271 DMDN History

Final concept

2008-05-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

2008-05-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Draft Essay

2008-05-21T19:54:00.002-07:00

Wearable computing and privacy
Fiona Johnston

Introduction
Wearable computing has been around since the invention of the watch. A wearable computer is defined as being (1) Worn, not carried, (2) user controllable, and (3) operating in real-time. Currently available wearables include MP3 player jackets, wireless area sensing T-shirts and medical devices such as a pacemaker.

Reading the January Domus magazine, I came across a small article about a design project by Philips called SKIN. This project is based on soft technologies, exploring the future integration of sensitive materials and the human body. Things such as conductive inks, small textile sensors, stretchable and flexible electronic substances that integrate energy, supply, sensors and displays have all been explored. I have worked with fabric and fashion design for the past 3 years and this has made me interested in what the future of textiles and clothing might hold. Already to date we have gone from all natural fabrics like cotton, wool and linen in natural colours, to synthetic fabrics with stretch, heat resistance, anti static properties, waterproof, breathable and incredibly light-weight warm fabrics. A lot of these textiles seem to be trying to reproduce or out-do nature itself.

With such rapid advances in technology, concerns about our way of life and how it is going to be affected are being raised. A very big topic of concern is privacy and how it is being rapidly deteriorated by new technologies and the way they are used. “…the computer revolution has put individual privacy interests at risk” (Technology and Society Issues for the 21st century and beyond, p.53, 2008). Things are changing quickly and in the future even our social culture and the way we interact with others will be completely different. With every passing year we get another step closer to integrating humans and computers. But everything that is a technological advancement has a downside and often it is change, which we as humans are not entirely comfortable with.

Social Interaction
“An evolution in lifestyles in recent years has led to increased mobility and, at the same time, a strong desire for instant access to information and communication” (Wearable electronics and photonics, 1.3.1, 2005) Wearable communication technology gives users a huge benefit for easing tasks in everyday life but what effect is it going to have on our face-to-face social interaction with other people? Will a videophone embedded in clothing be able to keep people connected or will it create awkward social situations when two people meet in person? As with text messaging, people often say things they wouldn’t normally say in person, creating completely different situations that would not exist if it weren’t for the technology. It will be interesting to see what further social impacts wearable technology creates. An example of technology’s impact on social situations is “Ibieca, a Spanish village, found that its indoor plumbing came at the expense of community integration… upsetting a traditional pattern of water use…” (Society, ethics and technology, p.84, 2006). The development of user changeable fabrics and emotion sensing wearables gives people the opportunity to express themselves through a completely new and dynamic medium. But more often than not people seem to be happy not to stand out. We will see something another person has, and we will want one, which just shows how little control we have over our lives we just do and wear what we see advertised. So even if everyone was able to completely personalise their clothing you would still see groups of people walking around wearing exactly the same thing. The development of wearable technologies could also cause a large separation of “classes” i.e. those who can afford it and those who cant. “A real threat is that people equipped with wearable electronics can outsmart other people who do not have such devices.”(Wearable electronics and photonics, 1.4.2, 2005).
The development of such personal technology gives rise to many issues surrounding privacy. Wearable technology is opening up capabilities of recording details of life around us through images, audio or even collected data transmitted by other devices. People may react negatively to being unintentionally recorded by wearable technology in use by another person in the same vicinity as them. It does give the user benefits, but no one else.

Tracking
Already some workplaces monitor the performance of their staff. How long will it be before we are carrying monitoring devices around with us 24/7? Where and to whom will this information be sent to? With the invention and introduction of RFID technology, people are already inventing was to block the RFID tag frequencies and how to disable them without destroying the product they are on. In the future I think we as a society will grow accustomed to the lack of privacy. Already the younger generations of today show little concern for how much privacy they have, to the point of advertising themselves, their habits and relationships on websites like bebo, myspace, livejournal etc. These pages can be viewed by anyone, anywhere in the world. The information on these pages can be used by corporations to gather data and sent relevant advertising back to the user. Gmail is a good example of this, it scans your emails and picks up key words and places advertising relevant to the email on the side of the screen. This brings up a question of whom else has access to what information is sent and how private our lives really are.

Surveillance cameras have paved the way for desensitisation to being monitored. Almost all public areas now have cameras up watching everywhere where we go and everything we do within their range. The next step, which we are now seeing is RFID technology. Now everything we purchase, right down to the brand and date can be tracked. So if all grocery items had RFID tags on them, anyone would be able to predict your life for the next few days just by compiling a list of what items you have in your bags as you walk past the scanner. What is the next step in de-privatising our lives? We implant microchips in our animals so they can be identified, and put tracking devices on endangered animals and criminals on parole. So already humans are being made to wear tracking devices. How long will it be before everyone is wearing tracking devices or has microchip technology implanted beneath their skin?

Implanted technology has advantages in areas concerning identification and the possibility of connecting information to a person. In the future we might not even need to carry keys or a wallet on our person, all transactions and identification could be done through a simple scanning identification process. Science fiction is not far off the mark.

Medical wearable technologies are already being frequently used and are becoming more advanced. AS well as pacemakers, cochlear implants are being developed to help deaf people hear again, and automatic defibrillators which provides immediate emergency medical aid to people prone to heart attacks (Wearable electronics and photonics, 1.3.2, 2005). Global positioning systems (GPS) are being developed to help blind people become more independent.

Conclusion
Technology is advancing so rapidly that our social structures are having trouble keeping up. But advanced wearable technologies are still in their infancy and will not be readily available to the public for quite a few years. Until then there will be much debate about how it is going to affect our privacy and our way of life in general. We may never know exactly who has access to information about us, but by that time we may not care. The introduction of surveillance cameras and RFID tags has begun to desensitise us to the tradition western idea of individual privacy. The future looks set to be a completely different social culture where there could either be a complete lack of regard for privacy or it could create mass paranoia. Everyday man and computer come closer to becoming one organism.

References
Tao x. Wearable electronics and photonics. Woodhead Publishing, 2005.

Winston M. E. and Edelbach R. D. Society, ethics, and technology 3ed.
Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

Hjorth L. S., Eichler B.A., Khan A. S., Morello J.A. Technology and society Issues for the 21st century and beyond 3ed
Pearson Education Inc, 2008.

Bibliography
Viseu A. Social dimensions of wearable computers. In Technoetic Arts: a journal of speculative research, vol 1 Number 1, Eastborne, Great Britain: Anthony Rowe, 2003.

Strub H. B. Privacy, Wearable computers, and recording technology.
Interval research Corporation.

http://www.Hautegear-WearableTechnology.html

Schoeser M. World textiles A concise history
Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2003.

Anne nimetz, Lecture on Embodied interaction, 4th April 2008.
Images

http://www.presseagentur.com/media/832/IAW_GPS_Jacket1.JPG

http://www.popgadget.net/images/skin.jpg

http://www.imec.be/wwwinter/mediacenter/en/newslink/images/patch_th.jpg

http://image.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2007/08/08/mobile_video460.jpg

http://aftermathnews.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/surveillance-cameras-400.jpg

http://www2.cpttm.org.mo/cyberlab/rfid/tagInLabel.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Feline_identifying_microchip.JPG/800px-Feline_identifying_microchip.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/RFID_hand_1.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1044318671749_2003/02/05/nat_pacemaker07,0.jpg

http://mobilecommunitydesign.com/uploaded_images/cyber_eye-760815.jpg

Wearable technologies- the ultimate form of cybernetics?

2008-05-21T19:54:00.001-07:00

Privacy issues surrounding the development of wearables.

Tracking – direct marketing.
Access to information – biometrical etc. who has access to information about who and who makes decisions based on it?
Hacking, security.

Implanted technologies.
Microchips
Pacemakers
Decorative implanted objects -body modifications. Subdermal implants.

Worn.
Entertainment.
Health.
Ease of living.

More often we take computing with us.
Increasingly we are not tied to a desk to interact with computers. Mobile phones, MP3 players, bluetooth.

We will grow accustomed to the lack of privacy.

Social implications- will it increase or decrease our face to face interaction with other people?

9th May 2008 Tutorial

2008-05-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Towards user design? On the shift from object to user as the subject of design.

Idea of form follows function.

The object is unpredictable unless you have a user.

Design as communication?
Objects stimulate an association in the mind but the user must have experience and knowledge behind it.

Enjoyable from response. Common denominator is money.

Essay writing
MLA citation. Website link on course outline.
“in text reference” (Jones, 2002).

Discuss critical issues.
Every image must have a caption.
Use of question marks- don’t pose a question unless you are going to answer it.

Office hours 5-6pm on Mondays.

Blogs- research- share your opinions.

Take a position for keyword.
Read through essay and start reworking.

6th May 2008 Lecture

2008-05-21T19:51:00.002-07:00

Philosophy of the artificial

Philosophy
Ancient – i.e. Greek
6th Century
Catholic - 1100AD-1400
Modern – 17th Century

Modern philosophy in western tradition
Theology / religion / science
Epistemology –logic, truth, knowledge.
Ontology –existence, being.
Ethics –how we relate to others.
Aesthetics –beauty, art.
Mind/ psychology
Natural –physics, chemistry, biology.

When you design you bring a certain world view with you.

What is design knowledge?
Design as a discipline is very new, only about 40 years old. It integrates knowledge from many different areas, art, science etc.

Not a lot of thinking about what is design knowledge.

“The enlightenment”
Separation between science, religion and philosophy. People begin to think for themselves.

Martin Jay. Downcast Eyes. 1993.
Light=truth Dark=confusion/wrong.

Validity associated with seeing.

Rene Descartes 1596-1650
“I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am.”

Problem of perception. We can’t trust what is out of our eyes. The first step in existence is thought. The mind comes before the body/world.
Optics. “Discourse on method”. Descartes influenced by the telescope, also by camera obscura. Metaphor for the mind. Image you see with your intellect. Most truthful thing is clear and distinct.

2 types of seeing.
Speculation. Eye of the mind, internal representation. Reason/logic. “It is the mind that sees, not the body”
Observation. Mental sight. Disembodied eye.

Influenced by Alberti, perspective, seeing the world through a frame. You are a spectator to the world.

Regime of light in baroque architecture viewed from a fixed point. Drama, observation. Light as an important part of design. Louis Le Vau the “light King”
17th Century, the perfection of the mirror.

Descartes believed that images can be represented in language.

McCahon makes a connection between light, language and the land. 1970s.

Doubt and presence are always together.

Magritte. Connection between language and reality becomes broken.
We assume that words and images are connected.
Design begins with darkness and love. The blind proceed by hand or with an extension of themselves (stick).

Narcissus. Blind look. Falling in love with ones own reflection.
A self portrait is a blind painting. Picture looking at painter looking at picture looking at painter…

Phenomenology
Importance of tools/equipment.
Tool becomes invisible when it is in use. They withdraw from our attention, but influence how we relate to the world around us.

Frame around a painting- a cut that doesn’t bleed.
Design is the extra thing around a product that we don’t see.

Ralph Hotere, black window, 1981.

29th April 2008 Lecture.

2008-05-21T19:51:00.001-07:00

“Green design / Sustainable design”

Ecology of the artificial
The gods must be crazy
Adapting to your environment
The ecosphere
Atmosphere – air
Hydrosphere – water
Biosphere – living things
Lithosphere – rocks
Human activities can affect the balance
Easter island- the seriousness of environmental issues
Humans disrupt the natural balance
Where does the designers responsibility end?
Adding on green design can have negative effects in the long run.
Time-based, long-life desgn.

11th April 2008 Tutorial

2008-05-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Core reading.
Social dimensions of wearable computers: an overview.
Example of a good essay.
Wearable computing is still in its early stages and not much research has been done into its social dimensions. Debate surrounding privacy and control of wearable computing.
Use of key words through paper- getting to the point.
Wearable computing vs. prosthetic computing (what is the difference?)
Underlying issue of control.
Ubiquitous- computing we don’t have to know about and have no personal control over.
Technology cannibalising previous technologies.
Important social dimensions concerns
loss of autononomy – reliability – safety – security
control
Human equality lost in computing.

For essay- final has to be double spaced. Images in relevant positions to text.

8th April Lecture

2008-04-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

What is Design?
People’s interpretation of design differs.
Coming to solutions for problems.
Problem solving
Applied creativity
Learning
Evolution
A social process
Interaction
Game
Negociation
Solving wicked problems

10 characteristics of wicked problems by Rittel, Horst and Melvin Webber. “dilemmas in a general theory of planning”. 1973
Design like juggling. Changeable ways of reaching a solution.
Improvisation
Design as a mastery of expertise.
Naïve
Novice
Advanced beginner
Competent designer
Expert
Master

How not to design
First idea
Inflexibility
Jump to details
Design form first
No planning
Waiting for inspiration
Ignore tests

TAKE A LINE FOR A WALK

4th April Lecture.

2008-04-09T20:05:00.002-07:00

Embodied interaction. Anne.

Wearable technologies
Mobile media
Interactive installation
Telematics
Wearable technologies
Biometric devices. Entertainment devices. Smart fabrics. High tech jewellery.
Wearable technologies open up rethinking about our interaction with the computer.
“Printed organism” Sonali Sridhar and Mouna Andraos.
“LeCharpe Communicante” Electronic shadow.
Steve Mann Pioneer in development in wearable computing.
Seamless extension of body and mind.
Worn not carried.
User controllable.
Operates in real-time.

Eye tab- personal imaging, augmented reality.

“Sousveillance” cameras embedded in clothing and jewellery. Surveying surveillance. Maybe camera.

Benoît Maubrey- die audio gruppe.
Audio jackets 1982. Loud speakers sewn into second hand clothing.
Audio ballerinas 1989. Audio Peacocks 2003.

Mobile technologies
Golan Levin.
Dialtones (a telesymphony).

Interactive installations
Paul De Marinis
“Rain dance” 1998 (sound encoded water)
“Firebirds” 2004

Joachin Sauter, ART+COM
Intereaction between physical and virtual work.
“Famous Grouse experience” 2002
“Medial stage and costume design” 2002- video tracking.

David Rokeby- camera tracking to create installations.
“Very nervous system”
Paul Garrin/ David Rokeby
“Boarder patrol” 1994-96

Erkki Kurenniemi(?)
“DIMI Ballet” 1971

Telematics
Paul Seromon
Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz
(Bringing different locatioins together on one screen).
“Hole in space” 1980
Nam June Paik
“Good morning Mr Orwell” 1984

Friday 28th March Lecture

2008-04-09T20:05:00.001-07:00

Open source design and collective invention. Luke.

Collective invention-networks.
Internet has created a way of thinking about culture.
Designed systems and products become more diverse.
Constant creation of connections.
New collboration opportunities. Network is a complete special structure. Multiple connections.
Space is an event.
50’s 60’s idea of network explored.
Network- horizontal flat space, not deep, infinte surface
Superstudio= the continuous monument.
Life becomes like a circuit board. Extension of human body through electronics. Our bodies have expanded to the size of the world.
Open source- insists source code is made available. Free technology. User generated. Collaberative design.
Capitol investment- not suited to open source.
Democratic information. Instructables.
Mash-up/remix culture.
The idea of recombining existing things to create something new.
Negativeland. Press release.
Circuit bending. Re-purposing.
Critacallity in art and design.
Has this network always existed?
Combining things to create a new meaning- an old idea.
Using things out of context. Collage. Juxtaposition,
John Cage, Tacet. 1960 Artwork about existing things in your network.
Obsession with consumerism. Punk. Deconstructivism.

18th March Lecture

2008-04-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

Post Modernism Patricia.

Modernity- any state which creates a shock of conscience.
Post modernism is about meanings.
Post modernities state or ideology of being post modern.

Post WWII beginning of post modernism.
Innovation and technical design.
German college of design. Everything at right angles. 1955-1968 HFG.
1948 resistance of nazis Sophie Scholl.
To improve quality and usefulness of consumer products. 1960’s. Max Bill. Systemisation of design process cannot be constrained by ideology.

1940’s women working in factories. “Rosie the riveter”
Post war effects. Levittown house built. Like housing NZ. Urban grid, nature suppressed.
Defensive feminism. 1963 feminine mystique. Women questioning expectations in life.
1970 France. 50 years since American women given the right to vote. 2nd wave of feminism.
Binary concepts. Opposition concepts that cannot be mixed. Equality and what not.
Brought awareness of “others”-disables, gender, race, religion, product of women’s liberation.

Structuralism. Period of change. Surface appearance improved.
Popsicle- from pop art. Art for the masses. Comics  Nintendo, video games, dreams, unreal. 160’s pop culture.
Beatles “on the road”(book) road trips metaphor for life.
Hippie movement. 1968 musical “hair”
Appealing to the masses-“habitat” shop. Explosion of consumerism.
Kennedy- space race. 1962. Design followed the space race. Apollo design.

Eltore Scottsass father of post modernism design. mid 1950’s everyone had a vespa. Famous for Olivetti portable typewriter 1969. Started in 1988 memphis. Hugely influenced by Egypt. Carlton cabinet. Synthetic laminates colours ornament is object. Memphis-want rather than need.
1971 President Nixon converted US dollar into gold.
73-86 oil crisis.
From 1984 Nz design flourishes.
Political voice of students.
1940’s-1990’s Cold war.
1947-53 Korean war.
1959-75 Vietnam war.

Post modernism architecture.
Anonymous buildings with mirror glass curtain walls.
Alienates. Subservient to capitalism.

Apple Macintosh signpost of post modernism.
As a result of WWII aluminium became huge.
Venturi “complexity and contradiction”. “Learning and Las Vegas”.
Structuralism-association.
Design should be a recognisable sign.
Le Cobusier follower Michael Graves derives from modernism.
Choice and sharing part of post modernism.
Semiotics. Symbolism. Signifiers.
Phenomenology object-space-human
Relationships of space.

Jeremy Bertham 1878 Panopticon
Prisoners in cells in circular formation around tower meaning prisoners can’t tell if they’re being watched therefore behaviour will improve.
Invisible, unverifiable control to change behaviour. Structured systems. New culture created in Vietnam war.

Thesis Proposal: Fiona Johnston

2008-03-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

Reading the January Domus magazine, I came across a small article about a design project by Philips called SKIN. This project is based on soft technologies, exploring the future integration of sensitive materials and the human body. Things such as conductive inks, small textile sensors, stretchable and flexible electronic substances that integrate energy, supply, sensors and displays have all been explored.

I have worked with fabric and fashion design for the past 3 years and this has made me interested in what the future of textiles and clothing might hold. Already to date we have gone from all natural fabrics like cotton, wool and linen in natural colours, to synthetic fabrics with stretch, heat resistance, anti static properties, waterproof, breathable and incredibly light-weight warm fabrics. A lot of these textiles seem to be trying to reproduce or out-do nature itself.

When I consider the idea of emotion-sensing clothing, which changes colour to suit your mood, I can’t help but compare the concept to the way the chameleon changes colour to blend in with it’s surroundings. Nature is full of lizards, frogs, birds, rodents, fish and plants, which are already doing what we are trying to do with soft technologies. Even the rat has beaten us to transmitting feelings long distance. They use sounds inaudible to the human ear to warn other rats of danger. This seems so similar to what the SKIN project is trying to do with collars that read biometric signals and exchange them with other individuals (emotion sensor). Even sea creatures have beaten us to changing skin colours while we’re still trying to develop tattoos that become coloured on contact between bodies.

This leads to technology becoming more than just a computer we need to turn on and press buttons for it to work. Already we are implanting microchips in our animals and the government knows what else. People are even living with machines asisting vital organs, like the pacemaker. This begs the question of how long it will be before we all have computing devices inside our bodies and what effect it will have on the evolution of our species. Is the future really going to be as it is depicted in a sci-fi film? And what freedom will we have as individuals is we all are implanted with some sort of technology, which lends itself to tracking, monitoring and being hacked. This gives rise to much debate regarding privacy. At the same time this sort of technology would be the ultimate form of cybernetics.

Through the development of soft technologies, we are in a way, trying to imitate nature, while at the same time creating our own cyber world, which we want to be completely connected to. As if machine is mans creation, in the same way as some believe nature to be God’s creation. We are still looking for ways to express ourselves, communicate and interact with our creation, the machine.

Things to look into more:
· History of textiles.
· History of soft technologies.
· History of cybernetics.
· Comparisons between animal behaviours and technological developments.
· Debate surrounding privacy and technological development.

Multimedia: from Wagner to virtual reality.
Randal Packer and Ken Jordan.
Publisher: New York: Norton, 2001. 1st ed.

5000 years of textiles.
Jennifer Harris.
Publisher: British Museum Press in association with The Whitworth Art Gallery and The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993.

World textile: a concise history.
Mary Schoeser.
Publisher: London: Thames and Hudson, 2003.

Devices of the soul: battling for our selves in an age of machines.
Steve Talbot.
Publisher: Sebastopol, Calif: O’Reilly Media, 2007.

Privacy in peril.
James B. Rule.
Publisher: Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. 2007.

http://www.design.philips.com/probes/projects/index.page

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/746/49597.JPG

http://www.madangdiving.org.pg/picturesindex/cuttlefishsequence/cuttlefishsequence1.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1044318671749_2003/02/05/nat_pacemaker07,0.jpg

Assigned Reading

2008-03-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Adolf Loos Ornament and Crime.

Background
Eldest child of 3 born in 1870 in Brno, Moravia.
Stonemason father died when he was 8, his mother carried on the family business.
Headstrong and rebellious at school though still got good grades.
Studied architecture on several occasions but failed to complete a degree.
Contracted syphilis from a brothel in Vienna and was sterile by 21.
At 23 his mother disowned him for refusing to support her in the family business.
1893 went to America for 3 years, did some odd jobs in NY.
Returned to Vienna in 1896 via London as a gentleman with refined tastes.
His friends included Ludwig Wittgenstein, Arnold Schrönberg and Karl Kraus.
Quickly established as preferred architect of Viennas cultured middle class.
Interested in decorative arts.
Collected sterling silver and high quality leather goods for their plain but luxurious appeal.
Love for custom-made clothing “What use is a brain if one doesn’t have the decent clothes to set it off?”
Surprisingly Loos architectural style is often elaborately decorated. In his essay ornament and crime, his argument is between “organic” and superfluous decoration.
1918 diagnosed with cancer, half his digestive system removed. Only able to eat ham and cream the rest of his life.
Several unhappy marriages.
By 50 he was almost completely deaf.
In 1928 was disgraced by a paedophilia scandal.
Died penniless in 1933 in Kalksburg, near Vienna.

Overview of Essay
Loos argues that the evolution of a culture can be measured by the degree to which it has rejected ornamentation.
Peoples need to decorate themselves is primitive and degenerate. Therefore anyone with tattoos is a criminal or will be one.
Ornament is not only produced by criminals, it commits a crime itself.
Ornamentation wastes time and manpower only to produce something which will become obsolete.
People who prefer ornament live in the past and it is a misfortune for any government if it’s people are dominated by the past.
Loos likens the evolution of a culture to the stages of a child growing up and that anyone who feels the need to decorate everything around them is amoral and have not reached the same level as modern man.
Loos looks down on anyone who uses ornament saying “I suffer the ornaments of these people because they have no other means of expressing their full potential” (referring to his cobbler putting ornamentation on his shoes.
He even goes on to say that modern man has become so refined and that his individuality is so strong that he now uses his clothes as a mask for this.

My Response
Adolf Loos makes valid points about how ornament wastes time and effort to produce something that is only going to go out of fashion. He says himself that it is better to buy a plain, well made product which will last a long time than to buy something which has had the quality compromised for decoration.
Personally I can appreciate a certain amount of ornamentation but I can understand how Loos perceives it as an immature need to decorate everything around us. There is something refined about being able to appreciate a piece of work for its simplicity and material qualities rather than being distracted by the decoration painted over the top.
To a point I agree with Loos ideas about people feeling the need to decorate themselves. But for the most part I don’t think this means a person has a criminal nature, it is more a desire to express themselves, remember a time in their life or even just a be that they like an image so much that they tattoo it on themselves.
It is fair enough to say that is bad to live in the past but I think that it is good to have reminders of the past around us so that we can learn and grow from it rather than dwell on it.

Reference list
“Adolf Loos works and projects.” Ralf Bock. Skir a Editore S.P.A. Italy 2007.

http://arqudec.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/l846666b.jpg

Monday 11th of March 2008 Lecture

2008-03-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

Computing and media art. Anne Nimetz.
Computing
Human’s ability to count.
17th C. philosophers. Classification- logic rather than speech.
Universal language, scientific language.
Logical calculus. Science very new.
J. Wilkins- most influential thinker of the 17th century. Attempt at universal language. Should be possible. Invented short hand system. His ideas were all before his time. Language linking mind to reality. Work never complete.
G.W. Leibniz- mathematical model for language. Representing parts of language as number. Discovered binary system (in West) thought to have already been discovered in the east 2000 years before. 2 symbol system.
C. Babbage, 1834- Small calculator, 8 decimal. With government funding developed a 20 decimal machine. Analytical engine, prerequisite of computer. Probably hand cranked.
Ada Lovelace, 1815-1852- first programmer. 36 years old bled to death by physician.
A. Turing 1912-1952- founder of computer science. Turing machine- concept on paper. Simple computer. Thought experiment. WWII worked breaking ciphers. 1947 uni Manchester. 1952 convicted of homosexual relations.
K. Zuse. 23 comp. 1914 working in isolation. Continued developing. Founded 1st computer start-up company.
60’s idea of internet floating around
23-electro mech. Colossus T Flowers. For breaking code. Top-secret machine.
N. Wiener 1948 cybernetics. Science of transmitting messages from man to machine or machine to machine. Theory meant to increase the quality of our existence. Analysis of brainwaves, AKA father of cyborgs.
IBM 1952 1st commercial sci computer defence calculator. To government.
PDP-1 1960 famous for hacker culture. One operator. Graphic display. 1st computer game, space wars. 10 years later 1st coin operated arcade game came out but was hard to play.
I. Sutherland, 1963. Sketchpad. 1st CAD program. Human interface. Artistic and technical. X-y plotter and light pen. Limits of computer power.
NLS demo 1968 D. Engelbart. Online system. 1000 cap prof. Mouse. Hypertext. Shared screen multimedia demo. Completely new systems. Mouse pointer called “bug”. Email video messaging. Skype. “The mother of all demos”.
1980s mouse goes commercial.
Apple from Xerox parc.
S. Wozniak, 1976 Apple 1 $666.66
B. Gates 1978 microsoft. 197 Albakerky  Washington. Dos.
Atare commodore 79/82. Time magazine man of the year was a computer.
1990’s www, windows, silicon graphics, 3d graphics. 1994 Apples power mac.
Future of computing- quantum computer.

Media Art
Digital art, art and technology. Large variety. New media- computer graphics, animation etc.
19th century. Zoetrope. Illusion of action. W. Horner Dadadelium.
1839 Phenakisoscope- to cheat.
Edward Muybridge 1878. Details of motion. Multiple cameras.
Lanterna magica. Fantascope projection. Magic lantern. Oil lamp image on glass plate. Fantasmagoria show 1849 rear projectiony.
Modernism. Bauhaus. Creation of intermingling of technology and art.
Moholy Nagy. First electronic artist.
Kinetic art. T. Wilfred 1930’s Colour music. Clavilux.
1950’s-60’s kinetic art. Jean Tinguely. Homage to New York 1960. Drawing machine. Billy Clouver. One glorious act of mechanical suicide.
EAT experiments in art and technology. Pioneers in interactive media art. Early interactive performances and robotics.
Nan June Paik, 1958 first video artist. John Cage Charlotte Mormon. 1960 sony portapack closed circuit.
John Whitney 1917-1995 pioneer of animation. Built computer himself. Inspiring artists. Commercial potential. Arabesque visual music.
1968 cybernetic serendipity. Happy chance discoveries.

Tutorial Friday 7th March 2008

2008-03-10T20:36:00.001-07:00

First thing on blog
- What I got out of the lecture
- Research
- Drafts
Research- live, interviewing- find out what people want, librabry.
Narrative. Discussion of others ideas to form your own opinion.
Particia’s office hours Wed 2-3pm tutors room 2.24 email Patricia.Z.Bruner@xtra.co.nz
Send blog link by next Friday.

William Morris was part of a group called the pre-raff elites, a group of gothic inspired designers and architects. Architects of the red house.

Assigned reading- read all assigned readings so you can discuss when the person does their reading. Learn to skim read, read first paragraph and pick out key words from the rest. 10 point summary.

Industrial revolution. Change. Invention of the seam engine. 7 lamps of architecture- Johns Ruskin “beauty is the joy of the workman coming through in the piece” Labour is beauty. Morris feels he/we have a moral obligation to persue change. Aesthetics is the value of the work.
The user is not consulted about goods. Capitalists making things purely for profit. Exactly the same as the chineese industrial market today. We have to buy their stuff because that’s all that there is available. Unless you choose to do without.
Design (eg. Hat, walkin stick, furniture). Lost the are of marketing (market shopping).

Reading for tutorial 7th March.

2008-03-10T20:35:00.002-07:00

Christine Poulson (ED) William Morris on Art for Design. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996)
THE REVIVAL OF HANDICRAFT

In this reading, Morris mourns the loss of handicraft to the age of modernism and machine produced products. He also makes points about the loss of job satisfaction which comes with this industrialisation.
I think Morris is basically saying that we all become unhappy with things we first saw as development and we will wish for things to return to how they used to be. we always want what we haven’t got.

Tuesday 4th March 2008.

2008-03-10T20:35:00.001-07:00

Research writing.
Essay- Thesis proposal 18th March.
Chosen subject, introductory research and position.
When researching don’t take sides before you know more about a topic. No person is likely to have arrived at any complete theory. We might not believe the Author’s perspective, we must try to understand how their perspective is true.
START EARLY
READ AND WRITE
POLISH
GET ADVICE
Preliminary research finds gaps in the literature.
Research is never perfect.
When you start writing, you make new insights.

Topic= subject
Thesis= your personal point of view.

Intro- Thesis
Body- Topic
-Support
- Conclusion
Conclusion.

Paragraphs to deal with one Idea and link to next one.
Do introduce terms, define terms.
à Oxford online dictionary.
Do build good sentences. Flush left. Good layout. Easy to read.
Referencing – common evidence. Democratic. Use referencing to advance argument.
Be precise in referencing don’t second hand reference. Make sure you use all information.
IN TEXT CITATION
Link from blog to writing architecture or design essays.
MLA referencing.
Put images in text.
1. proposal
2. draft
3. hand-in

Friday 29th February 2008.

2008-03-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Modernism. Designing a new world. Luke Feast.

end of first world war. Rejection of history. Abstraction. Experimental.
1925 emerged in real world. 1930's.
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Baroque- emotionally expressive. Dramatic. Faith, power, prestige. Hugely ornamental.
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Industrialisation- still using classical columns. Lots of coal burning. Urbanisation.
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Manchester- one of the first industrial cities.
Crystal Palace- trade fair for industrial sellers. Items sold still very decorative. but instead using industrial products.
The dilemma of style- designers start thinking about applying design and why.
William Morris- defended simplicity and utility verses mass produced styles of the day. Simple materials emphasising craftsmanship. Morris trying to change society. Influenced by Augustus Pugin, gothic designer.
also influenced by Shaker m. decorator. social function of design.
Louis Sullivan, first to build sky scrapers and use steel.
Frank Lloyd Wright, arts and crafts, England then moved to Vienna. stripping back to function and materiality of object. linear, standardisation. Machine being introduced to everyday life. geomentric shapes.
Henry van de Velde. Important, Bauhaus. Factory as new influence on design. site of production. honest, practical, opposite of art. Product of latest technology.
Peter Behrens, first industrial designer, producing everyday products. geometric forms, symmetry, efficient design.
28 July 1914 WWI begins. key point of the beginning of modernism.
Loss of rationality, idea of being more rational in design. Human condition. desire to connect art to life.
cubism and expressionism. reinvention of forms.
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Russian constructivism. Basic, pure geometry. Super rational aesthetics. "Suprematism" movement starts.
Beginning of Photomontage. Expressing structure and materials. Nothing hidden. Barest elements creating new understanding of beauty. Reduction to simple geometries. Drawings not static. Transparencies. Utopian aspirations. Avant-garde ideas. Expression of special relationship and mathematical measurements- sculptures of Katarzyna Kobro. Simple colours encourage spectator to move around sculpture. How it changes in time and space. Spatial composition big thing for future.
Idea of the body- health. Open response to sexuality. Hygiene. Health and exercise connected strongly in media.

Italian futurism. Based version of utopia on development of technology. Emotional and sensual rather than practical. Everything becomes mechanical.
Marinetti- poem even set out in mechanical way and delivered to sound like a machine.
Machine based manufacture for a better world. Dynamic, forward moving and looking. Looking outside of itself. Dynamism. Einstein’s theory of relativity. Body and space becomes one. Envisioning future of city. Neoplasticism. De stijl. Netherlands. Still heavily influenced by cubism. Moves into primary colours and extreme simple forms. Standardised parts.
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Need to rebuild world.
WWI
Industrialisation- new centres developing
Machine key concept/ symbol of new world.
Standardised parts- dynamic
Social concept- remake people’s values and how they live
1920’s designers had ‘official’ positions
to promote ‘the new’
Bauhaus- building Utopia.
1. Work
2. Creativity }3 main aspects of Bauhaus.
3. Value

1. Breakdown between art and craft
2. Attack difference between expression and design in art. Individual vs. group.
3. Breakdown between public and private. Unstratified society.
Total work of art- living space, product, design, city planning etc. Craftwork emphasised at Bauhaus.
àIDEA OF FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
New technologies- lighting. New qualities- transparencies. Reduction of elements.
Multi-function becomes important.
Film/theatre, experimentation. Creating new person- good exercise. Trying new materials. Exhibition in cafes and shops, not just restricted to theatres.
Nezval- symbolism of alphabet letters. Abeceda.
Moholy Nagy- first electronic artist. Fine artists made to create thigs like costumes.
àIDEA OF TOTAL WORK OF ART
1925 Bauhaus move to Dessau. Change in style move and buildings. away from craft towards mass production.
àSTANDARDISED PARTS
àGEOMETRIC FORMS
Chair became symbol of new design. Chair easier than building. Cantilever chair.
Marcel Breuer- first steel tube based chair- took inspiration from bicycle. 1926. Intersecting planes and spaces. Everything revealed. Only necessary elements. Combination of old and new materials. Commitment to social reform.
Affordable housing large concern. Modernist influential Holland and Germany in rehousing masses.
Ergonomics staring to become important. Attempt to make domestic workspace more professional. Practicality.
‘Frankfurt kitchen’- compact kitchen. Labour saving ideas.
Nazis purged modernist culture. Bauhaus moved to US.
Miles van der Rohe 1927/1928 Modernism outside Bauhaus. Mass market modernism. Streamlining to art deco.
Radio development towards end of modernism.

First Post

2008-03-05T23:17:00.001-08:00

Just getting this up and running. Will post lecture notes when I have time to type them up.