Sep 25

The Response of Feedback Loop

After I read feedback loop and built up a concept of feedback loop, I think feedback loop is really a kind of interesting invention that it gave a guidance to human’s behavior. However I have some doubt it when I mentioned that feedback loop is always working through a way to tracking people’s behavior. As the same as the opinion that the author proposed in the passage, like any other organism, human-being is a self-regulating creatures, with a multitude of systems working to achieve homeostasis. And the biggest difference between the human and animal is self-control, which is humanity’s most useful skills, without which advanced civilizations would not exist, is being able to engage our higher cognitive functions, our self-control, to resist these temptations. However the feedback loop is a kind of system which influence and change human’s behavior in a good way. As the velocity sensor in the highway, is that necessary for all the people to keep the speed by a feedback loop? What I’m interesting about is there any way to make feedback loop to entered people’s life in a way with tenderness and guide people to change their behavior unpretentiously, but not just like a warning signal in order to push people to change their behavior.

 

 

Sep 24

Maker Faire

1. Listen to a network

When people play music together, they communicate with each other in complex,changing patterns. If one musician plays something different, the other musicians respond. It’s like a conversation among friends. You respond to their comments and tone of voice, and they respond to yours. The music network table simulates this exchange. It shows how each part of the music responds to changes in other parts.

 

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2.Crystal archway

The Crystal Archway is a large light sculpture covered in LEDs. Equal parts installation, party space, and experiment in combining graph theory and high intensity lights to make a blinkin awesome party!

The effects with 3D glass is impressed me, the light spread out and, it looks like virtual world. It inspired me.

 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1TkklMZj-g&feature=youtu.be

3. Physical to digital color mixer

Mixing paint is fun, it allows you to mix colors physically and apply them to the digital world. It have 4 bottles, and you could control the water in them, if you mix the water in yellow bottle and the water in blue bottle, then, use brush to draw on the wacom, the screen will show the green color.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15W1cfzjRxA&feature=youtu.be

Sep 24

Digital- Physical Mashup Oregon Trail

 

 

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See the Oregan Trail Map

 

My digital-physical mashup is an imagining of how a real life competitive race of Oregon Trail would occur.  The emphasis of the game would be on maintaining health for all teammates that compete.  A unique feature would be cooperation amongst competing teams, when either needs a boost in health points or supplies.

Click here to see the gameplay: Oregon Trail Play Rules

Sep 24

Maker Faire Observations

One device that I absolutely loved is called the Useless Machine. When you turn it on, all it does is turn itself off. It is absolutely wonderful in its uselessness.

I had the great opportunity to hear AJ Jacobs’ lecture. He is a writer and editor at large at Esquire magazine and specialized in writing books where he is personally the object of all sorts of experiments. He spoke about preparing and eating an entire meal made with a 3D Printer. A bonus awesome situation for all the lectures were artists taking visual notes on posterboard next to the speakers. I think it was such a creative, innovative way to visually represent the information.

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In the Microsoft tent, they displayed a part of the Kinect system, where users move and punch and life sized robots carry out their actions and fight. Kids were lined up all around the tent to control robots larger than them. It was really inspiring to see a disabled kid take advantage of the technology and have an amazing time controlling his fighter. It reminds me what we’re capable of.

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I really loved seeing all the technology aimed at children. (That sentence reads weirdly.) It was really exciting to see kids learning how to light led’s and being exposed to 3D Printers, but what I really loved is what I would call the low-fi tech. Essentially, these products are household items that kids could figure out how to put together and make a super cool toy or robot. One that I really liked was a Draw-Bot, that used a red solo cup, a battery, a cork, markers, and little else. Aside from fabulous MacGyver techniques, it teaches kids science and physics and that they are capable of creating all by themselves.

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Another really cool thing I saw in the Microsoft tent was this guy made circuits that you can print on regular photo paper with conductive ink. #awesome

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There was an insanely cool coffee machine that aims to wet all the coffee grounds to brew in a highly specific, apparently better way. I love that these two people built it three days ago out of nowhere and it was just ready to showcase. Great coffee too.

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A few bonus items: awesome bike powered vegetable washer

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and hilarious 1940’s style karaoke

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I’d love to be able to repurpose supposedly dead technology like these guys.

#LongestPostOfLife

Sep 23

murderNYC – Mashups

murderNYC: new yorkers would kill for your apartment

The digital to digital mashup features homicide data for NYC overlaid on a map of the five boroughs. The first screen shows a visual representation of murder rates in New York over the last ten years. (We’re declining!) The gradients are relatively accurate, but definitely not mathematically perfect. Data was gleaned from every source imaginable.

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If you click the button on the bottom, live real estate listings for New York will populate the map.

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You can then choose if want to see listings in a relatively safe neighborhood, like Staten Island (murders in 2011: 4) or in a pretty blood-drenched community, like Washington Heights (shout out 10033). To live in quiet and actually remain alive, click on “i value my life.” Listings may be safe, but they will probably carry a higher price tag. To return to the map without real estate date, you would click “i’m a purist.”

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Click on “let’s risk it!” and you can explore the more interesting parts of the city that may prove to be a better deal, but you might not live there long. Probably because you might not live long.

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You can then zoom in on the area of your choosing and look specific real estate listings that contain pertinent data like address, bedroom quantity, price, and bloodshed ratio. And you can always zoom out and check out a different borough. Like Staten Island.

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murderNYC: blood is thicker than subway sewage…

My digital to physical mashup brings murder to life, if you will, in New York City. Wherever a murder has occurred in New York, a solar powered, flat, subtle light will shine from buildings and parks and, you know, foundries. Residents and visitors alike can marvel at the history of death in this city either by just viewing the lights as a memorial or scanning with their phones to see more information about the gruesome crime committed at their feet.

 

Sep 23

Feedback Loops – The Fun Theory

I am really fascinated by the culture of gamification. I consistently notice changes in my personal behavior when I’m keeping track and that directly feeds into a gamification system. If I’m wearing a pedometer, I will walk more. If my friends are also, I will walk wherever I need to walk in order to defeat them. If I’m getting a reward, even a tiny gold star, I am easily manipulatable and I will adapt to score as many gold stars as I can possibly get my hands on.

I love the idea of behavioral changes through non-negative methods. Most of the methods discussed in the article aren’t necessarily positive, but they’re certainly not punitive. It is amazing to think that just through the completely redundant visual reminder of speed, people actually adjust and adapt. To think what you could then accomplish if you dip into the positive side, if for instance, you seek to change behavior through fun, it could be amazing and quite revolutionary.

I love this example, where they created a foot traffic-driven piano on stairs to encourage users to utilize the stairs, as opposed to the dubiously healthy escalator. People do in fact change their habits to take advantage of the fun option presented and it works.

More at Thefuntheory.com

Sep 23

Digital – Digital – Physical Mashup Presentation

SIRP – Auto Race Riot

Presentation in Power-Point Format

Sep 23

Maker Faire and Things

1. UNDERWATER ROBOT

Having seen these mechanisms, I really want to create a water-related project soon. The fact that everything is water-prove gives the whole package/interface a very friendly and inviting nature. I kind of hope there are cameras that are attached to them.
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2. MUSEUM OF INTERESTING THINGS: CALCULATOR

This old, vintage creation seems to be specifically designed to fit in a pocket. Its mysterious & exquisite nature is very pleasant to me, even though it is only functional with a particularly designed thin metal pen.
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3. JUNKYARD OF ELECTRONICS

The most interesting aspect about this installation is that it looks so organic with just mechanical parts. It certainly pushes its audience back a little to be only observing, but it is probably more intriguing to watch how other people observe the installation.
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Sep 23

Physical-Digital Mashup

This project is about Physical-Digital Mashup which combines weather data with alarm clock.

Here is my prototype !

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Sep 23

Maker Faire Observation

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After a hours train to get Queens, which is really a  long journey, the world maker’s faire really suprised me.

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This is my first time to attending make faire, and after I entered the park  The first project I noticed was a Ecosystem  tool key called Mannahatta2409.org, that is a tool that models carbon , water ,population, and biodiversity based on lifestyle choices, climate,senarios, and ecosystem combinations. And it also provided a  list of ecosystems that exist today or exist today and exist on 1609, Users could use this platform to do some experiment with different land use types to build a more sustainable Manhattan for future.

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The second project inspired me is a physical computing project called water piano, that is a artificial fountain which is connected with  a circuit board and a piano keyboard, once we play the piano, the fountain will spray the rhythmic waters. And this is pretty nice and beautiful object which make sense to me. It helps us to have a good mood when we are playing them.

And another project is a counter-example , which exemplified the failure of a information representation. It is a periodic calendar with a pretty complicated layout and hard for people to understand it , it is just trying to imitating the forms of the chemistry periodic  and make people hard to find the essential information of the date they want to find.

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Finally, I think it’s super worthy for me to come maker faire because it’s really not fail to inspired me. It brings me a lot of inspiration and motivation of my future project, take a look at those most popular project the creator showed in the maker faire, they get succeed  not only because they have a good sense of humor, but also because they are always helpful , both in the practical  and mental standpoint. For example, in this lighting lamp project, it predict in the future we may not need a button anymore, it is sensible when our hands are nearby the lamp, it means we need light, and it will light up. And this let me meditate on how could I make use of five natural sense of human being and how to let those physical object to perceive it.

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