My nephew shared a link to a post about the IBM Muppet Show on the Technologizer blog, so I followed the link and decided the topic was worthy of a quick post.
Cookie Monster and a Fully Computerized Coffee Machine "A computerized coffee machine is a great boon to mankind"
A look at a promo for old IBM technology, produced by Jim Henson. "IBM can help you with the time it takes to do the paperwork" "Machines Should Work, People Should Think."
MUPPET MEETING FILM PROMO
Kermit the Frog on the topic of successful selling, for IBM:
"Daily Stack is a playful tool that helps you become more aware of your daily work-flow and time management. By creating a physical representation of your tasks, Daily Stack speaks subtly to your conscience and helps you manage your time through unobtrusive ambient feedback"
There has been a push for the government to publish public data on-line, and have it accessible to anyone who wants to explore it further. Interactive dataviz/infoviz strategies might help further one of the causes behind journalism - bringing the truth to the masses, and doing so in a way that "informs and enlightens". Who is going to pay for this?
At any rate, the cry for publishing government data is not new. Dr. Robert Kosara, an assistant professor of computer science at UNC-Charlotte, outlined his ideas about what this might be like in a post written in early 2009: A National Data Agency. He created a logo for this effort:
One of Robert Kosara's related posts, Visualization Sets Information Free, outlines how visualization tools can help us understand the numbers. His post contains links to great information visualization resources that journalists, as well as anyone else interested in sniffing out and/or sharing truths, will appreciate.
The infographic below is from Robert Kosara's blog post:
The problem is that there a many competing viewpoints among groups of people on the matter of the future of journalism. There are those who would like to hold on to the past for the sake of the smell of a newspaper and how it fits into a morning routine, those who would like to hold on to the past for the sake of great journalism (think of the investigative journalism carried out when many newspapers had the money to support this work), those who would like to see everything go digital while keeping the best features of the newspapers (think of reading the NY Times on your iPad or e-book), and those who would like a laisse-faire free-for-all.
In my opinion, multi-media journalism, incorporating interactive information visualization, is something that I fully support. New Media. Transmedia. Covergence. The best of all worlds. Etc. This can't happen if we don't have access to ALL of the data that we need!
RELATED Henry Jenkins and Convergence Culture
"HCDMediaGroup—September 21, 2009 — Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor and author of "Convergence Culture" talks about the new media landscape. Highest Common Denominator Media Group"
Copy and Paste from Torkington's Four Short Links: 31 May 2010:
"Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism (PDF) -- FTC staff discussion document that floats a number of policy proposals around journalism: additional IP rights to defend against aggregators like Google News; protection of "hot news" facts; statutory limits to "fair use"; antitrust exemptions for cartel paywalls; and more. Jeff Jarvis hates it, but Alexander Howard found something to love in the proposal that the government "maximize the easy accessibility of government information" to help journalists find and investigate stories more easily. (via Jose Antonio Vargas)"
I rarely check the stats of my YouTube videos. Today when I checked the stats, I was surprised to see that I have a nice following, without really trying.
I started uploading video clips to YouTube in 2006, to share vacation videos with family and friends. This was before YouTube was bought out by Google. Nearly everything that I've "produced" myself was not done in HD. There were strict guidelines about the size of video uploads during the earlier years of YouTube, so my videos look pretty low-tech. Most are lightly edited, if at all.
I used YouTube to store a few video clips I made when I was taking computer courses (HCI, Ubicomp, etc.). Again, most of my video clips were less-than polished.
One of my secrets is that I do know how to produce/shoot/edit video. This summer, I plan to re-do my most popular videos, and add some new ones that I'm sure my YouTube viewers will enjoy.
I have lots of HD video of vacations that I'd love to share! For now, take a look at my mostly low-def, low-tech "showcase":
Cute Kitty Video: My daughter's pets. I uploaded this for fun, and now it has over 210,000 views!
Monet's Gardens (no-music version)
Monet's Gardens, With Music (I added music from iMovie to the video after a request from a viewer.)
The following video one was taken by my younger daughter as we were driving to NYC in July of 2001, just two months before the 9/11/2001 tragedy. I was trying to figure out my route, my daughter was trying to capture video of the Twin Towers in the distance, and in the middle of it all, a huge plane flew across the highway.
My first attempt at a "travel" video clip:
Beach at St. Lucia
I have much better footage of this beach.
Cute Kitty Video: "Very Happy"
This is the "cute kitty" grown up a bit. The music is something that came with my Yamaha Motif keyboard. The "Very Happy" part of the music is a sampling from a voicemail message left to me by my daughter. This sample, among others, found a home in some music I composed/created but never quite finished.
This video was taken in Cozumel, just after the region experienced a devastating hurricane. I loved this music! The video was shot with my low-tech point-and shoot camera, and not edited, as you can see by the last frame of the video...
Labadie, Haiti: We were on a cruise and Labadie was one of the ports. This was taken before the earthquake.
I'm experimenting with "monetizing" some of my most popular YouTube videos. If you happen to see an ad related to any of my video clips on YouTube that is objectionable, please let me know.
I'm usually too busy during the last month or so of the school year to attend conferences. One I'd really like to attend is the 2010 International Computer Music Conferencein N.Y. Music is an important component of interactive multimedia content, and new technologies have made things a lot easier for musicians who are technologically inclined. Conferences like ICMC are a great way to see - and hear - what is going on.
Intriguing Topics:
"Gestural Shaping and Transformation in a Universal Space of Structure and Sound"
"SoundCatcher: explorations in audio-looping and time-freezing using an open-air gestural controller"
"Sense/Stage - low cost, open source wireless sensor infrastructure for live performance and interactive, real-time environments"
"The Four M's: Music, Mind, Motion, Machines"
"A Wireless, Real-time Social Music Performance System for Mobile Phones"
"Because we are all falling down: Physics, Gestures, and Relative Realities" "Argos: An open-source application for building multi-touch musical interfaces"
"Peacock: a non-haptic 3D performance interface"
"Head Tracking for 3D Audio using the Nintendo WII"
"The Avatar Initiative- An Interdisciplinary Approach to Digital Media Research and Education"
"Computer Controlled Video as a Multi-modal Interface in Live Acousmatic Music"
"The Machine Orchestra"
"Eye. Breathe. Music"
"Combining audiovisual mappings for 3D musical interaction"
PdBarCamp
Sensory Interaction in Composition and Performance
Language, Neurology, and Acoustics
Open Scores and Accessible, Consumer Devices
Issues in Computer Music Performance
Computer Music and Society: Questions of Dissemination
Realistically, I'd be happy with a bit more time to play my keyboard!
(The very first class I took when I decided to return to school to take computer classes was computer music technology.)
My plug for Tom Erbe, from the ICMC website
Instructor Bios:
"Tom Erbe has had an important role in American experimental and electronic music of the last 20 years. In addition to his pioneering and widely used program SoundHack, he has become one of the most sought after and respected sound engineers for contemporary music. In 2004 he rejoined the faculty of UCSD in the Department of Music and serves as Studio Director. Most recently Tom has released SoundHack Spectral Shapers, the first of a planned set of three plugin bundles to bring extreme spectral processing to the VST, AU and RTAS formats."
If you are thinking about experimenting with sound, Tom Erbe's SoundHack freeware is awesome. His spectral shapers are worth every penny. (I used the +binaural filter to create a 3D effect of racing car sounds for one of the students I work with who has autism and loves racing cars.)
+binaural
This filter places a sound at a specific position around the listener's head. Use it with a reverb to create a virtual environment. When used with it's LFO, +binaural can place various beats or parts of a loop in specific repeatable positions.
It is about time for an update about touch/gesture- interactive technologies.
I've been researching the latest in "touch" screens and new developments in interactive multi-media content. In just one year, a multitude of websites have been transformed from static to interactive.
Although the initial objective for some of these websites was to optimize the interface and navigation for people accessing websites via touch-screen cell phones, some are ideal for use on touch-enabled slates, the iPad, and even larger touch screen displays and surfaces.
Convergence seems to be the buzz word of the day. Interactive TV. Game sets with Internet access. Movies on your cell phone. Touch screen Coke machines displaying movie trailers. What's happening now, and what is next?
I welcome input from my readers in the form of links to websites, university labs with grad students and professors who are obsessed with emerging interactive technologies, proof-of-concept video clips, video clips of related technologies that are new-to-market, etc.
FYI: I'm also in the middle of writing a series of posts about 3D television technologies for the Innovative Interactivity blog, and welcome input from my readers about this topic.
