Category Archives: Class

Kathy Wilson

Making Things Beautiful / Making Beautiful Things

Scott Garner

This interactive book is a philosophical, theoretical and practical exploration of the difficulties and delights associated with the human drive to create.

http://makingthingsbeautiful.net/

Description

This is an exercise in "writing to learn" as I attempt to codify a lifetime of lessons into a working philosophy for myself, for readers dealing with similar issues and for anyone else interested in the creative process. It would be impossible to write a comprehensive book on the subject, so I focus on aspects of creative work that I have found either particularly difficult or particularly rewarding. These ideas—such as perfectionism, inspiration and resonance—are supplemented by interactive illustrations, work by other creative people and quotes and concepts from artists, philosophers and authors.

Heather Greer

IJO

Vitor Freire

IJO is a movement that inspires people to dance in public spaces and engages them as part of a larger experience. It is an experiment in connecting people in different places through movements of the body. IJO means dance in the Yoruba language.

http://ijomove.us

Description

Imagine a group of kids break dancing in a park in New York and another group dancing Capoeira in a square in Sao Paulo. A body representation of each dancer is projected in both locations where either dancer can interact with each other. A dialogue is born between the participants and the interaction of the visual translation of the dancers. Move your body to tell who you are. 
Additionally, a fully customizable dynamic web data stream of the dancers movements is provided to all those interested in building visualizations and applications with the data. The visual component is accomplished through the use of Kinect sensors and projectors while Javascript is used to handle the data stream and interactions. 

Heather Greer

DiscoverED student collaboration through interactive syllabi

Sergio Majluf Jadue

DiscoverED is a web app for higher education teachers to create interactive syllabi in a timeline format. It simplifies course resource management and creates a online collaboration space for sharing, thinking and discussing class topics.

http://www.discover-ed.com

Description

The Internet offers a plethora of collaboration and general purpose management resources. The same is true for learning resources in the academic space. Yet most teachers still outline classes in static documents or hard to follow websites. DiscoverED is a new approach; instructors can use this interactive tool for planning courses and collaborative class activities.

DiscoverED renders syllabi as timelines, allowing multiple class units, content resources and milestones to be seamlessly added and managed by instructors over time. With this, students can navigate content and class progress as they zoom in and out, connecting everyone in a space to discuss and collaboratively create and share content.

Katherine Dillon

Qaramon

Wajma Mohseni

Qaramon, which means "Champion" in Farsi, is a game aimed at future leaders of Afghanistan to increase awareness on corruption by enhancing player knowledge in a fun, interactive environment.

Description

In 2013, Afghanistan was declared the third most corrupt nation in the world. Corruption is so pervasive that paying a bribe has become part of daily life. Qaramon is a game that draws attention to the problems of corruption, which affects everyone, by increasing awareness and consciousness among future Afghan leaders, or the 15-20 year old age group. Each level tackles issues including ethics, reconstruction and economics, and allows players to control game direction while keeping the consequences of their actions clear through changing game dynamics, such as body shape and landscape. The final level utilizes collective scores to unify players to achieve a common goal, creating a cohesive system that encourages teamplay and collaboration.

Nancy Hechinger

LifeStrand: A Musical Self-Portrait

Negar Behbahani

If I were an instrument, what kind would it be? How would it be played? What are its tones? Its moods? What would I reveal to a new player or one who played me many times?

Description

My thesis project is a musical sculpture and self-portrait based on my nature, body, memory and background, told through the universal language of a music.
The instrument/sculpture's key features are the sound, the screen, and the hair, which has played an important role in all aspects of my life. My instrument connects with the intimate experience of touching my hair, and is a different and new experience, playing and hearing a poetic and feminine instrument.

It's for a general art audience for presentation in an art space.

Nancy Hechinger

Roving Spectres

Wen Lei Ng

Roving Spectres is a traveling shadow theater. Taking inspiration from shadow puppetry, traveling tent shows, and physical computing, this project weaves narrative worlds out of nothing but light and shadow.

Description

In Roving Spectres, shadow and illumination serve as both performative and participatory mediums . A glowing suitcase containing kinetic paper sculptures, a performative glove, an emotive light umbrella — these re-appropriated objects transform into the performer's 'co-actors'. Each object is woven into a series of imaginary landscapes through their interactions with the performer.

With a suitcase, Roving Spectres brings the magic of live theatre to the people where they least expect it.

Heather Greer

Passlet

Shilpan Bhagat

Passlet puts the world at your fingertips. It tracks the things you interact with physically on a daily basis allowing you to create reactive, self aware objects and build intuitive and interesting applications with it.

Description

Our body speaks a language of touch. We hold things we want to use, hug the people we love and feel the things we are curious about. Passlet is a technology that understands this language and assists you. Imagine your toothbrush tracking its own use, or your milk carton aware it's empty. What if the sandwich you picked up knew you and paid for itself without you going to the counter? With Passlet comes an era of self aware objects which act based on your touch. It works on the principle of capacitive coupling allowing data to be transferred seamlessly through your body onto objects and vice versa. Passlet is a wearable which hides in the background allowing for smarter and more meaningful interactions with our physical world.

Nancy Hechinger

Maker SynBio: Empowering Biodevelopers with Automation

Will Canine

I have developed a new open, automated, and easy way of creating novel genetic constructs using the OpenTrons robotic lab platform. My goal is to bring synthetic biology to the maker movement and accelerate the development of biotechnology.

Description

Today, it is much easier to design genetic pathways than to prototype and test them. Complicated, finicky, time consuming lab work is one of the biggest barriers to more rapid biotech innovation. An affordable, open synthetic biology automation system is the solution to this problem.

By combining the OpenTrons automation platform, Genomikon DNA prototyping protocol, and Synbiota open science hub, I was able to create such a system. This stack of technologies allows users to design DNA in software, run an automated assembly protocol to produce their plasmid design, and then share it with others. The whole thing costs less than $3000. We are poised to empower biodevelopers everywhere with the power of digitally controlled lab automation!

Gabe Barcia-Colombo

Whale

Sonia Li

Interactive multichannel sound installation strongly rooted in humanity. An environment where one experiences oneself, heavily influenced by the user’s own psychology. User lays in darkness, experiences bodily vibrations and immersive sound field.

Description

User enters an enclosed space in complete darkness with vibrating bed to lay on, surrounded by four speakers, experiences waves of vibration through the body. A microphone attached to bed. When speaking into microphone, user’s voice triggers different whale sounds.
Sound: material in context of sculpture. In using techniques to sculpt and spatialize sound, it creates a sonic sound field, one feels “enveloped” & “immersed”.
Using scientific properties of whale, I'm making a direct & metaphoric correlation bt. the physical mass & strength, longevity & complexity of songs & the ocean, their natural habitat, to my deeper self & inner strength.
Since the user doesn't know me nor how I feel, one ultimately experiences oneself through me.

Nancy Hechinger

Tunnel Vision

William Lindmeier

Tunnel Vision turns any NYC subway subway map into an interactive experience. Point your phone at an official MTA map and bring it to life with data about the subway, the city, and the people who live here.

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.