keeyool.com

NY City Opera

Click to see the trailer.

Liked this ad for Sirius radio, which was in the program.

It snowed like a blizzard yesterday afternoon for 5 minutes. I feel like global warming has really affected our seasons. It was hot like the summer in November and December, and freezing cold in April. I'm finally watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. We are seeing the effects now, but in 50 years, the summer looks like it's going to be hella-hot!

Production process and first peek of his new Pixel Mirror.

Pretty cool links on interactive design. I'm adding them to my delicious account. Last year, I went to a great talk by Khoi Vinh, who helped redesign the New York Times web site. Since then, a host of magazine publications redesigned their site. One of my favorites is New York Magazine. I love their top nav bar. I thought Khoi Vinh presented the New York Times site with top nav bar as well, but now it has a typical left nav bar like the Los Angeles Times site (which is in serious need of a redesign). Anyway, I subscribe to the New York Times Urbanite email newsletter, which is pretty stylistic. Also, Andrew Famiano pointed out to me the redesign of The New Yorker site, which looks fabulous as well.

Some great recent presentations from the Web design community. These are all definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

Slides from last week's An Event Apart Boston.
The presentations by Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, Dan Cederholm and

After the Brief: A Field Guide to Deign Inspiration.
Inspiring (and darn funny) talk by Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychert
at the recent South by Southwest Interactive Festival.
Slides: http://jasonsantamaria.com/downloads/sxsw/2007/
After_the_Brief.pdf
Full audio: http://2007.sxsw.com/blogs/podcasts.php/2007/03/11/
after_the_brief_a_field_guide_to_design
Video clips: http://2007.sxsw.com/blogs/video.php/2007/03/13/
new_video_example

Khoi Vinh's "Grids are Good" presentation, also from SxSWi:
http://www.subtraction.com/pics/0703/grids_are_good.pdf

***Also, check out these podcasts of Bill Clinton , James Nachtwey, and E.O. Wilson, TED prize winners of 2007. All three are pretty awesome and inspiring. I must have watched them two or three times each. These presentations are truly food for the brain.

I just went to this exhibit yesterday at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. This was amazing. Works from these disciplines [product design, architecture, furniture, film, graphics, new technologies, animation, science, medicine, fashion and sustainability] were shown. Ellen Lupton was one of the curators (a fan of her many design books).

Don't miss (no photos because it's not permitted):

1] J. Meejin Yoon, MY Studio/Höweler + Yoon Architecture Low Rez HI FI, (2006) interactive installation.
2] Suzanne Tick, Crossform light, (2004), (double woven fiber optics)
3] Lia Cook, Binary Traces, (2005), (this looks like a print of a [photograph until you get very close, it's all woven)
4] Joseph Ayers, Biomimetic Underwater Ambulatory Robot (Robolobster), (2005)
5] James Carpenter, Landscape/ Light Threshold
6] Chandelier made from VOS water bottles, Readymade Magazine [I need to buy this book, lots of great ideas in it, including, a shoe rack made by recycling shoe boxes, a messenger bag made from recycled plastics (also part of the exhibit). Really simple ideas that look good using recycled materials
7] Google's data visualization map of languages spoken.

A lot of big names, like Greg Lynn FORM, OMA/Rem Koolhaas, someone from Droog Design, Santiago Calatrava, Acconci Studio, and Natalie Jeremijenko.

I ended up buying the catalog for $40.00, no tax.

On the way back from the New York Public Library, I passed by the EarthFair festivities. "EarthFair Inside," is actually Grand Central (April 14-15). EarthFair Outside (April 20-21) on Vanderbilt Avenue, which I believe will have free music (Green Apple Music Festival). I tried Sahaja yoga meditation, and had a free glass of vodka (I'm still not really sure how that's related to Earth day but Elle was sponsoring it), picked up a publication to O2 (magazine that promotes organic/sustainable luxurious lifestyle), and this magnet that informs you of what is recyclable, and what's not (e.g. plastic rings, caps and lids, deli and salad bar containers, plastic bags, plastic hangers, plastic toys, and yogurt containers)--oops to the caps and lids, and watched the trailer for the documentary movie The Real Dirt on Farmer John, which is about sustainable agriculture, coming out in June (I believe in the Lincoln Center theaters).

"The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer, The Real Dirt on Farmer John documents the dramatic failure of Farmer John's conventional farming operation and its resurrection into a thriving, organic Community Supported Agriculture farm. By melding the traditions of family farming with the power of art and free expression, this quintessentially American story heralds a resurrection of farming in America."

This post is for anyone who wears retainers or ever had to wear retainers. I almost bought this, but I wish it were my own retainers. I remember so many times when I took my retainers out, wrapped them in a napkin, placed them on the tray, forgot to put them in my mouth, and threw them away. I had to replace them at least twice $300 or $400 apiece. It sucks because by the time you make an appointment to see a dentist, make the cast for your retainer, and pick them up, your teeth have moved.

I remembered one time I was at Rubio's and accidentally threw them away. The lady who was straightening the trays helped me dig throught the trash. She found them. I tipped her $20, and she didn't take the cash.

I found this super cool necklace at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum store for $300.00. It's 14k and designed by Kiel Mead. It brought back a lot of memories.

Notes on Group Analysis) by Clay Shirky

1. How many people?
XS ~ 6
S ~ 12
M ~ 50
L ~ 100
XL ~ 1000

2. How was it founded?
happened --- external/internal ---planned

3. What constitutes membership?

4. How tightly bound are the tools?

5. What is the boundary condition?
center --- edge --- horizon

6. What keeps people coming back?

7. Do People in the group transact?

8. Does the group act?

9. How much "real world" is there?

10. How synchronized are the interactions?

I decided to type this in verbatim on my blog just in case I lose this assignment.

Final Paper

For next week, pick a topic to write your final paper about. This will be due on the last day of class.

Your topic should have the following three characteristics:

1. It should involve some aspect of a group that communicates with one another partly or wholly using social media.

2. The group should have some shared goal other than the pleasure of one another's company (Linux Kernel developers and My.Barak.Obama yes, ITP mailing list and Stickam no.)

3. The group should be observable by you.

The paper can be analytic -- how does or did this group come together, and how does it work today? -- or it can be projective -- how could this group be changed for the better? (Including the possibility of designing a way for latent groups to come together around some external activity.)

There is no fixed set of analytic models (users/goals/tools, logic of collective action, etc) and no standard set of questions (as with the 'proposed change' question from the midterm.) Instead, the design of the questions you want to ask yourself is part of choosing the subject.

I've been fascinated by Swarovski crystals since moving to New York. First the "Top of the Rock Observation Deck" at the Rockefeller Center, and then a series of Ron Arad chandeliers. I love the cut on these birds. I posted another one earlier this year of a parrot. I really like the colors (strong primary).

PopTop Portfolio

Designey by Tim McNerney. "PopTop Portfolio (PTP) is a digital showcase of an artist's work." It's like a real photographer's book because there's no keyboard or mouse.

Camera for K

"‘Camera for K’ is a photographic interface that maximizes independency of a physically handicapped person who uses a wheelchair and cannot operate the interface of a camera." This is one of the most moving projects, as well as Pollie Barden's iN-BaGs. There's a better photo demonstrating this project in the link I provided. I really like how this project gives such creative freedom to this individual who is physically constrained. Younghyun Chung's presentation is really good because you get a sense how successful this project is by just looking at the results of his user testing.

Happy Feedback Machine

This device was designed by Anh Nguyen. It really, really works. My favorite of the switches is the set of bumper ones. It kind of feels like a cross between sending a morse-code message (speed) and pushing an elevator button several times. I came out of one of my classes feeling like a zombie, and this machine was a tactile paradise.

Catch a glimpse of the bumper switches in the right hand corner of this image:

Other super cool projects:

Social Bomb, a game that teaches you how to gain social capital.

Pollie Barden's iN-BaGs, "an exploration of personal expression through assistive technology."