ACM SIG Multimedia, Columbia University, NY, NY

I think first i have to state that i didn't get much of SIG MM. I was much too busy with making interviews & my exhibition. I only attended very few sessions.

My lifebits - the Keynote

2004/10/12: Gordon Bell of Microsoft gave an impressively uninspired talk about Donald Normans "personal life recorder" (PLR/Teddy) idea - yet without mentioning Norman (Norman 1992) (the book, not the essay) "Turn Signals Are The Facial Expression of Automobiles"). And Erkki Kurenniemi is more or less effectively trying it since many years before that as one can see on his DVD "Dawn of the Dimi."

He started with providing the context, heading far back to the Memex (V. Bush), elaborating on Moores Law (graph), Amdahls Law (graph), IP in everything (img: toilet seat, fridge), price of storage, platforms (mhh); Mainframes and digital lifestyle in general. (Evolution of the media at home: All digital, "pc" platforms, everything connected etc. bla) I don't want to go into detail, but i heard a mix of old "New Economy" phrases and the strategy Steven Jobs has been propagating since years as "the digital hub". Bell called it "the PC as personal & home mainfraime". Sounds frightning to me.
Microsoft (?) as usual is not pushing the envelope and innovating, but simply waiting for others to have an idea, take a risk - to finally jump onto the moving train (and take over). BTW: Bell called his concept "Mylifebits". The slides were cluttered and totaly unattractive; I haven't been this bored since quite a while, wow. The style of WIRED magazine 1993 ...
Tbyte(s), LIfetime, PC: Killer apps in home & office (Img >)
1TB gives 65+ years. 25.000 days: 10 images a day, voicemail, fax, 100 emails, movies,

He called "skins" (or widgets) - "different program faces". Why?
ON Body Sense and capture: Camera, gps, compass, voice, audio, text, stills, movies.
Displays: augemented reality.
The A/V/real time date Future: NEW CAPTURE MODES: SenseCam - MSR Cambridge, Deja View, Body Media, Quindi Meeting capture ...
Yawn.

Art tools session

LIve raw feed: 2004/10/13 Steve Mann, (University of Toronto) opening, talking about Sousveillance & cyborglog. (A data collection of life data. From 1994 = 96 life broadcast on the web to share his life with people. Problems with data transmission. Techno/social hurdles were more difficult. ;) He experienced assault ... Violence is not way to get rid of public cameras. The eye in the sky ...
An exploration into culture and technology. Creating "seeing aids for visual art." Mediated reality devices allow filter, change the content. Prototype camera-glasses allow to secretly and permanently record footage. (iTap devices). Billboards are replaced by webbrowser content. Realtime augemented reality (he calls it "mediated reality" or "diminished reality").
URL: http://eyetap.org

Question: Have you ever tried to explain to attackers what you do?
A: At a shop i explain that this device helps me see better - and this would result in buying more merchandise. At the toll-gate there was no receipt, so i made my own video receipt. Equiveillance: Sourveillance systems have to be controlled, so i take my own footage by my own camera. Besides i have modified my brain, this is the way i remember. It is the way i perceive. This equimpment is an extension of me, if you take of my glasses i may fall down the stairs. I see differently and i think differently. You should read my book.
Audience: In Britain you would be considered disabled, even if you are not disabled.
Q: Has it changed the way you view art?
"This is my artistic media of expression."

SwarmArt Session: Swarming, Flocking, Herding (University of Calgary)
Local interaction rules define behaviour, so there are relatively simple rules that define mine.
Sepration or Alignment (average direction), or Cohesion. average postiion).
How can we create art in this way? Lets create paint that paints ...
mmhh - looks absolutely like what first year digital media students are programming. And Golan Levin.
Complex interactive swam systems with simple rules.
URL: http://swarmart.com or swarm-design.org

Q: How has your work influenced your perception of the living world?
I developed a Bottom-Up view of the world: You see how biirds fly and see how proteins act in a cell. It is all very simple behaviour, but resulting in complex actions. So i imagine that you could view traffic controls systems like that ... i started viewing complexity in everyday life differently.