Group items tagged

As mentioned in Siva Vaidhyanathan's reading portion "Open Source as Culture/ Culture as Open Source", computer scientist Richard Stallman began developing the pursuit of the Free Software Foundation. During the 1970s and 1980s, Stallman was working for MIT, he "set out to establish" this foundation that would help "prove that good tools and technologies could emerge from a community of concerned creators" (26). The link I provided is for the "about" section on the Free Software Foundation's current website. I thought this might help provide more insight about the program and offer information regarding their goals and work to keep the public free and in charge of their own computer monitoring. Free Software Foundation, Inc., "Free Software Foundation: About." Last modified 2014. Accessed February 5, 2014. https://www.fsf.org/about/.

Thanks for building out a link to this site, there's a lot of rich connections that continue to be relevant, perhaps more recognizably today with copyright concerns surrounding audio and visual media.

"The GNU Project is not limited to the core operating system. We aim to provide a whole spectrum of software, whatever many users want to have. This includes application software. See the Free Software Directory for a catalogue of free software application programs."

Radical Software was created in the 1970s by Beryle Korot, Phyllis Gershuny, and Ira Shneider to create a network of video sharing. This site has PDF files of the Eleven issues published and distributed by Radical software between the years 1970 and 1974. The website also provides the history of The Raindance Corporation which was created in 1969 by a radical media activist and artist by the name of Frank Gillette. The general Idea behind Raindance Corporation was to created a collection of works and ideas for "implementing communication tools in the project for social change." The website also discusses in detail the intent of Radical Software and fight towards creating a world of free and accessible information.

thanks, this is an excellent example of primary source document, the actual artifact providing visual detail of its historical context that escapes easy translation. This site is equipped with a well organized search and browse function, too!

In Open Source as Culture/ Culture as Open Source, the operating systems Linux and GNU. GNU was developed by Richard Stallman in 1983 as an open source operating system which could be developed by many different people working towards the freedom of software. The GNU project was necessary when most software was proprietary in the 1980's. The GNU web page has a great detailed history of the development of GNU from its beginning to how it is being used now Stallman, Richard. GNU Project, Accessed February 12, 2014.

Like the old websites accessed through the Wayback machine, this is another great archival resource for research. Primary source documents offer direct reflection of the language and design from a specific point in time, without the inherent filtering of such content through secondary sources. Specifically, like Radical Software, Whole Earth Catalog was a critical tool within the networked countercultures of the 1960s / 70s. Here, you can skim through digitized collection of Whole Earth Catalogs, subsequent "CoEvolution Quarterly" , "Whole Earth Software Catalog" and other pursuits. Identify recurrent patterns along with curious or lesser known topics of these cybernetically inclined thinkers. The site itself is a remediation of the magazine as "evaluation and access device," using popular categories of the original for navigation. "Whole Earth Catalog: Access to Tools and Ideas" Accessed February 2, 2014. http://www.wholeearth.com

Linus Torvalds is one of the principal forces behind the development of the LINUX kernal and now acts as the coordinator for the project. He has also been responsible for the development of several other pieces of software, such as Git, a revision control system, and Subsurface, which is a logging program used by single- and multi-tank divers. He is the winner of numerous awards given in recognition of his contributions, including the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize, and was one of the first inductees into the Internet Hall of Fame. Wikimedia Foundation. "Linus Torvalds." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds (accessed February 7, 2014).

While short, this article by Tim Worstall sheds light on the ever-present possibility of censorship in a closed corporate ecosystem of products and cites the example of Drones+, an app designed to provide up-to-date information on drone strikes, and the reasons for which it has repeatedly been banned from appearing on the App Store. This calls to mind several of the ideas present in the Half-Inch Revolution concering the dangers of a system predicated on the delivery of content overseen by a single source. Worstall, Tim. "The Problem With Apple's Closed Apps Universe." Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/08/31/the-problem-with-apples-closed-apps-universe/ (accessed February 7, 2014).

A resonant example from everyday media life. There was a somewhat similar disruption a few years ago with an iPhone game app premised on revealing the external costs of iPhone production and disposal. A bit more bald in its critique, it too was rejected.

Zotero is a plugin for Firefox (or stand alone program for Safari and Chrome users) that integrates bookmarking, old-fashioned note taking, and utilities like bibme.org into a single, user friendly interface. A button imbedded in the corner of the browser saves a website into your Zotero catalog, and does its best to peel off all the available metadata and organize it into convenient, easy to see categories. It enables the user to organize sources with full notations and (very exciting) export them into a bibliography in whatever style you prefer. As an added bonus, it can also catalog media: .pdf, images, audio, video. Your library lives online, affording very easy access. Additionally, there is a group function in the case that research need be shared. This program is a very fine add-on to our more accident prone organic brains and beats the hell out of cocktail napkins and self-addressed emails full of cryptic links any day.

An interesting case of design fiction where they have actually programmed a washer to be connected to a smartphone through the cloud so that you may control changes from you phone as well as receive notifications. What they have done which I find interesting is that they have made this video as a way to "start a conversation" about this instance of design fiction. Unlike some design fiction they are not claiming to know what the future will look like or pretend like they have already created the product and worked out all of the bugs. Their approach to design fiction is very simplistic and honest. ""Cloudwash is a prototype connected washing machine. We prototype products at Berg to help us understand how our platform should work, and to encourage better design in connected things…" BERG, "Berg Case Studies/ Cloudwash." Accessed March 20, 2014. http://bergcloud.com/case-studies/cloudwash/.

This piece of design fiction by Cisco called "The Internet of Everything" is probably closer to a sci-fi movie than design fiction but I found it interesting to contrast with the BERG Cloudwash prototype that I posted. Its pretty ridiculous, but it would also be cool if some of these things became realities. Just watch it and you'll see. "The Internet of Everything." Cisco 2014. Web, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt5VulFqBm4.

The Circle by David Eggers is an interesting take on social networks and the possibility of a future dystopia cyber landscape. It is about a young woman who starts working at a facebook/google like company called The Circle and looses her private life her job. This novel is similar to design fiction in presenting what could possibly happen in the future, but in this case it is a negative view. If you are interested in context collapse, social media, communication and interaction this book is really interesting. I have linked to a 45 minute audio recording in which David Eggers reads a excerpt from his book. Here is a better summary of the entire story if you like the exerpt: "When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world-even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge" E

Eggars, David. The Circle. Knopf, 2013.

This short essay by Julian Bleeker talks about exactly what is insinuated in the title design, science, fact, and fiction, and how all of these components come together in order to form what we know as design fiction. This short essay is not very short but there are a lot of interesting points and picture about how and why design fiction functions. Bleeker, Julian. Design Fiction: A Short Essay on Design, Science, Fact, and Fiction. http://drbfw5wfjlxon.cloudfront.net/writing/DesignFiction_WebEdition.pdf (accessed March 20, 2014).

An interesting TED talk by Neil Harbisson, a man who is completely color-blind. He built himself a device with a camera which reads color, and translates the colors into different frequencies. He considers the device to be an extension of his brain, part of his cyborg self. Eventually he was able to train his brain to hear more colors than normal human beings can even "see," and in essence is able to tell more about his surroundings than a normal person. http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_harbisson_i_listen_to_color Harbisson, Neil. "I Listen to Color." Ted.com, video. Filmed June 2012, accessed March 2014. http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_harbisson_i_listen_to_color

One of many tutorials to be found online. The use of this software for your Lightning Talk preparation requires you to compile image and text on 20 slides. These sort of basics are covered in first 3 pages of this tutorial. You will also need to change the "start transition" to automatic, and "delay" to 20.0 s within the Slide Inspector. I'll review this part in class, it's essential to automating the playback of slides. Education Technology Services "Keynote Tutorial" Accessed April 25, 2014. https://blogs.ksbe.edu/ksedtech/