Veronique: Very interested in the topic but developing an app. looking at green markets. Great idea. Distinguishing between type of stores is important. Less clear how expensive things were. The part about the history was interesting. Not sure how it ties into your point – poor people don’t have access to food. Not sure how to convey this differently. Have you looked at CSAs? Started in the 70s in all the 5 boroughs – so when you sign up for a CSA, you pay $300 up front. In exchange you get a basket of produce each week. When I did my research there were a lot of CSAs particularly in the Bronx. So that even though there are not a lot of stores, there is still availability of food. Even if they don’t have the money up front people pool together.

Carlos: re-evaluation of what you originally said. Interesting in how you approached it, but in an urban setting, it’s not necessarily that there are food deserts, but that the food is of a certain quality and that economics play a factor. Almost like another problem that we are talking about. It’s not that there isn’t food, it’s that the quality promotes malnourishment or poor diet. Example from Carlos’ neighborhood – franchises with soda and fast food being the only option for many people. Is this something you should be looking at, what are people eating if they can’t afford to buy at supermarkets.

Veronique: I’m not sure that politicians actually know what food stamps can buy. Start the application with an explanation of what food stamps can buy, or compare data between the area showing what stores accept food stamps and which ones don’t.

Carlos: Snapshot of the food basket, what you spend per day to feed a family. Staples, milk, bread, fruit, and to compare them. For someone to feed themselves in this deli per week = $80 vs. $60 in another one. Maybe it’s just part of your study, at least during the project phase of your study, you can get a snapshot of that. Ask people how much food they buy vs. how much it would actually cost in certain areas.

Veronique: so this uses GPS, so this is for the phone? Would be interesting to have a low-tech text based way to use this application.

Carlos: What is your goal with this project? What would you tell a politician with this data?

Carlos: you should explain some of the global rules for the game. Communicate high level game mechanics. Needed to present divergence from regular COD.

Veronique: If this were a commercial product I would buy it because I am a gamer, but I don’t like video games. I like board games. Wanted to know more about the strategy. Great execution. Would place the cards on a stand. Can probably buy stands and plug them in. Would introduce the point system – like maybe a currency or coin so you have the sense of collecting. Would like more digital going to physical games. Continuing with an interactive board would be good to see.

Carlos: very interesting finding when you decided to go from card game to board game – so what is it exactly that makes that game so fun and engaging and how are you achieving this is in a board game. Looks fun, but not sure “how.” Be able to point out the stickiness.

Vero: Chess is actually a very violent game – doesn’t look like it, to observers, but if you can recreate that combative feeling in your game that will be very useful.

Carlos: Does the board need to be that small? If you were to go the commercial route, the board might need to be bigger. Does the landscape change?

Vero: Could you have several boards, or three different terrains to establish levels?

Carlos: used to play advanced wars, and remembered each square could have different turf – can terrain effect gameplay? Something to think about, can you introduce something into the board? Can think of add-on packs.

Some links to the East Harlem neighborhood:
 
http://www.eastharlempreservation.org/index.html
http://www.east-harlem.com

Jonah Brucker-Cohen’s Live Window project uses a sensor called a Geophone:
http://www.coin-operated.com/coinop29/2010/05/02/live-window-2001/

Link to Geophone sensors: http://www.geophone.com/content.asp?Pageid=16

http://www.tinagonsalves.com/medulla.html

From the website: “MEDULLA INTIMATA is a necklace that contains a video screen and biometric sensors. The sensors (using analysis of speech and tonal range of conversaton) monitor the wearer’s emotions to guide real-time video-generation that evokes a sense of seeing beneath the surface of the skin, exposing the emotional and physical inner body. Video is displayed on the screen embedded in the jewellery.”

Hello Interface Faculty–

This fall semester, on two Fridays on October 7th in Rm 407 (66 W12), and November 11th in Kellen Audtorium (66 Fifth) from 12 to 6PM, Margaret Fiore and I will be conducting the Collaborative Ideation Workshops again.

The first workshop on October 7th in Room 407 at 66 West 12th Street, will give students a general introduction to research questions and collaborative thinking. We’ll do a general and quick overview of research methods (Refworks, electronic databases, etc) but mostly focus on brainstorming research questions for their final project Interface paper. We’ll look at ways to collect ideas and the importance of writing short pieces that become a larger paper.

Please let your students know that these workshops are part of the thesis research and writing preparation although we cannot cover everything in two short workshops in the two first semesters of the MFA DT. The workshops will also prepare students for the writing components in Interface and Major Studio.

These workshops became very important last year to many students who did not feel ready to do Master level research. Most students (after being surveyed) thought that the ideation parts of the workshops (sharing and talking about ideas) were most helpful in their own work.

All students should attend the workshops. We will take attendance so if you would like to count this as a class session, please feel free to do so. We would like to split the student body into two large sessions that will run from 12 to 6PM as suggested below. If students want to swap sessions to accommodate their other classes, they are free to do so. We will also send out a notification to the entire class of 2013 by end of next week so that you have time to introduce them with your students beforehand.

For both October 7, and November 11th sessions

12 TO 3PM SESSIONS Interface Studios taught by:
Katherine Moriwakki
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Katherine Lee and Brian J House

3 to 6PM SESSIONS:
Lucille Tenazas
Zhang-Ga Brinkman, Sven Travis
David Carroll
Ted Byfield

Best,

Anezka Sebek
Associate Professor of Media Design
The School for Art, Media, and Technology
Parsons The New School for Design
2 West 13th Street, 10th floor
New York, NY 10011
http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/

Sky Ear by Usman Haque

NiceBots – Daniel Hirschmann, Jean-Marc Gauthier, Ann Poochaeron, Mark Argo

Tweenbots by Kacie Kinzer

The Uncanny Valley, coined by Masahiro Mori

Comfort in Conformity by Chris Choi

Simasticus by Mein Stiffi, see the post-mortem paper

Access by Marie Sester

The Money Tree, video by Amy KR

Ken Goldberg and Tele-robotics – Demonstrate 2004