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WikiCity, an MIT project

By michael ⋅ October 8, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment
WikiCity How can a city perform as an open-source real-time system.

Although the approach of this project seems to be driven quite a lot by a cultural engineering mindset, there are some interesting people-focused elements in it:

In the past decades, real time control systems have been developed in a variety of engineering applications. In so doing, they have dramatically increased the efficiency of systems through energy savings, regulation of the dynamics, increased robustness and disturbance tolerance.

Now: can you have a city that performs as a real time control system? This is the aim of the WikiCity project at MIT. Let’s examine the four key components of a real time control system:

  1. entity to be controlled in an environment characterised by uncertainty;
  2. sensors able to acquire information about the entity’s state in real-time;
  3. intelligence capable of evaluating system performance against desired outcomes;
  4. physical actuators able to act upon the system to realise the control strategy.

A city certainly fits the definition of point 1, and point 2 does not seem to pose particular problems. As an example, the Real Time Rome project used cellphones and GPS devices to collect the movement patterns of people and transportation systems, and their spatial and social usage of streets and neighborhoods. But how to actuate the city? Although the city already contains several classes of actuators such as traffic lights and remotely updated street signage, a much more flexible actuator would be the city’s own inhabitants.

Consequently, we are creating a new platform for storing and exchanging data which are location and time-sensitive, making them accessible to users through mobile devices, web interfaces and physical interface objects. This platform enables people to become distributed intelligent actuators, which pursue their individual interests in cooperation and competition with others, and thus become prime actors themselves in improving the efficiency of urban systems.

The project vision, which is driven by Carlo Ratti’s SENSEable City Lab, is currently being implemented in Rome, Italy.

Visit project website

Originally from Putting people first by PuttingPeopleFirst
reBlogged by michael on Oct 7, 2007, 9:14AM

Turning museums into places where people interact

By michael ⋅ September 30, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment
Local Projects Print Magazine is reporting on Local Projects, a company that is turning museums into places where people interact with information—and each other.

When Jake Barton, the 34-year-old principal of the interactive design firm Local Projects, thinks about what an exhibition can do, he often considers the District Six Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. The museum documents the forced removal of more than 60,000 residents from a mixed-race neighborhood declared a whites-only zone in 1966, and tells the stories of those displaced. In the early ’90s, when reclaiming that land was still not an option, the museum kept the issue in the public eye through exhibitions and debate; subsequently, the museum’s sister organization helped residents apply to have their land returned. Transforming and healing a community through inclusive storytelling is, in Barton’s eyes, the mandate for museums of the 21st century. These days, he has ample reason to meditate on it: In April, he and his seven-person firm received the commission to codesign the permanent exhibition for the World Trade Center Memorial Museum.”

By choosing Local Projects, the memorial’s directors cast their lot with a new kind of museum that prizes interactivity over top-down presentation. Local Projects insists on a plurality of voices—the exhibitions it creates function as a kind of conversation rather than as repositories of authoritative fact. “Museums are starting to evolve into agents of social change,” Barton says. “That’s being reflected in the numbers of people who are going to museums and the ways museums are functioning as spaces for community dialogue. We [are] trying to make diverse people visible to each other through a storytelling space.”

Read full story

Originally from Putting people first by Experientia
reBlogged by michael on Sep 28, 2007, 7:25AM

The spime arrives

By michael ⋅ September 30, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment
Bruce Sterling Bruce Sterling is now living in Torino, Italy and will stay here, together with his wife, Serbian author and film-maker Jasmina Tesanovic, until the end of March 2008.

He is here at the invitation of the Regional Government of Piedmont to be the guest curator of the Piemonte Share Festival (11-16 March 2008).

Last night he presented the Italian translation of his book “Shaping Things” in a public lecture and discussion.

He also showed the audience a highly entertaining video of what he images the world of “spimes” to be like.

Discussants were Andrea Bairati (Regione Piemonte Councillor), Luca De Biase (Chief editor Nòva 24 /Il Sole 24Ore) and Claudio Germak (Politecnico di Torino - Word Design Capital Torino 2008) . The conference was moderated by Simona Lodi and Chiara Garibaldi (Share Festival).

Though many topics were addressed, I think the most relevant one is a challenge — for us, for this region and for Bruce too: if Bruce is right in his thinking about spimes and the entire change of thinking and doing it will entail, then what could be a typical Italian positioning in this new social, economic and cultural paradigm?

I hope that in the next six months, the people here in Torino, with the input and ideas of Bruce, can start outlining some initial answers to that question.

To be continued.

Originally from Putting people first by Experientia
reBlogged by michael on Sep 28, 2007, 8:04AM

TEDtalks: Stefan Sagmeister: Yes, design can make you happy

By michael ⋅ June 20, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

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Analyzing a list of things that have made him happy, graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister realized that almost half of the items were in some way related to design. In this intensely personal talk, he shares the details of some of those moments, and gives props to three artists whose work has had a positive impact on his world. Concluding with some examples of his own work, Sagmeister offers a real insight into his aesthetic and philosophy of work — and life.

Originally from swissmiss by swissmiss
reBlogged by michael

Videos available of the IIT Institute of Design Strategy Conference

By michael ⋅ June 11, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment
Strategy Conference The Chicago-based IIT Institute of Design strongly believes in human-centred innovation which “starts with users’ needs and employs a set of reliable methods, theories and tools to create solutions to their problems”.

In May, the Institute organised the Design Strategy Conference, an international executive forum addressing how businesses can use design to explore emerging opportunities, solve complex problems, and achieve lasting strategic advantage.

The conference starts from the premise that design, with its ability to understand users, redefine problems and create systemic, human-centered solutions, can help companies better understand their customer’s daily lives, and lead directly to valuable (and valued) offerings that are effectively tailored to their market.

Videos of the presentations are now available. The speaker list featured:

Originally from Putting people first by Experientia
reBlogged by michael on Jun 10, 2007, 1:17AM

Luminous Green

By michael ⋅ May 6, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

479970601_b477c47415_m.jpgYesterday, i attended the Luminous Green symposium, organized by the lovely FoAM people, on the Groenhoven Estate, near Brussels. The event was exactly what it promised to be: a fantastic gathering of people from different fields and who all battle for a more sustainable environment. There were artists, fashion designers, grassroot activists, business leaders, people from the governement, etc. The aim of the event is to get them to talk together. Not in a self-congratulory spirit but to collect successful stories and see if people from different background can define a common ground.

If you’re in Brussels on the 4th, i can only recommend you to head to FoAM and see how artists, designers and engineers translate the issues and suggestions that popped up during the conference into sketches and prototypes.

FoAM set up Luminous Green to reflect on the importance of creativity practice into the environmental debate. The aim is to go beyond the discussion about the effects of global warming. The debate is rather to see how we can adapt to life in turbulent and anti-environmental conditions and more precisely: How can designers, artists and other creative people contribute to the discussion? Maja Kuzmanovic, who curated the event, suggested that what designers and artists can bring into the discussion is:

0myrielecoute.jpg - 1. An integrated approach to complex problem solving.
Problems cannot be isolated, they are part of a big picture. We have created unstable systems and they have to be attacked from different approaches and fields. Everything is interconnected and interdependent. This requires a holistic trial and error approach.

- 2. The participatory nature of creative practices.
Today, prescribing universal solutions doesn’t work. There are as many approaches as there are problems. We shouldn’t look for solutions but for ecologies of solutions

- 3. The ability to design beautiful things that people might want to surround themselves with.
Buckminster Fuller said: “When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”
0barefoootodol.jpg If we design or create beautiful things, people will not only want to have it but will also want to be part of the community that made it. Beauty makes it easier to draw people’s attention.

It’s time to be proactive and behave like the avant-garde that many claim to be.

The conference was as sustainable as possible which was not easy at all:
- difficult to find furniture created in a truly sustainable way (good recycling conditions, good working conditions, etc.) The only things they could find were prototypes or showroom pieces,
- they wanted to organize the event in an eco-chateau but nothing of the kind exists in Belgium,
- they got two hybrid cars from Lexus but 50 persons cannot fit in a car. Now Brussels uses hybrid buses for public transport, the only problem is that they cannot go out of Brussels. Regulations wouldn’t allow that.

However, they produced very little printed documents, offered picnic snack in lovely bags designed and hand-crafted by people from the Barefoot College and managed to convince the speakers to either use no projections or be content with the very poorly lighted ones. And it worked marvellously.

Conclusion: there’s still so much work to do, especially for people who don’t have large pockets. We need more tangible products and we need to connect them together to achieve the desired impact.

Originally from we make money not art by Regine
reBlogged by michael on May 1, 2007, 8:57AM

Image, Space, Object 2007: People Centered Brand Experiences

By michael ⋅ May 1, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

at RMCAD, in Denver, Colorado, August 9-12, 2007
I have to say that I am a bit biased — having been involved in producing the last two Image, Space, Object conferences — but ISO offers a workshop-like experience that doesn’t have a true parallel in today’s conference scene.
ISO participants are divided up into [...]

Subway Maps & Purpose-Driven Design

By michael ⋅ April 25, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

Maps are just…cool. They put us two or three miles above the earth and let us peer down, like God(s) at what lies below. By giving us this view, they ground us and give us information and perspective that we couldn’t otherwise obtain and digest.

There many types of maps: climate, political, topographical and transit system maps and they all have one thing in common: we overlay information upon the geography to help serve some purpose. A topographical map is of no use to me if I’m interested in zip code boundaries.

Tina Eisenberg’s excellent Swiss Miss blog points to a redesign of the NY subway map has been boldly put forth by designer Eddie Jabbour. Here’s a little taste of what Mr. Jabbour’s done to our beloved subway system map:

You can see a lot more by clicking the above image. A quick stare tells the story: the map has been redesigned with a greater focus on its intended purpose. Mr. Jabbour is clearly cheating here. The paths of the subway lines are downright inaccurate, but alas there’s a great lesson to learn here: good information design is about cheating with information if the result better serves the consumers of that design. We’re not looking to plot out exactly where the subway lies underneath New York City. We’re just trying to make our way around the city, and this revised map is better aligned with that purpose.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority to date hasn’t shown much interest. Ah well…

Originally from Basement.org
reBlogged by michael on Apr 25, 2007, 9:46AM

Solo bus stop ads let you talk to strangers. Over.

By michael ⋅ April 25, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

bustalk.jpg

Nokia’s got bored British commuters playing games, but Solo takes a different approach to interactive bus stop marketing by showcasing the phone’s walkie-talkie feature. Under Vancouver-based agency Rethink’s creative guidance, bus shelters in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary were equipped with built-in two-way radios that connect commuters between different cities, in real time, with just a push of a button.

via ad goodness

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Originally from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged by michael on Apr 25, 2007, 10:41AM

Satis-fying Design

By michael ⋅ April 24, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

ASTIS.jpg

Japanese toilet manufacturer Inax has just released their 2007 Satis Asteo Washlet toilet, which is a good example of how toilet design seems to be taken more seriously in Japan than elsewhere.

Some features:

A) The toilet has an SD card, pre-loaded with Bach, Chopin and Mendelsohn. Once you show up to take care of business, a sensor activates the tunes, either to relax you or to prevent houseguests in your thin-walled Japanese apartment from hearing anything other than Bach, Chopin or Mendelsohn.

B) The smoothly-designed exterior of the basin is easy to clean, absent of the dust- and grime-collecting nooks and crannies present in many Western toilets.

C) Another sensor figures out whether you’re going to need the seat up or down (crikey, would love to know how this one works) and motorizes it into the appropriate position. After you leave, it automatically places the seat in the down position if it was up, preventing countless marital spats.

D) A nightlight in the bowl helps guide you during those 2am emergencies, though this feature may not be so desirable if you’ve had too much tequila and are making that other use of the toilet.

The (somewhat poorly Google-translated) webpage is here.

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Originally from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged by michael on Apr 24, 2007, 11:49AM

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