Class #6 pt. 1

Ken Perlin's Lecture

The most profound moment of the Ken's lecture for me was when he said that math is art and art is math. I think that's true, and particularly so considering the content of our class.

Surely Ken demonstrated that when he showed us the work that he's been doing in his laboratory. Using physics, numbers, and code, he brought animated characters to life — as complex as a fish interacting with two bouncing balls, or as simple as a 3-D shape. Ken's computer skills bring objects to life.

Another part of his work is integrating education with gaming. I thought his color mixing game and dot candy music machine were not only powerful learning tools but fun programs that could make knowledge accessible for a new, distracted generation. As Ken said, technological literacy is more important than ever.

Finally, Ken's greatest mission seems to be to better integrate technology into natural human existence and daily life. The demo he showed us, in which a professor could theoretically make notes appear with his hands, is evidence that he is on his way to achieving that goal.

THINK Exhibit

Some other people hoping to make technology into art are the fine folks at IBM.

I had excellent intentions to see the THINK exhibit Sunday and see all that this company envisioned for this happy marriage but alas things didn't go as planned. Tours were sold out for the rest of the day so I couldn't make it inside.

I didn't leave empty-handed though. The information made available to everyone outside was limited but compelling and I got to learn a bit about data visualization. Classmate Pearl met me there and took a photo as evidence.

As it turns out data visualization's usages are wide. From keeping track of checked baggage at the airport to monitoring crime, data visualization can help us understand and manage information through simplified visual representations.

Today's technology allows us to collect more information than ever before. Data visualization, then, lets us organize all of it more easily without relying too heavily on text.

Some particularly good applications I read about were for reducing traffic congestion and making mass transit more reliable. Any New York City resident can tell you that transportation is a great issue, and that increased communication would be of great service in fixing jams and keeping trains and buses moving.

My fault with what I saw was this: the displays did more to show us what kind of technology was being used to collect information than what visual strategies were being implemented to share the information in new and innovate ways.

Perhaps more awaited indoors, and I'm sorry that I missed it.

Huffington Post

In other unfortunate news, I'll be missing most of Thursday's class in order to attend a networking event/ tour at the Huffington Post.

I can't such much about it more because I haven't received too much information on it but I know that I'll be hearing from representatives from several of the "verticals", including international, business, college, and front page.

I like the Huffington Post because it really is a vanguard in exclusively online media. It also grew to a size that few blogs have been able to replicate. It is a moneymaker without charging for subscriptions. It's so valuable, AOL couldn't resist it.

I'm also impressed by the size of the Huffington Post's commenting community and the scope of its contributors, from star journalists to celebrities.