CLASS SIX BLOG POSTS

We visited Ken Perlin’s lab today! It was great to see the man behind the blog, not to mention a super-secret section of the Gallatin building. Ken politely answered my question on which coding language he prefers (java—duuuh. I’m a python kind of girl myself) and showed us some neat animation demos that he has been working on. He even showed us a program he wrote to help teach kids about the color wheel—something I need to know as it is time to re-dye my green hair (you use the color wheel to figure out how to reach your next desired shade….)

Also, when I wasn’t being entertained by Ken, I was reading an oddly copious amount of articles on Occupy Wall street:

1. Articles on Occupy’s history:

hither, thither, and thather

Summary: Basically the occupy movement consists of individuals who are protesting the “negative corporate influence of U.S. politics” and overwhelming greed and manipulation of the “1%” with little concern for how their actions will effect the “99%.” The occupation began 9/17/2011 and was initiated by the Canadian activist group, Adbusters.

There is also this article on the ways in which the movement canonized some 928 offshoots on the networking site, Meetup, and another article that discusses the progressive digital factor behind the movement (which has led to hackathons and new means of data assembly).

Further more, Twitter, has played a huge role in the Occupy movement as it has allowed for a live dialogue to take place throughout the movement. However, there is controversy as “occupy” was allegedly censored by twitter as a trending topic. The internet has certainly opened the floodgates for the occupy movement, with footage seemingly everywhere. There is this article and footage on arrests made in Washington Sq. Check out the Occupy Together site, for more information on the movement and check out different ways in which you can help.

Furthermore, this attention to occupy wall street has led to whole new kinds of data visualizations. Check out this map here and another one heerreeeee. Now you can see where in the world are those politically active folks are hiding. Also for those who doubted the Occupy Movement would get much of a following, check out this article about how the OWS Newspaper raised $54,000 on Kickstarter.

CLASS FIVE BLOG POSTS

OOH EM GEE WE SEE KEN PERLIN'S LAB TOMORROW/TODAY/SOON TO BE DISTANT PAST

THOUGHTS ON MOST RECENT NEW MEDIA READER :

CHAPTERS 48 AND 49 691-709

CHAPTER 48: "You Say You Want a Revolution? : Hypertext and the Laws of Media" by Stuart Moulthrop, May 1991

THOUGHTS:

- At the start of this article, hypertext was just emerging as a concept to the public, despite it having been theorized decades earlier by Theodor Holm Nelson (Teddy Nelson, to us familiar folk).

- Hypertext didn't start to get popular until 1987. Even Apple Computers was distributing a "hypercard".

- However Hypertext is forever struggling for popularity? To quote, "Possibly Hypertext, like Job's sophisticated NeXT computer, represents an idea that hasn't quite come to the mainstream of postmodern culture, a precocious curio destined to be dug up years from now and called 'strangely ahead of its time.'" How clairvoyant, Sir Moulthrop.

- Another potential name for this article, "Anything would ever want to know about hypertext and more". This class has made me go from knowing nothing about it to knowing all too much. I fear for my dreams tonight.

CHAPTER 49: The End of Books by Robert Coover, June 1992

Will give a full blog report telling you how the lab visit went--hip hip hurrah!

CLASS FOUR BLOG POSTS

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW MEDIA READER READINGzzz:

147- 176: Six Selections by the Oulipo

- The Oulipo stands for "Ouvroir de Litterature Potentille" or rather "Workshop for Potential Literature"

- This is seen as a "knitting circle" for writers resulting in not literature but potential literature

- The result is a fun mix of elegantly crafted phrases with an air of randomness while retaining a cohesive quality. From the pages of excerpts you do get the sense that these are writers playing with one another on the page.

183-189

Prose and Anticombinatorics by Italo Calvino

- Idea of Anticombinatory character is that when "among a larger number of possibilities, the computer selects those few realizations compatible with certain constraints"

THOUGHTS ON THREE THINGS DEMO-ED IN OUR CLASS:

We read THIS wonderful article, on the possibility of neutrinos being able to travel faster than the speed of light-- not true it turns out, back to work scientists.

Use THIS website/labyrinth of genres for a fun way to find new music!

Or if you want to do none of that, get into a psychedelic mood and watch THIS music video by Blockhead