with additional resources:
- Flash In Japan: Brian Massumi on Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Amodal Suspension 2003
- Public Warning in the Networked Age: Open Standards to the Rescue? by Art Botterell and Ronja Addams-Moring March 2007
- Tele-Agency: Telematics, Telerobotics and the Art of Meaning by Edward A. Shanken 2000

The writings of Nicolas Bourriaud on the subject of Relational Form takes a broader look upon the structures of art in contemporary society. Bourriaud’s main focus is on the relationship between the artwork and the cultural space in which it was created. The cultural space that art now inhabits is so distant from a hundred years ago that it must be looked at with an entirely new set of understandings. It’s become more important now that ever before to understand that art is in a constant state of flux, and it is this environment of change which gives life and meaning to art.

Bourriaud focuses on the role of modernity in shaping the way we relate to society in contemporary times. While modernity had a teleological view of a utopian life, engineered through the great technological advances of the industrial revolution, contemporary society has abandoned this pursuit for a more realistic path. It’s understood now that we have inherited the history of our ancestors and instead of reengineering the world we live in, we attempt to improve our situation while slowly ameliorating our current social structures. Modern art attempted to present us with the world of the future, the ideological world of modernity, in a revolutionary movement. The art of today investigates the world as it is, and focusing on societies state of constant change.

In the article Bourriaud uses Michel de Certeau’s term tenant of culture to describe the role of the artist in contemporary society. The artist as a proponent for social understanding is a interesting concept. The artist has always been a cultural force, yet in modern times, culture has been appropriated by our capitalist system, so the artist is a different type agent within this system. Since culture is it’s own unstoppable force at this point, the artist is really just branching out of existing cultural spheres as opposed to crafting it’s own cultural niches. In the article “Tele-Agency: Telematics, Telerobotics and the Art of Meaning”, Edward A. Shanken discusses the interplay of technology with art practices. In reference to a 1978 report by Nora and Minc in regards to The Computrization of Society, he discusses how this great advancement of technology holds great potential in crafting our future society. They inferred that this technology will either bring way for greater freedoms, or facilitate greater control by ruling factions. This idea of freedom vs. control is addressed in Bourriauds analysis of art and urbanization of society. He goes onto explain that as we become less isolated and open up to the world, the artwork reflects that freedom. Art becomes less of a commodity and opens itself in a more free and experiential way. Art becomes less centralized around ideas of ownership and becomes a more decentralized area of exploration and investigation. This moves art closer to the ideal situation that Nora and Minc we’re reffering too, a “system of connections that will allow information and social organization to progress together.”

This libration of art, from an object, to an interconnected telematic experience has changed the fundemental relationship between the audience and the work. In Relational Form Bourriard explains:
“Unlike an object that is closed in on itself by the intervention of a style and a signature, presen-day art shows that form only exists in the encounter and in the dynamic relationship enjoyed by and artistic proposition with other formations, artistic or otherwise.”
Bourriard see’s this new relationship as a “collaborative elaboration of meaning”. He sees art becoming a sort of web in itself. It is no longer an autonomous being, it needs to be fully connected with the world around it. Looking at the work “Amodal Suspension” by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, this relationship becomes very apparent. In an article about the piece, Brian Massumi declares that it “makes visible the re-arising of reemergence of specifically human communication, in its first flush, ot flash, seen for what it is: a nonlinear crowd phenomenon”. Amodal Suspension is an interactive outdoor installation involving text messages and lights which act as visual carriers for the messages, as they travel from sender to receiver, touching on a number of different complexities within telematic communication. Massumi describes the interaction of the piece as “a visual analogue of human language, that reattaches language not only to a particular cultural evolution but also to the biosemiotic background from which it emerged”. He touches on the concepts of relational form, as he describes Lozano-Hemmer’s piece as a cultural evolution, reacting to a constant state of change, reaffirming Bourriard’s assertions on the role of the artist today. These characteristics in the piece emphasize the idea of a new mode of interaction with art, where the audience truely is a vehicle for meaning. Bourriard’s description of the audience in contemporary art can practically be applied directly to Amodal Suspension:

“This is the precise nature of contemporary art exhibition in the arena of representational commerce: it creates free arena, and time spans whose rhythm contrasts with those structuring everyday life, and it encourages an inter-human commerce that differs from the “communication zones” that are imposed upon us.”

At the heart of Lozano-Hemmer’s piece is this detachment from everyday social communications and opens up new ways of thinking about our existing social structures. As collaborative systems are being adopted in the exhibition of contemporary work, it becomes more than ever a fundamental element of modern art. Collaborative practices are now being adopted in other areas of art and design in a groundbreaking way.

In Art Botterell and Ronja Addams-Moring’s article Public Warning in the Network Age: Open Standards to the Rescue?, they go on to discuss the use of open-source warning systems for emergencies and hazards. While this discussion does not revolve around the art world, it poses a significant issue for design. Our current systems of warning revolve around centralized areas of broadcast, with each area of broadcast developing it’s own methods of warning. With the prevalence of the internet and mobile technology, there are open source initiatives that can unify the way we communicate warnings to the population. Botterell and Addams-Moring present some online use of wikis, blogs and websites dedicated solely for the communication of warning. These open technologies allow for easy implementation and access to tools of communcation. They make the poignant statement that natural disasters have no respect for borders, and thus our warning techniques should be open and free of borders. This universal attitude towards warning systems presents a design solution to a serious problem. They present the possibility that we can perhaps have international warnings, visual, auditory, that can be open standards compliant and be easily reproducible on a multitude of devices. This is a very real application of the technologies of the information age. We have potentially been underselling these technologies by simply focusing on new ways to watch tv and listen to music, when we could be exploring new ways of governing and learning.

In the investigation of the topic of networking, a theme kept creeping into my head. The idea of collaboration as means of deepening experience and meaning. This is the most powerful consequence of the information age. Having a system which enables extremely easy access to information, and at the same time creating new forms of rapid communication, creates enormous possibilities in furthering humanitarian pursuits. We choose to spend so much of this technology in finding new ways of entertaining us, while increasing the complexities of our daily lives. The world community is now in near perfect communication with one another, and with the masses connected, there should be nothing holding us back to begin to develop worldwide projects for the amelioration of human life. Taking for example the global project of the open source operating system Linux. It presents a great model to what an open source community can do. With the sharing of information and code, people around the globe have spent time making a computer platform that is 100% free and accessible to anyone. These sorts of projects are largely dismissed by north american government, while some european nations are beginning to adopt it at greater rates. With our capitalistic system degenerating our way of life, it could very well be a new open community of ideas and information that present new ways of living in the 21st century.

Lovejoy’s thesis for this chapter is delivered poignantly in its first paragraph: major changes in communications systems foster enormous shifts in societal connectivity.

She begins dissecting her argument in reference to ideas laid out in the 1930s in Walter Benjamin’s The Author as Producer, in which he suggests a transformation in the main function of artworks toward an emphasis on social function – Benjamin would propose the idea of spectator as collaborator.  He would urge artists to challenge the system and transform it, as opposed to simply supplying it.  Shying away from being overtly idealistic, he was also aware of the potential that technologies possess in regard to their ability to end up controlling us, and would stress among his ideas the possible dangers if artists were to create without fully understanding their role in the use of new technologies.  As art now begins to be distributed on the Internet, Lovejoy continues along Benjamin’s train of thought, asking us: can we control it?

Lovejoy claims that the participatory aspect of the Internet supplies the grounds for a communications revolution – a new kind of dialogic public space that holds great promise, though she does not shy away from admitting of the great challenges it simultaneously presents.  As its form lacks fixed entry points and narratives, Lovejoy understands how content and context, terms that have previously been so strictly defined (particularly in regard to the exhibition of artworks), have become entirely interchangeable characteristics.   As the interplay between form and dialogue has come to forge new unpredictability to the aesthetic territory in which artworks lie, what occurs is the allowance of dialogic imagination, where the work begins to pertain to an arena of consciousness and feeling that did not previously exist – shared authorship and social exchange.

As metaphors for networks or webs have come to be defined as the infrastructure in which telematic communication occurs, Lovejoy draws attention its non-confined, open-endedness, where previous conceptual systems based upon ideas of center, margin, hierarchy, and linearity are replaced.  She cites Roland Barthes’ From Work to Text, which suggests that “…knowledge no longer exists in fixed canons or texts with epistemological boundaries between disciplines but rather it exists as paths of inquiry seeking integration and meaning by passing through them without any precise limit or location…”  She continues by referencing Deleuze and Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus, in which they further Barthes’ claims, leaning toward an orientation for knowledge based upon the desire of chartering unforeseen directions.  Their ideas cater to those “…who have a certain taste for the unknown, for what is not already determined by history or society…”  She goes on to reference the work of Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz (exploiting the phenomenon of the power of communication technologies to be able to mix spaces or exchange spaces), making clear their goal of being able to “…experience new ways of collaboration and co-creation, with geography no longer a boundary…”

Lovejoy goes on to describe the potential that creative networking can possess to build links between communities previously unable to communicate with each other – to generate “…a more participatory culture in order to engage and stimulate the collective imagination…”  She makes note of the fact that interactive new media artworks travel with the viewer, providing greater potential for the creation of meaning.  The Internet, thus, becomes a form of collective social consciousness.

Though Lovejoy is certain that the Internet embodies a certain promise of democracy (ideally being available to anyone, anytime, anywhere), she is also aware of the issues it poses seeing as though it is inextricably linked to commercial and corporate influence – access is also a matter of filtration.  In regard to such issues, she poses some very interesting questions: Will there be cultural dominance and language dominance by those who have greater access to technology?  Will selected access to powerful technologies create elitism?  She suggests that it is the public’s responsibility to establish acceptable uses of the new technologies.  Otherwise, she claims, powerful monopolies will continue to determine what is fed into the cultural mainstream.

Lovejoy’s concluding thoughts return to Benjamin’s thesis: artists are vital to the development of the process of cultural response to the new technologies.  She finishes with a quote from Stephen Willats’ Art and Social Function:

“…the realization that all ‘art’ is dependent on society – dependant on relationships between people and not the sole product of any one person – is becoming increasingly important in the shaping of future culture…”

Johnson, See What Happens (from Emergence), 2001

Johnson speculates on they type of data the networks of the future will be transmitting.  Specifically, he references the development of Will Wright’s latest creation, The Sims Online, a game that allows players to collectively build cities as part of a massive network collaboration.  Every single citizen of these virtual worlds will be controlled by actual human beings, logged into the system from all around the world.

An early draft of the of the game displayed a neighborhood-creation system that seemed to Johnson to be straight out of the pages of Jane Jacobs – defined from the bottom up, and encouraging shorter blocks, livelier sidewalks, mixed-used zoning, and pedestrian-based transportation.

Contrary to popular speculation, Johnson does not see our newfound access to virtual cities on the computer screen abating our appetite for real-world city living.  Rather than delivering the deathblow to city living (finishing a forty-year process that had begun with the suburban flight of the postwar years), Johnson claims the digital revolution to have turned out to be a tremendous energizer for dense urban centers.  He understands that industries driven by ideas naturally gravitate toward physical centers of idea generation, that bright minds with shared interests still flock together, even when they have wireless modems and broadband in their living rooms.  He suggests that even in an age of instant data transmissions, that the old-style self-organizing city is today as vital and relevant as it has ever been.

Rowland, The Need to Communicate (from Spirit of the Web), 1999

Rowland begins with a history of the Greek alphabet – it was not invented until about 730 B.C.  He notes that through archeological evidence, it appeared rather suddenly, and was used from the beginning for what we now refer to as ‘literary purposes’ rather than for accounting, list keeping and other trade and business functions.

He discusses how until the coming of Greek writing, literacy was entirely elitist, and that as a communications technology, its failure to penetrate beyond the ranks of the professional would severely limit its impact on society at large.  Rowland compares the situation to the nascent days of personal computer communications, when only the highly skilled ‘computer whiz’ had the means and capacity to make use of the technology.

Rowland suggests that as the Greek alphabet disintermediated the notion of literacy, it would simultaneously provide for profound and unpredictable effects upon the civilization that would be forced to embrace it.  He claims that the alphabet would make possible the evolution of the detached intellectual state that makes possible the ability to philosophize and think abstractly – a shift that would make way for rational inquiry, inevitably leading to the scientific method.

Rowland understands that communications media are not neutral, but that they rather ‘colour’ or ‘shade’ the information they carry to greater or lesser degrees.  He states that they possess the inherent potential to shape the very consciousness of their users by their emphasis on a single sense or set of senses, to the outright exclusion of others.

Davis, Crossed Wires (from TechGnosis), 2004

Davis suggests that by their very nature, information and communication technologies (or ‘media’) are technocultural hybrids.  He argues that on one hand, they pertain to crafted, material mechanisms that are conceived, constructed, and exploited for gain, though, he continues, they are also animated by something that has nothing to do with matter or technique.  Davis feels that information technology, more than any other invention, transcends its status as a thing, simply due to its allowance for the incorporeal encoding and transmission of mind and meaning.

He feels that, in a sense, this hybridity reflects the age-old sibling rivalry between form and content .  He states that the “…material and technical structure of media impose formal constraints on communication, even as the immediacy of communication continues to challenge formal limitations as it crackles from mind to mind, pushing the envelope of intelligence, art, and information flow…”

Rowland also suggests that the new interfaces that have come to emerge between the self, the other, and the world beyond has forced media technologies to have no choice but to become part of this self, this other, and this new world.  They have come to form the foundation for what we now increasingly refer to as the ‘social construction of reality.’  He continues, claiming that by submitting ourselves to the robot of science, technology, and media culture, we will continually cut ourselves off from the richness of the soul and from the deeply nourishing networks of family, community, and the local hand.

Word Count: 1544

see comment for code

We’ve developed a proof of concept with the multi-touch surface, and with proper lighting the FTIR effect should be more than sufficient.

We’ve developed our conceptual framework around conciousness and the functional systems involved with it. We are interested in noise and the convergence of specific frequencies into a harmony, a signal, and thus a concious awareness of information.

We’ve investigated emmergence, and it’s peculiar ways of developing out of seemingly random number patterns. We see the potential of emmergant systems within a network of information and we understand that through visualization we can bring a new level of awareness to the relationships of data.

We are building this peice inside of networked space, requiring up to three locations, working in a symbiotic relationship. With each location having a complete dependency of the other to make it a successful peice.

So the question becomes, can we incorporate all these concepts into a coherent, intriguing and ultimately fulfilling experince?

Concerns that are unavoidable are as follows:

1) the multi-touch and it’s relationship to the other location’s lack of one.

2) making emmergence and conciousness work together, especially with data

3) the data itself, what are it’s characteristics and how can we use it to drive the peice.

4) the functionality of the multi-touch, will it help the concept, and will it work technically how we expect.

These problems can all be addressed, but we need to figure out how.

Tobin and I have discussed areas which are of interest and what type of production we would take on relating to the interests.

In partcular, we are interested in developing an atmosphere which is completely related to the concept of conciousness. The tension between noise and harmony, through multiple senses, light, sound, and potentially smell. Conciousness is thus reduced down to the idea that all we experience is through our senses, and the senses we share with one another contribute to our collective conciousness.

So with a willingness on the part of the group, we hope to focus on this aspect of conciouness and what it means in a sense of shared atmosphere.

Now if there are other elements that we choose to add, i think it’s totally open and we can develop this further.

One potential direction we might want to consider is to make two somewhat related but autonomous peices. Just to have a clearer focus on concept and not to try and complicate ideas.

Another potential is to find some way to build a second multi-touch like dave suggested, thus insuring a cohesive connection between the two locations.

So many ideas still yet to discuss, so we look forward to everyones input. In any case, Tobin and I are very interested in the idea of networked atmosphere and hope to incorporate that into the project.

Multi-touch user interface

Infra-red technologies

Carnivore Libraries

Processing - Blob Detection

Processing - Emergant systems

Processing - Networked midi

Pulse Sensing

Sound+visuals sharing data

Jeff Han

• Multi-touch Interaction Research
• Jeff Han introducing Multi-touch at TED

Mushron Zer-Aviv

• We Make Money Not Art interview
• Upgrade!

Reas - Processing

Global Conciousness Project

Binary theory/Quantum Theory

Interaction design

• John Maeda
• Shulze and Webb

Information Aesthetics

Emergent structures and behaviors

Virtual conciousness

nodes and their relationships in network space

visualizing networked space

data flexibility

Everyone watch this

www.shiffman.net/teaching

this looks intense…

• dnaLength - length of the dna() array in all chromosomes
• traitSize - current max. value in all values of chromosomes dna()
• poolSize - intitla number of random chromosomes genterated and added to gene-Pool() Vector Array

We can use these variables with the network data gathered by Carnivore to create our Gene-pools.

GA Library 

“We shouldn’t go overboard about the power of these techniques at the moment, but what you can be absolutely sure of is that these will continue to roll out and we will have more and more ability to probe people’s intentions, minds, background thoughts, hopes and emotions.“

Read the article here.

…poses some interesting questions, and may possibly contribute to further layers of meaning within our piece…

i. Source

• the theoretical framework of consciousness and existence, clearly represented via the manifestation of its virtual, interactive simulation

ii. Shared-Space

• the user’s experience is positioned in competition with a community of elements, translated among both real and virtual realms

iii. Shared-Time

• the virtualization becomes a sun (as metaphor), creating a unified autonomous focal point, exclusive of time

iv. Interval

• the immersive responsiveness of the experience develops the sense of enraptured influence, where no level of disengagement fully absolves your effect on the system

Which aspects of the Moist Manifesto would your project realize?

Deconstructs the information, retrieved from human presence, into a translated virtual consciousness, presenting the idea of virtual spirituality; interpreting the wet as dry in its origin.

What is the programme of your architecture? What behaviour is embedded, expected, encouraged?

Extracting, mapping and interacting with network-generated frequencies. The generated information manifests in three-dimensional virtual space as fractals, with levels of data being examined by the user. Awareness of the data frequencies is imposed upon the user, spawning new vehicles for enriched experiences.

What seeds are you planting? What are you growing?

The project stems from the idea that consciousness lives in the space of data frequencies, where noise is a constant and harmonies intentional. The experience of the user is predicated upon unintentional data retrieval, which becomes malleable as the user is enlightened to the networked consciousness. With the accumulation of individual and site-specific data characteristics, the system will create a third level of being, superceding the system itself. The initial engagement starts with the user, develops into the site, communicates with the network, and manifests as a representation of consciousness.

A reflection drawn from the present view on the evolution of science and the understanding of the human mind (consciousness). Playing with the ahistoric qualities therein – a constant human desire to understand what it is to ‘be,’ we will also be commenting on today’s perspective of technology and its effects on religion and spirituality.

NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS

A representation of the invisible glue that holds information together – the harmonization of existing versus new.

• randomness represented through some sort of lag
• information analyzed as frequencies
• static interpreted as ‘nothingness’
• the multi-dimensionality of the ‘consciousness’ (individual, site and network as a whole) emerges only upon interaction within the network

INPUT

Brainwaves (most likely a metaphorical representation thereof) influenced via emotional manipulation caused and effected via the state of the collective consciousness being monitored.

Individual ←→ Site ←→ Group

Direct and indirect experience – the viewer, even if not aware of their manipulation of the system, cannot escape the influence they will have upon it.

STRUCTURAL

• measuring EKG frequencies (metaphorical representation thereof)
• differentiating unified experiences from random ones
• tangible representations (individual) versus abstract representations (collective)

PERCEPTUAL

Individual consciousness expands into a collective consciousness.

• begins with 1 and 0
• square wave becomes sine wave (digital to analog)
• site becomes a ‘hive’ brought about via flash-mob mentality

input > arduino board > transmit > data > packets > sniffing > carnivore > processing > maxmsp > multimedia

Carnivore Download

Robert Nelson, using random number generators as a means of acquiring noise, shows how they form relationships with human conciousness.

We-Make-Money-Not-ART 

Let’s figure-out a way to do something about this  - the only way we know how….

Additions to the patch also include a counter which makes sure the video clips stay under a certain length

minor problems:

- the video only records every other time.

what direction to go in for tuesday:

1. set up some sort of delay on the alpha matrix.

2. accumulate more clips for fast cuts. Grabbing current news, uncovered stories (iraqi soldiers crushing mans car ect.), anything striving for “truth”

Patch code in comments 

• Sliders
• depending on light; CNN may have to be negative; so slider won’t work
• Fast Cuts
• you have to toggle the max & min for playback speed
• slider for randomness seems ineffective; set value @40 & toggle
• Mirror effect
• change variables… and then put them back; doesn’t work unless you do this
• jit.qt.record set write variable

Figure out how to:

• increment the new variable
• attach recordSWITCH to qt.record so that bangs affect write and stop
• manually target where qtmovie saves

view comment for code

Priorities:

1. finish documentation for live @ 11 ASAP
2. complete node implementation of mediaIdentity 8 days left
3. finish node documentation for Dec

Next week should focus purely on getting these things done.

EDIT: just tested! video slider sucessfully scrubs to motion!

the following has been addressed:

1. surveillance (jt.qt.record write mov)
2. audio panning affected by location of audience (jit.findbounds)
3. speed of video affected by motion (jit.qt.movie rate $1)

• Integrate/hide camera into physical piece
• Adding delay to interaction, surveillance (jt.qt.record jit.avc write *.mov)
• Converting alpha mask to motion detection vs. threshold (jit.op @op absdiff)
• Audio volume affected by amount of mass in the camera view (spigout~)
• Delay lag with audio, more fluidity (delay~ tapin~ tapout~)
• Competing audio, CNN news vs. Chomsky and Nader (peakamp~)
• Left and right audio panning affected by location of audience (jit.findbounds)
• Speed of the video is affected by amount of motion (jit.qt.movie rate $1 frame $1 rslider)

Link

1. here is an online form to start the process
2. this is the pdf form with all their requirements

We should even consider DJ/Visuals and throwing a party there one night!

Create a complex kinetic sculpture, through simple physical systems, no coding, simple electronics. Gives us a better understanding of construction, systems, and materials.

Springs, gears, pulleys, cranks, tubes, tanks, ect.

Move into interaction for second semiester.

for reference:

tim hawkinson

kinetic sculpture video

As senior vice-president of design at Apple, Jonathan Ive has combined what he describes as “fanatical care beyond the obvious stuff” with relentless experiments into new tools, materials and production processes, to design such ground-breaking products as the iMAC, iBook, the PowerBook G4 and the iPod MP3 player. He won the Design Museum’s first Designer of the Year prize for the 2002 iMac and iPod.

“Contemporary neuroscience suggests the existence of fundamental algorithms by which all sensory transduction is translated into an intrinsic, brain-specific code. Direct stimulation of these codes within the human temporal or limbic cortices by applied electromagnetic patterns may require energy levels which are within the range of both geomagnetic activity and contemporary communication networks. A process which is coupled to the narrow band of brain temperature could allow all normal human brains to be affected by a subharmonic whose frequency range at about 10 Hz would only vary by 0.1 Hz.”

An Invisible Information Highway

“Like physical light (energy) and elementary particles (mass), consciousness (information) enjoys a wave/particle duality that allows it to circumvent and penetrate barriers and to resonate with other consciousnesses and with appropriate aspects of the environment. Thereby it can both acquire and insert information, both objective and subjective, from and to its resonant partners.”

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research

• the observers then, take on the role of the meditative mind; they way meditation allows you to examine your thoughts from an alternative perspective; so does the piece.
• the bubble making is the analog of the body/mind and encode/perceive duality
• we fill the tanks 70% (thanks Peter) to represent the amount of water constituting the human body.

1. physical tank (aquarium?); “wall of water”
2. micro controller, motor: valve, BASIC, WiFi
3. teleNetworks, Max/Jitter, RSS, XML

Convergence; manifestation

• effervescent Consciousness ver. 0.2

Apps:

• flashserver universal binary
• NADA - flash

Bubble Walls!!  

Building an interactive sculpture involving a large water tank with multiple valves which produce bubbles+light.

The valves would be activated by external controls, and as we bring our node project into the realm of interconnectivity, we will deploy RSS and XML sockets to then control the output of the bubbles from the valve.

This is worth 10% of our final mark!

• schedule
• instructions 
• evaluation

Download here.

Vidvox recently posted a beta of Grid Pro as a Universal Binary application. Its been completely re-written from scratch and isn’t based off a large Max/MSP patch, but rather Core Image filters.

DBV Static is an open source VJ app made in Max/MSP/Jitter from Satoshi Horii. Its pretty basic in functionality, but does what it does really well, and the UI is beautiful.

The first question that needs to be addressed is what we want the documention to communicate. We want to make the themes to be self-evident insofar that they capture the essence of the physical installation. The installation manifests a strong relationship to the individual that is analagous in giving the user a sense of control within the documentation itself.

The DVD will present an alternative viewing experience by combining video footage and overlay menus. The viewer will be able to access infromation at will via semi-transparent buttons overlayed ontop of recorded footage of the piece in it’s interactive environment. The controls will allow a viewer to experience the quiessence of the installation, while  accessing deeper levels of meaning through the links.

Categories:

• Conceptual; Body Politic
• Functional; practical integration
• Experience; user response/interaction
• Epilogue; conclsuive narrative

The ISO will be available via download from a Flash Media site and will include the documentation in its entirety. The Flash site however, will be a more general overview rather than a meticulous interactive document.

Next gen performance art.

This article has images of the suit that is modeled on the human skeletal form using rotational joint sensors. It plugs into a MIDI interface and arm movements are converted into a real-time stream of MIDI data. The mapping interface eXo-software allows the user to define how the movements are translated into MIDI control.

Software included with the suit lets the user control any MIDI-enabled program including Cubase, Live, Logic Audio, ProTools, MotionBuilder, Reason, Traktor DJ Studio and any VST instrument or effect.

Check out their VJing programs.

Visit Flight404.com.

Today in class we attempted to map the waveform form our synth onto the audio coming form our video footage. We want to use the sythn’s waveform to distort our CNN soundscape.

• We first attempted to use the SnapShot object to take slices from our synth and convert the waveform slices into useable values; this was unsuccesfull (although Steve’s version worked on his system).
• After searching cycling74, we think that jit.catch~ object is exactly what we need, but for some reason it is not on any of the systems in the lab - it may be that we do not have the latest version.
• We then found the spigout~ object; that basically extracts the audio from a clip.
• all we need to do then (thanks to Steve) is use an addidtion statement to merge the two waveforms together.
• however, we could not get spigout~ to work.

What’s next?

• Perhaps we should make another post to the cycling74 forum, and ask some questions about our patch - like why spigout~ is not working
• still need to add jit.tap.delay~ to our patch
• get our hands on that video adapter
• test on location
• discuss our documentation

visit Instructables

my username is adepape for anyone that cares.

link [via] We-Make-Money-Not-Art.com

• Save files as text not max bin using save as from within max
• The reason for this is patches scramble over the net

“A car crash between two vehicles traveling at extraordinary speeds that takes four years to happen. In one car are internationally recognised computer scientists able to teach programming and control of visual media. In the other are artists, musicians, theorists and designers who are determined to reinvent how art, language and human beings are represented in the 21st century. Miraculously everyone walks away from the crash unscarred, and from the wreckage emerges a software artist able to operate at an exceptionally creative level in both corporate and cultural industries.” • Ruairi Glynn

Any suggestions?

• http://www.artificialeyes.tv/vip

This is valuable. An entire Max MSP objects directory! Say goodbye to random google searches.

• http://www.maxobjects.com/

Max patch is available here.

Quicktime of it working live in Tokyo!

The Virtual Environment layout is simple and the addition of extra effect plug-ins is simple, so too is adding multiple individuals. The ease of control over adding instruments on an extra level of collaboration is multifaceted.

The potential to create new and more believable audio/visual syntaxes is interesting as it has applications not just in collaboration but as part of VJing. If the visual language can relate faithfully to live audio then the audience will be absorbed further into a whole multimedia performance.

• C.L.A.V.E. performance in virtual & physical space for VJs
• download C.L.A.V.E. patch for Max/MSP Jitter

It addresses relationships between unique media sources to create meaning and achieve a sense of identity:

1. webcam capture as alpha source
2. read single movie clip
3. read multiple clips from a media folder
4. blends clips together based on webcam alphablend
5. cuts between multiple clips occur at pace of user interaction
6. sound is generated and filtered through a vocodor
7. overall sound texture mimics tv static with a bassline

Codename “Fuzz”

mediaIdentity patch is now available as back tracked versions:

• version 4
• version 5
• version 6: with fast cuts
• version 7: integrated sound

Our Media Identity patch is now into a stage of sophistication. We are getting ready to implement interactive video elements, controlled by sound.

Here is version 2 of the patch, in progess.

The ideas of Rhea’s process are focused on consumer centered rhetoric. The context of his development stages are largely attributed to fulfilling a need for theoretical guidance. It is evident that, although creativity is a largely indefinable headspace, there are various empirical nomenclature involved in its process. In determining the necessities of a growing, technocratic zeitgeist, Research Design becomes an inescapable methodology that demands attention. By defining the necessary spheres of design communication, Rhea is fundamentally identifying a largely team-oriented approach which will lead to successful implementation of products that have an impacting presence in a market place. 

Shedroff • Taxonomies

Shedroff is concerned with knowing his audience. By achieving a closer relationship with them, he believes designers can create interfaces that will make consumers happy and successful. His first method deconstructs problems into categories as way of dissecting the underlying components from which they extend. Conversely, he believes that universal human values will become more evident through analysis of such taxonomies. His secondary method involves the use the psycho analytic surveyance of dreams.  The interpretation of these dreams as manifestations of human experience are essential in enhancing  our understanding of social design. His final methods deals with the emotional space created by games. In observing such situations, the emotional communication of those involved becomes closely related with the product or service or involved. As a result, their responses have a direct effect on development.

Hayles • Virtuality

The concept Hayles is imparting is defined by symbiotic dialectics. The terms involved, which she agues argues are mutually constitutive, are evidence of information moving through media channels. By creating an object of a specific class through instantiation, information is allowed to exist through the linkage of interconnected vessels carrying flowing data. By acknowledging that information travels as a dialectic process, i.e. information/matter, signal/non-signal, information/noise, Hayles is addressing the state of information that is currently available. Interface design as means to virtualized information becomes a catalyst for integrating technology as a part of our physiologies, e.g. cyborgs, By augmenting the possibilities of communication, human experience has evolved into an arena that exists parallel to virtual topographies.

 (will complete by Monday night)

Lunenfeld • The Design Cluster

research as contextual process of design 
design research uses its own media to investigate
deep design - styling 
not only theory and practice - purpose

Laurel • Muscular Design
human centred design
context is defined by transmedia
relationship between buyer and seller increasing
distributed media systems have non-linear growth

LIST OF MATERIALS

• webcam (with extended firewire)
• omni-directional microphone(s)
• computer
• video/sound files
• television set
• intermediary connection (to get video signal to display on tv)
• couch
• rug
• light(s)

CONCEPT OVERVIEW

• the television, couch and rug are at the top of the Image Arts stairwell (third floor) along the North wall with the television placed in front of the door on the right facing East, and the couch against the East wall facing West
• the computer, running our required programs, will be hidden behind the first door to the right as you enter the third floor (hopefully)
• the tv, by default, will be playing video footage of a ‘live’ news broadcast (something recent) with its audio being clearly heard from the speakers on the tv
• a webcam is placed on top of the tv, facing the couch, programmed to pick up only what is moving in its frame
• when ‘users’ sit on the couch, facing the tv, their webcam image(s) will appear on the screen (merely overlapping the live broadcast in places where motion is being detected) and will be ‘coloured in’ with video footage of old news broadcasts of relative importance
• the movements of the users’ webcam images will be heard from the speakers on the tv in the form of static, or a basic effect similar in nature, that will be triggered (and will thus correspond to) whatever movements are being made by the user(s)
• the actual sounds of the space, being picked up by the omni-directional microphone(s), will determine the pace at which the old news broadcasts are cut together

• a webcam grab
• two source videos (classic tv news, cnn broadcast)
• alphabends them together based webcam motion
• audio distortions occur based on evaluation of pixels

I think awareness of this classical device influences new media perspectives.

• max/msp and other sound type applications + resources

http://www.apparat.net 

• musician with some max/msp patches

The file is infact gone, erased and is now a skeleton of what it once was, same size and place.

This object could be the basis for an interesting piece @ some fn gigs. See recipie 33, also check out 34.

• Using frame-differencing to detect movement
• Using video sensing to control sound synthesis

http://www.medialabeurope.org/research/group.php?id=7

Click HERE for the pdf.

THE KORSAKOW SYSTEM

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.matrix

• mass media vs. individual control manifest as abstraction
• revealing illusion created by audio/video through interaction
• audio as an abstraction/distortion of video

ryan: Question that needs to be addressed:

• Do we want to make this purley an abstraction, or do we want to contextulaize it solidly?
• If we dedicde to distort live TV content, then what specific content to do we to critique? CNN would be an option; the Media CONglomerates; specifically - recall Innis’ lecture - that media promotes anti-history: current events seem to have no context within history. They do this in order to keep us under control.
• How do we then reveal the “illusion created by audio/visual interaction”. Can we establish a concrete understanding of what that relationship is specifically? Then how do we exploit this knowledge?

http://laco.wz.cz/tween/swf/showswf.php?swf=sofakeengine&w=500&h=500

here it is in action! the variables are far and few between, but I think coupled with an sfplay.audio in algorithim, or reWired to Reason/Ableton/Cubase this could very well distort video space.

http://itp.nyu.edu/~dbo3/SerialServer/SerialServer.html

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.scanslide

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.sprinkle

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.repos

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.shade

use the x,y from find.bounds to move the particle generator. use shiva as a mask on top of some crazy video.

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.p.shiva
http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.findbounds

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.argb2ayuv

http://cycling74.com/documentation/jit.bsort

We found a set of plug-in patches for Jitter called Tap. Tools by Electro Tap that we can use to delay the video. We had probelms unzipping the files, and did not get around to using them

Browsing some posts on cycling74 we found that someone has asked a similar question that make out us in the right direction: “Is it possible to route the output of scope into jit.gl.render. I’d like the audio waveform to be used as a texture with jit.gl.render?” the reply: “you could use jit.desktop to record the output of scope into a jit.matrix … and render that matrix as a texture.”

The project “Transverser,” an interactive computer installation, is based on the principle of chrono photography.

http://www.ntticc.or.jp/Archive/1999/Bauhaus/Works/transverser_e.html

http://www.earstudio.com/projects/listeningpost.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/04/teleportation.reut

PSD2FLA: http://newmedia.visualthesis.com/psd2fla.zip

Green’s Java book: http://newmedia.visualthesis.com/introtojava.chm

Processing: http://processing.org/download/

Web developement resource: http://www.protolize.org/

Lynda.com tutorials: http://torrentspy.com/search?query=lynda.com

Other interactive mirrors by Daniel Rozin: http://www.smoothware.com/danny/

Trinity Bellwoods Nuit Blanche Pool Photos

In retrospect, I think this article really sets the tone for the rest of the readings. It gets straight to the point by dissolving the common misconceptions about design as well as the role of the designer. Although design has historically been associated with the back-end stages of development; styling, branding, advertising, etc. Designers have had the task recycling the trash form the disposal of reaction to the necessity of the manufacturing of persuasion and desire. This necessity arises since the products we are generally sold are things we don’t need.

Laurel also establishes what I think can be considered the thesis of the volume. That the emergent paradigm in design has resulted in an inversion of the development process; placing design - a design method based on research - at the front-end.
She also establishes the context within which designers must operate. It is a kind of paradox. While the velocity and abundance of information are exhibiting non-linear growth into an over-arching realm of transmedia. (A realm that again, where research requires knowledge drawn from on a multi-disciplinary pool of resources.) Yet the source of this abundance of information is becoming centralized by an elite minority - the trans-national corporation.

The role of the designer is to use research to inform the development of design, enabling the product to speak for itself, allowing “branding and marketing to move toward honest communication and away form persuasion and desire”. Human-centered design encompasses a set of methods that allows a designer to break-free from the status-quo and be truly innovative.

The Design Cluster

Upon reading Serges Gagnon’s definition of design as “the cultural appropriation of technology”, a thought immediately came to mind. It has to do with New Media and what it is. So to ask the question, What is New Media? Is to ask another; how does information propagate in a age a mechanical reproduction? More precisely perhaps - as the attempt to understand how information is propagated in an age of technological/virtual re-production. Anyway…back to the article.

For Lunenfeld, design research is “a method of investigation that sides with finding out rather than finding the already known”. Design research is a method that allows the designer to escape from safe solutions that “always work”. This is the only way innovation can thrive. When you free yourself from the confines of the status-quo, you are able to act like a chameleon, as Lunenfeld suggests. I think the term “renaissance man/woman” is more fitting. A successful designer must have knowledge of multiple disciplines, as different clients will all require a re-working of perspective.This re-thinking is necessary, as POV and perception go hand in hand, establishing the proper POV will allow for the proper contextual analysis of an organizations development strategy, for example. Design research affords the designer with the tools the merge synchronistically with the “’moment’ defined by pluralism and enlivened by serendipity. This goes had in hand with the way I work; I try an immerse myself in the process of creation rather than pre-determine what I think I want to create and end up recycling old solutions.

Another interesting idea is the subjectivity of design as opposed to the objectivity of the scientific method. Design solutions are heavily dependent on local sociological and cultural context thats define how the public may interact/perceive a given design solution - Koolhaas’ “the global YES” for example. A “Renaissance” attitude can allow a designer to hone their sensitivity to social contexts as well as deepen the pool of resources at their disposal. A multi-discipline awareness - discussed by Nissani - allows a designer to see relationships between variables that are able to cross-cut heretical/narrative structures with have commonly defined our interaction with information.

This article reinforces and builds upon many of the sentiments expressed in the article by Lisa Grocott. Rhea rejects the idea that a predictable process with the intention of innovation is untenable. The fact the business community uses the term “fuzzy front end” to describe the corporate strategy of development reveals that conglomerate perceive the process of creation as nebulous and random. Such an understanding asses any real innovation as a “high risk” enterprise; this is not surprising considering the circumstances. The tools of Design Research however, allow designer to actively drive and organizations innovations by designing a research based methodology to define the creative/innovative process.

This method of research is designed for discovery rather than tracking tracking existing conditions and assumptions. By being pro-active, rather than simply reacting like automatons can lead to truly innovative ideas. For example, many traditional sources of inspiration for corporations have been streamline production - maximizing efficiency in hopes of attaining economies of scale to maximize profit. Consequently, technology has been a common source on inspiration, thus ideas are generated in response to technology.

Thinking must diverge at the outset and begin with market based research assessed in such a way as to promote a holistic impression of the business and thus hypothesize about where potentials may exist. Divergent thinking promotes discovery through observation, the establishment of a POV - a way of communicating the context, and the identification of opportunities. Once this foundation has been established, the process can begin to converge upon a final framework that will establish the eventual development of a working prototype.

Bringing Clarity to the “Fuzzy Front End”

This article reinforces and builds upon many of the sentiments expressed in the article by Lisa Grocott. Rhea rejects the idea that a predictable process with the intention of innovation is untenable. The fact the business community uses the term “fuzzy front end” to describe the corporate strategy of development reveals that conglomerate perceive the process of creation as nebulous and random. Such an understanding asses any real innovation as a “high risk” enterprise; this is not surprising considering the circumstances. The tools of Design Research however, allow designer to actively drive and organizations innovations by designing a research based methodology to define the creative/innovative process.

This method of research is designed for discovery rather than tracking tracking existing conditions and assumptions. By being pro-active, rather than simply reacting like automatons can lead to truly innovative ideas. For example, many traditional sources of inspiration for corporations have been streamline production - maximizing efficiency in hopes of attaining economies of scale to maximize profit. Consequently, technology has been a common source on inspiration, thus ideas are generated in response to technology.

Thinking must diverge at the outset and begin with market based research assessed in such a way as to promote a holistic impression of the business and thus hypothesize about where potentials may exist. Divergent thinking promotes discovery through observation, the establishment of a POV - a way of communicating the context, and the identification of opportunities. Once this foundation has been established, the process can begin to converge upon a final framework that will establish the eventual development of a working prototype.

Speculation, Serendipity and Studio Anybody

As a designer, the process itself is of primary importance. I have always felt a sense of detachment form my work. Whenever I brainstorm, I always begin by falling into a state of mind that can allow for the free-flow of information and ideas. I strive to allow my work to create itself.

“…the sense of being which in calm hours arises, we know not how, in the soul, is not diverse from things, from space, from light, from time, from man, but one with them and proceeds obviously from the same source…. Here is the fountain of action and of thought…. We lie in the lap of immense intelligence.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nissani’s discourse on the depth and potential of Interdisiplinarity covers in large part the greater need for this theory to be put into practice. The problems that conventional knowledge and skill building have, due to their over specialized focus, have lead to resist many progressive social advances. The strength of Interdiciplinarity comes with the ability to attack a number of problems with a greater background of experiences and research, the type of knowledge and skill base that may not be developed withing a more scrutinizing specialization. It was a concern that we are overwhelmed with too much information and resources now that it becomes nearly impossible to develop skills in more than one discipline, yet we are becoming more and more in need to interdisiplinary approaches to many problems.

The article makes a strong point in indicating the complexity of the problems we are faced with today, and that with the complex nature of these issues we need to have a complex understanding on how society and the world functions. In many cases our specialized areas are built on foundations filled with problems, and yet we continue to develop and become more sophisticated in these areas without addressing core fundemental problems. The goal of interdisciplinarity is to take a collective of problem solving techiniques from a multitude of feilds and combine them to attack these complex fundemental issues.

In many instances the need for interdiciplinarity is growing, and the gaps between disciplines are becoming larger and need filling. Nissani made the connection between creative advances and the convergance of disciplines, explaining that new ideas are often formed through the clash of 2 previously unrelated knowledge bases. This concept can be seen in practice in a number of real life industries. At the moment web/application design is seeing the convergance of modernist ideoligies with advanced programing to create efficient, simple and usable programs. As a student within multimedia this sort of approach to art and design is very akin to my process, and without the convergance of a multitude of concepts or ideas, I would seriously doubt the advances we can make within the feild.

Now that we can do anything, Mau + Leonard

We are in a position as a advanced society to design nearly every aspect of living, and through problem solving [via design] we are able to solve many complex issues that we’ve never really seen as design problems. This overwhelming power that design enables us to understand the potential of our lifestyles, and the point Mau and Leonard are trying to make is that we are able to implement these design strategies today, and that the movement of techonology and culture can play a siginicant role in addressing these issues. The article puts focus on the interconnected nature of design today, and that design is no longer isolated to individual peices but is connected in the fabric of society.
With the exhibition Massive Change, they have invesitgated the design solutions found around the world, emphasizing the importance of global design and the fact that technology and design has already enabled us to develop world altering change and that this is a collaborative effort, worldwide and multifacited.

Enabling Design - Donahue, Sean

The anatomy of design is what Donahue is writing about in this article. In the article he addresses what he sees as the fundemental problem with vision impared which is the lack of braille litteracy among the impared. He realised that vision impairment was not onnly the blind but in large part low-vision subjects.The expanded scope of inquiry which was implemented enabled the understanding of the multiple facets that are often in complex design problems. He goes to say “Designers’ ability to interpret and identify comple relationship between perception, representation, form, function and utility provide them the unique ability to transition from micro to macro, understanding how the multiple facets of their subjects’ lives converge in the whole person.” The quote speaks volumes on the complex nature of design, and how to focus it to meet the needs of your subject. Immersion into the subjects lives proved to further develop the design process, allowing to indentify and extract key issuses within everyday use by being observant and integrated into the subjects life. Design prototypes were the next step, enabling external alternative advances in the process to see what fails and what succeeds. The hybrid design solution involving both braile, text and image effectively addressed a number of complex issues and combined them into an output that could address a number of needs at the same time.

The Design Cluster - Lunenfeld, Peter

The area of design research is possibly the most complex and integral part to design as a hole. The Design Cluster represents the group of investigation which tackles problem solving through the means of design, and as Lunenfeld says “In the Design Cluster, pluralism and serendipity define ways of thinking by with and through the idea of design research.” Design reseach is an integral part in redefining design both in role and in sensebility. Design research is implemented in a number of ways, as Frayling puts it, research into design, research through design and research for design. These all take the concepts of design and investigates different ways of applying the concept through research. The new territory that design research is now experiencing is designs relationship to technology and more importantly the individuals access to the powers of technology.
Design often falls too close to styling and so it becomes very important to develop poignant research around design, and putting design in a larger scope, translating it into general theories and concepts.
Design research unlike scientific research takes us into the realm of sensitivity as opposed to quantitative measurements. Design needs to be aware of the circumstances which surround, and has to be agile enough to adapt and develop properly within a complex web of parameters.
It’s very evident that to achieve smart design you need to research it, much like an essay. The profound effects that design research brings inevitably help change the design world and moves the industry forward.

The article begins with an extremely poignant quote, taken from Toynbee’s A Study of History, which suggests that the twentieth century will be mainly remembered for its assumption that the undertaking of the welfare of the entire planet could be a feasible objective. It continues to dissect Toynbee’s thesis, that the cycle of rise and decline among civilizations is not an inevitable one, and that our ability to live up to challenges presented by our world is what determines our well being. Mau and Leonard contend that in today’s world, as innovation itself has begun to generate profound challenges in both the human and environmental realms, we may still find hope in the opportunities currently being fostered along the edges of culture and technology. Their project, Massive Change, is an attempt to chart the terrain currently attempting to cultivate a new, optimistic view of the future.

They state that design has evolved from a position of or relative insignificance to become the biggest project in the world today. They acknowledge that every aspect of human life has fallen into the hands of design, and that it is necessary for the responsibilities emerging from this power to encourage widespread concern and involvement. Their development of a research strategy that approaches design as an integrated system of movement economies, as opposed to relying on the traditions inherent to mere product or graphic designs, allows for a process of interconnected thinking across disciplines to take place. Design, then, becomes distributed, plural and collaborative; the global commons become an integral role in the process of design. This becomes an area of great concern, as we must accept the consequences of our own imaginations. As well, Mau and Leonard state that as this ‘future’ of global design is a fundamentally collaborative one, ubiquitous involvement is necessary and censorship must be forbidden. Massive Change may be regarded as utopian and futuristic at first glance, but Mau and Leonard stress that it is already happening, and that it is by no means too late to become a part of it.

This article, as well as the Massive Change exhibit itself (AGO, 2005), would be extremely inspiring to me in the empowerment it has allowed me to feel in the way I can ‘design’ my own existence to hopefully contribute to the greater good of the planet. My friends (and collaborative work force) and I would even develop a project proposal centered on harnessing wasted energy using materials and strategies that already exist, that would no doubt be inspired by the ideas presented by Mau and Leonard.

Lunenfeld, The Design Cluster, 2003

Peter Lunenfeld claims that we all live in the Design Cluster - a vast space in which the diversity of inputs and outputs to contemporary design are seemingly limitless. He believes that the notion of design as a problem-solving discipline, as defined in the 1970s, has morphed into more recent notions such as design as the cultural appropriation of technology, with the explosion of ‘personal’ designs that would emerge in the 1980s and 90s. He describes a new form called ‘design research,’ defining it as a place where theory and practice are fused, and where the aim is to ‘find out’ rather than simply regurgitate what has already been found. Design research moves away from ‘mere styling’ to contributing to the manifestation of every aspect of a product. The most recent attempts to define design research separate it into three categories/stages: the historical and aesthetic studies of art and design (research into design), project-based/material research and development (research through design) and finally creating objects and systems to hopefully prove the worth of the research (research for design).

Lunenfeld goes on to suggest that the impact of the more recent digital technologies on design require even newer categories or stages of design to be considered. He also states that the democratization of computer technology has brought about a much denser population among the design cluster, and that it is important for these new ‘designers’ to be educated in the ways of past generations who had to forge innovation without the opportunities provided by these new, convenient tools. Connecting the dots of historical practice allows for history, theory and criticism to become completely practical even in non-academic situations. He continues, advocating that it is also important to think of design as research – to use the very media of the design itself to perform further investigation. He believes that very often it is a particular context or moment in time that allows design research to actually resonate with the product’s market, rather than to be forgotten or ignored.

Design research can be described as a branch of ‘applied’ research, rather than one of ‘pure’ research. As information has become so interconnected and far-reaching, what to research has become a research issue of its own. Design does not have to be limited to the serving of business, but should be thought of as a means to improve every aspect of the world (including human life). It is not merely about theory and practice, but also about purpose. Citizens must become accustomed to ‘uploading’ as well as ‘downloading.’

I enjoyed this article for its insight into how vital the notion of design really is in regard to every single step in the development of things. It has made me realize how important it is to consider the overall context of every single element whatever it is being developed, and to ‘design’ each element accordingly. It is amazing to think about the possibilities one could uncover when every stage of production is so meticulously thought out.

Canaan, Research to Fuel the Creative Process, 2003

In this article, Canaan argues that computers have revolutionized the design industry in a way that has rendered designers unable to rely strictly on creative capabilities as the sole means to a successful career. They must now make an effort to understand the implications of creativity on business at every level. Design firms are beginning to shift from mere ‘studios’ to full on ‘consultancies.’ Designers must now be able to understand how a product will influence a consumer’s behaviour, requiring a sufficient amount of design ‘research.’ Canaan believes that individual reactions (as opposed to group opinion gathering) are the most beneficial in comparing the specific behavioural characteristics of a product.

Canaan understands that the notion of ‘creativity’ is enormously misunderstood. Contrary to the popular belief of it being a mystical talent that one will randomly inherent at birth, he suggests that tapping into creative resources is a process that can be learned by anyone through adequate research into how these creative traits can be supported. He admits that to most, this seems like a daunting task, as we all fall victim to lifelong training that discourages the use of creative abilities. He defines creativity simply as an attitude – a willingness to make new associations from unrelated elements. He stresses that relating one’s subconscious memories to a given problem in order to develop new and unique input strategies is what fosters creative thinking. Thus, he contends that everyone is given equal opportunity to develop creative ideas, as we all begin with an entirely unique set of personal life experiences to draw from. As it is difficult for many to access their subconscious on demand, Canaan suggests that anxiety provides a consistent means to stimulate creative thinking. This explains the unconventional, unruly and unpredictable work habits commonly seen among ‘creatives’ that is casually tolerated by the ‘suits.’ He also believes that creative cultures may only flourish once the support of ‘failure’ ideas are as openly accepted as successes. He claims that the best creative outcomes will derive when a broad range of ideas are explored, not just the ‘right’ one. Canaan’s final piece of advice is that it is important for a team of creative thinkers to be given adequate time away from a project (requiring additional patience and confidence from their ‘superiors’) so that additional reflection may allow for the development of ‘breakthrough ideas.’

This article should be of inspiration to anyone interested in following creative pursuits. It offers many strategies, as well as a level confidence, that will no doubt help in fueling the creative process among any working group. It has definitely affected the way I approach group discussions, as well as the way I react to idea input in general.

Grocott, Speculation, Serendipity and Studio Anybody, 2003

The article begins with Grocott admitting to have developed immense professional dissatisfaction after having learned that the commercial design profession was only fractionally about designing (creative speculation, contemplation and refinement to achieve truly innovative solutions) and more about formulaic, simplistic inventions. She does not accept the rationale that positions academic speculation in opposition to professional application. She and five equal partners would develop Studio Anybody, a design consultancy that focuses on research through design as a method to foster innovation while maintaining exciting work strategies. The aim would be to accommodate discovery-led research processes to ‘naturalize’ the gap between speculative research and commercial activity. They insist to not rely on formally approved decisions, and to not limit a design to something familiar and that is assured to work, while still listening to and considering a client’s comments. The main obstacle would be to learn to sustain the designer’s creativity while engaging the client’s audience.

I found this article extremely interesting in its drive to renegotiate the relationship between designer and client. It is obvious that in order for interesting designs to continue to be created, more interesting design practices need to be initiated. It is also necessary for mutual respect and trust to exist between designers and clients to ensure that clients are aware and in approval of the decisions being made, while simultaneously providing the designer with the freedom to take whatever steps and whatever time is necessary to realize the full potential of their creations.

I find this article particularly inspiring as it gives me the confidence to assume that the freedom I have enjoyed in creating design solutions for school projects will hopefully extend to and be encouraged within my professional career.

Nissani, Ten Cheers for Interdisciplinarity, 1997

Nissani claims that the nineteenth century would see the notion of intellectual and artistic ‘specialization’ replacing the idea of the Renaissance Scholar. Some assert this to be the result of a long process of division between intellectuals and physical scientists that has slowly overwhelmed the West and has even transformed into multitude of cultures, with each one resisting any form of permeation from another. Others have suggested that to prevent specialization ‘narrow-mindedness,’ we need to reconceptualize the very notion of specialization to accommodate for links among numerous specializations to be explored as opposed to dismissed. Nissani accepts that specialization is here to stay, but suggests that new forms of interdisciplinarity are continually becoming possible and should be encouraged. The essay focuses on the need for interdisciplinary knowledge (the familiarity with components of more than one discipline) and research (the development of new knowledge, activities and expressions when components of more than one discipline are combined) in typical academic settings.

Nissani goes on to explain that many observers have defined the ‘creative moment’ as the clashing point between two unrelated elements or disciplines. He contends that ‘immigrants’ (outsiders to a particular discipline) can offer fresh insights and methodologies that an ‘over-trained’ practitioner (incapacitated from learning new ways) may never even consider. Such oversights remain ubiquitous among works of the highest quality and are defined by many as common elements to the scholarly condition that continues to hinder us today. He quotes Marx, explaining how experts tend to ignore the contextual complexity of what they are researching, offering scopes that are limited and erroneous by nature. History has proved to be an ongoing race between education and catastrophe and a central dynamic to this problem has been (and continues to be) the confusion of disciplinary knowledge as wisdom. The fragmentation of disciplines keeps us blissfully unaware of the repercussions of our ignorance. Nissani believes that a successful community of scholars, rather than worrying solely on achieving ‘disciplinary’ depth, must accept specialists, generalists, diversity and interconnections as equal contributors to the process we call progress.

As a new media practitioner, I found this article interesting and extremely important. I feel as though I am being ‘trained’ in a way that Nissani deems vital to the healthy progression of human life, and that is very inspiring. The essay also restores the fact it is important to be open to the opinions and ideas of others, and to never assume that a finite solution will exist in any situation.