-(part 2)

A DISCO-OP AUDAMIS says: "My vision of Emeralda City Dentistry is a short story, a make-believe world where a dental operatory has three purposes: Teaching, Research and Practice, or the TRP principle, based on values. There is a fourth, secret, purpose." 1293 Words. 6041 Characters. 3 Pages. RI990323 Let Me See If I Understand You-Part 2. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Let me see if I understand you:
Diagnosis and Treatment Planning in the Information and Communication Age

The DISCO-OP AUDAMIS* explains his vision of Emeralda City Dentistry in the form of a short story, a make-believe world where the dental operatory serves a threefold purpose: Teaching/learning, Research and Practice, or the TRP principle, based on values. 1428 Words. 6837 Characters. 4 Pages. RI990322 Let Me See If I Understand You-Diagnosis and treatment.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Number One Obsession:
Where would we be without it?

The US part of the American culture is a competitive one and most of its citizens are unconsciously over-competitive. The author suggests there are other places where Americans could be--and will be--when new communications technologies join the old ones. 2122 Words. 9726 Characters. 4 Pages. RI990321 The Number One Obsession-Where would we be.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How Goes IT at Your First Day at RIISMA?
Ramblings from freed mind

There’s an image of a map on the wall of Emeralda Region, somewhere in a fantasy land, between virtue and reality. "Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman.” I am the island, the author writes in free verse in his prison. 1122 Words. 5047 Characters. 2 Pages. RI990320 How Goes IT at Your First Day at RIISMA-Rambling.... ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Woodworker’s Tale:
Dr. Osler and Andrew Carnegie

A short story—or anecdote—linking Andrew Carnegie and Dr. William Osler, who said all unproductive professors should be gassed. The author thinks the millionaire put a bug in someone’s ear that led to the creation of the biggest pension fund in the world. 865 Words. 4154 Characters. 2 Pages. RI990125 Woodworkers Tale-Dr Osler and Andrew Carnegie. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Building the professor's Web site:
Fantasy visitation

A vignette from a page out of the professor’s diary, or the journal of his or her assistant. Vague and fragmented, but rather than discard it as useless, why not keep it; possibly it contains some clues or some indication of value, part of a game, maybe. 458 Words. 2103