http://www.anarifa.com Ana Rifa! Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:40:54 +0000 http://www.anarifa.com en http://www.anarifa.com/363303/good-living-in-mixed-reality-retired-mac http://www.anarifa.com/363303/good-living-in-mixed-reality-retired-mac Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:40:54 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363303 "Computing is not about computers any more. It is about living" -Nicholas Negroponte RETIRED MAC is a 1 min video piece that explores the "human" qualities of an outdated macBook. The piece is based on my curiosity on the way we relate to computers, how we use them, talk to them, take care of them. What is a vacation for a machine? How does a machine take a break? How would it be for machines to retire? RetiredMac from ana rifa! on Vimeo. Instructor: Ben Hooker http://www.anarifa.com/363303/good-living-in-mixed-reality-retired-mac http://www.anarifa.com/367410/new-modes-of-reading-and-writing http://www.anarifa.com/367410/new-modes-of-reading-and-writing Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:50:05 +0000 Ana Rifa! 367410 "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" -Rudyard Kipling BAG OF WORDS VS DISPLAY is a first attempt on new modes of reading and writing. We were given a scriptive corporea to be used in two ways: to place punctuation and to use it as a bag of words in order to create whatever structure and arrangement we pleased with the words. My approach to the punctuation was trying to make sense out of the text, since it was given to us as scripta continua and had a hard time to understand it from the first go. I tried to use traditional narrative punctuation separating sentences with commas, colons and other typical marks. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 7)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191254.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191255.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191256.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> For my bag of words I decided to arrange them in a spiral visual structure by number of characters per word and then by alphabetical order. If the word appeared many times they would be arranged in the same line. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 7)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191257.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="596" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191257.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="589" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191258.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191259.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191260.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="893" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191261.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/367410/P4191262.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> Instructor: Anne Burdick http://www.anarifa.com/367410/new-modes-of-reading-and-writing http://www.anarifa.com/362979/new-modes-of-writing-inXcriptioX http://www.anarifa.com/362979/new-modes-of-writing-inXcriptioX Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:18:10 +0000 Ana Rifa! 362979 "Political people don't solve stuff - not really. Political people are like guys in pop music" -Bruce Sterling Inxcriptiox System, or inXcriptioX is a writing system in code adopted by the UFI (Underground Female Intelligence) after the CIA resolved the Juárez murders in 2010. The following documentation explains the nature of this system as well as it's history and potential uses for the future. <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/UFI.jpg" border="0" width="651" height="583" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/muertas-2.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="434" align="left" /> Acrantophis Dumerili (UFI agents are named with scientific names of serpents), the detective that cracked the case, is a member of the UFI. She kept the details of the case in a secret archive that goes directly to the members of the UFI adopting the writing system used to solve the case as a coding tool to communicate within this elite. The UFI is a secret society of female leaders within the top intelligence systems around the world (CIA, KGB, among others) that deals with gender issues and oppression towards women. This is a code embedded in fabric making the flow of information invisible to anyone not wearing the garment. This allows for the women in men dominating societies to communicate freely amongst them and the UFI. The characters are based in the same system as the morse code except for the long marks are read as "x" (x being a reiteration of the female chromosome). <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191268.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> If the message reads from left to right it means a future reference. If the message reads from right to left it refers to a past event. Longer messages may be allowed but not encouraged. The simplicity and shortness of the messaging are vital to keep the confidential nature of the system. History of inXcriptioX In late April 2010 Acrantophis Dumerili had been following the lead of a "folding" system rumor indicating the death market for maquiladora workers. As an undercover agent she filtered into the maquiladora working for almost 5 years before cracking the case. When Mónica Janeth Fernández Esparza started to talk to her about having a "self operating" sewing machine she became closer to her with the purpose of looking at the machine and what it was doing. Dumerili got access to the pieces of fabric Mónica was collecting from the sewing machine, but it was until her murder that she noticed the similarity with the morse code and the relationship of odd foldings found in the factory at the time of her passing. <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191272.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 5)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191276.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191277.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191278.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191279.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191280.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> Each color stands for a name and a place. These belong to the main inXcriptioX archive found in exhibit "b" by the UFI. Mónica´s contact with the paranormal activity gave birth to the inXcriptioX writing system. The last entry of the paranormal activity read Mónica´s death. Dumerili handled the case with the CIA partially, giving them the names of the masterminds behind the using of these women but keeping essential details of the case to serve UFI. Many women around the world use inXcriptioX to communicate. This system is in development for a more efficient use as a secret textile writing technology. Instructor: Anne Burdick Guest lecturers: Johanna Drucker/Mark Amerika <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191264.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191269.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="490" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191270.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191271.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191273.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191274.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/362979/P4191275.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> http://www.anarifa.com/362979/new-modes-of-writing-inXcriptioX http://www.anarifa.com/363319/good-living-in-mixed-reality-beyond-the-smart-home http://www.anarifa.com/363319/good-living-in-mixed-reality-beyond-the-smart-home Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:16:20 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363319 “It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure” -Coco Chanel BEYOND THE SMART HOME is a series of design explorations of a smart home through wearables. The project is broken down in three stages or exploration phases: Collage: Through this exploration I got to brainstorm my interests and ideas of the smart home through the juxtaposition of images and the relationship between them. The first two attempts worked as a mind map that later evolved to specific scenarios of what a smart home could be like. The concepts explored in this first phase were natural power, wearables, Tesla coil and the electric mind. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 19){image 7}<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191288.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191285.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="893" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191291.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="893" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191294.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191295.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="893" align="left" /> From my exploration a main question ruled the rest of the project: What does it mean to be home? What is home? Is it the physical place or a state of mind? How can we understand this through design objects/wearables that evoke this feeling? So I compiled several definitions of home: - A place where one lives - A physical structure - Social unit occupying a dwelling place - An environment providing security and happiness - A native habitat - A headquarters, base This questioning lead me to the first iteration of a wearable home. The Cozy Home The cozy home is a headpiece designed to pick up specific sensorial temperatures and sensations from a "physical" home and able to bring it into another physical space. While the hat is closed (idle mode) it charges from the energy panels in the front. When the device is "open" the antenna (rotary cone on top of the headpiece) releases throughout the panels the sensorial temperatures that make you feel like you are in a "cozy environment". This also allows for the user to share their own personal sense of home. The panels store information on other accesories that support the idea of the cozy home meaning that it has the potential to be part of a larger system of a wearable home. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 19) <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P3170644.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P3170637.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P3170638.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> {image 4}<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P3170649.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P3170636.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> CozyHome from ana rifa! on Vimeo. So this lead me to think about the "wearability" of a garment. If a garment can provide different experiences of character regardless of the way these pieces are assembled and worn, we can assume that clothing can also create a spacial and psychological experience at the same time. I did some research on intersections of fashion and other disciplines that tapped into the physicality of a wearable home: wearable computers and architechtural fashion. Both these intersections inspired the next steps of the process. The next iteration was a jacket that experienced home from the inside out: images, tactile sense and sounds would trigger the sensation of home. The jacket seemed like any ordinary jacket except that it had these features embedded inside. My response to this was to fuse this jacket with the Cozy Home previously designed in order to create a system where a specific scenario/instance of home could be experienced. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 19)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191303.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191302.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> The Wearable Home: Kitchen Experience My approach to this piece sprung from my personal notion of home. What are the things, smells, actions that make me feel at home? My very own time in the kitchen. To me the kitchen not only takes me back to the gathering experience of being home, but the smells and the act of cooking creates a "home" environment for me. <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191317.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="893" align="left" /> So I embedded this things into a system that would cover these features: Headpiece: On top of the head rests the "motherboard" of the home that opens into two ear muffs that gather the sounds of cooking in a kitchen. Nosepiece: Translates the sounds of what is being heard into smells of cooking. Visor: Displays an image of a known kitchen space. Gel Gloves: The gel found in the tip of the gloves morphs into food feel that is coordinated with the image, sounds and smells of the other parts of the system. The result is a wearable with a very particular and customized experience of home raising even more questions on how this would perform in a real scenario. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 19)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191235.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191236.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> {image 26}{image 27}{image 28}<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191240.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> {image 30}<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191242.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191243.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> {image 33}{image 34}{image 35}<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191247.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191248.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> {image 38}{image 39}<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191251.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363319/P4191252.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="502" align="left" /> {image 42} Is it rude to be home in a public space? Does this create a sense of comfort, nostalgia, homesickness or depresion? How much are you willing to share from your personal psychological space? What happens when many of these systems/people interact with each other? Instructor: Ben Hooker http://www.anarifa.com/363319/good-living-in-mixed-reality-beyond-the-smart-home http://www.anarifa.com/363980/design-research-practices http://www.anarifa.com/363980/design-research-practices Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:57:51 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363980 "Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order" -Victor Papanek DESIGN RESEARCH PRACTICES Is a course which gave us an introduction to the many design practices that exist to carry on research related to design practices. We started by dissecting our own influences into spheres of influences and how they intersect into our own work ethic and practice. My topic as research in design practice was Grounded Theory, which seemed almost like a coincidence that I had to do that discipline for it relates so much to the way I work and carry on my own research strategy. Grounded Theory is a method developed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss for analyzing data through research. The method approaches a new way of conceptualizing and creating new hypotheses by gathering and collecting data and making relationships within the data, unlike the scientific method, no specific outcome or conclusion is expected from Grounded Theory. Because of the nature of the method, taking notes and coding the data is the primary tool to categorize and making relationships. STRAUSS & GLASER (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory - Approach the object of study without questions or problems - An empirical field should be addressed with no prior scientific literature (external influence or opinion) - Development of hypotheses STRAUSS & CORBIN (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research - Tackle a study of object with open questions - Encourage prior intensive reading and research suck as interviews, books, talks, videos and any material relevant to the subject before approaching an empirical study - Develop criteria for the development of results PROS STRAUSS & GLASER (1967) Helps to create a more introspective and intuitive approach to the work STRAUSS & CORBIN (1990) Pushes to a curated empirical approach to the information and the creation of a more profound criteria of analysis CONS STRAUSS & GLASER (1967) The lack of reference may create a personal point of view of the work STRAUSS & CORBIN (1990) Pre-research could be misleading if not selected carefully and may influence on ideas or thoughts TACTICS STRAUSS & GLASER (1967) Substantive Coding is conceptualizing the data in it´s first level of abstraction. Usually it comes down to a series of field notes and the diverse concepts that will emerge from comparing the data on a primary basis. Selective Coding is defining the core concept in which you will build your relationships and categories around. Memoing is the process of accumulation of ideas in a written document. This way the relationships within the body of data can go to a deeper level of understanding, comparing and analysis. Sorting is making relationships between the data collected through the process of memoing, that way one can go back and forth with the content while at the same time new concepts, categories and relationships emerge. No pre-research, no taping, no talk refers to not stepping out of the initial corpus of data. This means that no “outside” influences or research should be done, for it may diverse the researcher from the focal point or make prior assumptions of the data. STRAUSS & CORBIN (1990) Open Coding is the part of the analysis concerned with identifying, naming, categorizing and describing relationships within the text. Each line, sentence, paragraph and word is read in search of the answer to the repeated question what is this about? What is being referenced here? Axial Coding refers to the making of relationships within a body of categories and properties to each other through a process of inductive and deductive thinking. In this step it is suggested to look for causal relationships and fit things into a basic frame where the following elements should be taken into account: phenomenon, causal conditions, context, interviewing conditions, action strategies and consequences. Selective Coding is the step where you select your core concept and build around it. Memos are the written notes where the data relationships are collected and analyzed Process is paying close attention of the develpment of the process that happens when describing and coding data. EXAMPLES DESIGN This paper describes the application of Grounded Theory to an exploration of multimedia design practices. It discusses the opinions of multimedia developers, as elicited from interviews, on the selected design tasks and the processes employed in their completion. The findings, which emerge from the analysis of the collected data, indicate that the currently available multimedia models do not address some of the important concerns of people in design practices. This project suggests that the methodological gaps in these models would provide better support for the multimedia development process. (The whole document with the process of Grounded Theory is at the link posted below) www.pacis-net.org/file/2003/papers/conceptual.../283.pdf NON-DESIGN Consider what is implied in the following passage of text (Strauss and Corbin pg. 78): Pain relief is a major problem when you have arthritis. Sometimes, the pain is worse than other times, but when it gets really bad, whew! It hurts so bad, you don’t want to get out of bed. You don’t feel like doing anything. Any relief you get from drugs that you take is only temporary or partial. One thing that is being discussed here is PAIN. Implied in the text is that the speaker views pain as having certain properties, one of which is INTENSITY: it varies from a little to a lot. (When is it a lot and when is it little?) When it hurts a lot, there are consequences: don’t want to get out of bed, don’t feel like doing things (what are other things you don’t do when in pain?). In order to solve this problem, you need PAIN RELIEF. One AGENT OF PAIN RELIEF is drugs (what are other members of this category?). Pain relief has a certain DURATION (could be temporary), and EFFECTIVENESS (could be partial). Instructor: Sean Donahue Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 3)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363980/29_sphere1.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="238" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363980/29_sphere2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="238" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363980/29_spheres3.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="238" align="left" /> http://www.anarifa.com/363980/design-research-practices http://www.anarifa.com/363955/people-knowing-u-street-bureau http://www.anarifa.com/363955/people-knowing-u-street-bureau Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:57:50 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363955 "You don't get to cut that chain of evidence and start over. You're always going to be pursued by your data shadow, which is forming from thousands and thousands of little leaks and tributaries of information" -Bruce Sterling UBIQUITOUS STREET BUREAU is an organization dedicated to the walking culture in L.A. and in the future around the world. In collaboration with Alex Braidwood and Daniel Lara, we ran a series of experiments that would tell us something about how much people are willing to walk in a city where people don't. <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_img1077.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> We started by asking ourselves many questions: What are the variables? How much people are willing to pay to walk? What are the threshold variations withing different spaces? Our first approach to this was to walk the "threshold" ourselves. We traced a path from South Campus to the Lake metro station, making calculations on how much walking costs opposed to other means of transportation. We also carried out some mobility drawings where our stride became the artist and a way to visualize the force, rhythm and character of each step. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 10)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_img1080.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_img1081.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_img1082_v2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> So we wanted to know more. We conducted inSitu scanning of people's soles of their shoes in order to know more about their walking. Our initial stages built a beautiful visual pattern of worn soles that we felt had to be completed by a series of surveys that would help us pull the information that we were missing from just the pure act of scanning. We decided to build a website that hosted the research as an archiving tool as well as a reward for the people that donated their sole print to us. We noticed that there is an interest, almost voyeuristic, of where the scannings end up and how they are positioned against other soles. To direct the people to the website we made a business card with the web address and an extra task: point out that persons favorite shoes. With this, we can get a sense of what people value within a set of shoes wether is aesthetics, comfort or nostalgia. Pictures of people's shoes in movement were also taken by this artifact that Alex built in which he placed a sensor that triggered the camera to feet movement. That way we could also document walking patterns in motion. Our final proposal is to create a walking community where information can be embedded directly into the sole of the shoe, so people can share walking paths and routes. We were thinking of a way to embed our dynamic into a real physical space. So if we were to design a whole system that is activated through walking, a launch party that would portray the system and the community would be something reasonable to do. We thought of a “dance floor” that would be scanning people’s walk/dance patterns throughout the event while at the same time showing to the crowd what is underneath their feet. Since it’s about a walking community and the contrast of people’s walking habits, we could compare these patterns within different cites at the time of the launch. We reflected on the following questions: What could happen if this type of scanning elements were to be placed in public spaces? What would that say about the place? What can we learn about the people? How would this type of information influence people’s walking habits and shoe choices? To go the Ubiquitous Street Bureau website click here Instructors: Ben Hooker/Sean Donahue Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 10)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb1.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb3.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb4.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb5.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb6.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb7.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb8.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb9.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363955/25_usb10.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="338" align="left" /> http://www.anarifa.com/363955/people-knowing-u-street-bureau http://www.anarifa.com/363940/people-knowing-sampling-the-city http://www.anarifa.com/363940/people-knowing-sampling-the-city Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:19:02 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363940 "The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it" -Charles Baudelaire Sampling the city is the study of a "non-place" (a physical and a virtual) with the purpose of collecting information about the people that inhabit that space and the space itself. Virtual Space: Facebook and Blip.fm My exploration of the Virtual Space started on my interest in the types of interaction that take place in Facebook. Not too long ago, I lost a close friend that had a Facebook account. Since he's been dead, all the people that knew him still visit this space that is no longer inhabited by his living presence but inhabited by the living through his death. The whole idea of using a virtual space as some kind of remembrance space for my friend seemed really interesting to me, unfortunately the activity in the page was not dynamic enough for me to run samples and tests. So I decided to look for a place where users could be stimulated by any kind of test I'd place so I went to Blip.fm. Blip has the same system as twitter but instead of "tweeting" messages you "blip" music (along with any message you want to post). People are able to give props, recommendations and replies to other "dj's" (they are not called users) as you build your own music library and collection of favorite dj's. How did I provide tools to understand this space better? I created a list of words that are often used in songs and that people relate to because of the emotional content. The probe consisted on asking the dj's to blip whatever song came to mind when they read the following: love, hate, wish, believe, want, lie, hope, betray, collect and kill. The words that people answered to was love and kill. The rest were not replied at all. Love It was surprising to see that the songs people thought of love did not say the word love directly but talked about the feeling of love or doing actions that we relate to love, like people that amaze us or things that overwhelm our world. Kill It was interesting to find that the songs people related to kill did not have to do with the action of killing, but more used as a slang to say something is super cool or as a figure of speech such as "dress to kill". No user related the word to a song that was violent or that had anything to do with death. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 4)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p7.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p8.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p9.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> Physical Space: Interesting Parking Lot and West Hollywood Hotel I chose to sample a parking lot I found in Pasadena, which looked absolutely lovely and interesting to me. Not only it had an odd distribution for a parking lot but the spaces were numbered with this huge hand painted numbers on the pavement. These numbers matched the mailboxes in the apartments that surrounded the lot which featured a series of whole and half numbers mixed altogether. Although this place seemed to have a lot to offer, the interest quality of the space took away from what could be discovered about the people that park their cars there. So I decided to try another parking lot that was much more dull and boring and tried to figure out what the cars said about their owners and the people that worked there. Unfortunately some people that worked there saw me as a threat or "suspicious" and made me erase all the pictures I had taken. I went to get a hotel room. The most interesting thing about the hotel room was the little details: It seemed pretty groomed from the outside and even at a single glance from the inside, but as I looked closer and starting documenting the place I realized that there was so much dust accumulated in specific areas and objects in the room such as the window, the alarm clock and the doorway. So I followed the dust. The dust told me about how often people open windows, use the clock, pick up the remote control and even use certain things in the room. It also told me about what a lousy cleaning method they have. What I learned the most from this exercise that seemed so absurd and confusing to me, was to look in a different way into the non-apparent, small details and things we tend to overlook that can say so much about a space and people- just like dust. Instructors: Ben Hooker/Sean Donahue Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 4)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p4.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p15.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p12.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363940/22_p13.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="461" align="left" /> http://www.anarifa.com/363940/people-knowing-sampling-the-city http://www.anarifa.com/363920/people-knowing-experimental-interventions http://www.anarifa.com/363920/people-knowing-experimental-interventions Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:01:50 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363920 "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep" -Scott Adams Experimental Interventions are a series of exercises to explore behaviors and reactions in people. In collaboration with Manny Darden, our job was to tease out three different types of interaction by making a trap, a dispensing object and creating a route of some sort. Our first approach to the project was to find out what is it that people engage with in terms of physical objects and images so we attacked the assignment by creating simple things that later we would embed into a more complex system. Attempt number one: Creating simple strategies Manny and I build a bunch of large sized construction paper planes that we laid around in the Hillside Campus hallway to see what was the reaction of the people that walked by them. Most of the people would pick them up and play as they walked by- that told us that people are attracted to games and nostalgia. We also had some "dummy" knobs laying in a large base and people around were immediately interested in turning the knobs and expecting something to happen as well. We learned that people like to touch, turn, pull and push things that will create some sort of output or reward. For the final first approach we filled a series of post-it notes with different colors and shapes commanding people to follow the colors or the shapes across the hall. We learned that people like to be told what to do, but they also need to have extra layers of attention and information to keep them following. Attempt number two: Cannibal Cove, The kiss and The ants Cannibal Cove was the following dispensing experiment we created to tease out what is it that grabs people attention. We created a dispensing machine were the users had to punch into a series of questions that would tell us about their personality, and as a result of the punching they would receive a fruit that embodied their character. We learned that people like to talk about themselves and see themselves reflected into different objects or points of view. The kiss was a scenic route where the image of a girl blowing a kiss and a trail of kisses would lead to an end point of "nice" notes. We learned that people like strong images but also like strong narratives that are supported by these. The ants was a second go of the kiss, but instead of having something intangible such as a kiss traveling in the air, we set up a series of large ants in the stairs that are by the library in the Hillside Campus and that go all the way down into the classrooms that are on the side of the Ahmanson Auditorium, leading into a big pile of candy. We learned that people need stronger stimuli or attention factors in order to follow. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 6)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_cannibal1.jpg" border="0" width="450" height="600" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_cannibal2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_cannibal3.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_cannibal4.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> Attempt number three: Punching Boxes and LED ants So from our teachings of Cannibal Cove, we decided to make a bolder experiment and built a series of boxes that had to be punched in order to access a survey, which followed some more punching to make choices about people's mood that day. We found out that people LOVE to punch in any way possible, and that the element of surprise is key to mantain the user's interest. The ants we decided to make an LED strand that resembled ants so people would follow the lighting dots to get to the prize. We learned that when indicating a route, the pattern must be very prominent and attention catching, otherwise people just walk by it. Final Attempt: Punching Boxes and Bike LED light ants The dinamic for the punching boxes was pretty much the same, except this time we elaborated a more sophisticated set of questions, where the user not only had to answer about their moods but their opinions on actual issues of interest and belief. We learned that people actually like to think a little and don't trust questionaires, even if they are anonymous. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 6)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_punch2d.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_img1696.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_img1657.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_img1697.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_img1698.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363920/27_punch1c.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> We increased the size and created a pace in the LED ants, now using larger sets of LEDs like the ones bike lights use: we benefited from their color, format and the ability to light at different sequences without hooking up extra hardware. Unfortunately our route experiment was not followed as we wished in any of our attempts, although people did show interest from time to time or appreciation as a work of installation. We learned that we have to create very strong narratives and instances of attention in order to get people engaged in a journey. Instructors: Ben Hooker/Sean Donahue Experimental Interventions from ana rifa! on Vimeo. Feeling Punchy from Manny Darden on Vimeo. http://www.anarifa.com/363920/people-knowing-experimental-interventions http://www.anarifa.com/363917/authoring-critical-media-david-bowen http://www.anarifa.com/363917/authoring-critical-media-david-bowen Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:40:22 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363917 "The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite" -Thomas Sowell VITASCOPE is a piece created as a response to the lecture David Bowen presented at Design Dialogues in MDP. This lecture made a huge impact on me. Since I started this program, I´ve felt a strong interest of bringing technology and nature together, in a way where technology helps bring back to the natural what we have taken from it with the artificial. David Bowen's works feature a wide variety of lo-tech kinetic robots that react to certain natural conditions such as wind or light and making them react into organic drawings and/or behaviors. There is a specific piece that caught my attention from the rest of his work, his rendering growth machine. Bowen took the piece of an inkjet plotter and created his own rendering system, in which a sensor attached to a flower pot would track the shadow of the plant and render it in a print against a papyrus like piece of paper on the wall. The result is a slow and careful study of the growth of the plant, making people look at something they may not look at everyday. So I decided to create an environment of my own where people could stop and observe through technology, slow down their vision, look at things from another perspective. Vitascope is the system that embodies a sequence of beans sprouting through the course of a week. The sequence is presented in a laptop with a Make Controller hooked up on it and a Knob that responds to the footage. The sequence is sped up in way where the beans can be seen moving and sprouting instantly but as the knob is turned, it allows the user to slow down the growth so it can be appreciated frame by frame. It is also important to mention that the installation of this interactive piece belongs in a space that I created as well: The AlterVisum Museum. The AlterVisum Museum is a space created to hold work that pushes different ways of looking at new technologies and the natural world. The purpose of this place is to experience alternative ways of looking and observing through projects that question and explore how we can bring these two worlds together in a dialogue where the artificial and the natural can understand, communicate and complement each other. Instructor: Anne Burdick/Ben Hooker Vitascope from ana rifa! on Vimeo. Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 8)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img2241.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img1055_v3.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img1056.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img1058.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img1067.jpg" border="0" width="450" height="600" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img2243_v2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img1952.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363917/26_img1954.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> http://www.anarifa.com/363917/authoring-critical-media-david-bowen http://www.anarifa.com/363904/authoring-critical-media-GAFFTA http://www.anarifa.com/363904/authoring-critical-media-GAFFTA Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:28:59 +0000 Ana Rifa! 363904 "Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding" -Clifford Stoll This piece is based on the series of Design Dialogues as a critical approach to the lecture that Josette Melchor gave at MDP. During the talk, I decided to document her with an old toy camera called "Pixelvision". The footage came out as this beautiful static that was completely unexpected. Design Dialogues on Pixelvision from ana rifa! on Vimeo. It made me reflect about Josette Melchor and Grey Area Foundation. Josette Melchor is currently in charge of this new space that supports media artists. As she started the lecture, she emphasized the fact that GAFFTA (Grey Area Foundation For The Arts) was located in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco and how this was important for the Bay Area, gentrification and social issues related to the neighborhood. I guess I thought this was important in terms of setting a context for the foundation, but as the lecture went on, I realized that there were all this layers of information that weren´t about data visualization and media artists. I decided to reflect on this by making a live transcript from the audio of the lecture, were I set the constriction of trying to capture as much text as possible without going back on the track. The transcript then was a document of the information that was retained in a first go of her speech. From that transcript the first layer of information to analyze were the words that were repeated the most throughout the Design Dialogues session. The second layer is the relationship within the words. The third layer is the discovery of words that were completely off the script, as well as the position of the words in the layout. The format chosen was of a print in vellum paper, this is with the purpose to see the different layers of information, interpretation and misinterpretation that occurs through data visualization and the use of different media. The final outcome is a print version of all the data I lost first hand with the Pixelvision, but compiled in an analysis with a critical response. Instructor: Anne Burdick/Ben Hooker Previous&nbsp;/&nbsp;Next image&nbsp;(1 of 9)<img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1045.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1046_v2.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1047.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1048.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1049.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1051.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img1052.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img4912.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="400" align="left" /> <img src="http://c0573862.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1/0/23931/363904/23_img4922.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="400" align="left" /> http://www.anarifa.com/363904/authoring-critical-media-GAFFTA