Category Archives: Thesis

Bill Lindmeier, Nancy Hechinger, Projects, Thesis

Tunnel Vision

Bill Lindmeier

Tunnel Vision turns any NYC subway subway map into an interactive platform for data visualization.

http://tunnelvisionapp.com

Description

The image of the MTA subway map is distinctive and ubiquitous throughout New York. Tunnel Vision uses the map as a platform to explore the city through data-visualization. The app pulls data from a variety of sources and seamlessly integrates them into the map by drawing over the camera feed.

When a rider is waiting for the subway, she points her phone at the map to activate Tunnel Vision. The map comes to life with animations that add context to the ridership experience. By simply moving the phone around the map, she can explore many kinds of data including turnstile activity, rent prices, income, etc..

Tunnel Vision adds a layer of insight to a familiar image.

Classes

Thesis

Andy Sigler, Nancy Hechinger, Projects, Thesis

How to Make the Internet of Useless Things

Andy Sigler

Anode is an ensemble of toys, instruments, and objects, hacked and made wireless, to allow their interconnections to be played with.

http://www.andysigler.com/patchbay

Description

Anode is a collection of found objects turned connected, each simple on their own, but reimagined through their links. Homemade wireless microcontrollers are built for each device, done at a fraction of the cost of ordering online . A touch interface allows users to patch links between separate objects, using any browser. Combining affordable production with easy links gives way for heightened experimentation while making the internet of everything.

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Thesis

Andrew Cerrito, Katherine Dillon, Projects, Thesis

We're Still Here

Andrew Cerrito

We're Still Here is about the boring things in life.

http://bit.ly/werestillhere

Description

We're Still Here is an exploration of the ordinary objects in our lives that perform their duties day in and day out without much acknowledgement or conscious thought from their users. Each object in this collection is modified to display surprising behaviors or personality traits that are derived from how it normally operates; the series begins with a neurotic, overly needy alarm clock and a dutiful-yet-exhausted coatrack that just wants to catch a short break.

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Thesis

Katherine Dillon, Mike Allison, Projects, Thesis

Ecstatic Computation

Mike Allison

Ecstatic Computation is the union between human and machine (when thought becomes bit) explored through virtual reality ritual.

http://michaelpallison.com

Description

As I become a cyborg though corporeal and mental appropriations of computational tools, what then of my metaphysical relationship to these new “bodily” members?
Through my research I've encountered many religious, spiritual and scientific practices that seek to make sense of the relationships between our minds, bodies, spirits and the universe. Some practices contain the notion of ecstasy, which in existential terms means to achieve a state of being outside of one's self. Using virtual reality, my project explores the moment of Ecstatic Computation: the merging of consciousness and quantum energy in the physio-chemical registration of state within the computer's memory. The moment when thought becomes bit and electrons become ideas.

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Thesis

Kathleen Wilson, Kathryn Adee, Projects, Thesis

Gowanus Creek Nature Hike

Kathryn Adee

Research in urban ecology that resulted in a mobile web app for identifying, cataloging, and mapping the flora of the Gowanus Canal Area. By looking at current species, we can begin to imagine the future Gowanus as an ecosystem, not just an environmental disaster or real estate investment.

http://urbaneco.herokuapp.com/

Description

Gowanus Creek Nature Hike is a web tool for scientists, students, and Gowanus enthusiasts to explore the species that have managed to survive and thrive near our local Superfund Site, the Gowanus canal. Participation in the reporting process will hopefully increase knowledge and awareness of one's natural surroundings.

Classes

Thesis

Caroline Sinders, Kathleen Wilson, Projects, Thesis

NightWitches

Caroline Sinders

An interactive true transmedia story played on mobile and the web about the WWII female Russian fighter pilot Nadya Popva.

Description

It’s an interactive story built in Unity with a web page that looks like a wikipedia page but actually holds the next two levels of this story. I am interested in exploring the tensions between “video games” and “interactive stories” and taking the elements of a narrative, placing them in a game engine, but making a thing that is not a video game (repeat, NOT A VIDEO GAME) but has the interaction of a game but what the user is finding in the game are plot points.
The project is an interaction is an experimental narrative, where the only thing the user finds in this game like environment are plot points to a narrative. THe narrative is designed to be assembled in a non sequential way.

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Thesis

Gabe Barcia-Colombo, Projects, Thesis, Yang Wang

Sukhavati

Yang Wang

An art installation that creates a virtual reality world for people to encounter and become spectators of themselves.

http://sukhavati.be

Description

Sukhavati is an exploration about the question “What is the true-self? Is that possible for people to live without ego?”

Using an Oculus Rift headset, Kinect and EEG sensor, Sukhavati creates a virtual world that allows the viewer to observe her/himself from an alternate angle. The viewer is immersed in a parallel reality that resembles the same physical room the viewer sits in, quietly observing his/her own image composed from thousands of pixel particles. When the viewer loses the state of deep relaxation, his/her self-image transforms into numerous particles that flows freely in the room.

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Thesis

Katherine Dillon, Projects, Su Hyun Kim, Thesis

Tiya

Su Hyun Kim

Tiya is a mobile app paired with robotic ears that are programmed to deliver physical interaction when somebody sends you a message.

http://www.mytiya.com/

Description

Tiya is my experimentation towards finding physical manifestation of the emoji language usually seen only on screens. Tiya, the virtual messenger, works hard to deliver emotions between you and your close ones. Tiya utilizes graphic expression in conjunction with physical expression. My goal is to create a different interface other than verbal to find out if we can communicate emotions effectively.

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Thesis

David Rios, Nancy Hechinger, Projects, Thesis

Kinetisynth

David Rios

Musical instrument and kinetic audio visualizer

Description

Kinetisynth is part musical interface, part physical parametric display. Participants use various controllers and sensors to make music together and simultaneously control a real-time physical visualization of that music. It uses analog circuitry and MIDI to generate soundscapes while simultaneously analyzing and quantifying audio signals to create a real time mechanical frequency spectrum that reflects the soundscape.

Classes

Thesis, Thesis

Nancy Hechinger, Peiqi SU, Projects, Thesis

The Penis Wall

Peiqi SU

This kinetic sculpture consists of 81 erectable penises that respond to either a viewer's movements or to realtime movements in the stock market.

http://thesis.itp.io/students/ps2409

Description

The penis is so different! This is my initial motivation, to study one of the oldest and probably the most attractive thing that humans interact with.

The Penis Wall is made up of 3D printed penises that each have six segments driven by servo motors. Equipped with an ultrasonic distance sensor, each unit can respond to a viewer's movements. Moreover, the Penis Wall can also be used as a display to represent data, for instance, fluctuations in the stock market.

Classes

Thesis