March 03, 2006
Chee Yap
I went one block over today to the CS department on Mercer street to meet with Chee Yap about the work he has been doing with mapping and GIS. I found him because I was searching around for information on how to import tiger/line data and a lecture from his course showed up in my search results.
This was Jean-Marc's suggestion, try to meet with an interesting person at least once a month. And then write it down.
I'm going to start going to Chee Yap's lecture series and see if there is room for us to work together. I want to use his apis to expose interfaces for end users.
Posted by mb2811 at 05:35 PM
February 01, 2006
Lapop in Texas
My powerbook is in texas, getting repaired so I can up my memory to a gig and a half. I'm having serious withdrawal. I obsessively refresh the repair scree and now see that my laptop has moved on to step 2, 'service'.
I really do everything on that computer. Come back soon. Please.
Posted by mb2811 at 09:31 PM
December 21, 2005
Transit Strike
It's on people and it doesn't impact me one bit. But I feel for everyone else. Here's one of the better suggestions:
6. Doug Gordan Hack for walking Brooklyn Bridge: "have George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" loaded into my iPod. (You may know it as the song that opens Woody Allen's "Manhattan" or from its use in an American Airlines commercial.) If you are walking from Brooklyn, start the song when you are about fifty feet up the walkway from where you can enter at Tillary Street. The song is just over 16 minutes long and if you walk briskly enough you can make it past the bridge's second tower on the Manhattan side and then a little way down the walkway towards City Hall before it ends. It's the perfect remedy to the transit strike blues and brightened my day."
They are calling these transit hacks, how played out can a word be? soon they will have the 'mashup hacks' burger at Bartley's.
More of these can be found here.
Posted by mb2811 at 08:27 PM
December 10, 2005
Spring '06 Schedule
I got my spring schedule! Here it is:
I got every class I wanted. I was a little up in the air about what to take because i'm still not sure which direction I want to head with my time here but these are all good choices. The goal this semester is to try to combine more of my classes into a unifying theme. Not necessarily to hit a grand slam (one project - four courses) but to try to get move overlap.
Posted by mb2811 at 05:38 PM
December 08, 2005
My Beating Heart haptic relaxation pillow
This was done by Yury Gitman, an ITP alum who created the Magic Bike, one of the first projects I saw that got me thinking about ITP as a graduate school option. This heartbeat pillow is very much like our midterm project for pcomp. His is better designed and doesn't overheat but ours supports bidirectional data transfer. Yury's pillows beats like a heart and it's up to a user's heart to sync up with it. Our plushy listens to your breathing and syncs. So you listen to the plushy and the plushy listens to you.
It's pretty exciting to have concurrently developed something so similar.
Posted by mb2811 at 05:34 AM
November 21, 2005
Thanksgiving
I'm flying to Boston tomorrow, the break is here. We are slated to present first for our Physical Computing project (December 7th) so when I get back we'll have one week to complete our project. It's going to be flat out until the end of the semester.
I got a copy of the Spring '06 course listing but i'm running around too much to evaluate it. I need to think hard about what I want to do with my time here at ITP and which direction I want to lean towards with my studies. I also want to work with as many people as possible and most importantly, I need to give space and time to nourish my ideas.
Yelena is getting married. She beat me to it. She wants me to perform the ceremony?!
Posted by mb2811 at 02:38 PM
November 14, 2005
Break Fever?
It's been a slightly less than stellar morale week. I think it's the dip between my running the marathon and the anticipation of leaving town for the thanksgiving break. It helps to hang out on the floor more so that even if I don't feel like doing much, everybody else's collective enthusiasm rubs off on me. I want to say that last week was a quiet week but if I think back, as always, a lot happened.
This past week we were editing our communications lab movie which we were supposed to shoot the week before but actually shot late last week and started editing mid week. It was supposed to be a couple, breaking up, chatting online but the script was completely rewritten. I was in pcomp at the time but was hardly attached to the old script. The new one is a sort of disjointed telephone game played with cell phone. Lots of jump cuts and hilarity. Today is Monday and the whole movie is due tomorrow. We have to do some cleanup editing and still shoot the last scene but Gabe, the film making pro is in our group so we should be fine. He has been very helpful and has a fancy 3 chip camera so our footage looks much nicer than it would if our footage came from the equipment room cameras.
Clay Shirky, my adviser, spoke in front of our class from Red's Applications on tuesday. It was a great talk. I've heard it before online when I found out he was going to be my advisor. Ontology is Overrated. Even though I knew the content of the talk, he was still spectacular to see. It's a delight to see people so articulate about technology and new media, to cut through all the noise and make a distinct, interesting and enlightening point.
Last thursday, after I punched out from the Q, I decided to sit down and write Red's M5 bus paper. I was running out of time. I had been holding out for something amazing, the history of garbage, the path of a craigslist advertisement, people who died in accidents along the bus route, but nothing was jumping out as practical or concrete. My rough cut of the paper worked out pretty well, the thesis being that older people who are more likely to ride the bus and are more threatened by technology, they also have stories to tell. Anna marked it up and I should give it another go later this week but i'm glad I got something down. I do have a hard time going back on something I wrote. I can't tell what's important and what I wrote just to write. What holds the piece together and what can be discarded.
In physical computing, Alice, Min and I have been building breath collection prototypes. We've been holding focus groups (that documentation needs to be posted) to collect breath, settling on pinwheels last week and building more breath collection prototypes this week. We've settled on a light box with pinwheel structures on each side. As a participant breathes into the box, lights turn on at different intensities using PWM. The box will have four sides accessible but the pinwheels will only be on two of the sides. Individuals can interact by blowing or just by looking at the lights. Participants can have a conversation, an interaction with breath and lights.
Posted by mb2811 at 06:10 PM
November 04, 2005
Geographic IP as Networked Object
Idea:
When I read, I don't think about where the sender was physically when they wrote the email. I may think about them as a person, or have a picture of them in my head from some memorable time we spent together, but I don't think of them sitting in a computer lab, a bedroom, a coffee shop and writing email. I may be the exception.
I think something may be gained from bringing this data into the equation. Finer granularity would be preferable but as an initial first cut, the IP address of an individual could be converted into a physical map of their location. It could be another header, e.g.
From:
To:
Subject:
Body:
Attachments:
Map of Physical Location:
I think it would add an interesting dynamic to email and push email in the direction of networked objects.
Something to consider: Technically IP data may be misleading, especially for mobile devices.
Posted by mb2811 at 03:51 PM
October 31, 2005
Maple Syrup
It turns out New York city smells like maple syrup. I completely missed this.
I'm looking at the course listings from the spring and it's funny to think how I approached the course selection in the fall. I had no idea what to expect, now I am so much more knowledgeable regarding what this place is about. I'm thinking about sketching and maybe taking another class with Jean-Marc.
Posted by mb2811 at 07:20 PM
October 30, 2005
Sketching
After being sent this thread about going back to school in your late 20s/early 30s for something completely different, I realized it would be very helpful to take a sketching/drawing class that would help me facilitate the idea process. I am at ITP to make more visual, front end, interactive things and drawing would be a very handy skill. I could take something at NYU as my free two credits in the spring, assuming I want to increase my course load.
I posted to the ever helpful ITP mailing list:
- The photo department has a two credit drawing class. This might be the way to go.
- Abe recommends the Art Students League where his aunt and uncle met.
Posted by mb2811 at 11:57 PM
October 28, 2005
Kitty!
I got a cat this week. A kind of sickly, skinny street cat who is the best. He doesn't have a name yet. Up to this evening when we took him to the vet I thought he was a girl so it's probably a good thing that we haven't named him yet. I kind of think he's still a girl. Maybe that will play into the name. We liked 'winnie' before we found out that he is a he.
He looks like a little lion, or maybe a bob cat, is only nine months old and weighs close to 3 pounds. Not much for a kitty his age. I got him from this place on a whim, the guy who runs the place posted to craigslist. I called him, saw the cat, went back to school to do pcomp and then picked up the cat at 12:45 in the morning two nights ago.
The cat (whatever his name will be) is very sweet but has a terrible cold. So he doesn't eat, drink or go to the bathroom. Cats don't like to eat what they can't smell. I brought him to the vet today so they could shoot a water bubble into his back and force feed him soft catfood. Tonight he's mellowed out, hopefully all of this will be behind him soon. I think he could be a good friend, maybe one I could take with me places so I wouldn't just have a cat at home but he would be part of my life. Roadtrips, etc. He'll be good company.
Posted by mb2811 at 05:55 AM
October 23, 2005
The Leak and the Mouse
This week has been pcomp, all pcomp. Our breathing project has continuously increased in complexity the deeper we get into it. The details can be found on our blog which I should copy down before it's lost. It's a great documentation of our process, our dead ends, our reorganizations and new ideas. In fact in its own way, our pcomp project is its own labyrinth.
We are doing labyrinths this week for spacial design and the breathing process project, which I am very close to, may be a great fit for the labyrinth work. In fact, this week in Red's class, three people did a spectacular project on the idea development process. They didn't give us the end result, they gave us all the digressions and ideas they threw away and that's the good stuff. In the same way I can use our pcomp project as a labyrinth, the process, all the things we investigated as the data for mapping out a labyrinth. Our labyrinth is our physical computing project. I think I really like it. It's so close and also so rich for exploration.
I also mailed this firm earlier in the week. After taking a shot to my morale sitting through the schematic recruitment, I realized it's never too early to try to pursue what I am really interested in. Or even if I don't know what I am really interested in, starting to more proactively figure that out. Ok, so I don't have a design background but I want to interface more with real people. What can I do about that? Where do I fit in as an upstart in an established firm? I have something to contribute and I should realize that a lot of places might want me but the question is, where do I want to be?
Anna and I went to a party last night with my classmates after a late night pcomp session. My first party I think, a month and a half into the semester. It was nice to show her my world, the vortex that has taken all my lazy hours and energy.
The photo above was of Despina the resident wearables expert. She met with us earlier this week, very thoughtful about technology moving to the foreground and letting the idea be strong on its own.
One final thing. Rob and I sampled Tom Igoe, Jean-Marc Gauthier and Daniel Shiffman for commlab. We mixed it all up in garage band with midi instruments and retro beats. Initially we were going to use the sounds of the 4th floor as instruments, the wooden mirror, the sphere in the lobby, the midi tom toms, but then we found out garage band does a much better job of getting sounds in on the beat. The best part for me is hearing the voices of my professors saying the things I hear them say all the time. With that distance I can meditate on their insightfulness and vision.
Posted by mb2811 at 08:10 PM
October 19, 2005
Schematic
I went to a recruitment information session for schematic today, a little premature but it's never too early to start worrying about my future (and being broke). It was ok, in the end they are another web design company. Noted though is that they are a web design company that is partial to ITP. I just don't know if I want to do web stuff when I get out but at the same time that's what I do well, right now anyway. They do have internships which will give me exposure to a new field. Maybe user interface design? Project Management? Sales? Maybe i'll love it. I should keep them in mind and consider them early next year.
Contact: Eric Breitbard
Email: ebreitbard@schematic.com
Phone: 212-219-1899
Posted by mb2811 at 07:11 PM
October 15, 2005
Rain
It's been raining here for eight or nine straight days. Just dismal. Umbrella guys on every corner selling crappy umbrellas that break as soon as you walk away. Umbrella carcasses everywhere. Thomas in spacial today did a Rodchenko project by stripping away the cloth from an umbrella and showing the underlying structure. Broken umbrellas lying all over the city are one of my favorite things, a bittersweet expression of what it's like to be on this planet.
Conversely, an umbrella opening without the cloth is very menacing, a metallic spider with syringes for legs. Today I got off at Union St and tried to get the cloth off a discard umbrella. It's harder than it looks. I just stood on the cloth and pulled the metal handle but that's not the best method. If I am serious I should just take them home and do it with scissors.
Retractable spiky things are probably not the best things to keep around the house.
Dork Conference
Today I went to a new technology conference, something I hadn't done since I was in high school when free XXL tshirts and slinkys with seagate logos were things I coveted. I didn't get much loot, I just don't care enough to go through the rigamarole of sitting through sales presentations and getting my ticket punched for a change to spin a big wheel and win a zen nano (or more likely an XXL t-shirt). Some of the new tech stuff I saw had a brand new context now that I am ITP. First here is a robotic monkey head:
I guess this is what you would call a proof of concept. If we can make robotic monkey heads, pretty soon we will be able to make robotic helper monkeys. As for the ITP context, there all these motion sensing games out now and generally a push towards more robust interfaces, newer input methods. With my brain in ITP mode, I could think about them in terms of how they work and think critically about what they mean. Is this something new or is it a fancy variation on something we already have? Is this breaking new ground?
The Borg
Lili Cheng spoke in Red's class on Tuesday. She does usability @ Microsoft and previously was head of the Social Computing Research Group. She didn't really blow me away but that may be my inherent Microsoft bias. I'm not that wedded to my powerbook just yet but Microsoft still makes me angry. She showed us Vista screenshots and they were just shitty. Or maybe I just won't give Microsoft a chance? Either way, Lili has a pretty impressive job. She gets to decide what Vista looks like and that's hundreds of millions (billions?) of eyeballs. She also mention Wallop, which I never heard of but she said was big in China. Might be worth checking out.
Projects
The Floor 4 lobby "help you help me" project hasn't moved much since last week but the floor 4 collaborative website has made a lot of progress thanks to the exceptional work of Dan Phiffer. I'm excited to work with him, he knows his stuff. I set up a
Finally, the physical computing breath project is moving along. We got some great feedback in Tom's class on wednesday and are planning on using piezo microphones to record breath. We feel like they will be the least intrusive. We're also leaning towards maybe making a breathable chair, furniture thay breathes with you and helps you breath.
Min sent out a link to Temple Grandin who I had heard on the radio before. She's autistic and designs humane killing machines for farm animals. She has also developed a 'squeeze machine' for herself to relieve her anxiety. Very bizarre and beautiful. I feel like it could be incorporated somehow in our project.
Posted by mb2811 at 06:44 AM
October 07, 2005
3 Day Weekend
There's a lot that I have been thinking about and doing and I want to make a note of it here. Plus it's almost five in the morning so why not?
I'm leaving town tomorrow after spacial design. First to New Hampshire for Josh's wedding and then to Boston to see my parents, a russian dinner for my 29th birthday. Thirty is one away. I'll probably fall a little behind on all my work but it'll be good to get out of town, to see some highway, to see some grass. I may inadvertently end up in prime leaf peeping season.
I've also tried not to jump on every opportunity that ITP affords me (there are too many) but today I mailed Res Publica about volunteering. In short they are interested in building a global, multilingual moveon.org. They are looking for a main technology strategist that will plan and either build out what they need or have access to the resources to get the work done. The more I think about it the more I may not be in the right place to take the lead in something like this but I would definitely want to help out if just at the implementation level. I think they have a great idea and people with a proven track record behind their effort.
Red's Class
My group, Lisa, Corey and Britta, did a reaction to Vito Acconchi more than several weeks ago and the ideas have drifted away since then as we have to move onto new work. It would be great to at least document the whole cell phone project and people's reactions possibility with an eye towards staging it again in the future or the possibility of exploring the virtual private space we create with cell phones.
TNO & DriveBys
My first project for physical computing with Ed and Oren was a flat screen display on floor four cheekily dubbed 'Help You Help Me' (a play on the old school CUSEEME). Ed and I finally had an audience with Clay and he green lighted our idea. The next step is for Ed to make some Flash mock ups of the designs that would appear on the flat screen in Floor 4. I also pulled Dan Phiffer into the mix because of his coding skills and the strong connection between our project and the overhaul of Floor 4. That's another project that i've signed on for, a clearinghouse of information and opportunities as they apply to ITP.
Tonight I finally went to a TNO, the first one I have gone to since the first week of school mostly because I have spacial design on friday mornings. This week I did my spacial work on Monday so I was free to go out. Before TNO though, there was a DriveBy on Wiring and Arduino, both of which are an attempt to bring processing like simplicity to physical computing. Plus you can finally program with a mac using a serial to USB adapter. Really good stuff.
Physical Computing
In physical computing, there are a number of things going on. There's my first project with the flat screen on floor 4 mentioned above and there is also the second project with which me and my group are studying breathing. This time around we are trusting the process and giving a true week to observation before we make any commitments on how we are going to alter or improve breathing through a medium. We started by analyzing and charting our breathing and comparing the results. Today we met and began discussing the possibility of an installation with a combination of a physical device. There's still a way to go.
It's 5:17am and raining hard outside. I am way too overstimulated.
Physical Computing was especially exciting this week as it was the first time I saw the physical combined with a screen based application. A breadboard was controlling a dot on the screen in a java processing applet, Tom had built a very basic joystick. I have never felt empowered enough to combine the physical world with software, my feedback and input loops have always been keyboards, mice and pop up error messages. This idea opens up a whole new world for me. I have no idea where I am going with this yet, I have to start by just doing this week's homework but it's a very exciting idea.
Comm Lab
In communications lab, we have moved onto online narrative and the graphic novel. My readings include ones from Scott McCloud and Will Eisner, books I allready own. What better way to reaffirm that I am in the right place? The assignment this week is to make some sort of narrative using comics or stills in a video (iMovie). I've been meeting with Marienne so I can figure out how to use photoshop and make narrative comics out of still photographs. This stuff doesn't come easily to me, even figuring out where to click in photoshop takes me a while because I am so command line oriented. Oren showed me comic life which would make my life much easier but it would be cheating. My comics would look like everyone else's. At the same time, if I am just using photoshop to get a 'comic effect', I may as well short circuit the process. It's a balance between having a dyi charm and just looking sloppy. I'm going to write down a short, meditative narrative this weekend, maybe about the bus trip or the wedding, or maybe about coming home and then see if I can find photos to mess with to accompany my story.
Spatial Design
I was speaking to a student in the other spatial section and we were saying how much we enjoyed Jean-Marc's insights, it's as if he sees a depth everywhere in what we consider the common, he enriches things by consider the history of things, where they come from and where they are going. The student said, to paraphrase, I realized the other day that Jean-Marc sees the world like this all the time, how incredible it must be to have that perspective, to see the beauty and potential of everything, everywhere. To be an artist by purely existing.
I concur.
This week I made my three dimensional model of an apple being cut in half. I'm excited for class (in 4 hours) when I get to see everyone else's work.
That's it for now. I'm back on the podcast kick seeing as I have a five hour bus ride. Abe also put up podcasts of Clay and Rushkoff's lectures. I'm going to listen to them on the bus.
Posted by mb2811 at 09:52 AM
October 02, 2005
Surban Kids with Biblical Names
Today is Malone's birthday. Not that I really new it before she got in her accident. There's a memorial bike ride in Boston but now i'm in New York. Not sure if i'd even want to go.
Here's a movie.
There's a bike, spray painted white, on 5th right when the numbered streets stopped. Maybe Union? It has a basket and flowers in it, like the one down in Allston.
Posted by mb2811 at 05:46 AM