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September 23, 2004
shadows
this morning i took some pictures of my shadow on a wall...
Posted by knowuh at 12:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 22, 2004
quick updates
I published a new draft of the sample treehouse application document.
I am now the proud user of a Nokia 6600 smart phone. I am taking part in a study here at the lab. So far this phone is treating me quite well.
I have switched AIM clients, and am now using adium for os X. I love this client way more than iChat (sorry apple!)
I have written my first complete document using open office. I found that this documentation which helped me get open office fonts looking nice, and now I like it more than any other office tool.
Posted by knowuh at 10:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 21, 2004
creature photos
another completely random photo essay. this one has to do with small creatures by kmiko taking over the wmbr studios.
ben and i shot these, because we think kimikos creatures are the coolest things ever, and we are very hard pressed to think of a good design for the fall program guide...
Posted by knowuh at 07:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
sample class diagram for treehouse application
i made a quick diagram trying to clarify for myself what the class structure will look like for a treehouse application given the new frameworks we have been discsussing in the group. i have placed a jpg and a pdf online there. this is simple first draft, and will have to be checked by the archetects to make sure i have the model right.
Posted by knowuh at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 20, 2004
image landscapes status
last week i was able to publish an almost working version of a simple shared image organizing application. this was supposed to be a proof of concept for future directions. i also entered it into transmediale. it turns out that the thumbnails do not load correctly on all platforms, which is embarassing. i think i still have some time to fix that hopefully.
if you are interested in checking out the sort of almost working version its here. there is no documentation up at the moment, which might be useful if you actually wanted to understand what it does and how it works... maybe soon.
Posted by knowuh at 04:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
research todo list:
NETWORK_BRICKS>
- document the source code
- generate javadoc
- build simple example application
- give source and sample to hillary
NEW_TREEHOUSE_DRAW>
- diagram the structure new treehouse clients
- have carlos check my work
- start coding first draft
COMMON_SENSE_TIE_IN>
- understand james dai's code
- document james dais code
- simplify code, turn into simple service
- think about tie in opportunities
PHOTO_STUDY>
- write up proposal for cognitive study
Posted by knowuh at 03:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
another great weekend
This weekend was great as usual. I have to stop having great weekends, my colleagues i think are getting a bit envious. If i don't start working on the weekends, they might start actively holding a grudge. You can check out some photos of some crazy kidz in a cranberry bog
on Friday i took the train up to kingston, and met hannah there. we spent a lot of time just chilling out watching the commuters speed on home, and talking nicely. It was a beautiful evening. we had some delicious couscous for dinner. so gooooooood.
saturday was a super lazy cat in the hat type day. we spent a long time waking up, and part of the afternoon preparing for kat's wedding in woodshole. i had to hem my pants, which took more time than i thought it would. the wedding itself was really really great. i usually totally hate weddings, but i loved this one, it was so nice and laid back. also i got to meet some of hannah's good friends. the weather was very dramatic, cloudy, drizzly, and chilly. funny young girls in pink tutus were running around all over the place.
on sunday we had a great brunch with hannahs good pals beth, john, and jeff. they were all so amazingly good and nice. it was a real pleasure to hang out and meet them. later that beautiful afternoon we went to the cranberry bog to walk some wild dogs.
i think i am starting to love autumn. this happens. i forget that i love it....
Posted by knowuh at 02:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2004
working on network bricks again
after taking some time to look at a few web services API's for java (some of which were actually pretty good and interesting), i have returned to my work on a very very simpe to use network message passing scheme called network bricks.
the entire scheme tries to use a listener / event type pattern to pass objects through the network.
incomplete description and simple sketch is located here
Posted by knowuh at 05:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
the objects of my life
here are some illustrations of the objects of my life
these were done as part of an excersize for the tangible interfaces class.
yum! autotrace rocks!
even though silhouettes will most certainly be going out of style now, thanks to microsofts new web advertisements, i am still rather fascinated by them, and have discovered a great tool for making them happen.
who does not love silhouettes? they have been in style for a while now (well before the apple ipod add campaigns) but the feaver just will not abait. i myself am a self proclaimed silhouette junky. though times they might be changing, because i noticed a partiucllary cheesy microsoft add using silhouettes today. that must certainly be a tolling bell.
any way, i also discovered the joys of autotrace. now that is some fine GNU software. if you are macintosh user, just fink yourself a copy of the binary. beats the crap out of photoshop or illustrators autotracing. the only problem is that you will definitely want to 'man autotrace' for a few hours.
Posted by knowuh at 05:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
what is simplicity?
the PLW is thinking about simplicity in the context of technology and new media. we believe that the digital world desperately needs to embrace simplicity. we have an intuitive sense of what that means, and we try to flesh out the details from time to time. but it remains illusive.
what follows is my attempt to shake up the discussion a bit, and get us thinking differently.
the PLW is thinking about simplicity in the context of technology and new media. we believe that the digital world desperately needs to embrace simplicity. we have an intuitive sense of what that means, and we try to flesh out the details from time to time. but it remains illusive.
what follows is my attempt to shake up the discussion a bit, and get us thinking differently.
I believe we need to make explicit the meaning and significance that we are attaching to the word simplicity. This is especially true if we plan on making it the hallmark, and guiding principal of our research.
Just as an exercise I am presenting two radically different perspectives on simplicity here. These perspectives are more like questions than answers. They are intended to stimulate discussion.
Executive Summary:
1) There is a larger, and older simplicity movement in the U.S that we
must acknowledge.
2) Simplicity has something to do with our relationship to our tools.
1) The Simplicity Movement in the U.S:
There is a social revolution underfoot in the U.S. that shares our moniker of 'simplicity'. If you google for "simplicity" the third link you find is "The Simple Living Network" (http://www.simpleliving.net ). For a complete introduction try: http://www.simpleliving.net/seedsofsimplicity/
This movement advocates very thoughtful living. The idea is simple, identify the things you care about, and focus on them. Discard the other stuff. This means rethinking traditional ideas about work, possessions, and happiness. I am not sure how large this movement is, but I have encountered it in various contexts. (The Sun literary magazine, NPR, sustainability websites, friends, etc.)
Numerous books have been written on the subject in recent years. Eric Brende, a recent MIT alum has written a popular book called "Better Off" which examines happiness in the modern age. (amazon it).
Other recommended titles are "Choosing Simplicity" by Linda Breen Pierce, "Voluntary Simplicity" by Duane Elgin, "The Joy Of Simple Living" by Jeff Davidson.
W need to keep in mind that this parallel movement exists, and its origins predate our vision. It might behoove us to actually read some of these texts, and understand this social movement better. I would gladly volunteer to keep my finger on this one, because I find the ideas compelling, however, maybe we need a skeptic to do some reading.
We need to either differentiate ourselves from these people, or integrate our vision with theirs.
2) The simplicity of the 17th Century:
I have been spending a lot of time lately with employees of a museum called the "the Plimouth Plantation"(*). These European planters were living in a tiny colony very far from Europe, and were mostly self-sufficient. Their lives were challenging, but simple. I thought I would see very little technology there, but actually the place was inspiring for technologists and tool builders. Technology was transparent, and integrated into their lives. For instance, they knew how to make wood working tools such as draw knives, so that they could make shovels, so they could dig holes, so they could make gardens, and grow food. They were not disconnected from technology, or shielded from it in any way. They were intimate with their technology. I believe there is something about the connectedness with technology; the self-propelling nature of tool building that may give rise to simplicity. They had Direct, intimate, and personal relationships with tools. Perhaps it is the disconnected and commoditized nature of technology today that leads us towards the alienating and complex. If this is true, it integrates nicely with the thoughts of folks like Richard Stallman and Eric Ramon. Open source software may be challenging to use, but there is something that feels 'simple', about it to me. I know that we have often referenced Linux and GNU tools in our demonstrations. Perhaps there is something there to dig out?
[*The museum is committed to extremely accurate first person recreation of the life of the commercial plantation colony of plimouth in 1623. The houses and buildings were all constructed using 17th century construction techniques. They use only primary sources in their research. The actors each play a specific historically accurate pilgrim. They never break character; they are always living in the 17th century. They work in the fields, they tend to chores, and they build tools. Their dialect is difficult to understand. They are ignorant of any development that happened after 1623 century. They are utterly convincing. I have suggested that we take a field trip there, because it really is an amazing place. ]
Posted by knowuh at 05:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 05, 2004
western mass road trip!
( i am entering this data in late. i am way behind in my blogging.. but this was such a wonderful weekend it had to make it to the blog)
hannah and i went out to western ma on the 4th and 5th.
we visited my parents, hung out in northampton, went to mass mocha, and visited hannah's home town in connecticut. i had a really amazing time. mostly I had a great time because Hannah is so cool. but also I forget how much i love the happy valley as they call it. shelburne falls for instance, is just the cutest place in the world. hannah and I had some dinner at a insanely cute and really random restaurant, with great food.
one of the coolest things we did was to visit a park where young hannah used to spend a lot of time. it was really a beautiful park. We took some cute photos there.
Posted by knowuh at 08:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 02, 2004
random small bits
just a few tiny notes:
i updated my research page:
research
i put a few more aspen photos up online:
aspen shots
my advisor made it to a human interst story in the globe:
john at home
exciting signals found by seti:
space invaders
or not
a great necsys wiki item about putting an os x box on the media lab network:
media lab os X
Posted by knowuh at 01:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
AARP visit summary
the excellent mike lee came and visited the physical language workshop on tuesday. the AARP is a lab sponsor, and mike is a terrific guy to interface with.
mike showed us some interesting 3D paper maps he had made as architectural aids for the AARP website. we all began gushing about paper folding and pop-up books. its interesting because i have been thinking about popup books all the time lately. just this morning I bought an amazon.com book about paper engineering. Its really been on my mind a lot, perhaps because we have a laser cutter in the basement. popup books and silhouettes. (see the the pervious post about CD painting).
mike also offered some great feedback on my research. he pointed me at RSVP (rapid serial visual presentation techniques), which would be handy for doing some navigation tasks in the image organizer application.
other things mike mentioned worth remembering: volvelles, orreries, paper engineering, mark lombardi.
Posted by knowuh at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack