beta knowledge

"Prism is part, I would suggest, of the realm of design thinking. This is a problem-solving..."

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:40:03 -0400

“

Prism is part, I would suggest, of the realm of design thinking. This is a problem-solving methodology born out of similarly strange bedfellows as The Californian Ideology. In this case it’s art school creativity hijacked by management theory. Design thinking suggests the synthetic way in which designers are (supposed to be) thinking can be applied to almost any subject. […] By seeing the world through the lens of this conceptual design ecosystem, design thinking abstracts the world into a series of interactions with outputs and it remains poised to provide a solution for anything. Never mind the fact that there are many who would argue with the idea of design as a solution-focused activity, that this conception of design is pure ideological cant.

Of course, like digital culture and like late capitalism, design thinking prefers to appear a non-ideological matter of common sense. Apparently de-politicised and post-ideological, design thinking appears free of its own innate desires and tendencies in order to open-mindedly and radically reinvent the world.

”

- A text by Sam Jacobs about “PRISM as the dark side of design thinking”

"“Whenever discussion starts about how to hide from the tracking code that follows users around..."

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:33:12 -0400

“

“Whenever discussion starts about how to hide from the tracking code that follows users around the Web to serve them targeted ads, recommendations soon pile up for a browser add-on called Ghostery. It blocks tracking code, noticeably speeds up how quickly pages load as a result, and has roughly 19 million users. Yet few of those who advocate Ghostery as a way to escape the clutches of the online ad industry realize that the company behind it, Evidon, is in fact part of that selfsame industry.

Evidon helps companies that want to improve their use of tracking code by selling them data collected from the eight million Ghostery users that have enabled a data-sharing feature in the tool.”

”

- A Popular Ad Blocker Also Helps the Ad Industry

A social network analysis of Rousseau’s Confessions by...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:57:00 -0400

A social network analysis of Rousseau’s Confessions by Yannick Rochat & Frédéric Kaplan:

Working on an index, we build a literary social network of Les Confessions based on co-occurrences, by using a process that deals with edition and page constraints. We are currently investigating new ways to visualize and analyze literary social networks over time. Here, we propose the use of a temporal window, which captures the evolving structure of the network during a given interval of time.

Literally a cloud in Facebook's cloud

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:55:09 -0400

Literally a cloud in Facebook's cloud:

“I got a call, ‘Jay, there’s a cloud in the data center’,” Parikh says.

“‘What do you mean, outside?’.

‘No, inside’.” There was panic. “It was raining in the datacenter,” he explains.

The problem occurred because of the ambitious chiller-less air conditioning system the data center used.

"We’re writing things that we can’t read, (…) We’ve produced systems of such complexity that..."

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:39:00 -0400

““We’re writing things that we can’t read, (…) We’ve produced systems of such complexity that they’ve all been written by humans but they are totally illegible to any human on earth, and yet their effects are quite tangible.”

- Kevin Slavin, a professor at the M.I.T. Media Lab, says.

DESIGNING FEATURES FOR FIDO: WHAT MAKES ANIMAL-COMPUTER INTERACTION SO DIFFERENT FROM HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION? by Jaana Lehtonen

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:36:49 -0400

DESIGNING FEATURES FOR FIDO: WHAT MAKES ANIMAL-COMPUTER INTERACTION SO DIFFERENT FROM HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION? by Jaana Lehtonen:

As a fairly new area of study, the viewpoints of animal-computer interaction and its possible uses, as well as the driving forces behind the research – even the seriousness of the approach – can be seen to vary greatly. Still, majority of the research is done in the name of promoting the well-being of all different kinds of animals in our lives. The studies show that due to the animals’ inability to voice their opinions or consent it is difficult to evaluate the true ethicality of proposed implementations. This also applies for usability and other technical issues surrounding the development of computerised systems for animals communicating in such different ways from human users. Based on the research studied also the true benefit of animal-computer interaction to the animals themselves remains debatable.

Tatsuo Horiuchi, the 73-year old Excel spreadsheet artist: “I...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:34:00 -0400

Tatsuo Horiuchi, the 73-year old Excel spreadsheet artist:

“I never used Excel at work but I saw other people making pretty graphs and thought, ‘I could probably draw with that,’”

"As a fan of monster stories and movies, I’ve always liked to think about what the monster would be..."

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:51:45 -0400

““As a fan of monster stories and movies, I’ve always liked to think about what the monster would be like when it is not performing its duty to the plot of the film. What is the monster like at rest or engaged in the daily routines of life that don’t involve being monstrous? Like those monsters, drones (U.A.V.s) seem to always be in an active state. We only really hear about drones flying or spying or striking. What is a drone like when being passive or outside the monstrous, drone narrative? In response to these thoughts, I thought about a drone character. I wanted to capture scenes of the drone character not being active. I feel as though this scene puts the drone character in a passive, and even vulnerable, position. It might come across as a strange or absurd scene, but I want to portray something more from the story of the monster.””

- Colin Morse

"The countryside, mapped, marked by the wear and tear that each thing imposes on, and in turn..."

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:13:23 -0400

““The countryside, mapped, marked by the wear and tear that each thing imposes on, and in turn receivesfrom,thethings around it and its environment, is studded and cluttered with memories, a collection of remains, monuments, memory. Every place can be dated by this mutual hollowing, and by these ruins.””

- Michel Serres, 2008

"Ethnographic research involves multiple embodied and material practices. What I mean is that words..."

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:25:01 -0400

““Ethnographic research involves multiple embodied and material practices. What I mean is that words have only ever been one of our tools, and “an ethnography” (or ethnographic monograph) only one of our research outputs. Images, objects and performances are also fundamental parts of the ethnographic toolkit–both in terms of doing our work and how we present it to others–and in that sense we have always been multimedia practitioners.””

- by Anne Galloway

A new book by @goto80 about “Computer Rooms”: This...

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:43:12 -0400

A new book by @goto80 about “Computer Rooms”:

This is what computer culture really looks like. A collection of photos that show the messy reality behind the shiny online facade. Where we make our living and spend our free time. And try to be creative. Or maybe even worse. […] The project began in 2009, when I started to collect photos of 8-bit computers. Gradually, I got more interested in the context rather than the machines. For me this book is actually not about technology. It’s about the things around the computer – the room and the context. Our living conditions. Because it’s in places like this that books are written and scientific research is done. These kinds of places lead to political actions, fantastic music, art, new friends, inventions, love, and so much more. This is IRL!

"“Each Object Lessons project will start from a specific inspiration: an anthropological query,..."

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:11:54 -0400

“

“Each Object Lessons project will start from a specific inspiration: an anthropological query, ecological matter, archeological discovery, historical event, literary passage, personal narrative, philosophical speculation, technological innovation—and from there develop original insights around and novel lessons about the object in question.

Object Lessons invites contributions from scholars, writers, scientists, artists, journalists, and others. Potential topics include: rubber band, plastic bag, tornado, turpentine, wind, wall, Glock, drone, Lamborghini, flak jacket, steamboat, shoehorn, laughter, hatred, air, Google Glass, catnip, platinum, money, rebar, polyester, microchip, marriage, time machine, celebrity, Blowpop, cornbread, combine, honey, Velcro, copper wire, cruise ship, cilium, hot wing—the possibilities are quite literally endless.”

”

- @objectsobjects: an interesting new book series.

new-aesthetic: Fake shops used to make towns neater for G8 -...

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 12:08:08 -0400

new-aesthetic:

Fake shops used to make towns neater for G8 - RTÉ News

“Local councils in Northern Ireland have painted fake shop fronts and covered derelict buildings with huge billboards to hide the economic hardship being felt in towns and villages near the golf resort where G8 leaders will meet this month. Northern Ireland’s government has spent £2m (€2.3m) tackling dereliction over the past two years, the environment department said. Some buildings have been demolished and others have been given a facelift in an attempt to make areas more attractive. Almost a quarter of “dereliction funds” were freed up for local councillors in Co Fermanagh in anticipation of Britain hosting the annual Group of Eight leaders’ summit there on 17-18 June.”

Inflatable tank.

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 03:46:28 -0400

Inflatable tank.

"Hey buddy who have you been talking to? Just kidding I already know."

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:27:46 -0400

“Hey buddy who have you been talking to? Just kidding I already know.”

- NSA (via video-arena)

wtfqrcodes: Best QR code in the history of QR codes??? by @dens...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:04:38 -0400

wtfqrcodes:

Best QR code in the history of QR codes???

by @dens via instagram

Kernel Panic, by Volumique (2008): This book is a personal...

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:47:09 -0400

Kernel Panic, by Volumique (2008):

This book is a personal collection of screen captures of computer crashes. The bug belongs to no one and no one wants it, not the programmer, nor the platform maker, nor the user! They all avoid it and hunt it down; no-one wants to take responsability…

"when designing Web experiences, we should consider the case of someone wanting to interact with your..."

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:20:34 -0400

“when designing Web experiences, we should consider the case of someone wanting to interact with your experience without access to a screen. Not only does this help us, as designers, with ensuring that those who have accesibility needs are catered for from the start, it also gives us some form of future-proofing, away from locking ourselves into current device screen sizes or interaction patterns. Yes, you’ll still need to design those things too, but if you’re serious about designing something that lasts, something that reaches the widest possible audience, and something that your can easily rework into the unknown interaction standards of the future, your starting point can’t just be content first, it needs to be with no screen in mind, too.”

- by r4isstatic

"Warning, warning! I can se robot call, robot from the dungeon on my radar Warning, warning! I am a..."

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:48:54 -0400

“Warning, warning!
I can se robot call, robot from the dungeon on my radar
Warning, warning!
I am a robot, it’s not a joke
I am a robot, i am a robot
I am a robotic synthesizer
Electronical human competitor
Digital masta’ (booooy)
Creating programes i’m a computer
Leading age of tecnology
I just need solar energy
Good ganja weed is my electricity
I am the leading age (Lord)
Robotic synthesizer
Electronical human competitor
Digital masta’ (booooy)
Creating programes i’m a computer
I am the robot (?) in laptop in a digital plot
I need hundred gigawatts to fight in a computer riot
Fruity loops for it’s my (?)
Casiotone mt-40 for all can go (?) (flash it!)
Robotic synthesizer
Electronical human competitor
Digital masta’ (booooy)
Creating programes i’m a computer
Leading age of tecnology
I just need solar energy
Good ganja weed is my electricity
i am the leading age (booy)
I am the robot (?) in laptop in a digital plot
I need hundred gigawatts to fight in a computer riot
Fruity loops for, loop for (?)
Casiotone mt-40 for all can go (?) crew
Me can go (?)
Me can go (?)
Because i am a robot
Bacause me i am a robot (flash it!)
I am a robotic synthesizer
Electronical human competitor
Digital masta’ (booooy)
Creating programes i’m a computer
I am the robot (?) in laptop in a digital plot
I need hundred gigawatts to fight in a computer riot (flash it!)”

- Pupajim - I am a robot

"Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its..."

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 05:39:24 -0400

“Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”

- Brian Eno, A Year With Swollen Appendices (via volumexii)