TEDTalk: Carlo Ratti, of MIT's SENSEable City Lab - Flying Pixels-Helicopters, Sensors, Actuators, 3D Reconstruction of Movement, an Interactive "Cloud", and more

If you are interested in new interactive technologies, take 15 minutes to watch Carlo Ratti's TEDTalk about the work of MIT's SENSEable City lab:

Carlo Ratti is the director of the MIT SENSEable City Lab. He's a civil engineer and architect interested in sensors, hand-held electronics and the built environments of cities, and how data generated by sensors can be used to create new interactive, artistic environments.


In this March 2011 TED Talk, Ratti discusses how data from passive data sets, such as phone calls, can be harnessed to create visualizations that represent the life and interactions that take place in cities.  These visualizations are made interactive through the use of sensors and human gestures.


RELATED
SENSEABLE Website
Below are some examples of projects of the SENSEable City Lab:
Flyfire "...the Flyfire project sets out to explore the capabilities of this display system by using a large number of self-organizing micro helicopters.  Each helicopter contains small LEDs and acts as a smart pixel.  Through precisely controlled movements, the helicopters perform elaborate and synchronized motions and form an elastic display surface for any desired scenario...The Flyfire canvas can transform itself from one shape to another or morph a two-dimensional photographic image into an articulated shape...." -info from the Flyfire website
The Cloud (+atmos page)



"The CLOUD proposes an entirely new form of observation deck, connecting visitors for both the whole of London and the whole of the world, immersing them in euphoric gusts of weather and digital data.  Each individual footstep on the ascent to the CLOUD participates in a vast collective energy-harvesting effort.  Everyone around the world can contribute to the Cloud-whether by visiting or by sponsoring and LED, helping to keep the London lamp aflame." The CLOUD website
Real Time Rome
Trash|Track
Digital Water Pavillion

Play with Dynamic Views of my Blog: Snapshot, Mosaic, Timeslide, Sidebar, and Flipcard via the Chrome Browser

I've never been comfortable locked into the linear format of a blog.   Although I get excited about the latest emerging technologies, interfaces, and interaction design, and want to keep up with the breaking news,  I am also very much interested in the stories behind the technologies.  I want to share history of ideas leading up to innovative research and new ways of conceptualizing the way people create (and use) technology.    I want to share stories about the people related to the technology - those who create it, and those who use it.  I also want to share stories related to context-  including ways various technologies are transforming and converging, and how all of this mix is impacts the bigger picture.


I have often wondered how I could provide visitors to my blog an opportunity to discover the depth, breadth, and richness of my labor of love for the past 5 years.  From what I can tell, this might be possible through the use of the new Dynamic Views extension for the Chrome browser.   


If you are interested in exploring this topic further, take a look at the links and video below. I've also provided screenshots of my blog, with corresponding links to the various dynamic views of the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.


Fresh new perspectives for your blog
Antin Harasymiv, Blogger Buzz, 3/31/11
Dynamic Views, the Chrome Extension
Mike Lawther, Blogger Buzz, 4/4/11


Information about dynamic views from Blogger:
All about dynamic views for readers
All about dynamic views for authors






Here are examples of the various views of my blog provided by the Dynamic Views extension for the Chrome browser.  I've included direct links for each view for those of you who do not have the extension.  (I am not sure if the links will work in other browsers.)


SNAPSHOT
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/view/snapshot

MOSAIC
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/view/mosaic
TIMESLIDE
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/view/timeslide
SIDEBAR
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/view/sidebar
FLIPCARD
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/view/flipcard

RELATED
Quotes from the Dynamic Views extension page:

"Blogger now provides five new dynamic views for public blogs. These new views use the latest in web technology, including AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3, to deliver a host of benefits:


Infinite scrolling: read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page
New layouts:       different views suited to different types of blogs
Speed:                 download images as you view them, not all at once in advance
Interactivity:         there are now more ways to experience and engage with blog content"


"This extension notifies you if you're on a Blogger blog and lets you quickly view the blog content in one of the new five dynamic views. Simply click on the Blogger icon when it appears, select the view, and you'll be redirected appropriately."

Take a short break to enjoy a performance by the KAIST Mobile Phone Orchestra!

Thanks to CreativeApplications.Net for sharing this video!

KAMPO Performance @INDAF 2010 from Sihwa Park on Vimeo.

KAMPO KAIST Mobile Phone Orchestra
"Mobile phones (especially smartphones), with more advanced features and computing power than those of ordinary telephones, have been revolutionizing our life and culture in a variety of ways. The KAIST Mobile Phone Orchestra (KAMPO) aims to explore this potential of mobile media for music and media art. In addition to suggesting new and innovative mobile performance paradigms through concerts, KAMPO conducts active research/education in music and mobile media as well as software development." -Intro from the KAMPO website

"Visualize This": Nathan Yau's (FlowingData) book about information and data visualization

I've been following Nathan Yau's FlowingData blog for several years.  It is one of my favorites. His new book,  Visualize This : The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization and Statistics, will be out in July 2011, and is available for  pre-order on-line on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Wiley.  


I love Nathan's editor's comment about his latest chapter: "Thanks for yet another very enjoyable chapter.  If I had known statistics would be like this, I would have actually taken classes"





Here is the plug for Visualize This, from the Wiley website:


"Data doesn't decrease; it is ever-increasing and can be overwhelming to organize in a way that makes sense to its intended audience. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could actually visualize data in such a way that we could maximize its potential and tell a story in a clear, concise manner? Thanks to the creative genius of Nathan Yau, we can. With this full-color book, data visualization guru and author Nathan Yau uses step-by-step tutorials to show you how to visualize and tell stories with data. He explains how to gather, parse, and format data and then design high quality graphics that help you explore and present patterns, outliers, and relationships.

• Presents a unique approach to visualizing and telling stories with data, from a data visualization expert and the creator of flowingdata.com, Nathan Yau
• Offers step-by-step tutorials and practical design tips for creating statistical graphics, geographical maps, and information design to find meaning in the numbers
• Details tools that can be used to visualize data-native graphics for the Web, such as ActionScript, Flash libraries, PHP, and JavaScript and tools to design graphics for print, such as R and Illustrator
• Contains numerous examples and descriptions of patterns and outliers and explains how to show them

Visualize This demonstrates how to explain data visually so that you can present your information in a way that is easy to understand and appealing."

Are girls allowed in Google's tool shop? Just wondering.

Today I read an article in my local paper about Google workshops that provide a few select employees opportunities to create things with state-of-the art "shop" tools.  I went on to the Google blog and read the following post:


Google Workshops: a place for Googlers to get their hands dirty


Are girls allowed?  Just wondering.


I hope that the percentage of women who access the Google workshops is on par with the percentage of females who are employed at Google. 


Although there have been efforts to increase the number of females who pursue careers in engineering, computer science, and related technical fields, progress has been slow.  If you walk through an "average" high school, you are likely to find that there are few female student enrolled in classes such as computer programming, computer-assisted design (CAD), or engineering technology.   



RELATED
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics


Engineering Your Life: A guide to engineering for high school girls


Get Smart Get WISE (Women in Information Science and Engineering, North Carolina Technology Association)


IEEE Women in Engineering


NCWIT: National Center for Women and Information Technology
"In 2009 women earned only 18 percent of all CS [computer science] degrees. Back in 1985, women earned 37 percent of CS degrees."

WEPAN:  Women in Engineering ProActive Network
Record number of girls to take part in Tech Challenge 2011
Sandeep Ravindran, Mercury News, 4/28/11


Women in Engineering:  21 Remarkable Stories
MichiganEngineering, University of Michigan

FYI:

I am old enough to remember a time when girls were strongly discouraged from taking shop classes.  In my case, when I was in high school,  I was told that auto mechanics courses were not appropriate for college-bound students.  My only option was to take a short powder puff mechanics class in the summer!   Despite scoring at the top of the scale on a measure of mechanical reasoning, I was steered towards pursuing a career in a helping profession.   

Rhizome article about spectral music and software at USCD, via Tom Erbe

Continuing with my music technology theme:


This article below was shared by Tom Erbe, known for Soundhack,  a powerful spectral effects software that has provided me with many hours of music technology joy off and on for years. Playing around with Soundhack was one of the things that inspired me to take a music technology class several years ago.


How Large an Atom of Music? A Tour through Today's Spectral Music and Software at UCSD
Nat Roe, Rhizome, 4/27/11


FYI:  If you are interested in exploring this topic further, visit Tom Erbe's website, which includes information and resources related to the computer music courses he teaches at USCD.


"RHIZOME is dedicated to the creation, presentation, preservation, and critique of emerging artistic practices that engage technology. Read more here."