Ubiquitous Computing at a Crossroads Workshop

Ubiquitous Computing at a Crossroads Workshop



Ubiquitous Computing at a Crossroads: Art, Science, Politics and Design

January 6th and 7th 2009
Huxley Building, Imperial College London



Registration closes Friday December 19th 2008.



To register for this workshop, please complete the form below. All required sections are marked with a *

Payment should be sent immediately to secure your place (details below).

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Can open source hardware work

hmm yes....
good question.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/magazine/16-11/ff_openmanufacturing?currentPage=1



"That's how Chinese hardware copycats rip off products so quickly...

Last year, Arduino noticed that copycat versions of its board made in China and Taiwan were being sold online.....

many Asian knockoffs were poor quality, rife with soldering errors and flimsy pin connections. The competition created a larger market but also ensured that the original makers stayed a generation ahead of the cheap imitations. Merely having the specs for a product doesn't mean a copycat will make a quality item. That takes skill, and the Arduino team understood its device better than just about anyone else. "So the copycats can actually turn out to be good for our business,"



hmm, and there are not (allowed to be) open source communities in China?
The xenophobic, jingoistic nature of these comments are quite worrying, cmmon!!
{quality is quality , skill is skill}

this is ......open source hardware?.....

and so?

Interaction Design 1.1.1.

1.1.1. Interaction Design is the design of any interactive experience.

In today's world, Interaction Design is concerned with the creation
of meaningful experiences between us (humans) and objects. It is a
good way to explore the creation of beautiful—and maybe even
controversial—experiences between us and technology. Interaction
Design encourages design through an iterative process based on
prototypes of ever-increasing fidelity. This approach—also part of
some types of "conventional" design—can be extended to include
prototyping with technology; in particular, prototyping with
electronics.

When Things Start To Think - book online

When Things Start To Think

Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Physics and Media Group at MIT's Media Lab and co-director of the Things That Think consortium, offers a readable tour of what the world will be like tomorrow as computers become invisible, such as wearable computers, nanotech implants, and interactive digital books with electronic ink. 

http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0576.html

CALL FOR PAPERS ::: Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing

A Special Issue on "Material Computing"

DEADLINE: Intention to submit (Abstract and Title): October 1, 2008

A fantastic class of new materials is blurring the boundaries between computation and physical form, and as a result bringing computer science into the realms of a host of other disciplines, among them architecture, biology, chemistry, fashion design, and mechanical engineering. Responsive and computationally controllable materials -- shape-changing polymers, e-textiles, and nano-scale electronics, just to name a few -- are positioned to provide the underpinnings of truly ubiquitous interactivity that extends invisibly across body, architectural and urban scales.

This special issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing will focus on the use of such materials as the physical and computational bridge between form and function, body and environment, structures and membranes. Rather than focusing on approaches that employ sensors and actuators as discrete add-on components, this issue will emphasize technologies that blur the gap between computation and materiality, and between traditionally distinct disciplines.

We hope to spark a conversation between researchers and practitioners from a variety of scientific, engineering, and design disciplines (e.g. ubiquitous computing, materials science, architecture, biology, fashion, and HCI) in order to shed light on the possibilities and limitations of new material technologies, and to illustrate how we will build, interact and live with computers well into the future. All submissions should be sent to the guest editors at materialcomputing@media.mit.edu. Authors must submit abstracts and titles to the guest editors by October 1, 2008, and full papers by November 14, 2008.

http://ambient.media.mit.edu/materialcomputing/index.html

Technologies for Creative Learning (course references) MIT LLK

Technologies for Creative Learning

from http://mas714.media.mit.edu/node/4

Constructionism

Required readings

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. Basic Books. (Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 8)

Resnick, M. (2007). All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI conference on Creativity & Cognition, Washington, DC.

Optional readings

Papert, S. (2000). What's the big idea: Towards a pedagogy of idea power. IBM Systems Journal, vol. 39, no. 3-4.

Diversity and Pluralism

Required readings

Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1990). Epistemological Pluralism. Signs, vol. 16, no. 1

Turkle, S. (2008). Falling for Science (Introduction). MIT Press.

Optional readings

Gardner, H. (1998). A Multiplicity of Intelligences. Scientific American.

Social Learning

Required readings

Brown, J.S., and Adler, R. (2008). Minds on Fire. Educause Review.

Monroy-Hernández, A. and Resnick, M. (2008). Empowering kids to create and share programmable media, Interactions, March-April 2008.

Optional readings

Fischer, G. (2004). Social Creativity: Turning Barriers into Opportunities for Collaborative Design. Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference

New Media Literacy

Required readings

Jenkins, H. et al. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. MacArthur Foundation.

Optional readings

diSessa, A. (2000). Changing Minds: Computers, Learning, and Literacy (Chapter 1). MIT Press.

Resnick, M. (2001). Closing the Fluency Gap. Communications of the ACM, vol. 44, no. 3.

Kay, A. (1991). Computers, Networks, and Education. Scientific American, September 1991, pp. 138-148.

Programming for Everyone

Required readings

Kelleher, C. and Pausch, R. (2007). Using Storytelling to Motivate Programming. Communications of the ACM, vol. 50 no. 7, pp. 58-64.

Perlin, K., Flanagan, M., and Hollingshead, A. (2005). The Rapunsel Project. In G. Subsol (Ed.), Virtual Storytelling, pp. 251-259. Springer Berlin.

Optional readings

Kelleher,C. and Pausch, R. (2005). Lowering the barriers to programming: A taxonomy of programming environments and languages for novice programmers. ACM Computing Surveys, vol. 37 no. 2, pp. 83-137.

Tangible Learning

Required readings

Eisenberg, M. (2003). Mindstuff: Educational Technology Beyond the Computer. Convergence.

Resnick, M. (2006). Computer as Paintbrush: Technology, Play, and the Creative Society. Play = Learning: How play motivates and enhances children's cognitive and social-emotional growth. Oxford University Press.

Optional readings

Resnick, M., Martin, F., Berg, R., Borovoy, R., Colella, V., Kramer, K., and Silverman, B. (1998). Digital Manipulatives: New Toys to Think With. Proceedings of the CHI '98 conference, pp. 281-287.

Games and Learning

Required readings

Gee, J. P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (Chapter 1, Chapter 2).

Zimmerman, E. (2008). Gaming Literacy: Game Design as a Model for Literacy in the 21st Century.

Optional readings

Fortugno, N., & Zimmerman, E. (2005). Learning to Play to Learn: Lessons in Educational Game Design.

Salen, K. (2007). Gaming Literacies: A Game Design Study in Action. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 301-322.

Kafai, Y. B. (2006). Playing and making games for learning: Instructionist and constructionist perspectives for game studies. Games and Culture, 1(1), 36-40.

1-to-1 Learning

Required readings

Cavallo, D. (2008). Learning Vision. OLPC wiki.

Kozma, R. (2007). One Laptop Per Child and Education Reform. OLPC News.

Optional readings

Kozma, R. (2007). OLPC and Policy Recommendations. OLPC News.

George Lucas Educational Foundation (2006). The Maine Idea: A Computer for Every Lap.

Supporting the Learning Process

Required readings

Brown, J.S., Collins, A., and Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, vol. 18, no. 1.

Optional readings

Duckworth, E. (1987). The Having of Wonderful Ideas (Chapter 1). Teachers College Press.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education.

Activity

Create some support materials to help someone learn Scratch. You can use any media that you want (text, graphics, video, Scratch itself, etc.).

No Friday speaker 

Broadening Participation

Required readings

Rusk, N., Resnick, M., and Cooke, S. (in press). Origins and Guiding Principles of the Computer Clubhouse. In Kafai, Y., Peppler, K., & Chapman, R. (eds.), The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities. Teachers College Press.

Optional readings

Narayanan, G. (2007). A Dangerous But Powerful Idea: Counter Acceleration and Speed with Slowness and Wholeness.

Kafai, Y., Peppler, K., & Chin, G. (2007). High Tech Programmers in Low Income Communities: Creating a Computer Culture in a Community Technology Center. In C. Steinfeld, B. Pentland, M. Ackermann, & N. Contractor (Eds.), Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Communities and Technology (pp. 545-562). Springer.

On Interaction Design

Yaniv Steiner (ex IDII ) http://www.nastypixel.com

On Interaction Design:

" Maybe we should talk about this entity Interaction Designer, or Interaction Design in general......I don't believe its a person, I don't believe its an occupation,
I believe its an entity. It's an entity made out of designers, technologists, cognitive scientist, and artists. And the idea is about the communication between all of those elements, a unification of language and methods in order to achieve one goal which is the product: the product could be an art piece, it could be a service, it could be a software.

from talk at World Usability Day: "How prototypes can promote usability"
http://www.nastypixel.com/prototype/workshops/usability-day-milano

On 'the internet of things'

http://future.iftf.org/2005/09/an_internet_of_.html

"...........I've been a big fan of Kevin Ashton's notion of "an Internet of Things;" I think it's one of those happy phrases that is compact but deeply meaningful. There aren't many moments when techno-punditry clarifies instead of muddling our understand, much less achieve a kind of poetic elegance; but for me, the Internet of Things does it."

SHARE PRIZE

It's open the subscription to the 3° edition of the Share Prize 2009.

The main requisite for participating in the competition is to create a work in which digital technology is applied as a language of creative expression. There is no limitation to shape and format, combinations with analogical technologies and/or any other material (eg computer animation / visual effects, digital music, interactive art, net art, software art, live cinema, audiovisual performance, etc.).

Download the Competition Announcement.

Subscription on line.

Competition entry since 20th of june till the 30th of september 2008.

Networks of Design

3 to 6 September 2008

Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.networksofdesign.co.uk

Contact name: Fiona Hackney and Caroline Pullee

Networks of Design

3 to 6 September 2008

Falmouth, United Kingdom

Networks of Design explores the interactions

informing visual culture and design. Social

theorist Bruno Latour, the designer Jurgen Bey

and Jeremy Myerson from the RCA are keynote

speakers.

The conference seeks papers on a wide range of

topics related to Networks of Design across all

time periods and disciplines that address issues

to do with history, theory and practice.

The deadline for abstracts/proposals is 25

February 2008.

Enquiries: networksofdesign@falmouth.ac.uk

Web address: http://www.networksofdesign.co.uk

Sponsored by: The Design History Society,

University College Falmouth, and Oxford

University Press. 

Conference alerts

http://www.conferencealerts.com

HCI2008 -Aesthetics, digital technology and collaboration

Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) , Grenoble, France: Tommaso Colombino, Antonietta Grasso, David Martin, Jacki O'Neill

Goldsmiths University of London: John Bowers

The workshop examines aesthetics-in-action through naturalistic studies focusing on the role of technology in artistic composition-production, performance, consumption, aimed at creating a body of knowledge to inform innovative technology design.Call for Papers

As technology's reach extends into all aspects of our lives, art and technology become increasingly intertwined. Technology ranges from being implemented in - to integral to - the creation, exhibition, performance and appreciation of much art and aesthetic work. For example, graphic design is now predominantly achieved using applications such as Adobe Premier, Photoshop, Quark Express and so on; photography and photographic editing and manipulation is primarily digital, as is much film; many musicians use technologies for producing and performing music such as samplers, synthesisers and production applications. Artists are increasingly exploiting and exploring novel uses of digital technology. In all of these cases the properties - facilities, affordances, features, constraints - of the technology will necessarily impact, in some manner on the aesthetic product.

There have been many ethnographies of work and the way technologies are employed in these settings technologies - their capacities and effects in practice. There is also a long history of academic work on aesthetics in a range of disciplines - art and design, critical theory, sociology and psychology. However, we find that there seems to be a relative lack of social studies of aesthetics-in-action. That is, with aesthetics as visible, available, social practice in artistic composition-production, performance or consumption. How do we understand technologies and artistic endeavour, performance and aesthetic experience? How can this be used to evaluate existing technologies and inform the design of technologies to support existing or enable new ways of producing and appreciating artistic work? What is the situated, practical, social and cultural nature of aesthetics?

Topics of Interest

We are interested in social studies relating to the composition-production, performance and consumption of artwork, and crucially the role of technology and artefacts in this. We are particularly interested in ethnographies that capture aesthetic 'work' in natural settings, in action. Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

    * visual arts and design

    * music, drama, performance arts

    * the production and appreciation of colour, music, structure and harmony

    * visual and visible aspects of performance

    * aesthetics in action and practice

    * aesthetics work and its relation to different purposes in different settings, e.g. the interrelation of the work of production to performance

    * aesthetics talk and the work it does in production, performance and composition

    * the use of supplementary materials such as programme notes, catalogues etc. in configuring the aesthetic experience

By focusing on what we think is an under-explored, but technologically interesting, area of research we aim to bring together a set of practitioners/researchers and their data, as a first step in creating a body of knowledge on aesthetics in action. Possibilities for a special journal issue based on the workshop will be pursued. 

British HCI DIY

Interactive Experiences - deadline 23rd June 2008

Chair: Jenn Sheridan, Bigdog Interactive, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Queen Mary University

Reflecting our European Capital of Culture theme this year Interactive Experiences coincides with (re)Actor3: The Third International Conference on Digital Live Art and, for the first time in British HCI history, selected proposals will be exhibited in an open public gallery and performed at the opening evening reception. This stream of the British HCI/ (re)Actor conferences is the forum for the demonstration of real systems, advanced prototypes, pre-recorded or dynamic videos, interactive installations, HCI related live performance and so on. This includes a wide variety of dynamic and "touchable" experiences for which a standard paper presentation would not fully convey the appeal or novelty of the work. An Interactive Experience could involve a demonstration of a new device or novel application of existing technologies, an engaging experience which highlights some unique interactive phenomenon, or even a video or a live performance. Proposals may also be submitted for interactive surveys or polls that will take advantage of the assembly of expert practitioners present at the conference. In addition, the theme emerging out of (re)Actor3 this year is "HiTech LowFi". As such, we are seeking those engaged in DIY Culture and Upcycling with a strong emphasis on sustainable technologies, reclamation and a greener future. The (re)Actor crew, led by this year's Chair artist, VJ and film maker Tom Lloyd, will ensure a sensory feast of interaction delights. (re)Actor3 provides artist commissions, travel bursaries and prizes for selected proposals. For information on (re)Actor3 artist commissions and travel bursaries visit www.DigitalLiveArt.com . For submission information contact Jenn Sheridan

HCI2008 -Aesthetics, digital technology and collaboration

Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) , Grenoble, France: Tommaso Colombino, Antonietta Grasso, David Martin, Jacki O'Neill

Goldsmiths University of London: John Bowers

The workshop examines aesthetics-in-action through naturalistic studies focusing on the role of technology in artistic composition-production, performance, consumption, aimed at creating a body of knowledge to inform innovative technology design.Call for Papers

As technology's reach extends into all aspects of our lives, art and technology become increasingly intertwined. Technology ranges from being implemented in - to integral to - the creation, exhibition, performance and appreciation of much art and aesthetic work. For example, graphic design is now predominantly achieved using applications such as Adobe Premier, Photoshop, Quark Express and so on; photography and photographic editing and manipulation is primarily digital, as is much film; many musicians use technologies for producing and performing music such as samplers, synthesisers and production applications. Artists are increasingly exploiting and exploring novel uses of digital technology. In all of these cases the properties - facilities, affordances, features, constraints - of the technology will necessarily impact, in some manner on the aesthetic product.

There have been many ethnographies of work and the way technologies are employed in these settings technologies - their capacities and effects in practice. There is also a long history of academic work on aesthetics in a range of disciplines - art and design, critical theory, sociology and psychology. However, we find that there seems to be a relative lack of social studies of aesthetics-in-action. That is, with aesthetics as visible, available, social practice in artistic composition-production, performance or consumption. How do we understand technologies and artistic endeavour, performance and aesthetic experience? How can this be used to evaluate existing technologies and inform the design of technologies to support existing or enable new ways of producing and appreciating artistic work? What is the situated, practical, social and cultural nature of aesthetics?

Topics of Interest

We are interested in social studies relating to the composition-production, performance and consumption of artwork, and crucially the role of technology and artefacts in this. We are particularly interested in ethnographies that capture aesthetic 'work' in natural settings, in action. Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

    * visual arts and design

    * music, drama, performance arts

    * the production and appreciation of colour, music, structure and harmony

    * visual and visible aspects of performance

    * aesthetics in action and practice

    * aesthetics work and its relation to different purposes in different settings, e.g. the interrelation of the work of production to performance

    * aesthetics talk and the work it does in production, performance and composition

    * the use of supplementary materials such as programme notes, catalogues etc. in configuring the aesthetic experience

By focusing on what we think is an under-explored, but technologically interesting, area of research we aim to bring together a set of practitioners/researchers and their data, as a first step in creating a body of knowledge on aesthetics in action. Possibilities for a special journal issue based on the workshop will be pursued. 

P v A

$79.95 $49.99

Deep Cuts Arduino

http://1scale1.com/node/39

This advanced workshop will guide you into making your own Arduino compatible boards, program them, and manufacture them in small size series. You will be introduced to contemporary hardware design techniques what will allow you designing your own boards, shields for Arduino, etc. You will also get introduced to possible ways of making your homebrew board to be part of the Arduino IDE. This two days course will be taught by D. Cuartielles with assistance from the 1scale1 team.

Dates: 28th August '08 – 29th August '08

Prices:

- Students 250 Eur (materials included)

- Professionals 750 Eur (materials included)

conferences /papers

http://mason.gmu.edu/~jgero/conferences/dcc08/

*******

* Special Issue on Tangible Interaction for Design - for AIEDAM is accepting paper until April 18, 2008

http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~aiedam/SpecialIssues/Do-Gross.html

AIEDAM Special Issue, Spring 2009, Vol. 23, No. 2

Tangible Interaction for Design

Edited by: Ellen Yi-Luen Do & Mark D Gross

This special issue of AIEDAM will be devoted to papers concerned with Tangible Interaction for Design.

Following decades in which design computation was almost exclusively the domain of software, today many investigators are building hybrid systems and tools that, in one way or another, bridge the divide between physical "real world" artifacts and computat ional artifacts. On one hand the rapid rise and popularity of mass-customization, rapid prototyping and manufacturing raises questions about the kinds of software systems and tools that might make these hardware technologies useful in designing. On the ot her hand, advances in microcontroller and communications technologies has led to a wave of embedding computation in physical artifacts and environments - that is, tangible interaction.

The "Tangible Interaction for Design" special issue calls for papers that populate this space of hybrid computational-physical systems, particularly in relation to design. Topics might include (but are not limited to) the following:

• systems, methods, and tools for rapid prototyping and manufacturing in design;
• AI techniques for tangible user interaction in engineering design applications and other design domains;
• computational reasoning about physical and tangible artifacts and productions;
• physical artifacts as external representations and how they coupled to internal representations;
• human centered computing issues for tangible user interactions;
• 
  
• theories and procedures to analyze or generate tangible interaction for design;
• tools and techniques for tangible design artifacts to support design;
• tangible interaction with design software;
• design methods for tangible interactivity;
• toolkits for tangible interaction design;

The Prototyping Toolbox

Ive been looking for this for a while - since the Interactionsdesign Forum

from TODO

http://www.todo.to.it/


A history of the development of Processing - Wiring - Arduino at IDII

"All designers have their medium: for a product designer it may be plastics, for an architect brick or concrete, for a graphic designer litho printing. The medium of the interaction designer is computation: software and electronics.
Until recently, this medium was only accessible to engineers: designers weren't able to work directly with programming and electronics to develop and test their ideas.
This map shows the work of professors and students over the past four years at Interaction-Ivrea, together with many collaborators all over the world. The software and hardware they have built, used in many of the Institute's projects, allows designers to be truly creative in this new medium."
Gillian Crampton Smith

download yours:
http://www.todo.to.it/media/idii_toolbox.pdf

BUGGED OUT IN THE SUN ON GADGETS

At Etech this Week: .

Personalizing the Device: How Communities Will Help Actualize User-generated Hardware and the Long-tail of Gadgetsa presentation from Peter Semmelhack - Bug Labs 

http://www.buglabs.net

Peter Semmelhack (Bug Labs)

The explosive growth of user-generated content has proved that creativity can trump capital, in that the barriers to create and distribute content have been virtually eliminated. Social web services (e.g., Flickr, YouTube), and "mashups" of these services, have created a unique collaborative infrastructure that enable new possibilities in producing and sharing information, media, and perhaps most importantly, ideas.

This new system of exchange has now materialized in the physical world, as we're empowered to create personalized, or "user-generated," apparel, automobiles, and hardware—specifically, consumer electronics. With the support of the community, individuals are helping each other develop new ways of experiencing this universe of content in a far more personalized context.

About the Bug Labs modules: my inital thoughts and questions

- The base station seems a little expensive as a get in. But its GPL - can they asume a DIY BUG board will emerge

- in that spirit - how easy is it to get into 

- How about the modules- get them apart - grow your own - an eco-system of module hackers and wranglers would be a key thing.

- how bout compatibility with other platforms? - set up your own platforms and standards - but can you talk to the others - maybe hackers will help find a way around this; prediction: 1st internet hack; Bug Base to Wiimote :P

- eg. software hackers from Rails to Flash, to Processing to  Max/MSP-Pd could get in on the act if it talks to their code

Project Sun SPOT: Inspiring Future Gadgets

Roger Meike 

A new generation of gadgets is emerging that can wirelessly communicate, sense their environment and affect the physical world around them. Learn to use open source software and hardware to create everything from gesture-based interfaces to robot swarms to a rainforest monitoring system that may just save the world.

For the Sun SPOTS: