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: