David Cameron measuring nations happiness

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11833241


I think this is quite interesting given the state of things. However, as I have discovered there are actually many ways to measure the mood of the nation through pulling data from various social networking sites. I think Jonathan Harris's (Legend) project We Feel Fine illustrates this concept completely.

http://www.number27.org/wefeelfine.html

Data visualisation is a bit interest of mine and I think there is a lot of potential in this sort of data.

(http://simplecomplexity.net/visualizing-human-emotions-we-feel-fine/)

"Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the “feeling” expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved. Their database has several million records, and they collect about 20,000 per day."

Chromoroma

So I found this project last night which is supposed to be launched late 2010 - so any time now. Its looking quite nice. It constitutes an online game which records your oyster card data - which stations you've been through and the journeys you have made, and awards you points for certain stations and more for finding other routes/quicker routes and trying other methods of transport. I really like the visual mapping - see image below. I have registered to play, so I await its release!

http://blog.chromaroma.com/

http://www.chromaroma.com/blog/2010/11/the-view-from-the-visualisation-team/

Top Sensory inventions

A fantastic programme on BBCIplayer at the moment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wbw65/Wallace_and_Gromits_World_of_Invention_Come_to_Your_Senses/

"In London, scientists are creating prototype invisibility cloaks using metamaterials to bend light around objects, and we discover the science behind new technology allowing the blind to 'see' through taste using hi-tech sunglasses.

In Kentucky, USA we visit the small town where a local farmer invented wireless telephones over 100 years ago. Or did he? Finally in Tasmania, we meet our Inventor of the Week who, after being told it was impossible, invented and made his own unique prosthetic arm."

Their support website is encouraging inventions. I found this quite interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/wallaceandgromit/hands-on/remote-binaural-sensing-device/

For this you hold two phones the wrong way round on both sides of your head and correspond with a partner doing exactly the same - the effect is being able to hear what they are hearing. "Its like being inside your head!"

Building robots!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/wallaceandgromit/hands-on/hexapod-walking-contraption/

The Fun Theory and happy installations.

The fun theory (http://www.thefuntheory.com/) was a massive inspiration to me prior to the presentations, making me think about public installations that encourage normal behaviour eg. putting litter in a bin, or obeying the speed limit, and make it fun - so it might brighten up someones day. The projects are results of a competition held each year, where people post their ideas and the winning entry gets made by the team.

I think the projects are fantastic:













This encouraged me to look for other interventions/installations that have been done that make people happy. I found this artist who released giant foam smileys into the sky on Southbank to try and make people happier:



I also found this project by http://www.smileforlondon.com/  - a competition to design films to be shown on the london underground screens:

As silly as it sounds I would like to impact people by increasing their happiness and encouraging inspiration and curiosity.

Light painting with Ipads

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Nokia Ice Touch screen

Zoomable Map

Zoomable Map. I think this is a really nice product. Simple and easy to use.

One Dot Zero -Adventures In Motion Festival

So One Dot Zero and many collaborators had a festival "presenting the most exciting international moving image work, from the offbeat to the radical, aiming to push the boundaries of creativity, innovation and technological wonder."


Unfortunately I was not in London during its time - so I have looked up as much as I can online: 


http://www.onedotzero.com/onedotzero-adventures-in-motion-festival-2010-11/event/


Catalogue pdf: http://issuu.com/tcolondon/docs/onedotzero?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=FFFFFF&autoFlip=true&autoFlipTime=6000

Tron watches

The fact that these are watches is unrelated, I just really like the aesthetics of the neon strips on the black, its very striking.

Video of Arc Attack

The video of the guy taking electric through a suit. Its like Iron man or something. I really love the rippled lines of electric as it passes through the air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdrqdW4Miao

People have even done it on Americas Got Talent!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBx2wkg9nhk&feature=related ....to quite an impressed reception!

Ferro Fluids - Magnetic Liquid

I came across this material after being told by a friend about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL8R8SfuXp8

It is really quite fascinating, and appears to behaviour like an biological organism as it reacts to the magnet and moves and builds itself up and around the object. Its interesting that it becomes spiked and looks quite intimidating.

Found this. Incredible!

"A daredevil inventor has created a shocking new image of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ – by shooting 500,000 volts of electricity down his body as he sat in the pose. (Pics)

Using a home-built Tesla coil pieced together from junk and bits from hardware stores, Peter Terren risked his life to make the electrifying image. He was also only protected from painful death by electrocution by a layer of cheap builders’ foil.

Terren, from Bunbury, Western Australia,said: ‘I wanted to convey the concept of the modern electrical age with the barrage of electrical interference in our lives. So much is happening and demanding our attention that it is difficult to “think”.

‘I decided upon a real life posture like the thinker with a lot of electrical activity around me with sparks onto my body.’

"The electricity fired from the Tesla rod, which is passed over him in a semi-circle, can then pass down the foil suit and safely out to the earth through his foot."

I found this really quite amazing - partly the fact that electricity is going through his body and not killing him while he is "thinking"; but also the aesthetics of the electricity. The way it moves through space is fascinating and beautiful, while also being terrifying and unpredictable.

http://www.impactlab.net/2009/04/23/peter-terren-recreates-rodins-the-thinker-with-electricity/

Tunnel Vision

A really interesting interview with a young female tube train driver.

Robyn Jiles applied to work on the underground on her 18th birthday. Photograph: Sarah Lee/guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/13/tube-driver





This is really helpful for me to identify with tube train drivers and their day to day routines.

Commuter Madness

From researching filming and projects involving the underground and public transport networks I came across this american series where they interview people about their experiences on the tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT_mk38ghIs&feature=related

Look me in the eye

(I found this a while ago) I was particularly interested in the commuter behaviour on the tube network, in particular the zombie like glazed look on peoples faces. Despite the hundreds of people moving through the small spaces on platforms and tube trains there is barely any conversation or much communication whatsoever. After speaking about my project to various people, they all came out with good/funny/bad/unpleasant stories to tell of their experiences - but what interested me was their particular surprise at the kindness shown by strangers on some occasions. One friend said she saw a guys arm get caught in a train door; and as the train began to move five men stepped up immediately together to release him. Others talked about the shared moment of a group of people after an experience - such as laughing or looks of disbelief. I think this is a wonderful thing, when suddenly you feel included in a group of strangers who otherwise would not try to make any contact whatsoever - even eye contact.

I did an experiment when I when out on the photography capturing task, where if anyone 'accidentally'
made eye contact I would hold it until they looked away. I also observed that to avoid this people look at anything they can: such as looking at shoes, around the carriage (avoiding eye contact), the adverts above the opposite line of seats was a particularly prominent task, often repeated or eyes fixed on the direction but perhaps thinking of other things.

I saw one advert in that space that contained an image - as on facebook if you don't have a profile picture/ clear identity - with a speech bubble which read:

"I am avoiding eye contact by reading this advert"

This is interesting as it suggests (as people behave) that they have their anonymity as long as they don't interact

Eye contact is a key social interaction, which is intensified while you are in a confined space, where you can't really help looking at people. Whereas in street environment, you usually wouldn't look at people you don't know for any length of time, unless you had a purpose on an intent. People don't like being stared at, plain and simple. It makes most people feel uncomfortable, and often suggests there is a reason for this interest.

I found (while thinking consciously about it) that it is quite difficult to avoid looking at the person sat opposite you on the tube, and at the same time they noticed the most if I was looking at them 'accidentally' before I flick my eyes back to the adverts.