Looking Out.: Ayo, Sept. 2nd

Six-Forty By Four-Eighty

Creators: Jamie Ziegelbaum and Marcelo Coelho for the Design Miami/ Basel 2010 W Hotels Designer of the Future Award.
Link:: Six-Forty By Four-Eighty
Fields: Interactive Art, Design, Technology
Description: Six-Forty by Four-Eighty is an interactive lighting installation composed of an array of magnetic, physical pixels. Individually, pixel-tiles change their color in response to touch and communicate their state to each other by using a person's body as the conduit for information. When grouped together, the pixel-tiles create patterns and animations that can serve as a tool for customizing our physical spaces. By transposing the pixel from the confines of the screen and into the physical world, focus is drawn to the materiality of computation and new forms for design emerge.
Technology:
Personal Area Networks by T.G. Zimmerman: by capacitively coupling picoamp currents through the human body, digital information can be exchanged.
Drawdio by Jay Silver: allows people to draw resistive networks with a paintbrush, and modulate a sound output by touching different parts of the drawing.

Thoughts:

• Perhaps what struck me the most about the video was the role-reversal between human and computer. It is often the case that we need a computer to communicate with another person/human. However, in this video, the human person is the medium through which tiny micro-computers talk to each other -- an interesting take on HCI.
• The video inspires several exploratory thinking and what-if scenarios. I'll start: Imagine the possibilities when you are your own private cloud! :)
• I like the idea that interaction between computers and humans can still be magical. I have no idea how the installation was designed, but I would love to learn. (see Technology section above)

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Light Table

Creator: Chris Granger
Link: KickStarter Campaign, Current Iteration
Fields: Computer Software, Digital Creation
Description: Light Table is a new kind of IDE - a reactive work surface for the creation and exploration of our programs.
Technology: ClojureScript Programming Language

Thoughts:

• "My heart is in the work" - Andrew Carnegie. Those familiar with the current popular programming paradigms can appreciate the power of a reactive environment that responds as you code. It encourages exploration and experimentation that could previously only be dreamt of.
• I was reminded of the conversation we had in class about our current master woodsmith who wouldn't consider digital fabrication tools because they stripped away the creative process -- the conversation between tool and operator where "mistakes" are not errors, but instead doors to exploring previously unimagined creative spaces and interactions. I believe Light Table is a tool capable of accomplishing this creative conversation with in the realm of programming.