Blog 13
Interface and navigation
Flickr:
Let me just start by saying that I don’t really care for Flickr. I understand how it can be nice for some though from a usability perspective I find it very tedious to navigate through an individual album. Unlike other photo sharing services Flickr for the average user wishing to share photos with family members or friends makes it hard to “flip” through an album. What Flickr does excel at however is the ability to sort together the communities group of photos so that people searching for specific photos can find similar shots. This happens in a few different ways. The main way is through tagging photos. A user who uploads a photo can tag a photo with different keywords that correspond to the subject of the photo. Since computers can’t yet identify what is in a photo these keywords are all the photo has when it comes to searching. The drawback here is that a photo is only as good as its keywords. If I am searching for photos containing the terms “football”, the results won’t include pictures that were only tagged as “49ers”. This leaves a large human element prone to both error and a lack of time and thoroughness. The other way pictures can be sorted are into groups and sets. This is a cousin of the album concept and allows for a photo to be contained in an unlimited number of sets which share a common interest, flowers or airplanes for example.
In recent years the human element of having to tag photos manually is being replaced by computerized elements in a couple ways. The first such way is the idea of a geotagging photos with the location of where the picture was taken. By hooking up a GPS receiver to a camera a photo can be tagged with the exact time and location of the picture. In Flickr this concept has been incorporated and photo that are geotagged appear on a map search where a user can enter an address and see photos taken around that location and even search for specific tags of photos taken around the same location. Another computerized tool that is now available is the ability to automatically sort photos by color. This is more practical if you are looking to set the mood for a web page and want a photo with a certain tone. Another Web site that I found takes the concepts of sorting photos by colors even further by allowing you to search for multiple colors in a photo. http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/?1.
The other Web sites:
I thought the idea of the red button Web site was intriguing though lacked purpose. Sure it was a fun story though there was only one path to follow. It was clever how it wrapped back around at the end, though I wasn’t so intrigued that I had to go back and do it all again.
The “Don’t Shoot the Puppy” Web site reminded by of the Impossible Quiz, another similar flash game. However I found that the DStP game to be much more stupid as there was little thought involved, just lots of patience as you waited for the dumb puppy to bounce off the screen and not get shot.
Finally I was really drawn to the concept of Dontclick.it though I found that it had some shortcoming in the overall concept. First, what is wrong with the click anyways? You don’t just move your hand to the corner of a page in a book for it to turn, you have to pick it up and flip it. To me there is nothing wrong with clicking in the first place. Secondly, the largest problem I had was that it was too easy to lose your place because you try to readjust your hand on the mouse and the cursor all of a sudden jumps to another menu that you never intended to move to.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Blog 12: Museum of Jurassic Technology
Blog 12
Museum of Jurassic Technology
The Museum of Jurassic Technology was certainly an experience. I visited the museum’s Web site before I left to try and get a better understanding of what we were going to be seeing though the “About us” section was more dense than a novel it seemed. Trying to sift through the Web site turned up few leads as to what lay ahead. As I walked into the museum I realized I had no idea what I was getting into. It almost seemed like I was walking into a parallel universe as I ventured off the street corner into the low profile building that threw me back to some not so far off time. The dimly lit exhibits were like walking through a relic of ancient ruins. The various collections seemed to have minimal similarities to one another as they wandered from bizarre topic to bizarre topic. From shape shifting light and magnets to a history of medicine full of stuffed animal remains and dead mice, to a study on bats, the nature of the subject matter was truly all over the board. There was the seemingly normal though almost pointless x-rayed flower room. And lets not forget about the history of Cats Cradle room. Why the museum need a tearoom however is beyond me. Now don’t get me wrong, as strange as some of the exhibits may have been over all it was a fun trip. I can’t say I necessarily learned a lot that I can take away and apply later in life though it was decidedly a history experiment – almost as if I was recycling an old museum.
One area of the museum that I particularly enjoyed was the miniature area. Both the microscopic butterfly wing shaving painting and the pinheads. This has a more timeless appeal, I think, over other areas of the museum. I find the more artistic base of these two exhibits were intrinsically more appealing in nature. For me it stood out as I simply could not imagine the patience it must have taken the respective artists to make either the butterfly slides or the pin heads. In the case of the butterfly scale slides, where the artist arranged individual scales of butterfly wings together to make microscopic pictures, usually of floral arrangements, I don’t think I would even have a steady enough had to handle a single scale yet along arrange them in any sort of pattern. What I was even more amazed by was the difference of how the scales looked when you viewed them with ones own eye in visible distance and when viewed underneath the microscope. It was like looking at two different images entirely.
In relation to the class I can see the museum fitting into a very loose web like narrative sturucture we have talked about. You can go about the museum and any number of ways as you make your way around the building though at some point you have to come back to the entrance to ultimately exit. For me this meant passing by the “About us” movie, an exact audio and video replacement to Web site’s “About us” section. I thought perhaps if I listened to it the second time I would understand more having just actually been through the museum. Needless to say I was still confused as to exactly what I saw as I returned to my car.
Museum of Jurassic Technology
The Museum of Jurassic Technology was certainly an experience. I visited the museum’s Web site before I left to try and get a better understanding of what we were going to be seeing though the “About us” section was more dense than a novel it seemed. Trying to sift through the Web site turned up few leads as to what lay ahead. As I walked into the museum I realized I had no idea what I was getting into. It almost seemed like I was walking into a parallel universe as I ventured off the street corner into the low profile building that threw me back to some not so far off time. The dimly lit exhibits were like walking through a relic of ancient ruins. The various collections seemed to have minimal similarities to one another as they wandered from bizarre topic to bizarre topic. From shape shifting light and magnets to a history of medicine full of stuffed animal remains and dead mice, to a study on bats, the nature of the subject matter was truly all over the board. There was the seemingly normal though almost pointless x-rayed flower room. And lets not forget about the history of Cats Cradle room. Why the museum need a tearoom however is beyond me. Now don’t get me wrong, as strange as some of the exhibits may have been over all it was a fun trip. I can’t say I necessarily learned a lot that I can take away and apply later in life though it was decidedly a history experiment – almost as if I was recycling an old museum.
One area of the museum that I particularly enjoyed was the miniature area. Both the microscopic butterfly wing shaving painting and the pinheads. This has a more timeless appeal, I think, over other areas of the museum. I find the more artistic base of these two exhibits were intrinsically more appealing in nature. For me it stood out as I simply could not imagine the patience it must have taken the respective artists to make either the butterfly slides or the pin heads. In the case of the butterfly scale slides, where the artist arranged individual scales of butterfly wings together to make microscopic pictures, usually of floral arrangements, I don’t think I would even have a steady enough had to handle a single scale yet along arrange them in any sort of pattern. What I was even more amazed by was the difference of how the scales looked when you viewed them with ones own eye in visible distance and when viewed underneath the microscope. It was like looking at two different images entirely.
In relation to the class I can see the museum fitting into a very loose web like narrative sturucture we have talked about. You can go about the museum and any number of ways as you make your way around the building though at some point you have to come back to the entrance to ultimately exit. For me this meant passing by the “About us” movie, an exact audio and video replacement to Web site’s “About us” section. I thought perhaps if I listened to it the second time I would understand more having just actually been through the museum. Needless to say I was still confused as to exactly what I saw as I returned to my car.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Blog 10: Videodrome
Blog 10
Videodrome
So this was certainly one of the more abstract movies I have seen in my day, though here is my best shot at some analysis:
In the movie Videodrome society is affixed to their televisions. They are glued to the screen as pirate stations such as Max Renn’s CIVIC-TV broadcast more and more smut each day to get an additional viewership. The use of CIVIC-TV as a form of electronic media is like an ever-increasing tumor in one’s brain. You continuously get more absorbed by the hollow programming they air. Unfortunately when Renn started to hallucinate after viewing Videodrome, the movie lost me. Perhaps it was because I never got to see the end of it though I simply could no longer follow along. The Mr. Oblivion character was too much of a concept for me to accept. How many thousands of video he must have prerecorded to answer all of Max’s questions seemed like too absurd of a number. Why Max was even hallucinating in the first place I never understood. How can a video control your mind in such a way?
Key concepts of McLuhan could be found in parts of the movie though they still seem like a little of a stretch. For example “the global village” can be seen as the fact that TV is taking over all of society. Whether it is Max Renn’s CIVIC-TV in Canada or Mr. Oblivions homeless shelter where homeless people come to get fed and watch TV in order to fit more into society, TV is everywhere and in Renn’s case it is making people insane.
Videodrome
So this was certainly one of the more abstract movies I have seen in my day, though here is my best shot at some analysis:
In the movie Videodrome society is affixed to their televisions. They are glued to the screen as pirate stations such as Max Renn’s CIVIC-TV broadcast more and more smut each day to get an additional viewership. The use of CIVIC-TV as a form of electronic media is like an ever-increasing tumor in one’s brain. You continuously get more absorbed by the hollow programming they air. Unfortunately when Renn started to hallucinate after viewing Videodrome, the movie lost me. Perhaps it was because I never got to see the end of it though I simply could no longer follow along. The Mr. Oblivion character was too much of a concept for me to accept. How many thousands of video he must have prerecorded to answer all of Max’s questions seemed like too absurd of a number. Why Max was even hallucinating in the first place I never understood. How can a video control your mind in such a way?
Key concepts of McLuhan could be found in parts of the movie though they still seem like a little of a stretch. For example “the global village” can be seen as the fact that TV is taking over all of society. Whether it is Max Renn’s CIVIC-TV in Canada or Mr. Oblivions homeless shelter where homeless people come to get fed and watch TV in order to fit more into society, TV is everywhere and in Renn’s case it is making people insane.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Blog 9: Second Life -- Mine was short-lived
Blog 9
Second Life – Mine was short-lived
I tried to like Second Life, I really did, though after giving it a spin my initial beliefs were confirmed, and my second life is over.
I have known about the program for a while though always thought the concept was cheesy and the implementation weak. Perhaps I am too much of a realist, though I just never quite understood the draw to creating and walking around in a virtual world to meet strangers. This belief is even more magnified when I realized the amount of time people spend doing this and the fact that they actually purchase items using real money in their Second Life.
After signing up online and downloading the program I did the walkthrough tutorial to learn about the controls and different actions in the program. I learned to fly and to walk. I learned how to change my appearance and how to talk to other people, random people, who looked just as lost as me. I saw a little helicopter and I tried to fly it though I was told that I did not own it. This however did not prevent me from getting my character stuck in it. Yes, my Second Life character was stuck in a strangers locked helicopter. I tried so many different actions that failed, as I attempted to get out of the helicopter, the program actually crashed. When I restarted, I hoped that maybe I would not still be stuck, though to much sadness I reentered the world right where I left off. This was good in a way as it finally let me discover how to go to different worlds. I clicked on the first world that popped up as was brought to some strange giant storefront where there were advertisements for different plots of land and people trying to sell different Second Life sexual related items. There were about 10 avatars I could see in this world, though the majority were motionless and non interactive, I imagine there real world counterparts got bored and left their computers.
At this time I decided to try and find more people. I thought where would be a fun place to fly to? Before I knew it I was teleported to Times Square. I walked up from the subway platform to the street level. It was a night setting and the streets were dark and empty. The billboards were not activated, perhaps because no one actually wanted to send the creator some of their Second Life money to post an ad for a product. A lone taxicab drove by, uninterrupted by the lack of traffic. The crossroads of a million lives daily was lucky to have dozen people walk through it today. Not exactly an impressive site.
Perhaps I still don’t understand the lure that brings millions of users to Second Life daily, though for now I think I will stick to chatting with real friends and catching up in real coffee shops.
Second Life – Mine was short-lived
I tried to like Second Life, I really did, though after giving it a spin my initial beliefs were confirmed, and my second life is over.
I have known about the program for a while though always thought the concept was cheesy and the implementation weak. Perhaps I am too much of a realist, though I just never quite understood the draw to creating and walking around in a virtual world to meet strangers. This belief is even more magnified when I realized the amount of time people spend doing this and the fact that they actually purchase items using real money in their Second Life.
After signing up online and downloading the program I did the walkthrough tutorial to learn about the controls and different actions in the program. I learned to fly and to walk. I learned how to change my appearance and how to talk to other people, random people, who looked just as lost as me. I saw a little helicopter and I tried to fly it though I was told that I did not own it. This however did not prevent me from getting my character stuck in it. Yes, my Second Life character was stuck in a strangers locked helicopter. I tried so many different actions that failed, as I attempted to get out of the helicopter, the program actually crashed. When I restarted, I hoped that maybe I would not still be stuck, though to much sadness I reentered the world right where I left off. This was good in a way as it finally let me discover how to go to different worlds. I clicked on the first world that popped up as was brought to some strange giant storefront where there were advertisements for different plots of land and people trying to sell different Second Life sexual related items. There were about 10 avatars I could see in this world, though the majority were motionless and non interactive, I imagine there real world counterparts got bored and left their computers.
At this time I decided to try and find more people. I thought where would be a fun place to fly to? Before I knew it I was teleported to Times Square. I walked up from the subway platform to the street level. It was a night setting and the streets were dark and empty. The billboards were not activated, perhaps because no one actually wanted to send the creator some of their Second Life money to post an ad for a product. A lone taxicab drove by, uninterrupted by the lack of traffic. The crossroads of a million lives daily was lucky to have dozen people walk through it today. Not exactly an impressive site.
Perhaps I still don’t understand the lure that brings millions of users to Second Life daily, though for now I think I will stick to chatting with real friends and catching up in real coffee shops.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Blog 8: Discussing Narrative
Blog 8
Discussing narrative
The two films we saw in class told two dramatically different stories. The first film, Peter Fischli and David Weiss’ The Way Things Go, 1987, was a thirty-minute Rube Goldberg machine that used oils, foams, heavy objects and fire to knock over one final steel can at the very end. In the sense that the movie can be viewed as a story there is only one narrative the machine can follow. If the machine does not work it must start over and begin the same path again, hoping to finally complete the task. There is no way for the machine to skip a step or for a step towards to end to happen first and trigger a different step in a random order. The machine must progress linearly as it is the only way it knows how to operate.
On the other hand in the second film, Lev Manovich and Andreas Kratky’s Soft Cinema, 2005, there is no pre-established narrative. The narrative is instead left up to a computer algorithm, and user controlled variables. The computer pulls from a database of isolated scenes and audio four different video frames and one audio track to compose an ever-changing cinematic experience. The chance that you see the same thing twice, the same video in the same order, is very low. In this example, the movie need not flow linearly. A scene that could come after one scene in one viewing may be shown before the same scene in the next. While this is a fun example of the technology it comes with the consequence of a more abstract project and a story that does not always make the most sense.
Discussing narrative
The two films we saw in class told two dramatically different stories. The first film, Peter Fischli and David Weiss’ The Way Things Go, 1987, was a thirty-minute Rube Goldberg machine that used oils, foams, heavy objects and fire to knock over one final steel can at the very end. In the sense that the movie can be viewed as a story there is only one narrative the machine can follow. If the machine does not work it must start over and begin the same path again, hoping to finally complete the task. There is no way for the machine to skip a step or for a step towards to end to happen first and trigger a different step in a random order. The machine must progress linearly as it is the only way it knows how to operate.
On the other hand in the second film, Lev Manovich and Andreas Kratky’s Soft Cinema, 2005, there is no pre-established narrative. The narrative is instead left up to a computer algorithm, and user controlled variables. The computer pulls from a database of isolated scenes and audio four different video frames and one audio track to compose an ever-changing cinematic experience. The chance that you see the same thing twice, the same video in the same order, is very low. In this example, the movie need not flow linearly. A scene that could come after one scene in one viewing may be shown before the same scene in the next. While this is a fun example of the technology it comes with the consequence of a more abstract project and a story that does not always make the most sense.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Blog 7: DNA Sequencing: Unlocking the Code
Blog 7: DNA Sequencing: Unlocking the Code
With biotechnology and biomedical technology playing a larger and larger role in society each day, the importance of maintaining a safe and open dialogue between the scientists who discover and invent the new drugs or tools and the people who use them becomes more and more vital. The Critical Art Ensemble in my mind tries to make that discussion more tangible though the use of the biotechnology in artistic exhibits. Some of the exhibits are more obvious pleas of change while others are more subtle critiques of the new technology.
For example, the Marching Plague exhibit, showed the failure of biological and chemical warfare. It dug out an old study that was vastly overlooked after WWII about how a contaminated building could not be the worse case scenario after an attack and how the report wrongfully concluded that if an entire building was contaminated the entire population would be contaminated as well. They also did an experiment to prove the point that government spending on biological/chemical warfare is not justified as it is not an easy or accurate weapon to detonate or use properly. They set up two floating barges one mile apart. One had a group of guinea pigs while the other had a traceable though harmless chemical compound. The experiment proved, as only one in the 34 guinea pigs was found infected, that germ warfare is not practical in similar combat situations.
In other exhibits, such as Free Range Grain, more of an expository style is used to educate the viewer. In this exhibit the artists tries to display the viewpoint against genetically modified (GM) food, in particular corn, and the consequences of a new EU law that would require GM good to be marked, and the subsequent consequences on US farmers and the international grain trade. In this sense the exhibit stands on its own as a testament to the artists own beliefs and biases. It incorporates both photos that the viewer can relate to as well as comprehendible text to convey the message.
Other projects such as Cult of the New Eve are more controversial. In Cult of the New Eve the artists take the viewpoint that as the understanding of genetics becomes more and more complete the need for the traditional mother and father to create new life is no longer needed. The New Eve is a woman who can conceive a child of her desire without another partner. In fact, there is already a movement to create GM children. Why? For instance there is talk to make a younger sibling’s kidneys and livers perfect donors for an older sibling’s should the need ever arise, or the ability to remove hereditary diseases from a child’s DNA before he or she is ever even born.
As the science of genetics becomes more and more complex the need to for a maintained dialogue between the scientists and the rest of the society becomes more and more crucial as the boundaries of ethics are pushed to a level never before possible. The need for the conversation to be clear and without the confusing scientific jargon becomes quintessential as the science transforms from fantasy to reality.
With biotechnology and biomedical technology playing a larger and larger role in society each day, the importance of maintaining a safe and open dialogue between the scientists who discover and invent the new drugs or tools and the people who use them becomes more and more vital. The Critical Art Ensemble in my mind tries to make that discussion more tangible though the use of the biotechnology in artistic exhibits. Some of the exhibits are more obvious pleas of change while others are more subtle critiques of the new technology.
For example, the Marching Plague exhibit, showed the failure of biological and chemical warfare. It dug out an old study that was vastly overlooked after WWII about how a contaminated building could not be the worse case scenario after an attack and how the report wrongfully concluded that if an entire building was contaminated the entire population would be contaminated as well. They also did an experiment to prove the point that government spending on biological/chemical warfare is not justified as it is not an easy or accurate weapon to detonate or use properly. They set up two floating barges one mile apart. One had a group of guinea pigs while the other had a traceable though harmless chemical compound. The experiment proved, as only one in the 34 guinea pigs was found infected, that germ warfare is not practical in similar combat situations.
In other exhibits, such as Free Range Grain, more of an expository style is used to educate the viewer. In this exhibit the artists tries to display the viewpoint against genetically modified (GM) food, in particular corn, and the consequences of a new EU law that would require GM good to be marked, and the subsequent consequences on US farmers and the international grain trade. In this sense the exhibit stands on its own as a testament to the artists own beliefs and biases. It incorporates both photos that the viewer can relate to as well as comprehendible text to convey the message.
Other projects such as Cult of the New Eve are more controversial. In Cult of the New Eve the artists take the viewpoint that as the understanding of genetics becomes more and more complete the need for the traditional mother and father to create new life is no longer needed. The New Eve is a woman who can conceive a child of her desire without another partner. In fact, there is already a movement to create GM children. Why? For instance there is talk to make a younger sibling’s kidneys and livers perfect donors for an older sibling’s should the need ever arise, or the ability to remove hereditary diseases from a child’s DNA before he or she is ever even born.
As the science of genetics becomes more and more complex the need to for a maintained dialogue between the scientists and the rest of the society becomes more and more crucial as the boundaries of ethics are pushed to a level never before possible. The need for the conversation to be clear and without the confusing scientific jargon becomes quintessential as the science transforms from fantasy to reality.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sticking with the facts: An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is just that, an inconvenient truth. As Al Gore stands in front of the crowd he hopes to cram in enough facts, pictures, charts and graphs to make every viewer aware that Global Warming is real and it is an issue that needs to be addressed now. It is easy for most to brush off Global Warming as a lousy theory or one that simply does not require their attention. After all the changes are fairly slow, a fraction of a degree in temperature change every year. Though as Gore repeatedly tries to cram into our minds these changes are real, ongoing and increasing. The changes do not fit with data from history and have occurred at a rate never before seen. Gore never comes out and says that everyone should drive a Prius or plant carbon offsets, though he showcases the effects if we let global warming continue to harm the planet -- increased ocean levels, stronger and more unpredictable storms, and cities underwater.
The movie though is more than just a simple slideshow presentation. It follows a rather brief biography of Al Gore from the time he was a kid on his ranch through college where he started to become involved in early studies of the time that were beginning to indicate of the global warming trend. It followed Gore to the Senate where he held the first ever hearings on the subject. It went to the White House and to the 2000 election and finally followed Gore since then, the time since where he has been able to fully concentrate on trying to raise awareness of the subject and promoting action from not only individuals, but companies and elected officials as well.
Compared to the films last week, An Inconvenient Truth, is a much more structured documentary film. It does not wander around answering rhetorical questions like we saw in An Unfamiliar Place, Gore does not want to leave open much uncertainty. He wants to cram into the viewers head all the fact that he can to make the most convincing argument of global warming. The film also differs from A Tracking Theory, in that it does not try to editorialize the situation. Again, Gore tries to stick to the facts and the projected scientific simulations of the worse case scenarios. He doesn’t add staged footage and leaves the romanticization of the topic for Hollywood to conquer.
The movie though is more than just a simple slideshow presentation. It follows a rather brief biography of Al Gore from the time he was a kid on his ranch through college where he started to become involved in early studies of the time that were beginning to indicate of the global warming trend. It followed Gore to the Senate where he held the first ever hearings on the subject. It went to the White House and to the 2000 election and finally followed Gore since then, the time since where he has been able to fully concentrate on trying to raise awareness of the subject and promoting action from not only individuals, but companies and elected officials as well.
Compared to the films last week, An Inconvenient Truth, is a much more structured documentary film. It does not wander around answering rhetorical questions like we saw in An Unfamiliar Place, Gore does not want to leave open much uncertainty. He wants to cram into the viewers head all the fact that he can to make the most convincing argument of global warming. The film also differs from A Tracking Theory, in that it does not try to editorialize the situation. Again, Gore tries to stick to the facts and the projected scientific simulations of the worse case scenarios. He doesn’t add staged footage and leaves the romanticization of the topic for Hollywood to conquer.
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