Overt technological change witnesses an enduring tradition
"In 2005, visitors packed into the expansive boulevard leading up to St. Peter's Square as Pope John Paul II's body was carried into the crowd for public viewing in the days following his death. Taken nearly two years before the iPhone debuted, the photo is striking now for its appearance straight out of another era.
For anyone who has ever been to a concert, the photo at bottom, taken Tuesday night as Pope Francis made his inaugural appearance on the Vatican balcony, seems almost ordinary. The two, taken together, reflect a world changing, even as some ancient traditions stay the same."
(Carlo Dellaverson, 13 March 2013, NBC News)
Fig.1 Luca Bruno / AP, The faithful gather in 2005 near St. Peter's to witness Pope John Paul II's body being carried into the Basilica for public viewing.
Fig.2 Michael Sohn / AP, St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, on March 13, 2013.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Media technology convergence: from Desktop to mobile
"When that Apple II came out, it really could do nothing. It could show text and after we waited a bit, we had these things called images. Remember when images were first possible with a computer, those gorgeous, full-color images? And then after a few years, we got CD-quality sound. It was incredible. You could listen to sound on the computer. And then movies, via CD-ROM. It was amazing. Remember that excitement? And then the browser appeared. The browser was great, but the browser was very primitive, very narrow bandwidth. Text first, then images, we waited, CD-quality sound over the Net, then movies over the Internet. Kind of incredible. And then the mobile phone occurred, text, images, audio, video. And now we have iPhone, iPad, Android, with text, video, audio, etc. You see this little pattern here? We're kind of stuck in a loop"
(John Maeda, TEDGlobal 2012)
CONTRIBUTOR
Alise PiebalgaSHARE
U+MAG: an independent Brazilian digital magazine
"In some religions, one must be baptized in water for a new, sinless person to emerge. Maybe that can unfold, in different ways, for a magazine like U+MAG, which is created from scratch every three months, sinless and clean - as I've said in past issues. And in life, it's sometimes crucial to be born again, everyday. But there is a baptism inside this edition, and it happened through images by Lucas Bori and Fernando Mazza. They are responsible (together with Cassia Tabatini, Daniel Malva, Tiago Chediak and Hugo Toni) for the pictures that act as breathers within this issue, which marks a transition to a new phase for the magazine. It is now divided between online (exclusive stories regularly posted on our website), mobile (iPad, iPhone and Android) and print (print on demand is the future!). This issue of U+MAG is special for another reason: it's our anniversary edition (but without golden, celebratory caps) and also because it celebrates in an unconventional way and running from stereotypes what an emerging nation can show the world. In this issue's opening pages, Bruno Munari's quote is the perfect translation for what we want to convey. Things that make our lives interesting. It's not as if the magazine has a message such as 'Yes, we have Bananas, and they are the world's best'. It's much more than that: we present Brazilian imagery outside of the tourist package that's usually spread around, specially when the country concerned is about to host a World Cup and the Olympics. But we treat it all ironically (e.g. the story shot by Vitor Pickersgill, inspired by the carioca piriguetes, a term for local, shamelessly clad girls) and poetically (such as the Iemanja 2.0, beautifully impersonated by Thais Custodio). If we focused the whole issue on Brazil, however, we would be closing ourselves to the world. And it goes against our principles. That's why the stories shot by our foreign collaborators are indispensable for U+MAG's universe. They are essential for our formula to work out. Our exaggerated, bold and visually ever changing spirit will remain intact. The covers, on the other hand, will suffer a redesign in 2013. A preview of that process is the cover of our special collector's issue – all to value photography and imagery. Besides, fresh air is always appreciated. A special thanks for all who were part of U+MAG's history so far, and hello for all newcomers, who believe in our work and our philosophy."
(U+MAG, 2012)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Explore Nottingham through the Sillitoe Mobile Trail iPhone 5 App
"The Alan Sillitoe Memorial Committee are launching a Mobile Trail App and Handbook – (a book with a digital heart) at Nottingham Contemporary on Saturday 27th October [2012]. ...
The mobile trail features the work of leading contemporary writers revisiting the themes and spaces of Sillitoe’s Nottingham and is the culmination of our work with The Space - the experimental digital arts platform commissioned by Arts Council England in association with the BBC."
(2012 Sillitoe Trail)
Fig.1 "Sillitoe Trail Nottingham: Al Needham - Life through 21 Pubs", Published on 13 Jul 2012 by thinkamigo.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Pictures Under Glass: sacrificing tactile richness
"As it happens, designing Future Interfaces For The Future used to be my line of work. I had the opportunity to design with real working prototypes, not green screens and After Effects, so there certainly are some interactions in the video which I'm a little skeptical of, given that I've actually tried them and the animators presumably haven't. But that's not my problem with the video.
My problem is the opposite, really - this vision, from an interaction perspective, is not visionary. It's a timid increment from the status quo, and the status quo, from an interaction perspective, is actually rather terrible. ...
I'm going to talk about that neglected third factor, human capabilities. What people can do. Because if a tool isn't designed to be used by a person, it can't be a very good tool, right? ...
Do you see what everyone is interacting with? The central component of this Interactive Future? It's there in every photo! That's right! - HANDS. And that's great! I think hands are fantastic! Hands do two things. They are two utterly amazing things, and you rely on them every moment of the day, and most Future Interaction Concepts completely ignore both of them. Hands feel things, and hands manipulate things.
Go ahead and pick up a book. Open it up to some page. Notice how you know where you are in the book by the distribution of weight in each hand, and the thickness of the page stacks between your fingers. Turn a page, and notice how you would know if you grabbed two pages together, by how they would slip apart when you rub them against each other.
Go ahead and pick up a glass of water. Take a sip. Notice how you know how much water is left, by how the weight shifts in response to you tipping it.
Almost every object in the world offers this sort of feedback. It's so taken for granted that we're usually not even aware of it. Take a moment to pick up the objects around you. Use them as you normally would, and sense their tactile response - their texture, pliability, temperature; their distribution of weight; their edges, curves, and ridges; how they respond in your hand as you use them.
There's a reason that our fingertips have some of the densest areas of nerve endings on the body. This is how we experience the world close-up. This is how our tools talk to us. The sense of touch is essential to everything that humans have called 'work' for millions of years.
Now, take out your favorite Magical And Revolutionary Technology Device. Use it for a bit. What did you feel? Did it feel glassy? Did it have no connection whatsoever with the task you were performing?
I call this technology Pictures Under Glass. Pictures Under Glass sacrifice all the tactile richness of working with our hands, offering instead a hokey visual facade."
(Bret Victor, 8 November 2011)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
