Perlins before Swine

Article One:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4844

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

- Ken Perlin watches The Sims guys time travel forwards with their software

- An eccescope: "is simply a device to let everyone see an alternate world created within the computer cloud, thereby allowing that world to appear before our eyes, right alongside our own physical world."

article two:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4846

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

-Ken shows us cool examples of eccescopy and further incorporations of augmented reality

- Christopher Harrell's video "What Matters to Me"

-An augmented reality office scene from the video game, "Heavy Rain"

- Finally my personal favorite, a video of Marco Tempest demonstrating his "Magic Projection"

Three:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4862

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

- George Lucas plants the seed of augmented reality within the public's eye with Star War's infamous hologram communication system-- Ken Perlin, you're our only hope

-Perlin favors the technology of Stars if only because it is a fluid mid-air technology with the computer screen--screens that appear to be on their way out in the future

Four:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4881

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

-In 2002 Perlin and Jeff Han teamed up to create something they call "holodust". Perlin describes "our plan was to use two lasers: An infrared laser would sweep through the cloud. Whenever it happened to hit a dust particle that it would be useful to illuminate, a second — visible — laser would flash, thereby lighting up just that one dust particle."

Five:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4996

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

-Perlin explores portable augmented reality devices specifically those in the way of eyeglasses and headgear. The models right now are a bit clunky but it's expected they'll only get sleeker with time.

- See examples hither, thither, and thatcher

Six:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=5077

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

-Perlin trotted over to MIT to further discuss eccescopy

- He talked to Remesh Raskar and Pattie Maes

-Remesh discussed an interest in further looking into how people and social networks communicate whereas Pattie was doing plenty of cool demos and projects with her students ranging from making light bulbs that contain cameras and projectors to position tracked portable projectors, kind of like the "Magic Projector" that he linked to in an earlier post

Seven:

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=5147

MY THOUGHTS AND SUMMATIONS:

- Ken talks about protesting at the Republican Convention in New York City back in 2003 and discussing how the media reports of the incident were drastically different from his actual encounters at the protest

-Notes how it is harder/near impossible for the police to get away with something like that (Think of Rogue Occupy Wall St Reports)

- Perlin then moves into questioning the notion of privacy in this age when nearly everything is being recorded... What can you do Kenneth? Our lives have all become open and ready for download

And Finally let's just reiterate Perlin's official bullet point on Eccescopy:

"Eccescopy is 'the ultimate extension of what is currently called augmented reality'"

Nelson on my Mind

LEZZ TALK ABOUT TEXT BABY--hyper text that is... (Someone please note the salt n' peppah reference)

I just read a groovy article by Ted Nelson in my NEW MEDIA READER.

Official Article Title: "A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate"

1965

Some notes on the article:

- Ted Nelson = pretty much created the term "hypertext" and its accompanying concept; however, his original vision differs from what we call hypertext today

- When Nelson wrote this article a computer with mass memory and "video-type" display cost $37,000--what the what?!

- Vannevar Bush imagined a computer back in 1945--he called it a 'memex' when discussing this he emphasized the machine's ability to organize information in "associative trails"

- Nelson thought up ELF = Evolutionary List File that has three elements: entries, lists, and links

- From the book I quote:

entry = "a discrete unit of information designated by the user"

list = "an ordered set of entries designated by the user"

link = "a connector, designated by the user, between two particular entries which are in different lists"

- ELF is different from other list languages is that it was designed to be altered in whatever section by a human operator

-Possible applications of ELF: allows for filing of historical or associative trails, can withhold multiple levels of indexing and summary within a body of information, simplifies the process of commenting and editing a file, allows for "self documentation" of a file

- PRIDE = Personalized Retrieval, Indexing, and Documentation Evolutionary is a system to promote and aid the use of ELF

- Main point behind Nelson's philosophy is that of adaptability so that information can be tailored to each specific user

- Nelson introduces Hypertext as "a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper"

-All in all Nelson was trying to change the way in which we process and organize information, similar to Borges' Garden of Forking Paths Nelson moved outside of the standard linear arena of information processing to create a whole new method of understanding.

Well as you can guess, after reading that doozie of an article, I simply HAD to know more about Theodor Nelson!

So I went to his wikipedia page to learn more. Here's what I found:

- Theo is credited with using these words first: hypertext, hypermedia, transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity, and teledildonics

-Founded Project Xanadu in 1960 in order to create "a computer network with a simple user interface." He spent most of his adult life working on and advocating the project.

-Although his Father was a director and his Mother an actress, Nelson thought working with computers would be more fun. He was raised by his Grandparents in Greenwich Village.

-He's currently working on a new information structure entitled, "zig-zag"

According to Nelson's personal website he is also a poet and a rogue of sorts. Other things I learned from venturing over to his homepage:

-If you attend the University of Southampton you might just have Mr. Nelson as a visiting professor

-For someone who predicted the evolution of the computer, the man has a rather bare website

- He enjoys using the word "hither" for his links, also you can buy his book POSSIPLEX on Amazon

-The man has written eight books and has instructed some 750 students--Wowee-wowa!

Heck just as a whim I also checked out the Wikipedia page for Nelson's book Literary Machines, take a look at it hither. Or if clicking seems too strenuous, I'll tell you about it...now:

- It was first published in 1980 and then republished nine times by 1993

- The book focuses on Nelson's notion of "hypertext" as well as his project Xanadu

- Book is nonlinear so that the texts can be read out of order much like our handy NEW MEDIA READER

Look if you guys are as hooked by this post as I was by Theodor (I call him 'Teddy' for short) Nelson then I suggest you buy one of his books, or read one of his poems, or go find out more about him because this is the end of my post on the man. So... Ta ta!

The Garden of Forking Paths written by Borges in 1941 and performed by the reader whenever it is read.

...And what a garden it is. A garden with a cadaver that needs to be cleaned up.

However, the maintenance of such things is not of importance.

This story made me think of the book "The World is Flat" and in a way the two pieces discuss similar things. In "The World is Flat", Thomas L. Friedman discusses the ways in which the internet and globalization have "flattened" the world. In Borges' short story, he introduces this notion of simultaneous realities and "flattens" the globe of linear analysis thus transforming it into an interactive web of information.

The Garden of Forking Paths and the links along the way

The Garden of Forking Paths short story here

The folks at Wikipedia have taken it upon themselves to say a few words about the man behind the story, enlighten yourself over there--what you want to know of ANOTHER biographical web page about the man? Very well, here you go.

Did you know that Borges is so popular that he has his own website AND obituary?

What a fella'.

What's that? You say you don't want to follow those links? You'd rather have me say a few words about them instead?

Well, I guess there would be no harm in talking about one or two of them; although, my Father warned me to never speak to strangers, especially on the world wide web. But I just can't help myself!

This and This are New York Times articles on Borges and The Foreseeable Future. Here are my thoughts on them:

- Borges "invented" the internet--who knew? (I did. I knew.)

- I've found a whole new way to reinterpret the term "cy-borges"

- Some food for thought from Borges' "Poem of the Gifts": “No one should read self-pity or reproach into this statement of the majesty of God, who with such splendid irony granted me books and blindness at one touch.”

-Never, ever, attempt to dicuss Borges and leave out "The Book of Sand"

-Also hide your mythical addictions where anyone can find them

Hey! Check out this article on Borges' Buenos Aires

- You can still visit Borges' home--that is, if you consider a "home", a plaque

- Don't you just hate towns that don't have ghosts? Borges was sad that Buenos Aires wasn't spookier

- Spoiler: stop looking for paradise, it's in the library

- Borges didn't have a televesion, radio, or a record player--how square

- Borges uses old timey words when he speaks english

A few more fun facts about Borges gathered from his biographies:

- The man is Argentinian but got schooled in Switzerland and died there

- He paved the way for science fiction and magic realism

- He was bad at marriage and instead lived with his Mother ditching his wife after less than three years of marriage

And finally watch me spew some random facts on some fun links:

This is TOXEL, a fun website with neat inventions and innovative designs. If you want a cutting board that is also a mirror or a sleeping bag that looks like a shark--this is the place for you. I think it's fun to poke around here; however, everything seems a little too expensive for me to actually take the plunge and buy something.

Check out this cool demo for Morphwiz--a new ipad app that works a bit like an omnichord where you can select certain notes and play around with their pitch. I'm interested in seeing what this does for those that are musically inclined but inept with instruments. If this sounds like fun and you have ten dollars and an ipad, this might just be the app for you!

SO! MANY! WORDS! Enough mindless babbling from me, you kids go do something else with your day.

See you all around on the interweb...