Croatia Summer 2006

Croatia Summer 2006

I had the good fortune to spend a week of my summer holidays in Croatia. Our base camp was in Porec on the Istrian Peninsula, close to the Italy and Slovenia. We rented a car and drove around Croatia and Slovenia and went on boat trips by the Istrian coastline.

If you are ever in the neighbourhood, you should definitely visit the Plitvice national park, a valley of waterfalls hidden within a dense mountainous forest with lakes with crystal clear water.

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Nintendo Floor Screen

Google Video of Nintendo interactive floor at E3 2005.

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5 Tips for Organizing Your CSS

Simple ways to standardize and organize the way you write CSS.

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Mediaattori - Urban Mediator

A hybrid infrastructure for neighborhoods - design research exploration around urban space, digital media and public participation.

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New Scientist Take a leap into hyperspace

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics prizes for best paper n the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of a hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension.

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Piratpartiet

A political party has been set up in Sweden that plans to participate to the upcoming national elections.

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TomC's Processing Sketchbook: Being In The Know

Links to Processing resources.

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Controlling Music with DIY Interactive Gloves - createdigitalmusic.com

Interactive artists and musicians have long experimented with sensor-packed gloves for controlling music, sound, and video.

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Flickr: High Speed Photography

High speed captures of extremely fast events which cannot be seen by the naked eye.

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retrievr - search by sketch

retrievr is an experimental service which lets you search and explore in a selection of Flickr images by drawing a rough sketch.

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Chillits 2005 MP3s

Chillits music festival sets available online, as MP3s on the site and also via torrents.

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Grounded theory - Wikipedia

Grounded theory is a general research method for behavioral science.

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Last.fm

Music recommendation service.

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Intro To CSS - Developers Digest

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15 most influential games

Gamespot editors pick the 15 all-time most influential games - "our shortlist is composed primarily of older or pioneering games that were birthed in the arcades and whose concepts have withstood the test of time."

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Interactive Architecture dot Org » Lacuna - HMC MediaLab

Lacuna is a new architectural experiment that allows physical architecture to extend itself into the realm of zero physicality to become a Hyperflexible Space

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Blurring the line between games and life | CNET News.com

CNet article on Alternate-reality gaming "-an obsession-inspiring genre that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community and may, incidentally, be one of the most powerful guerrilla marketing mechanisms ev

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IFTF's Future of Marketing

Emerging technology, global change, and the future of consumers and marketing.

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frog Design Mind - Gizmodo

Getting familiar with our ignorance as product designers should mean, among other things, that we accept that our creations will wind up as the answers to questions that haven’t been formulated yet, and that we find ways to let users write what they kno

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Glitch Browser

Glitchbrowser returns all images on a site with aberrated versions. Lovely discolourations, dislocations, pixellations and colour bands infect the original image and in invariably beautify content through this intentional corruption.

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Banalities for the Perfect House

Banalities for the Perfect House--by Ruark Lewis and Rainer Linz--is a collaborative installation & performance work that proposes the house as a condition through which we perceive the world - the city an extension of grid-like structures viewed through

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kromefx.com » Photoshop Tutorials » View Tutorial

This tutorial takes you from the initial setup and design of a web site, all the way through producing W3C validated CSS and XHTML 1.0 for layout, while leaving room for integrating your own designs and color schemes.

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openomy

Online filesharing service with open API and tagging support.

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y.ah.oo!

Yahoo! acquires del.icio.us - integration with Flickr on the way?

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Guardian Unlimited Books | Top 10 bookshops

Jeremy Mercer chooses his 10 favourite bookshops from around the world.

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Assorted links 2005-12-07

Spike Jonze Gap commercial: Massive mayhem.

From the Hall: GmailThis!: GmailThis! creates a mini-interface to Gmail prepopulated with a link to the web page you are visiting, as well as any text you have highlighted on that page.

Mathmos Airswitch Lamp: What I want for christmas: Turn Airswitch on or off by moving your hand horizontally above the lamp. Brighten Airswitch by raising your hand vertically, or dim by moving your hand down.

Industrial Design Sketching Rendering Portfolio Book: New sketching book out from Erik Olofsson, Klara Sjolen, and Umea's Institute of Design. Includes sections on basic theory, exploratory sketching, explanatory, and some tutorials.

White Balance: To create an image that accurately depicts what the photographer intended, the photographer must be aware of the color of light and must make adjustments when necessary. The subject of the color of light, and the techniques of dealing with it, are referre

Jakob Nielsen: Ajax Sucks Most of the Time: Ajax breaks the unified model of the Web and introduce a new way of looking at data that has not been well integrated into the other aspects of the Web. With ajax, the user's view of information on the screen is now determined by a sequence of navigation

Wikitravel: Wikitravel is a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date and reliable world-wide travel guide.

Hack Attack: Bookmarking with Gmail - Lifehacker: Setting up filters and labels to tag and handle your bookmarks with Gmail is a simple solution that brings del.icio.us bookmarking to Gmail.

Wikipedia Tightens the Reins: Wikipedia is tightening its rules and now require users to register before they can create articlesfor submitting entries following the disclosure that it ran a piece falsely implicating a man in the Kennedy assassinations.

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Dairy

Type something!

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nThrum

nThrum is a free service that enables you to use your camera phone to find and browse information. Just take a picture of the text you want to search for and let the software figure out the rest.

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Photo-3D

Taking pictures in three dimensions has never been so easy. This company, Photo-3D will sell you a $130 kit makes the entire process painless.

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ArtsConnectEd: Collaboration in the integration and access to museum resources

This paper discusses the philosophical underpinnings for museum collaboration; background, implementation, and evaluation of a particular collaboration, and a vision for future directions for museum collaborations.

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information aesthetics

"inspired by Manovich's definition of information aesthetics, this weblog explores the symbiotic relationship between creative design and the field of information visualization, in an emergent multidisciplinary field what could be coined as 'creative info

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personalworldmap.org

A map of the world that transforms based on your preferences with regards to the distance you wish to travel and the price you can afford to pay.

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Assorted links 2005-12-05

Design Engaged 2005: The official Design Engaged site with presentations and summaries by the participants.

360 Degree LED Display: It can be viewed from up to 20 feet away and you can view one single image all the way around or configure it with three images, each claiming 120 degrees of the surface.

How do you manage: Not growing, and happy about it: On small businesses puposefully staying small and agile.

haque :: design + research: Haque Design + Research specialises in the design and research of interactive architecture systems. Architecture is no longer considered something static and immutable; instead it is seen as dynamic, responsive and conversant.

Some Assembly Required: On the rise of modular housing.

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Metropolis from Scratch: South Korea's New Songdo City

On the planning and development of the new administrative capital of South Korea.

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Electronic Paper For The Visually Impaired

Braille e-paper: The device is about 1mm thick and contains 24 letters. It is even bendable. The letters can be refreshed about once a second.

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Arduino

Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple i/o board and a development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring language.

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Reactive Cube

An acrylic cube filled with water and light. It was designed to transform digital images into apparently physical objects. A 2D image is projected through a mass of water mixed with a specially formulated emulsion of oil.

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Project Inspiration: ReFashion Lab

ReFashion Lab by Smart Studio:

"The ReFashion Lab can be understood as a spatial media interface to information and ambience, addressing various senses in a personalised way. The novelty is the ubiquity of the technology in the space, without involving the visitor in complicated, technical ways of interacting with the technology. Instead the modes of interaction are modelled on existing notions of exploring an environment, like a fashion store.”



The ReFashion Lab includes the very cool MetaMirror:

"The MetaMirror is a large scale animated display, that features a video clip looping over the entire surface of the Mirror.
Once a visitor is approaching the display, the animation is faded out to turn the pane into a real mirror. Above the persons reflection though, the mirror is showing images and information relating to the item being worn. "



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Project Inspiration: Wayang Interactive Puppets

Wayang Interactive Puppets by designers Suzung Kim & So-youn Park:

"This interactive Puppet Theater makes users control digital puppet on the screen using their own hands.
Users can easily control puppet on the screen by wearing the prepared globes or color chips and putting his/her hands inside a small box with curtains just like the stage."

Check out the movies to get the gist: 1, 2.



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Public Play Space

Re:Form - Public Play Space at the Interactive Institute explore the "the playful, emotional and appropriate incorporation of technology into everyday public life:

Interaction design work today is overly focussed on putting technology everywhere, ubiquitously, in our lives and spaces. We take the opportunity to reflect on, question and reexamine places, relationships and qualities for the design of technology in the public sphere. This requires that we ask different questions, apply new methods and try alternative means of prototyping possibilities. Operating on the fringes, our projects will be provocative and personal, challenging people to reflect, participate, and evolve."

Their list of projects include sonic city, a soundtrack-of-your-life system that creates music based on bodily and environmental factors.

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Smart Artifacts

Via networked_performance:

Smart Artifacts: "A Key Component of Pervasive Games 'Abstract: In this paper we present how smart artifacts can become a crucial element in pervasive games. In our vision, ‘magical’ artifacts play two roles: first, they are very attractive game gadgets (such as magic wands), second, they are able to handle the game (implementing the main game logic). We claim that in some cases no infrastructure would be needed to play a game. Artifacts, as we present here, are carried by players (or lying somewhere in the game area) and communicating through a wireless network. The vision has been inspired by a number of ideas and ongoing projects on smart devices and middleware platforms.'
From Smart Artifacts as a Key Component of Pervasive Games by Michal Roj; workshop paper for the Workshop on Gaming Applications in Pervasive Computing Environments 2004."

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Dodgem Interactive Lighting

Via we-make-money-not-art:

Dodgem Interactive Lighting: "The Dodgem Interactive Lighting, designed by Richard G Liddle, is a patented system that allow lighting to be physically manipulated and repositioned by hand, within a totally transparent screen. The system was developed through research into the limitations imposed by 'wired lighting'. Due to the restrictions imposed by power cables designs are generally based around the continual restyling of casements and shades. The lighting is intended for interior and architectural applications where it can be used in many applications such as room division or interactive displays. The flexibility of the system allows it to be scaled to fit any environment and personalised to suit. An additional range of products based around the system are currently underway. Images courtesy of the designer."




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Project inspiration: Audiopad

I've been compiling interesting interaction design projects and technologies that I come across in the "recent bookmarks" section of this page, however many of these projects are worthy of a more comprehensive description. Inspired by two of my collaborators, Peter and Christian (who have a blog on related matters), I'll add a bit more detail to such projects. First up is Audiopad.

Title:
Audiopad



Designers:
James Patten and Ben Recht aka localfields.

Description:
"Audiopad is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music. One can pull sounds from a giant set of samples, juxtapose archived recordings against warm synthetic melodies, cut between drum loops to create new beats, and apply digital processing all at the same time on the same table. Audiopad not only allows for spontaneous reinterpretation of musical compositions, but also creates a visual and tactile dialogue between itself, the performer, and the audience.
Audiopad has a matrix of antenna elements which track the positions of electronically tagged objects on a tabletop surface. Software translates the position information into music and graphical feedback on the tabletop. Each object represents either a musical track or a microphone."

References:
Wired News article on Audiopad.
Additional stories about Audiopad.

Perspectives:
Audiopad combines playful, tangible interaction and collaboration in an engrossing and usable whole. The premise of tangibly interacting with digital audio is not a new one, but many concepts of the kind are very simplistic and only allow for a limited range of expressions. Audiopad offers a wider range of actions for combining and manipulating audio, and the collaborative aspects of the interface allows for users to jam together.

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Project update 1: Research interests

For the past year I've been teaching at the Institute of Information and Media Studies and I now work as a research assistant at the Centre for Advanced Visualization and Interaction (CAVI). This post is the first update on the projects I work on and the themes that I explore.

My primary research interest is to explore experience-oriented interaction design related to knowledge dissemination. In the research project that I participate in we work with a number of partners, including museums and retailers, who are interested in developing new ways of piquing the interest of their audience and getting their messages across by means of interactive technologies. The common denominator for these partners is that they share a keen awareness of the importance of creating an experience, an atmosphere, and a focused interest.
To some extent, digital technologies are beginning to populate these domains (eg. plasma displays, projectors, and information kiosks in museums, retail outlets etc.), but the modes of interaction are very conventional and often consist on one person using a keyboard, mouse or touch screen display to navigate through pages of information. The use of various display technologies and new kinds of interaction in augmented-reality and mixed-reality environments is powerfully fascinating, but their use in the domain of knowledge dissemination is a relatively unexplored area with considerable unexploited potential.
I currently develop concepts and prototypes that combine physical and social interaction (often explorative) within interactive spaces. My approach is based on a situated and contextual approach to interaction design; that is, I seek a foundation for the development of future technologies in the current domain practices and values.

My research interests can be broadly divided into two parts: Interaction (studies of applications of interactive technologies and interaction patterns in domain settings) and design processes (theories on the design process and guidelines for the development of new technologies).
Some of the pertinent issues i try to get a handle on include:
Ambience and Immersion - The distinction between artifacts and interactive environments that demand immersion and complete attention from its audience and artifacts/environments that float in the peripheral sphere of awareness.
Fascination, Exploration and Knowledge Dissemination - Striking the right balance between fascinating the audience with new technologies, inviting them to explore, and all the while allowing them to focus on the information or otherwise learn or discover what the sender/creator had in mind.
Aesthetics, Usefulness and Usability - Evaluating multiple aspects of interactive technologies designed to invoke meaningful, explorative experiences. Proponents of “old-school” usability often have a narrow perspective on aesthetic issues, whereas digital artists may deliberately seek to create interface break-downs for their audience. | permanent link | 0 comments | post to del.icio.us |

Cory Doctorow's Themepunks

Cory Doctorow's new novel, Themepunks, is being serialized at Salon for the next couple of months, free for you to read just like Doctorow's previous works. The first two chapters are online now, bursting with imaginative ideas and extrapolations of current socio-tehnological trends. So far, it's a complelling story about redefining the "way new econonomy":

"Last week, we met Andrea Fleeks, a tech journalist; Lionel Kettlewell, a brazen Silicon Valley VC; and Rat-Toothed Freddy, a sleazy UK tabloid tech journalist, and learned that Kettlewell had bought up and liquidated Kodak and Duracell, two companies that have no place in a filmless, batteryless twenty-first century. Kettlewell proposes to use the money to fund micro-startups that combine cool commodity hardware, open source software and imagination to create new tools that are profitable for 3-6 months, until they are cloned and the margin on them falls to near-zero."

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Memory Wall

The Memory Wall developed by Jason Bruges for the Puerta America Hotel is a nice example of a stylish and playful interactive environment. The Memory Wall picks up the colours of your clothes and your movements and projects a distorted image on a pannel of light dots. It may not seem remarkable, but considering the clumsiness of many ambient installations, its clean and minimalistic aesthetics are a welcome change. You can find a short video if you click on the last image of the project page.



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