Category: Links

“GranulatSynthese is an installation for the intuitive creation of ambient, meditative audio-visuals. It uses granulate distributed over a surface with projected visuals and generated sound.” This and a few other nice research projects into embodied interactions were presented at Raum Schiff Erde by Steffi Beckhaus.

The ever-critical-but-fair Alper’s take on last night’s This happened – Utrecht.

Some interesting ideas on how to push social software beyond the address book paradigm which I am getting sick of myself, too.

De term infobesitas is mij te sensatiebelust maar de adviezen aan het eind van dit artikel plus de claim dat d oplossing vooral in opvoeding te vinden is snijden wel hout.

“This Happened this time really touched the very interesting field where a mix emerges between real life and digital enhancements” what would a This happened – Utrecht be without one of Iskander’s great late night blog posts. The theme he’s abstracted from the talks is certainly one I can get behind.

“Canids … follow a strict code of conduct when they play, which teaches pups the rules of social engagement that allow their societies to succeed.” Some interesting bits on animal play.

“The following set of rules is to be regarded as a set of decisions on certain disputed points, than as containing all the Laws of the Game, which are too well known to render any explanation necessary to Rugbeians.” A wonderful post giving insight into the early history of rugby and football, with emphasis on the development of the game’s rules.

“We need to look to design disciplines that inform what we’re actually doing, and as a former level designer for mod teams, I’d agree that games have a vast amount more to learn from architecture than they do from film.” Some interesting thoughts from David on overlaps between game design and architecture

“It is like a game for me. I discover new things and solve interesting problems.” Interesting remarks from the creator of ChatRoulette, who is 17 and from Russia. Not sure I’m brave enough to use the site, though.

“Games existed before computers, and will exist after computers. Eventually, says Lantz, at some point computer processing will just be a feature of your game” Gotta love Mr Lantz’s take on things.

“A computer screen feels like work. You stare into a screen for 8 hours a day, constantly checking email, typing in a word processor or running numbers in a spreadsheet. The last think you feel like doing is going home, curling-up on the weekend with a nice cup of tea and read a 3,000 word article at 72dpi with a laptop so hot you could fry and egg on it. Paper is the perfect replacement. A broadsheet newspaper that has been gorgeously laid-out not only feels professional and relaxing—it doesn’t feel like work.” A piece on what can be done with cheap, accessible print on demand services like Newspaper Club.

“Which to my mind, right now, is a familiar protocol that sounds precisely like what not particularly clear-headed folks are doing with this *Augmented Reality mishegoss. They’re walking around with a *doorknob and trying to find some cool houses that *doorknob might look cool on. What is forgotten, largely, is the house, the neighborhood, the people in the house — and so on.” Bleecker’s design fiction chronicles are a real treat an this grumpy rant on the silly stuff happening in AR is both funny and welcome.

The number of this kind of pieces keeps growing, which can only be considered a good thing. This particular one goes into the complex social interactions happening in MMOs in some detail.

At its best, this whole slow thing is a useful frame for thinking about things differently. As this article points out though, there is a risk of it coming across as elitist.