DorkbotColumbus - the Blog

Learn Processing - Exciting new general purpose "action" language

2008-05-05T18:25:05-04:00

Intro to Processing
      Instructor: Mike Reed
      Date: Saturday, May 10
      Time: 1:30pm - 4:30pm
      Location: Columbus public library, Whetstone branch multipurpose room
      Cost: $75 (includes materials)
      Enrollment limit: 12
   Workshop description: Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. This introductory course is designed for artists who want to understand the fundamentals of computer programming as a tool for creating fine art. Together we'll cover the basics of programming using Processing, look at some examples of what is possible using this platform, work through a basic Processing project, and answer questions such as: What can I do with Processing? How can I use Processing in my work? and How can I do X with Processing? Note: Participants are expected to bring a laptop with web access and have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of using a computer for this workshop.

To register, please visit: http://www.thefusefactory.org/workshop_001.htm

If you have questions about the workshop, please email info@thefusefactory.org or call 614-432-8772.

Earth Day Event to Transform Trash into Fashion!

2008-04-21T09:48:00-04:00

Green Fashionistas Alert! The Fuse Factory Electronic & Digital Arts Lab, an emerging not-for-profit arts organization in Columbus, is organizing a Trash Fashion Show as part of Now Get Busy! an Earth Day celebration organized by Green Columbus in Goodale Park on April 26th from 12 noon to 6:00pm. Children and adults alike are invited to participate in creating, cheering, or judging.

Following an afternoon of transforming trash into fashion, participant designers or their designated models take to the red carpet and showcase their creations for public judging. Professional fashion designers will be on hand to help turn your imagination into reality on stage, complete with music, emcee and prizes for those who display the most innovative use of materials.

So, get busy with The Fuse Factory on Earth Day at Goodale Park! For more information, please visit http://www.thefusefactory.org/earthday. Does this sound like an interesting volunteer opportunity? We'd love to have you get involved with us! Please email info @ thefusefactory.org or call 614-483-3873.

Art & Play: From New Ideas in Bio-Art to Bio-Tech?

2008-04-20T12:44:31-04:00

DON'T FORGET!

Presenter: Amy Youngs, associate professor of Art & Technology in the Dept of Art at OSU

April 23, 2008, 7pm at TechColumbus, 1275 Kinnear Rd.

What's Next? Where will the new ideas in biotech, bio-science or bio-art come from?

Technology – especially bio-technology – is a high value proposition for new business opportunities, especially in central Ohio. Needs are great and research is following many paths today.

In addition to traditional sources of research and entrepreneurs - ART and PLAYful experimentation may prove to be key to breaking old paradigms.

Amy Youngs, associate professor of Art & Technology in the Dept of Art at OSU, will offer some of her insights - from 20 years of work in assembling exploratory ideas as art around the world, including Europe, Asia, Australia & New Zealand, and all across the United States.

As Einstein once said: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." The work of people like Amy Youngs raises our level of consciousness - and gives us the footing to see new directions and new opportunities from a different vantage point.

Youngs' art demonstrates that playful exploration can be a source for new insights leading - possibly - to new levels of understanding and invention at the forefront of new technology.

This is First Annual Earthweek Seminar of DorkbotColumbus recognizing the importance of unstructured technology pursuits for the interests of the planet during EarthWeek.

Dorkbot recognizes that not all progress is a purposeful process, with well-defined strategies and pre-ordained goals. Much progress has been the result of informed and well-practiced play, utilizing the artifacts of technology an to create art and new levels of knowledge from which more serious efforts might take off.

Neat new Arduino board - Boarduino!

2008-04-09T09:03:10-04:00

Check out the Boarduino

Who would have thought there could be so many puns and so much wordplay around an open-source processor?

See? Technology always surprises!

Matt Howard has found instructions for an interesting and flexible kit, creating a modular board components based on the Arduino. This is following on Matt's presentation in January. Check out the complete Open Source Platform resource page on the DorkbotColumbus site.

Art & Play: From New Ideas in Bio-Art to Bio-Tech?

2008-03-21T08:55:00-04:00

Presenter: Amy Youngs, associate professor of Art & Technology in the Dept of Art at OSU

April 23, 2008, 7pm at TechColumbus, 1275 Kinnear Rd.

What's Next? Where will the new ideas in biotech, bio-science or bio-art come from?

Technology – especially bio-technology – is a high value proposition for new business opportunities, especially in central Ohio. Needs are great and research is following many paths today.

In addition to traditional sources of research and entrepreneurs - ART and PLAYful experimentation may prove to be key to breaking old paradigms.

Youngs' art demonstrates that playful exploration can be a source for new insights leading - possibly - to new levels of understanding and invention at the forefront of new technology.

This is First Annual Earthweek Seminar of DorkbotColumbus recognizing the importance of unstructured technology pursuits for the interests of the planet during EarthWeek.

Lamp Powered by Gravity Wins Award

2008-02-25T11:59:00-05:00

Link: Lamp Powered by Gravity Wins Award.

What a glorious gadget! Can there be a resource with freer access than gravity? Too cool.

Math Art - Online Exhibits

2008-02-19T11:19:00-05:00

The connection between math and art is long-standing in virtually every artistic endeavor. Now technology enables us to move in the direction of "visualization" - in a sense it is the observable nature of math itself - rather than math as a tool for processing artist's ideas. These representations of mathematical functions certainly have artistic qualities - but it may in fact be simply the way mathematical relationships "appear" - when rendered by computer and display technology - into a visible artifacts.

Interesting: Mathematical Art Exhibits

- Joint Mathematics Meetings presented online by American Mathematical Society, and Mathematical Association of America

More exhibits and conference information from the Bridges Organization.

SEED: Art & Technology Exhibit-March 6

2008-02-11T10:27:00-05:00

"SEED" is the showcase for over 240 Art & Technology undergraduate and graduate students working in new media, hybrid forms, video, holography, animations, robotics, digital imaging/photo, 3D modeling, rapid prototyping and web-based artworks.

This is an opportunity to see how the creative mind mixes an art with the new technologies of expression - that we may be only beginning to recognize as tools of communication/

The exhibit opens at 5pm March 6 in Haskett Hall on the OSU campus. More details here ...

And, as per tradition, there will be a DORKBOT Meeting - 7-7:30pm - Room 408, Haskett Hall, during the SEED Exhibit - Come discuss the GREEN focus for 2008!

Shedding a little light on the lightbulb revolution?

2008-02-09T08:45:00-05:00

From the European Union to Walmart - many of the largest economic forces in the world are pushing for a switch from the standard traditional incandescent light bulb to other designed - fluorescent, LED, etc.

While there are certainly attractive features to these new technologies - in one dimension or another of "green-ness" - one question that has not been widely addressed is: Is the light these new sources provide as good, as effective, as useful?

Check out this brief review offered by a reporter from the BBC.

Unique approach - Powers of 10

2008-02-05T16:23:00-05:00

Many students of science remember Philip Morrison and Phyllis Morrison's classic exploration of the concept of scale - called Powers of Ten, Published originally by Scientific American Press (no longer in print).

Page by page, the book showed increasing/decreasing magnitudes of size, and what phenomena lived at each scale. The book was followed up by a popular film by Charles and Ray Eames in 1977.

Since then, the concept has been tackled by a number of creative minds on the web - from a simple textual listing of what can be found at each scale, to the descendants of the Eames project, to a high-tech laboratory.

Now that concept is being explored in a neatly animated kind of way, in a site produced by Nikon - called Universcale. The subtle pacing and the music are hypnotic. Thanks to Matt Howard for the tip!

It is probably a healthy exercise to be reminded where we fit, within the enormity - and the infinitely small - scope of the universe. It resonates the fractal nature of these repeating patterns, and the new insights we now have of the nature of our world, and the worlds in and around us.

The Domino Effect - Disks Come Tumbling Down!

2008-01-31T23:08:00-05:00

You've seen the massive domino set-ups where the cascade of falling blocks creates unique and surprising effect - Well - here's a way to up the stakes - hard disks are falling all around the house!

Update on Open Source Hardware - Success!

2008-01-24T12:04:00-05:00

Matt Howard did a fantastic job explaining and demo-ing the concept of "open source hardware" and showing live projects at work, to the group of 20 or so attendees. The DorbotColumbus resource page contains links to Matt's notes and project info, and a wide variety of other projects, platforms, resources and suppliers.

The plan is to add a number of additional presentations this year at a number of site around the area. We are still in the planning stages of a presentation to be held in the timeframe of Earthweek - late April, 2008. If you have any suggestions, ideas - or wish to volunteer to offer a presentation about a subject in which you have some expertise and interest - please comment on this blog or write to dorkbotcolumbus @ gmail.com.

Thanks to Matt for his efforts - There may be a repeat or an updated presentation in the not-too-distant future!

New Page - Open Hardware Resources

2008-01-04T14:05:00-05:00

With our workshop coming fast upon us, not the that a new page has been posted on the Dorkbot site to provide additional background and insight into the subject of open source hardware platforms, and specifically the Arduino, which Matt Howard is going to use to demonstrate some basic functionality.

Check it out - and let me know if you have some additional resources that could be posted here:

Open Source Platforms - DorkbotColumbus

What makes project GREEN?

2007-12-27T07:36:00-05:00

As the new year approaches, it struck me that pursuing a GREEN theme for Dorkbot was a tad open-ended.

What makes a project GREEN? When we move toward Earth Day, and beyond, what themes might guide the "play" that is so important to "people doing strange things with electricity?"

Here are some thoughts on issues that playful approaches might deal with:

Power generation

large scale sources, community power
individual scale sources - from "solar"-powered devices, to energy independent homes

Energy requirement minimization

general conversation - light bulbs, etc.
mileage for transportation

Green Design

manufacture new goods from previously manufactured/processed materials (recycling)
manufacture new goods with zero waste, minimized energy requirement
manufacture new goods, designed to metamorphose (age/fail/recycle) gracefully from product to product in a maximally extended useful life

Re-using Resources

recycling waste materials generated by current processes into new raw materials
recycling assemblies and sub-assemblies of current technology into new uses to extend their lives before needing to be reduced to raw material

Basic Research

new materials that respond to the environment and to processing in useful ways
new broad scale methods for delivering/distributing power, water, clean air

What do you think - other avenues worthy of exploration?

3D Printers - Fabrication on your desktop

2007-12-15T16:00:00-05:00

It must be said that one of the Next Big Things has to be desktop fabrication. We have already extended the computing revolution to personal manufacturing for print, for imprinting certain kinds of fabric, for media like CD's and DVD's.

The ante is being raised. This desktop model has been available for less than a year, and early adopters have been exploring dozens of applications. There remains a lot of research left to do:

Design software
Materials for building up "printed" items in a variety of circumstance (analogy to typ4es of inks for different applications?)
Hardware simplification and durability
Commodity design - new ways to look at products that must be assembled in this new way

This video provides a good look at where we are and what's possible. Produced - and link provided - by the Wall St Journal.

Date and Place Set for Robotics Seminar

2007-12-13T13:30:00-05:00

Now there are new ways to add real time motion to your tech projects!

Matt Howard will present an application-oriented look at open source hardware called Arduino and some very approachable new software called Processing to help beginners get started and to help more experienced experimenters expand into new areas.

Open source hardware? Indeed – along with powerful new high-level open source software that makes programming moving machines more practical and more effective.

Most people interested in making technology perform work are familiar with some of the principles and tools of software development. But what do you do if the task to be performed doesn’t exist simply on a computer screen – what if it requires a gadget that actually move and work in real time and space?

Updates – along with a sign-up form – will be posted at DokbotColumbus’ Web site and blog – http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotcolumbus .

This event will be held January 22, 2008 at 7pm. at TechColumbus, at 1275 Kinnear Rd. (Location provided courtesy of The Platform Lab, www.platformlab.org.)

Tutorial Event: Robotic Components, Jan 22, 2008

2007-12-07T13:08:00-05:00

Matt Howard has generously offered to spend an evening with a hands-on demo and training session about new approaches to robotic components. Check out the latest in open-source hardware and software for robotics and other functional systems. This meeting is intended to be a help in preparing for the planned DorkbotColumbus GREEN event during Earth Week 2008.

The date is Jan 22, 2008, from 7 - 8:30pm. Put it on your calendar. Even you do not plan to participate in the DorkbotColumbus GREEN event, this will be interesting if you have wondered how technology is advancing in this area.

Creating technology projects that incorporate movement, action and functionality is getting easier and less expensive with the advent of a variety of new open-source tools. Matt will present an application-oriented look at an open source hardware platform called Arduino and some very approachable new software called Processing - to help beginners get started and to help more experienced experimenters expand into new areas.

This event will be held in the main meeting room at TechColumbus, courtesy of the Platform Lab, at 1275 Kinnear Rd. For more information and a map, check out the DorkbotColumbus Events page.

DorkbotColumbus goes GREEN for for Earth Week 2008

2007-12-01T15:56:00-05:00

The Digigravitation event (the quarterly OSU Art & Tech department show of student projects) was well attended - and once again hosted a meeting of DorkbotColumbus members.

With current news in mind, the suggestion was made to pursue a GREEN theme for at least the early part of 2008 - and focus on a presentation event to be tied to Earth Week, observed in April 2008.

There was enthusiasm among the 15 or so attendees of the meeting, and the resolution - as if there were such things at Dorkbot meetings - passed handily.

What might make an interesting GREEN presentation?

Here are two ideas:

In order to have fun with electricity, you have to generate it. How many Dorkbot ways might there be to create electricity and either store it temporarily, or use it to perform some odd and/or grotesque <g> function?
The reason we have so much waste and pollution is because those attributes are designed into almost everything! If you were to start from scratch and design a functional product without pollution or waste in its production - and without waste at the end of its useful life - what might that look like?

Over the next few weeks, we will generate a call for projects, and some simple, basic rules-of-the-road. But think - how can you have fun and do "strange things with electricity" - and at the same time demonstrate principles that help keep the planet GREEN and safe!

And thanks once again to Amy Youngs and Ken Rinaldo - the OSU faculty sponsors of the Digigravitation show - for supporting DorkbotColumbus and hosting our meeting!

Can Dorkbot do strange GREEN things with electricity?

2007-11-15T16:31:33-05:00

Our next meeting of the Dorkbot Columbus contingent is coming up on November 29, at Haskett Hall on the OSU campus, at 7pm.

We have discussed a number of possibilities for programs and direction for those who want to get involved. But as important as the green movement is becoming, I wonder if we might benefit from a focus the first part of 2008 - at least - on playing with tech concepts that promote environmental responsibility and carbon neutrality and related ideas?

Certainly can't hurt. True enough, Dorkbot is about "play." But devising "strange things to do with electricity" that might actually make a point - direct or sarcastic - or might actually inspire a train of thought to pursue - an important additional to dimension to mere "play."

I was inspired by this presentation by John Doerr (18 mins long) - the legendary investor and capitalist of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers - who has seen the light that environmental progress can mean profits as well as planetary safety and hope. And given that Al Gore has now joined Kleiner Perkins, combined with the items Doerr mentions in this video - it may be that there will be broader outlets for green play than ever before.

This video and dozens of intense presentations from the famous TED conference are available at www.ted.com. (It has been left slightly outsized for improved playback)

This is on the agenda for our meeting Thursday, Nov 29. If you can't make it drop me a note and let's discuss!!

Mario Bros sparks new interest

2007-11-12T17:03:00-05:00

Could there be a geek heart which would not quicken at the sound of the Mario Bros theme?

How about Mario Bros played by a synchronized pair of Tesla coils? Absurd, you say? Oh, nay: