Kinetic Infovis: Dance vs Powerpoint - Dance Your (Science) Ph.D.

Why NOT use dance to convey information and data?

John Bohannon's TED Talk, "Dance vs. Powerpoint"  explains how dance can demonstrate scientific principles, and more.  John is a scientist and writer who runs the annual Dance Your Ph.D. contest.   In the following video he walks the talk as dancers dance the point.    




RELATED

Dance Your Ph.D. 2012 Videos

Dance Your Ph.D. 2011 Videos

Dance Your Ph.D. Tips and Tricks

Dance Your Ph.D. 2013 Website FAQs

The Science Dance Match-Up Challenge
John Bohannon, Science, 4/17/09

Thesis Twist:  Dancing Your Ph.D. 
Robert Lee Hotz, Wall Street Journal, 9/23/13

Folk Dance Your Algorithms!
Lynn Marentette, ITM blog, 4/14/11

More about the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Cities

After my recent post about graduate research opportunities at the Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable, Connected Cities, I came across additional information about the project. The following is quoted from Charles Sheridan's 5/24/12 post, Announcing the Intel Collaborative  Research Institute for Sustainable Cities:

"We aim to create new, cross cutting inter-disciplinary “Systems of Systems” Cities research  methodology to understand key city challenges and technology opportunities."

Charlie Sheridan is the principal investigator of the ICRI Sustainable Connected Cities project, described in more detail in the  following video:

Some of the questions the Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Cities plans to investigate, as outlined by Sheridan (below),  are ones that probably need to be articulated for the general public,  not just  techies.  By taking an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to research, this might just happen.

"How can technology “sustain sustainable behaviours”?"

"How can technology enable ubiquitous integrated services?"

"How do we protect privacy, security and disconnection in a city of a billion sensors?"

"Who pays? Who repairs?  Who Profits?"

"How can you design and evaluate connected and sustainable services and user-centred information for diverse needs of city dwellers?"

"How do you engage city communities to participate in developing technological innovations that will improve their environment, transport systems and local services?"

My favorite:

"What novel interfaces and interactions are required to encourage participation of citizens, business and government?"

This is a serious, large-scale endeavor.  I planned on wrapping up this post with a few pictures from my vast archive of examples of technology "out-and-about", but in doing so, came across a few photos that demonstrate, in a slightly humorous way, why this research effort is important:

Let's throw up a large-screen display to make the recycling process at the food court less complicated!

Let's stick these kiosks and displays over there and watch what doesn't happen!

Let's throw up everything on this display and see if it makes sense to the mom with a toddler in tow!

Let's get great-grandma (my mom) and the toddler (my grandson) together for some Internet-connected HDTV DVR DVD family viewing experience!  

Let's just  give toddlers iPads and see what happens!

(This little one gets to "play" with an iPad just once a week.)

I see endless possibilities here for the future of our cities!

Every little flower I planted yesterday came with a QR code. Are  these biodegradable or recyclable?

I quickly learned that garden dirt and QR codes don't mix.  It was much easier to read the informational text about my vincas on my iPhone, but I wasn't sure about exposing my iPhone to all the  dirt, water, and  beating sun.  FYI: Gardening:  QR Codes can be a Gardener's Best Friend

T-shirt slogan: 

"This was supposed to be future:  Where is my jetpack?"

Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn - an awesome book by Cathy "HASTAC" Davidson. (Her blog is awesome, too!)

Who is Cathy Davidson
According to her most recent bio, Cathy "served from 1998 until 2006 as the first Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University, where she worked with faculty to help create many programs, including the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the program in Information Science + Information Studies (ISIS).  She is the co-founder of is the co-founder of Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, HASTAC ("haystack"), a network of innovators dedicated to new forms of learning for the digital age.  She is also co-director of the $2 million annual HASTAC/John D. and Catherine T. MacAuthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition."


Here is Cathy's book: Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
 

Note: I am almost finished with the book. Sadly, it went missing for several weeks, so I have about 50 more pages to read, now that it is found!   I didn't want to wait too long before writing my review, so I thought I'd highlight it here, since it will make a great read-or gift, for the holiday season!   It is well worth reading, as Cathy is a deep thinker who transcends disciplinary confines.


Here are a few Cathy Davidson's blog posts:
So What Again is HASTAC? Post #HASTAC2011 Reflections on a Network Founded on a Theory That's Practice 12/4/11
Why is the Information Age Without the Humanities Like the Industrial Revolution Without the Steam Engine? 1/24/10
Five Ways the Open Web Can Transform Higher Education
12/4/11


RELATED
HASTAC website, where you can discover a number of excellent blogs and interesting links.

humanaquarium at CHI 2011

I had the opportunity to attend the presentation session of humanaquarium: Exploring audience, participation, and interaction at CHI 2011, and also experience humanaquarium's compelling interactive performance along with a crowd of CHI 2011 attendees. It was one of my favorite events.



What I liked about humanaquarium is that it is a good example of how music, the arts, and technology are converging, on many levels.  It is encouraging to know that this sort of interdisciplinary, creative collaboration is evident at a number of university research centers. humanaquarium was developed with the support of Culture Lab, Newcastle University (UK),  the Advanced Man-Machine Interface Laboratory, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.


According to the abstract for the CHI 2011 paper, "humanaquarium is a movable performance space designed to explore the dialogical relationship between artist and audience. Two musicians perform inside the cube-shaped box, collaborating with participants to co-create an aesthetic audio-visual experience. The front wall of the humanaquarium is a touch-sensitive FTIR window. MaxMSP is used to translate the locations of touches on the window into control data, manipulating the tracking of software synthesizers and audio effects generated in Ableton Live, and influencing a Jitter visualization projected upon the rear wall of the cube."

To learn more about humanaquarium and catch a glimpse of the performance, take a look at the following video clips.  The first video clip was produced by Nick Barber, who was covering the CHI 2011 conference for IDG News Services. (Nick is also the host and co-producer of World Tech Update.)  I produced the second video clip.

humaniquarium:  Robyn Taylor/Guy Schofield/John Shearer

RELATED
humanaquarium: exploring audience, participation, and interaction
CHI EA '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference extended abstracts on Human  Factors in Computing Systems
CHI 2011 The User in Flux
humanaquarium YouTube channel
Humanaquarium blends art and tech, attracts crowds
Nick Barber, Computerworld, 5/13/11
Humanaquarium: Two musicians, one box
Nate Lanxon, Wired, 3/16/10

Unlocking the Future of Cities through Multi-Touch Interactive Visualization at RENCI (UNC-Charlotte)

Here is a link to an article that was in the SciTech section of my morning paper today!


Unlocking the Future of Cities:  UNCC scientists work across disciplines to predict how urban areas will use open land. Tyler Dukes, Charlotte Observer, 10/31/10

"As part of a three-year, $286,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the group of scientists from UNC Charlotte is researching the complex relationship between the Queen City and its surrounding forest and pastoral lands. Using a combination of social, natural and computer science, they're working to build an interactive map-based simulation capable of showing the impact of future development and policy on land use....It's a project requiring Meentemeyer's team to peel back multiple layers of cultural and economic values surrounding land in the South. The research will have implications beyond the Charlotte area...By allowing the public to explore those possibilities visually on anything from a laptop to a touch-screen table, the research team is hoping its work will mean more informed decisions about how people use the land around them."  -Charlotte Observer

Image Source: Charlotte Observer


Wouldn't this be a great tool to use to support collaborative learning projects in the schools?


RELATED
RENCI at UNC-Charlotte has a Multi-touch Table in the Visualization Center
RENCI Visualization Center Update
Visualization Resources at RENCI UNC-Charlotte
RENCI at UNC Charlotte
Multi-Touch at RENCI
Research by Touch:  RENCI Multitouch Table Gives Computer Science Research an Intuitive Interface

Two Links: Urban Screens, Urban Interfaces, Digital Media, and the Arts in Social-Public Spaces; Edward Tufte is a Smart Guy

Here are two links that I think you'll find interesting:

My post on the TSHWI blog, reflecting on interdisciplinary research and topics related to ubiquitous computing and large interactive displays in public spaces:

Urban Screens, Urban Interfaces, Digital Media, and the Arts in Social-Public Spaces


Bill Mackenty's reflections about workshop he attended that was led by Edward Tufte, known for his insights about the presentation of information graphics:

Edward Tufte is a Smart Guy