This is a moving and engaging presentation given by Karen Sandler, executive director of the GNOME foundation, at OSCON 2011. After she received a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy diagnosis, she realized that the source code running her defribrillator implant was closed, proprietary, and unregulated by the FDA. She does a great job outlining the numerous implications closed-source [...]
Tag Archives: technology
“I want my heart to be open”
Posted in biology, computing, media studies Also tagged biotech, embodiment, programming Leave a comment
Écriture, corps social, inscription
16. C’était une idée durkheimienne que le code social s’inscrit sur la nature individuelle en la mutilant. L’écriture, aurait donc pour forme première la mutilation, qui donne force d’emblème. Voir Emile Durkheim, Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse, Paris, PUF, 1968. De Certeau, M. (1990). L’invention du quotidien. 1. Arts de faire. Paris: Gallimard. [...]
Living Bridges
Along the banks of the region’s many rivers, rubber fig trees grow shallow root systems that cling to the tops of rocks and other surfaces. Residents figured out that , using the trunks of other trees, they could guide these roots to grow straight and long – across to the opposite bank. On the other [...]
Interview with Ben Fry (Where 2.0 2011)
I found this on Nathan Yau’s excellent blog, Flowing Data. The video link comes from Ben Fry’s firm Fathom Design, and features a talk on data visualization with Mac Slocum, O’Reilly Radar’s editor. One of Fry’s answers will get anyone into media history, media ecology or mediology to watch the whole interview: Q: A point [...]
Posted in computing, media studies Also tagged communication, programming, visibility Leave a comment
Excerpt from “Transhumanism Meets Design”, an Interview with Natasha Vita-More
What do you think are interesting nascent signals of biology extended through technology taking shape in current apps/services/products? Usually a signal is a flashing red light, or a sharp sound. The nascent signals my brainwaves are picking up are somewhat invisible, but exceedingly active. For example, it is as if the human body’s cells have [...]
Parallel Processing and Open Science
“As a society, we dont understand biology yet,” says Melanie Swan, a genomics researcher and principle at MS Futures Group in Palo Alto, California. As she sees it, there are all sorts of problems with the way we conduct biological research en masse. Individuals can gain huge amounts of information about their own genetic makeup, [...]
Posted in computing, media studies Also tagged biology, communication, database, embodiment Leave a comment
Biotic Games
One of Riedel-Kruse’s recent article abstract states: Games are a significant and defining part of human culture, and their utility beyond pure entertainment has been demonstrated with so-called ‘serious games’. Biotechnology – despite its recent advancements – has had no impact on gaming yet. Here we propose the concept of ‘biotic games’, i.e., games that [...]
Ben Tolman: “Cognitive transformation”
I found this illustration on Mind Hacks first. It reminded me of Fritz Kahn’s artwork for a moment. That was before I explored Ben Tolman’s gallery, featuring ink drawings which can be viewed with great detail through zoomify. Ben Tolman invites us to a great experience consisting of various wanderings on his website. Mouse scrolls [...]
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Designing Complexity
The point is that there is no ‘easy energy future’. We’ve got to stop trying to sell people the idea that there are obvious ways to deal with the kinds of complex systems that govern both our social and environmental lives. It is often expressed that it is the task of designers to “make things [...]
Posted in art & design, computing, media studies Also tagged communication, materiality, participation, programming, space Leave a comment
Uncanny Valley
Last Saturday, I was reading an article from Le Devoir about a reconstructed carthaginian man who died 2600 about years ago. Journalist Pauline Gravel’s description of dermoplasty was the most interesting thing about it: Une fois la tête posée sur le corps, Élisabeth Daynès a entrepris le moulage de l’ensemble de la sculpture de terre. [...]
Posted in art & design, computing, philosophy Also tagged art, biology, materiality, ontology, performance, visibility Leave a comment
