research presentations 08-02-2003 [in memoriam to freddie the ferret who died during the course of this session] present: cocky, nat, lina, rob, jehan, nik, maja === anti-gravity, zero-gravity, 10+g force === * chinese movies about flying (started 2 years ago - crouching tiger, hidden dragon...) * the movements are exactly what cocky is trying to do * old chinese movies --- you still see the ropes + fake effects * images from flying birds + movie - the travelling birds * birds in water - flocking and swarming * cape horn - ship around 1900 - sailing artound - good images in the storm * looking for the feeling of movement * 'the hopping feeling' * scene in the trees - bending of the tree * losing gravity + refinding it again * 'i want flocks of people to move like that' * rhythms in it - slow / speeding up of things * tempo of a mosquito being born * stilts with springs * anti gravity parabolic flight * kitzou dubois - art in space * underwater choreograpy, choreography on trampolines * isabel rocamora * mainly research about the system on the bungees, ropes, harnesses * wall gmes --> rock climbing clubs * different air densities - desert, madagaskar, mountains, city walls * easy to experience so you dont have to train for months -- you can develop a skill if you want * ladders * la guarra * harnesses that are safe enough, painless, but with enough freedom of movement * inflatable structures (rewana) * establishing movement from her childhood dreams, for both untrained + trained people * tools - general, later context based === alchemy and tarot in RPGs === * p~lot rpg -- personal transoformation * alchemy - mandala, unity of oposites, separation/purification/recombination * adam mclean - animal symbolism in alchemy * visual mantras for chemical changes * cycle of colour changes * quintessence * animal shapes representation of whats going on in the flasks * unity of opposits - as above so below... cyclical processes * animals and colours from the essey - to show the stages of transformation * card game about personal transformation - tarot- randomness a-causality * we all create our own realities + there is synchronicity to link it to the events in you life + tarot * projecting charatceristics of ourselves on environment * tarot - reflection of your own reality * two events - psychic + physical - interlinked * acausal opening between events * scientifically -- why do we have the impression of causality? * jung synchronicity to explain acausality * natural randomness -- can cause divinity - * tarot in an alchemical context -- scientific context -- idea of progress - always a step away * tarot history * 15-18 ct -- game cards from egypt, islam, china --> linked with card games * 1420 in norhtern italy - from islamic culture * gypsies brought tarot from egypt * 'god and birds' * trumpf - game characters based on dante's cosmos * french - ignored the rules of the italian game * from the 19th ct it became a secret game * the church pursuing heretics- incorporating secret knowledge into a game * church - learning cosmology through game???????? what happened to it when it became as a secret game? * minor arcana - cards today from the 14th ct - made for an italian king * major arcana - where do the symbols come from? * 'ganzenbord' - numerology -- path through them -- dices to add randomness * game - players participate in the tarot + rpg --> synchronicity * rpg+tarot -> integrate it through personal transformation * need a certain belief into the system * corporeal/digital -- situated rpg * creation of new symbols? --> gnomic * 2 sides of cards - 1 with lina's drawings, one blank, for the players to fill in * 2 goals - 1 linear narrative, one personal transformation * 1 side - the character with a global goal, one with a less explicit which one * find the 'opposite' to unify with --- how do you find balance between your character and the opposites * people make their own stages by the connections that players make with the symbols * history of tarot * card games * myth of how the tarot came about - dante's cosmos * nummerology -- looking at 7 - moon, death, disease * about 100 different styles * how is the game built? - structure of the games + analyse the cards * game structure for the p~lot game * luminescent installation - with a game - you as a card/character are going on a path * responsive floor - the process of walking, physical game * go more back than 15th century - china, japan * playing cards * museum of games - in UK * 3d live games in physical spaces based on 2d cards * material research with small materials - linking with card-games * using printing techniques to print symbols and attributes with the cards in an rpg * material experiments - luminescence, conductivity, mechanical changes. === Community Wireless Networks (problems as paths towards solutions) === * cost effective self sufficient community wireless network connected to the internet * problems - power, internet connection * place where it is installed, units talking to other units - local * outside world - this is where we are, we are dangerous and have TCP IP * txOom - on the edge of the outside world * TCP IP protocol explanation..... with milk boxes and conveyor belts for wired networks * radio - good thing for getting info from one place to another * how to deal with reassembling info packets wirelessly * higher frequency - less distance, higher bandwidth and vice versa * well defined community within 100s of metres, with line of sight * trees and water are a big stopper to the wirelessly sent info * high frequency - txOom like - can go up to app 30km * another problem - transmitting data between the local village and the global centres from 100-2000km away * electricity and powering problem - solved by solar technology * most of it is photovoltaic - not very efficient -> 17% - research into increasing efficiency - spectrum of visible light Ga instead of Si - increased to 35% efficiency * other approaches - metal in liquid or gel suspension - problem with reducing chemicals - while the photovoltaic cells can stay out 'forever' * what technology do you want to put in place in these remote villages to aid the people + what are you going to do with these * different combinations of technologies to come to an optimal solution * antennas and lenghts... === Musings on Context === * reading on 'context' in the context of culture * social contexts - Club Med? what is the problem with it? * which context is interesting for us, and why is it new? * culture + cultural analysis Geertz - anthropology written 20-30years ago * thick and thin description in anthropology * thin - describing the action * thick - context, circumstances... * describing culture - seminal to use thick description * etnography - manuscript of shaped behaviour * culture is something public, because meaning is public, --> shared consensus * human behaviour happens in twitches * culture is not something symbolic, homogenous * culture - not a power, but is a context which can be thickly described * problem with cultural institutions - describe it thinly, which is a problem..? * common sense as a cultural system: * 2 extremes of culture: common sense and art --> negotiate the position in between (foam?) * we need to position ourselves in the continuum between the two? * innovation is not categorisable * problem with breaking out of the box === How to Survive being in exile through Flusser's communication theory (the FoAM story === Flusser: Writings, Minnesota University Press * prag-london-brazil-france-germany * communication theory * home, homelessness, what it means to be in exile * german Mcluhan * only now his stuff is translated in english * poetic, clear writing * creativity * difference between heim and wohnung * patriotism is a symptom of an aesthetic disease * heimat - a habit * very good quotes to be put in the twiki! * info structures * linear sequences diachronic * surface structurtes synchronic * spatial structures 3d synchronic * 2 codes: * discursive codes - sender - receiver -- transmission point a-b * dialogical - message oscillates between participants - synthetises during the dialog ---> emergent code ====Some notes on Metaphors==== * Material Metaphor: Katherine Hales: Writing Machines * Posthuman ... Cybernetic / Bad Literary Cryticism * writing machines * material metaphor - say describing TCP-IP protocol with milk cartons * --> grounded in the world * metonym-metaphore debate? * reading electronic texts - not taking the medium into account -> context ====foamfood /foamfest==== what is a symposium? * --> orgiastic debate * - victorian food banquets, instead of sexual acts * - homosexual conotations * - foam banquet by december ====HCI /User Testing==== * evaluating the tgarden system * txoom user testing * child play environments - instead of putting them into playgrounds, you put them into playSpaces like tgarden * research on play and play spaces * extract the heuristics of playspaces * psychology, play/learning, * --> unpredictable behaviour - materials that can be transformed in different ways * the environment should be changeable (sandcastles better than dead tree trunks) * free movement, spontaneity, flexibility * 'hypothetical constructs' that jehan read are too abstract - unable to test it * subject matter and subject testing - a very fuzzy research method * this week @ FoAM - made the subject matter is even fuzzyier * in HCI - u have to know your users - top down approach - building a user model before making a product * yahoo site design - middle out approach - top down + darwinian approach to selecting what works - everything that doesnt lead to a purchase - iterative process * design/design forecasting how do designers categorise people not for mentality groups --- send info.! * what is the goal of txoom? * effectiveness of responsive spaces * in artistic projects do we have to tailor things to the users or should we tailor for rupture? * difference in testing effectiveness of design products and artistic spaces * designing an experiment for just children: * people with given goals - with games * people without goals - without games * project should be done by may - she needs our input in the process