i’m giving a short talk/presentation as part of lucid nyc (lucidnyc.com). it’s 15$ and it at bowery electric. bowery and 2nd st. i’ll talk about robot stuff and recent broadcaster, timelapse and public information appliance experiments.

i’m applying for the guggenheim fellowship. it’s due very soon and i’m way behind but the application will be focused around some implementation of the system shown in the tv2.0 doodle above. the doodle currently tells the story in a nicer way than my application but it should change a lot over the next couple days.

about the fellowship:
http://www.gf.org/about-the-foundation/the-fellowship/

The Foundation receives between 3,500 and 4,000 applications each year. Although no one who applies is guaranteed success in the competition, there is no prescreening: all applications are reviewed. Approximately 220 Fellowships are awarded each year.

and from the frequently asked questions:

The average amount of Fellowship grants in the 2008 United States and Canada competition was approximately $43,200. Since the purpose of the Guggenheim Fellowship program is to help provide Fellows with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible, grants are made freely. No special conditions attach to them…

the application resources:
http://www.gf.org/applicants/application-resources/

So, on to my application.
There are 3 main documents I am working on as google docs.

1. A brief narrative account of your career, describing your previous accomplishments. This account should include mention prizes, honors, and significant grants or fellowships that you have held or now hold, showing the grantor and the inclusive dates of each award.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcpfp46j_145cvg9tcfm I am focusing on my history and accomplishments through 3 directions: artist(music, sculpture, doodles, timelapse), systems engineer(mech eng, robotics, wikipedia/linux analysis), and community organizer(collision collective, radio show, etc). this is something i have thought about a decent amount but never tried to actually write down so it’s slow and needs some work.

2. A list of work:
Publications, if you are a scholar, scientist, or writer.
Give exact titles, names of publishers, and dates and places of publication.
Playwrights should also include a list of productions.
Exhibitions, if you are an artist.
Include a chronological list of shows, citing dates and places, and a list of collections in which your work is represented. Forthcoming shows should also be mentioned.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcpfp46j_1469gwzswcf

3. A statement of plans for the period for which the Fellowship is requested. Applicants in science or scholarship should provide a detailed, but concise, plan of research, not exceeding three pages in length. Applicants in the arts should submit a brief statement of plans in general terms, not exceeding three pages in length.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcpfp46j_147d62kv727 My proposal for the project is focused on the ideas of the broadcaster project, twvee, tv 2.0, 2 way television, open systems engineering, open information channels, public history files through video, and distributed systems. Specifically, the proposal is to openly develop and implement an easily accessible public video booth for the Gowanus Public Housing project in Brooklyn, across the street from where I just moved, my local environment. Possibly this would be a short video version and a timelapse installation? The exact details should not be solidified, only the process, goals, and small steps. The exact form of the installation will be determined by working for a couple months with the local community.

see also the broadcaster project proposal to the banff/01sj/sundance locative cinema call. that is viewable here.

various doodles on the general idea of tv2.0, broadcaster project, local news 2.0, etc in this flickr set.

and notes on the broadcaster project.

the staten island ferry

i carry a timelapse camera with me everyday. when it is turned on, you just need to hold still for 30 seconds and the moment will be captured. i find this to be a powerful concept. one photo every 30 seconds gives you about a 2 minute video at the end of the day. (default playback rate on movies is closer to 5-10fps rather than 30fps.)

the above shot was a posed/planned. i placed it on the ground and we just milled around in that spot for 30 seconds and then moved on. you might not notice it in the context of the movie playing at full speed but it’s a nice frame. it’s from the following movie:

first let me try to summarize a few thoughts i have.
- document more with less opinion.
- more automatic and less filtered by my opinion of what is “worthwhile”
- sped up linear visual representation of how long things take is more useful than writing “5 hours” in a spreadsheet?
- one button simplicity
- in public it is a short conversation starter, sort of like having a pet.
- reflection on process and sharing
- less worry about documentation because it’s always happening anyways.
- don’t want to spend too much time on it but a minute or three each day seems worthwhile.

a little bit more about why timelapse in general:

Its pretty difficult to say it all concisely but it has definitely been a pretty amazing thing to carry this little green garden timelapse camera around for the last month or so and film my local environment. There are lots of cameras that do this type of thing. Maybe you should go get one?

If you are a consumer electronics giant, please make more of these devices!! It would be nice to have some static ones situated in collaborative public spaces as well. Doodle on that coming soon.

if you want to see more about the project, please check out the links below. i’m still collecting my thoughts. i’ll follow up with some more soon.

Some bits and pieces to view:
Photos and Videos on flickr
Videos on youtube – http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=242146565C9B7AA9

a letter from brinno and some discussion about why i place the videos in the public domain:

a few other timelapse videos scattered about on plebian design vimeo, electriclaserpeople, nice nice nice nice, and http://danpaluska.blip.tv.

see also discussion of one minute per day. this is most definitely in the same space as that project.

and one of our timelapse movies from absolut quartet taken with security spy and then post-processed(qt pro export to img sequence, reimport img sequence at 30fps) to fix playback framerate delay issue.

they look happy to be let out...

This Monday, I am starting a two month residency at Columbia Teacher’s College and their EdLab.
This is my statement of work and deliverables as snipped from the contract:

“How do you add value through sharing?,” will explore and develop new communication channels with the goal of identifying realizable steps that libraries can take toward providing free and open access to information. Relevant research will include the practical limitations of copyright laws and university policies and interviews with members of the Teachers College community. Your project will consist of experiments that will enhance our understanding of data flow and access to information in both the virtual and physical world. We are particularly interested in your solutions for the development and execution of realizable steps that libraries can take toward increasing access to their holdings. The resulting investigations and findings will be displayed physically in Gottesman Libraries, as well as online. You will document the project’s development process and outcomes online.

Residency Deliverables:

1. Work at least 80 hours on site at EdLab between June 15 and August 14, 2009
2. Maintain ongoing project documentation using a blog or other online forum
3. Introduce their project ideas at a public forum during the first week of the residency period
4. Present project updates during a group critique in the middle of the residency period
5. When possible, engage in project brainstorming and development with other EDAR residents and EdLab staff
6. Display and present completed works and/or works in progress during a public open house at the end of the summer.

I’m super excited about this work and will be posting regularly on this. Would love any feedback and suggestions towards other projects in this area.

updates:

my edlab blog page: http://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/index.php?q=user/770

update 2:

I have a new video piece in this show. You can preview the piece at http://blip.tv/file/2201239.

Show info:
The Odysseus Project: Finding Home
Work by artists focusing on issues of war and the experience of veterans returning home

Art @ 12 Farnsworth Street, June 12 – 27, 2009
M-F 11-6, Sat 11-4

ARTISTS
JEREMY STAINTHORP BERGREN, ETHAN BERRY, KAITLYN BOUCHER, NELSON CURRY, STUART DIAMOND, LAUREN GILLETTE, KEN HRUBY, AARON HUGHES, JO ISRAELSON, GABRIELLE KELLER, DEBORAH LAUGHLIN, JIM LOMMASSON, MARILYN NELSON, DAN OSTERMAN, JAMES O’NEIL, JON ORLANDO, DAN PALUSKA, JOSE SANTOS, ROBIN SHORES, BEVERLY SKY, CHRIS VONGSAWAT, CHRIS WATTS, COMBAT PAPER

EVENTS
Opening Reception
The Odysseus Project: Finding Home
Friday June 12, 2009 at Art @ 12 Farnsworth Street
5pm to 7pm

Artist Panel Discussion
with Ken Hruby, Associate Professor of Sculpture, School of the Museum of Fine Arts
Thursday June 18th at the Art @ 12 Farnsworth Street
7pm

Reading
In conjunction with the art exhibit, The Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences will host a reading by faculty of their 21st annual Writers Workshop, led by award winning poet Brian Turner Thursday June 25th at the PIERRE MENARD GALLERY, 10 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA
7pm

These events and exhibit are made possible by the Fort Point Artists Community and the Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences.

For more information, visit: http://www.nervegarden.com/odysseusproject

more on the ying and yang between capitalism and communism, the market and the commons, mutation and replication, etc.

where do we have something like a real free market in action today? the economy as a whole of any nation doesn’t really fit this mold but there are a few areas where a small market is very free. Youtube is an example. Anyone can upload, anyone can make it to the top. You can get a takedown notice so it’s not totally free. But lots of people make a living because of having a channel on youtube. How many is another question….

Linux is another example. Anyone can get it. Anyone can modify. Anyone can redistribute. It can be big or small, easy to use or really hard. Plenty of independent people can make their living off of this common resource.

Pizza, bicycles, the english language, and lots of other examples of common cultural knowledge that allows an individual to create a store of some sort. To take part in commerce on a small and independent scale.

This is as opposed to something owned like Coke or Pepsi. Plenty of people also make money off of Coke and Pepsi but a cut always goes back to the company, whereas in the above examples, there is no cut going back to a company.

Will we someday live in a world with no residuals on information? I currently believe this would be a major advantage to individuals, sustainability, the stability of the economy, etc. What would make me change my mind?

Giving an informal talk at IDEO Cambridge for their Wednesday Tea time event.

4pm @ their cambridge office on mass ave. Drop me a line if you’d like to go. http://www.ideo.com/locations/studios/

sixoneseven.fiveohfour.ninesixonenine.

Prioritize your local environment.

Seek out alternative points of view.

Reflect upon your process.

Set some information free.

Create a record of what you are thinking.

Practice asking questions.

Create environments for learning.

Reward the positive. (Ignore the negative).

Observe more, judge less.

Design the lottery out of business.

Celebrate the small.

Replicate, mutate.

Implement often.

Show respect.

Let go.

Look for detail and abstraction.

update: just found this.

It is that time of year again. I am applying for the artist residency program at Eyebeam atelier in New York City (this will be my third try, persistence is important!). It’s a great program so if you’re an artist in the NYC area, I recommend checking it out and applying for it if you are into open source and the like. Here is the info about the residency->

http://eyebeam.org/get-involved-residencies/faq

Currently I am focusing on the idea of freeing up private corporate information streams. I’m expanding on and trying to formalize some of the ideas discussed in this post->

http://plainfront.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/thoughts-on-total-openness-of-information/

My application in process is a google doc. Of course, in the spirit of openness, here it is. Suggestions welcome! It is due this Friday the 15th.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcpfp46j_86cxb6r2cp

Questions I am trying to keep in mind while writing:

Are the ideas good? Are the ideas well presented? Am I selling myself appropriately? The character count limits are quite short so keep that in mind when giving comments.  Thanks!

more info coming soon. via Kelly Dobson.