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Responsive Architecture

An interesting student project from Parsons School of Design as reported recently in Metropolis Magazine. How about some ideas for making our new lab responsive.

Parsons students transformed their lobby with walls that change configuration depending on activity in the room. In the lobby of the school's Design and Technology department, Witzgall's students mounted two deceptively simple polycarbonate panels, donated by Polygal, into a garage-door track in the ceiling. They sit side by side, partially blocking passage between the lobby's elevator and the hallway beyond. When someone approaches, embedded sensors trigger the panels to move toward the perimeter walls. These temporary walls remain parted during periods of high traffic, and return to the center of the lobby when there is none. The very nice panels also react to cues other than lobby gridlock. Each includes 128 LEDs linked to microphones in the department's two computer labs. The LEDs light up within a grid to graph the volume inside: the X-axis represents time; the Y-axis marks the activity level. Brightline lighting systems donated fluorescent fixtures, which create an ambient color wash that is programmed to change throughout the day with the class schedule.

A new kind of architecture reacts to the human movement within it.
By David Sokol
The Metropolis Observed
April 2003

Parsons students transformed their lobby with walls that change configuration depending on activity in the room. By crafting spaces that allow only certain movements or behaviors, designers have long played the role of social engineers. Witness New York's Central Park or postwar Corbusian housing blocks, both intended to "purify" urban dwellers. At the Parsons School of Design, students of visiting instructor Beatrice Witzgall's Architectural Intervention Collaboration Studio have completed a final project that responds to users as well as subtly influencing them. The installation rearranges itself--and the surrounding space--in response to human movements and traffic patterns.

In the lobby of the school's Design and Technology department, Witzgall's students mounted two deceptively simple polycarbonate panels, donated by Polygal, into a garage-door track in the ceiling. They sit side by side, partially blocking passage between the lobby's elevator and the hallway beyond. When someone approaches, embedded sensors trigger the panels to move toward the perimeter walls. These temporary walls remain parted during periods of high traffic, and return to the center of the lobby when there is none.

"We've talked about these two panels as characters wanting to belong," says Jennifer Wheatley, who is studying multimedia and broadcast design at Parsons. "When somebody's there, they get out of the way. They're very nice." Unlike something as passive as automatic supermarket doors, however, the installation in turn affects people's behavior. As obstacles, the panels force users toward the sides of the lobby during low traffic times, allowing passersby to discover seating and exhibition spaces that they may otherwise have walked past.

The very nice panels also react to cues other than lobby gridlock. Each includes 128 LEDs linked to microphones in the department's two computer labs. The LEDs light up within a grid to graph the volume inside: the X-axis represents time; the Y-axis marks the activity level. Brightline lighting systems donated fluorescent fixtures, which create an ambient color wash that is programmed to change throughout the day with the class schedule.

Witzgall, who has been developing this "responsive architecture" in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab since 2000, criticizes architectural vocabulary for being slow to adopt technological innovations. Despite the buzz generated by computer-aided design, "information technology is still considered an additional layer, not something that can reconfigure space according to how people occupy it," she says.

After the Parsons installation comes down, Witzgall has more responsive architecture to build. She is working on a proposal for New York's Union Square subway station and a design-build project with former MIT Media Lab associates. However, redefining social engineering takes time. "The technology mostly exists," Witzgall says, "but people need to develop an understanding that it can escape its virtual identity and develop physical presence. Technology can recognize people's behavior, activity, and movement--and it can change the way people communicate, interact, and inhabit a space."

Cellophane Turns LCDs 3D

From Technology Research News August 26, 2003

Sometimes ordinary items have more to them than meets the eye. For the past couple of decades research teams have worked to make various types of three-dimensional displays; most methods include fairly complicated hardware. A University of Toronto researcher has taken a different tack. As it turns out, a trip to the kitchen and a pair of crossed polarizer glasses can turn an ordinary laptop screen into a 3D display. The method could lead to extremely low-cost three-dimensional applications for scientific and medical imaging, and for games. The researcher's tests verified that a sheet of ordinary cellophane possesses the properties necessary to rotate the direction of white light polarization 90 degrees. It is possible to rotate the polarization of the light coming from one half of a laptop screen by simply covering that side with cellophane. Showing two copies of an image that are polarized differently through a pair of glasses that blocks light polarized in different directions for each eye allows a viewer to see a different copy of the image with each eye. This creates the illusion of three dimensions because the human brain judges distances based on the differences in the views seen by each eye. The colorless, 25 micron-thick cellophane was better than the commercial half-wave plates usually used for the job and 3,500 times less expensive, according to the researcher. The work appeared in the August 2003 issue of the Review of Scientific Instruments.

New Campaign Strategies

It's worth noting here, although it is has been discussed at length elsewhere, that Howard Dean has created quite a stir in the race for the democratic nomination. Sure, sure -- but what I find really cool about all of this is the rather innovative use of the internet, namely the current trends of blogging, social software, in order to get the campaign message out, draw support, and raise funds (which Dean is doing amazingly well at). The most recent example I was pointed to from Lessig's Blog, which is a new tool on the Dean website which allows like-minded Dean-For-America-ers to make connections with each other. The site boasts: "You'll be able to get in touch with people in the Deanroots, reach out to your contacts, and make plans for getting involved with other local supporters. Other Dean supporters will be able to find you. If you have a special interest, like flyering or tabling, you can let people know. You can even upload your own picture."

This reflects Dean's other net-based tactics, including Meetups, which tracks national gatherings held to discuss the Dean campaign. Dean was also a guest blogger for Lawrence Lessig this summer. His "meetups" have been so successful in generating support, hype, and money for Gov. Dean that other. more entrenched Dems like Kerry have put themselves on the meetup site as well.

Clearly the time is nigh for new campaign strategies, and Dean is demonstrating how the net can be used to articulate political messages, evoke support, and raise funds. This is all very reminiscent of the rise of Television advertising in politics that is well documented by the great book The Spot: The Rise of Political Advertising in Television by Edwin Diamond and Stephen Bates. A very good read.

World 3-D Film Expo

World 3-D Film Expo: September 12 - 21, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 19, 2003

World 3-D Film Expo to Unspool at Egyptian Theatre With Over 33 Classic and Rare Feature Length 1950's Treasures and Over 20 Short Subjects, including Four Los Angeles Premieres & A Screening of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, Seen And Heard In Stereophonic Sound For The First Time in 50 Years!

Special Guests to include INFERNO star Rhonda Fleming; KISS ME KATE star Kathryn Grayson and "Miss 3-D" Among Others

World 3-D Film Expo Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Margot Gerber, mgerber@bgerber.com
323.461.2020, ext. 115
Date: August 19, 2003

World 3-D Film Expo to Unspool at Egyptian Theatre With Over 33 Classic and Rare Feature Length 1950's Treasures and Over 20 Short Subjects, including Four Los Angeles Premieres & A Screening of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, Seen And Heard In Stereophonic Sound For The First Time in 50 Years!

Special Guests to include INFERNO star Rhonda Fleming; KISS ME KATE star Kathryn Grayson and "Miss 3-D" Among Others

September 12 - 21, 2003

Hollywood - SabuCat Productions will present the largest 3-D tribute show ever mounted anywhere in history, from Friday, September 12 - Sunday, September 21 at the Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Boulevard) in Hollywood. The 10 day festival, which celebrates the golden era of 3-D filmmaking, will include many of the best known 3-D titles of the 1950's, such as HOUSE OF WAX, KISS ME KATE and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, but will also offer fans of the format an opportunity to see some of the more obscure 3-D movies, many of which have not been seen in 3-D in over 50 years! L.A. Premieres include THE NEBRASKAN; FLIGHT TO TANGIER, JESSE JAMES VS. DALTONS; THE GLASS WEB. The films star favorites from the golden age such as Rock Hudson, Rita Hayworth, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Vincent Price, the Three Stooges, Casper the Ghost, Beany & Cecil, and many others.

In all, 33 features and 21 short subjects will be shown along with a "rarities" show consisting of rare, wonderful, stereoscopic images, many of which have never been seen in a public setting. In person guests will speak at selected screenings. Guests will be announced as they are confirmed. All prints will be 35mm and run in the "double-interlock", Polaroid System, the original method (and still the best method) for showing true 3-D. All guests listed below are appearing schedule permitting.

Festival organizer Jeff Joseph says, "Many of the prints that we're running are the last in existence... and in some cases the original negatives no longer exist. Due to the complexity of projecting these films in the stereoscopic format, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience these movies the way they were meant to be seen."

It has been over 50 years (November 26th, 1952) since BWANA DEVIL, opened at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. While not the first 3-D feature film (which was POWER OF LOVE, U.S.A., 1922), the popularity of BWANA DEVIL was the direct cause of the production of a total of 50 3-D films from 1952 through 1955, often referred to as the golden era of 3-D.

The following is a complete schedule of the series. Shorts will precede the feature unless noted otherwise. All shows will be presented with an intermission as they were originally shown. Guests attending each show are listed at the end of the film synopsis. If you are interested in learning more about tickets, press information, etc. please see the bottom of this press release.

The Festival kicks off on Friday, September 12th at 7:00 PM with HOUSE OF WAX (1953, 88 min., color) directed by Andre de Toth. Cast: VINCENT PRICE, PHYLLIS KIRK, FRANK LOVEJOY. Fifty years later, HOUSE OF WAX still thrills, entertains, and reveals stereoscopic wonder. Jack Warner invented the term "sensation," and set his technicians to building a 3-D camera in December, 1952, just after the opening of BWANA DEVIL. But as the Warner 3-D camera would take a few months to build, Jack contracted with Milton Gunzburg to use the Natural Vision cameras (used first on BWANA DEVIL). In a matter of days, a reworked script from 1933's MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM became THE WAX WORKS and finally HOUSE OF WAX. Advertised as the "First 3-D Film from a Major Studio," WAX was and still is the quintessential 3-D film. A wonderful blend of ageless story, good color, fun settings, and another 3-D first: stereophonic sound. Although the one-eyed director de Toth couldn't see 3-D, he understood perspective and framing better than many cameramen. Jack Warner demanded de Toth have at least some 3-D "gags" and the most obvious is the famous paddle ball scene featuring Reggie Rymal. Sadly, Andre de Toth passed away October 28, 2002 and Reggie Rymal December 25, 2002.

Guests: Paul Picerni (lead actor) and Mrs. Andre de Toth are scheduled to attend.

With short film, "Motor Rhythm" (1939, 10 min., color) One of the earliest examples of 3-D, this short was created by John Norling for the 1939 World's Fair. Not seen theatrically in over 50 years, we're going to have one of the first public screenings of this stop-motion rarity. This clever novelty short simulates the manufacture of an automobile. Dancing to the beat of the music, the automotive parts find their own particular places in the mechanism.

Friday, September 12 | 9:30 PM
STRANGER WORE A GUN, THE (1953, 83 min., color) Cast: RANDOLPH SCOTT, CLAIRE TREVOR, LEE MARVIN. Director: ANDRE DE TOTH. Columbia brought in one-eyed director Andre de Toth (HOUSE OF WAX) to be the trail boss of Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and other characters. Typical western plot of the time, but many more 3-D gags than WAX, so duck! Not seen in 3-D in over 50 years!

Saturday, September 13 | 11:15 PM
GORILLA AT LARGE (1954, 84 min., color) Cast: CAMERON MITCHELL, ANNE BANCROFT, RAYMOND BURR. Director: HARMON JONES. Fox's second 3-D feature, set in a carnival involving a killer gorilla. Bancroft is radiant, Mitchell young, and Burr sinister with an excellent supporting role by Lee J. Cobb. Watch for Lee Marvin's bit.

Saturday, September 13 | 1:30 PM
CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON (1954, 64 min., b&w) Cast: SONY TUFTS, VICTOR JORY, MARIE WINDSOR. Director: ARTHUR HILTON. Astronauts land on the moon and get in trouble when they meet a race of leotard-clad humanoid cats. So-bad-it's-good sci-fi appeals to trashy camp fans with its cheesy art direction and lurid cat fights. Music by... Elmer Bernstein!

With short film, "Adventures Of Sam Space" (10 min., color) A dramatic flight to the year 2001, when Earth is at war with pirate planets from outer space! This cartoon was not released until 1960, as "Space-Attack", when it ran with "September Storm". And even then, it was run in CinemaScope, distorted from its correct aspect ratio. This cartoon has been completely lost...until now. We will be presenting a brand new, fully restored print!

Saturday, September 13 | 4:15 PM
GOG (1954, 85 min., color) Cast: RICHARD EGAN, CONSTANCE DOWLING. Director: HERBERT L. STROCK. This very rare title hasn't been seen in 3-D since its premier over 50 years ago! One of the last 3-D's of the golden era, it evokes memories of the 1950's TV show SCIENCE FICTION THEATER. Directed by Herbert L. Strock, who is planning to attend the screening... and who also hasn't seen this film in 3-D in over half a century!

Saturday, September 13 | 7:00 PM
KISS ME KATE (1953, 109 min., color) Cast: HOWARD KEEL, KATHRYN GRAYSON. Director: GEORGE SIDNEY (II). MGM's big 3-D production of the famous Broadway play. Flawless 3-D, colorful production numbers (including Bob Fosse), energetic direction from George Sidney. First time shown in stereophonic sound in Los Angeles in 50 years! Certainly a classic in many respects.

Guests: KATHRYN GRAYSON, TOMMY RALL, WILLIAM TUTTLE (MAKEUP ARTIST). Q&A TO FOLLOW THE SCREENING.

With short, "Lumber Jack Rabbit" (1953, 7 min., color) Excellent Bugs Bunny cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones. Bugs Bunny wanders into the land of giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, and his equally huge dog. Bugs, after the huge carrot patch, outwits the giant hound.

Saturday, September 13 | 10:15 PM
In Stereophonic Sound for the first time in 50 years! IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953, 81 min., b&w) Cast: RICHARD CARLSON, BARBARA RUSH. Director: JACK ARNOLD. Universal also took notice of BWANA DEVIL's success and quickly constructed their own 3-D camera. Secrecy surrounded their first 3-D film which started filming in January, 1953, based on a story by Ray Bradbury. A highly atmospheric film which stands on it own without 3-D. Arnold spares the 3-D gimmicks, allowing a few "natural" effects to remind us it's a 3-D adventure. One of the top five 3-D films, the "space" special effects are 1953 modest budget. Yet, allow yourself to fall into the 3-Dimensional heart of this serious-themed sci-fi and you'll remember it forever. Not seen in Polaroid 3-D in over 50 years!

Guest: Actress Kathleen Hughes will introduce the feature.

NOTE: The short subject, "Nat King Cole" follows the feature presentation, as this is the order that these were originally shown.

With short, "Nat King Cole With Russ Morgan's Orchestra" (1953, 20 min., b&w) The great Nat "King" Cole sings his hit song "Pretend," then swings out with "It's Crazy." Russ Morgan and his Orchestra play "Wang Wang Blues" (watch out for that sliding trombone!) The Gene Louis Dancers enact "The Bull," songstress Joan Elms croons "Blue Moon" and the Marvels perform some wild acrobatic stunts. This entertaining musical short was prepared by Universal-International as a companion piece to IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and this is the first time they are being presented together since 1953!

Sunday, September 14 | 1:00 PM
ROBOT MONSTER (1953, 63 min., b&w) Cast: GEORGE NADER, CLAUDIA BARRETT. Director: PHIL TUCKER. Found on most "worst film" lists, this is a must-see. Supposedly shot on either a $15,000 or $20,000 budget over a few days time, and it shows. But remarkably the B&W 3-D is generally pretty good. George Nader and cast perform a living comic book of sci-fi from a young boy's perspective...and this flick hasn't been seen in 3-D in 50 years! Music by Elmer Bernstein.

With short, "Stardust In Your Eyes" (1953, 4 min., b&w) Cast: SLICK SLAVIN. Made by the same people who produced "Robot Monster", this short was designed to be run before it, but: it never was. So, this is another short that's never been seen, until now! Famous rockabilly singer Slick Slavin shows us how various popular screen stars will appear in the fabulous new medium of 3-D movies.

Sunday, September 14 | 2:45 PM
FLIGHT TO TANGIER (1953, 90 min., color) Cast: JACK PALANCE, JOAN FONTAINE. Director: CHARLES MARQUIS WARREN. This film has never played in 3-D in Los Angeles, even in its original release. This will be it's Los Angeles 3-D premiere! Perhaps Palance's first "good guy" role, oddly cast with Fontaine. Certainly oil and water, but the Technicolor 3-D is great. Not seen in 3-D in over 50 years! This was one of only 2 films shot in Technicolor "3-strip" AND 3-D... meaning 6 rolls of film were being shot at the same time!

Sunday, September 14 | 5:45 PM
STEREO-TECHNIQUES 3-DIMENSION (1953, 50 min.) This is a show consisting of 5 short subjects. After "Bwana Devil" was released (but before the first studio films came out), theaters needed some 3-D product. So they imported 5 shorts and tied them together under the title "Stereo Techniques". Most of these shorts haven't been seen in 50 years, and certainly not in the format and way they were intended. The shorts are:

AROUND IS AROUND SHORT (1951, 10 min., color)
This short, produced by Norman McLaren, with 3-D supervision by Raymond Spottiswoode, will be run as part of "Stereo Techniques". Lines and figures are used in color in an abstract, animated, form.

BLACK SWAN SHORT (1952, 13 min., b&w)
This short will be run as part of "Stereo Techniques". This is a ballet subject with the story enacted to the music of Tchaikovsky.

NOW IS THE TIME (TO PUT ON YOUR GLASSES) (1951, 3 min., color)
This short will be shown as part of "Stereo Techniques". This introductory film is based on a light, humorous angle. Because the third-dimensional figures and system is so completely different, this diversion sets the stage for the longer subjects.

ROYAL RIVER (1951, 9 min., color)
This short will be run as part of "Stereo Techniques". In Technicolor, this is a casual trip on a slowly moving boat down the Thames River, showing pictures of the English countryside, touching on the foliage and rolling lawns. An old castle along the shores is also seen, the cameras picking up the entire vista. This gives the viewer the impression of actually being present on the boat ride. A stunning, wonderful 3-D short!

SOLID EXPLANATION (1951, 8 min., b&w)
This short will be run as part of "Stereo Techniques". This takes the audience into an English zoo, where the antics of the giraffes, seals, fish, and bird life are explained by a British commentator.

Sunday, September 14 | 7:00 PM
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954, 82 min., b&w) Cast: RICHARD CARLSON, JULIA ADAMS. Director: JACK ARNOLD. The last great Universal Horror Monster, the Creature is both scary... and sympathetic. This is a truly terrific film, not to be missed. And it hasn't been seen in a theatrical setting in proper Polaroid 3-D in 50 years... until now!

Guest: Actress Julie Adams will appear in person after the screening for discussion.

Sunday, September 14 | 9:15 PM
CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER, THE (1953, 95 min., color) Cast: GUY MADISON, FRANK LOVEJOY. Director: GORDON DOUGLAS Warner Bros. second 3-D feature (after "House of Wax" has some of the best 3-D photography and "comin' at ya" effects shots ever done! Released in the summer of 1953, this western has something for everyone!

Showing with: 3-D TRAILER SHOW

Monday, September 15 | 7:00 PM
ARENA (1953, 83 min., color) Cast: GIG YOUNG, JEAN HAGEN director Richard Fleischer RICHARD FLEISCHER This action-packed western has not been seen in 3-D in over 50 years! Thrilling rodeo scenes and the great direction of Richard Fleischer make this a can't miss flick!

Special Guest: Barbara Lawrence, director Richard Fleischer, George Wallace, Robert Horton, William Tuttle (Q&A TO FOLLOW THE SCREENING).

Monday, September 15 | 9:30 PM
REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955, 82 min., b&w) Cast: JOHN AGAR, LORI NELSON. Director: JACK ARNOLD. Last title from the golden era, this sequel to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is almost as good as the original; entertaining and scary! The 3-D is right on, especially the underwater scenes shot in Marineland's (Florida) big tank. Fish swim out of the screen into your face. And check out that fellow in the lab... Clint Eastwood! Not seen in 3-D in 50 years!

With short, "Working For Peanuts" (1953, 7 min., color) Chip and Dale, two hard working chipmunks. have to search for their daily meal of peanuts. Donald Duck is the zoo keeper who tries to prevent them from stealing peanuts from Dolores the elephant. This wonderful Disney cartoon had very few 3-D playdates in its original November, 1953 release.

Tuesday, September 16 | 7:00 PM
BWANA DEVIL (1952, 79 min., color) Cast: ROBERT STACK, BARBARA BRITTON, NIGEL BRUCE Director: ARCH OBOLER. 1952 through 1955 was the golden era of 3-D cinema. Worldwide over 60 3-D films were made. Many are still the best examples of stereoscopic film art. When the major studios turned down Arch Oboler's idea to shoot a movie in 3-D, he did it himself... the result was "Bwana Devil", which was the first 3-D feature to be seen around the world, and was the cause of the golden era of 3-D, which we are celebrating at this festival. While in no way a classic, this film needs to be seen in the proper format to be appreciated.

Special bonus: An interview with the late, unsung hero of 3-D, Lothrup Worth.

With Short Film, M.L.GUNZBURG PRESENTS 3-D (1952, 6 min., b&w) Also known as "Time For Beany", the short was produced by Gunzburg (one of the fathers of 3-D) to introduce audiences to the "Polaroid" 3-D process. This short was designed to go before "Bwana Devil", so that's where we're running it. Stars puppets Beany and Cecil, with the assistance of Lloyd Nolan. Voices by Daws Butler and Stan Freberg.

Guests: Shirley Tegge ("Miss 3-D") and Stan Freberg.

Tuesday, September 16 | 9:15 PM
DANGEROUS MISSION (1954, 75 min., color) Cast: VICTOR MATURE, PIPER LAURIE. Director: LOUIS KING. RKO put together a pretty good yarn with a good cast (including Vincent Price) and a forest fire in 3-D. Very good 3-D throughout. This seldom seen thriller was produced by... Irwin Allen!

Wednesday, September 17 | 12:30 PM
MAN IN THE DARK (1953, 70 min., b&w) Cast: EDMUND O'BRIAN, AUDREY TOTTER. Director: LEW LANDERS. Edmond O'Brian and Audrey Totter star in this suspenseful crime story about a criminal who looses him memory...but does he know where the stolen loot is?

Wednesday, September 17 | 2:30 PM
HANNAH LEE (1953, 75 min., color) Cast: JOHN IRELAND, JOANNE DRU. Director: LEE GARMES, JOHN IRELAND. Noted cameraman Lee Garmes (GONE WITH THE WIND) and actor John Ireland teamed to co-produce and co-direct this typical, low budget, Western of the era (1953). MacDonald Carey and Joanne Dru co-starred with Ireland. This had a troubled release, with Ireland/Dru suing the distributor claiming poor distribution. There weren't many 3-D showings and the title was changed to OUTLAW TERRITORY. It is very rare, and this may be the last public showing ever.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the only surviving 3-D print of this feature, and is in faded Eastmancolor. Due to its rarity, we have decided to run it anyway, but please be advised that the color is "off" on this title.

Wednesday, September 17 | 5:15PM
JESSE JAMES VS THE DALTONS (1954, 65 min., color) Cast: BRETT KING, BARBARA LAWRENCE. Director: WILLIAM CASTLE. Another excellent Columbia western, William Castle directs this one, starring Brett King and Barbara Lawrence. Not seen in 3-D in over 50 years!

This film has never played in 3-D in Los Angeles, even in its original release. This will be its Los Angeles 3-D premiere!

Wednesday, September 17 | 7:00PM
PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE (1954, 84 min., color) Cast: KARL MALDEN, PATRICIA MEDINA. Director: ROY DEL RUTH. Warner's follow up to HOUSE OF WAX. Similar time period, but very different flavor. More 3-D effects than WAX, and Malden's performance is slick. Pure 3-D entertainment!

Wednesday, September 17 | 9:45PM
GLASS WEB, THE (1953, 81 min., b&w) Cast: EDWARD G. ROBINSON, JOHN FORSYTH. Director: JACK ARNOLD. Edward G. Robinson and John Forsythe star in Universal's and director Jack Arnold's second 3-D feature. This is one of the first films dealing with television production... and it's complicated by murder... in 3-D! Not seen in 3-D in over 50 years.

This film has never played in 3-D in Los Angeles, even in its original release. This will be its Los Angeles 3-D premiere!

Guests: KATHLEEN HUGHES (Q&A TO PRECEDE THE SCREENING)

With short, "Hypnotic Hick" (1953, 8 min., color) This terrific Woody Woodpecker cartoon hasn't been seen in years! Woody Woodpecker decides to make a fast buck when he takes on the job of serving the tough Buzz Buzzard with a subpoena. This is one of the most enjoyable 3-D cartoons, with some great off-screen effects, and terrific use of depth as Woody tangles with Buzz at the top of a construction site.

Thursday, Sept. 18 | 7:00 PM
FORT TI (1953, 73 min., color) Cast: GEORGE MONTGOMERY, JOAN VOHS. Director: WILLIAM CASTLE. Set in the 18th century, the film recounts the exploits of Rogers' Rangers, a band of adventurers devoted to seeking out a "northwest passage" through Canada. At this juncture, however, Major Rogers is more concerned with helping the British forces at Fort Ticonderoga during a series of French and Indian raids. Top billing is bestowed upon George Montgomery as Captain Pedediah Horn, Rogers' right-hand man. The film boasts two leading ladies: Joan Vohs, as a suspected French spy, and Phyllis Fowler as a married Indian woman who falls in love with Captain Horn. Fort Ti was filmed in 3-D, and in typical William Castle fashion the stereoscopic gimmick is exploited to the hilt.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 3-Stooges short "Spooks" will be shown AFTER the feature film, "Fort Ti". This is how this feature and short were designed to be shown... and they haven't been shown properly in over 50 years!

With short, "Spooks" (1953, 16 min., b&w) Cast: LARRY, MOE, AND SHEMP. Director: JULES WHITE. In their first 3-D appearance, the 3 Stooges are private investigators hired to find a missing girl. They disguise themselves as bakery delivery men, and stumble across her in a mysterious house where she is the victim of a mad scientist and his assistant. This classic Stooges short contains some of the most effective off-screen gimmicks of any 1950's 3-D title, including Moe's famous finger-poke, and the mad scientist with the hypodermic needle. And watch out for the Shemp Bat, one of most surreal visual gags in ANY Stooges short!

Thursday, Sept. 18 | 9:15 PM
MAZE, THE (1953, 81 min., b&w) Cast: RICHARD CARLSON, VERONICA HURST. Director: WILLIAM CAMERON MENZIES. Actor Richard Carlson's second 3-D film, this mystery film is classic low budget fun. The 3-D is very good, including bats flying in your face. Directed by production designer William Cameron Menzies (GONE WITH THE WIND), most of the story takes place in a dark castle (emphasized in B&W 3-D), and offers a mystery with an odd, surprising payoff.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The short "Doom Town" will be shown AFTER the feature film, "The Maze". This is how this feature and short were designed to be shown... and they haven't been shown properly in over 50 years!

Guest: PETER KURAN (Q&A TO PRECEDE THE SCREENING)

With short, "Doom Town" (1953, 13 min., b&w) This unusual short received very limited distribution in 1953, and has not been seen since. This is the story of a nuclear test explosion done on May 17, 1953. In addition to the short itself, we have added something special: Newly discovered and declassified footage of the bomb blast aftermath.. the buildings being blown over, the trees being uprooted... all in never before seen 3-D! Peter Kuran ("Trinity and Beyond"), who discovered and preserved this footage, will be on hand to present the material and answer questions.

Friday, September 19 | 7:00 PM
INFERNO (1953, 83 min., color) Cast: ROBERT RYAN, RHONDA FLEMING, WILLIAM LUNDIGAN. Director: ROY WARD BAKER. 20th Century Fox was fully promoting their answer to 3-D, CinemaScope, but hedged their bet by releasing this 3-D gem. It's a very satisfying crime adventure filmed on location in the California desert. Ryan is wonderful as a husband left to die in the desert by his wife and her lover. Excellent 3-D photography puts you there!

Guests: Actress RHONDA FLEMING (Q&A TO FOLLOW THE SCREENING)

With short, "On The Ball" (1952, 10 min., b&w) This British short from 1952 was never shown in the U.S... until now! A stereoscopic angle on sport, with John Arlott commentating.

Friday, September 19 | 9:30 PM
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954, 105 min., color) Cast: RAY MILLAND, GRACE KELLY, ROBERT CUMMINGS. Director: ALFRED HITCHCOCK. Alfred Hitchcock was of two minds on this. It is not one of his finest, but his use of 3-D (strictly artistic except for one gimmick shot at the end) truly made this claustrophobic stage play interesting to see. In fact, the subtle use of 3-D in this film enhances it. The cast is great, highlighted by John Williams' London inspector investigating a "murder" committed by Milland's wife, Grace Kelly. Look around: The more you look, the more you see.

Saturday, September 20 | 10:30 AM
MAD MAGICIAN, THE (1954, 72 min., b&w) Cast: VINCENT PRICE, MARY MURPHY. Director: JOHN BRAHM. OK, this one is usually trashed as a rip off of "House of Wax". Why? Well, same producer and same writer as WAX. Vincent Price going mad. Time period the same. Hmmm. But, it stands on its own as having very good 3-D (B&W), and watching Price as he evolves into the persona macabre for which he is most known.

Saturday, September 20 | 12:30 PM
"RARITIES IN 3-D" We will be showing over 90 minutes of some of the rarest stereoscopic material in existence. This is a clip show, not complete features or shorts. Not only will there be material considered "lost" for many years, but there will also be material never heretofore known to have been shot in 3-D. This is the show for the 3-D fanatic! Much of this material will never be seen again. This show is being put together until the day before the presentation, so sorry, no titles will be made available until the day of the show.

Please note: Due to the technical complexity of this presentation, the admission price for this show will be $15 per ticket

Saturday, September 20 | 4:00 PM
I, THE JURY (1953, 87 min., b&w) Cast: BIFF ELLIOTT, PEGGY CASTLE. Director: HARRY ESSEX. This film noir hasn't been seen in 3-D in over 50 years! Terrific black and white cinematography by John Alton ("Raw Deal", "T-Men") and starring Biff Elliot as Mike Hammer, this is one of the rarest of our feature screenings.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The short subject, "Pardon My Backfire" follows the feature film, as it was originally shown in this order.

Guest: BIFF ELLIOT (Q&A TO FOLLOW THE SCREENING)

With short, "Pardon My Backfire" (1953, 16 min., b&w) Making the most of the 3-D medium, this has the 3 Stooges running an automobile repair shop, and becoming involved with three crooks running from the law. The boys eventually capture the burglars and hand them over to the police, but not before everything available has been thrown at the audience!

Saturday, September 20 | 7:00 PM
MONEY FROM HOME (1953, 100 min., color) Cast: DEAN MARTIN, JERRY LEWIS. Director: GEORGE MARSHALL. This terrific Martin & Lewis film, was done up in glorious Technicolor (this was the first of two films using dual three strip Technicolor cameras), the 3-D is natural, and avoids gimmicks. And you can check out a harem in 3-D!

With short, "Boo Moon" (1954, 8 min., color) Poor Casper scares away all the Earth people, so he goes to make friends with inhabitants on the moon. They also fear him, until he becomes a lunar hero by driving off the ferocious Treemen. The outstanding use of depth and perspective in this cartoon make it (arguably) the very best example of stereoscopic animation from the 1950's. Magnificently restored by the 3-D Film Archive, this wonderful cartoon (not shown in 3-D since 1954) will be one of the highlights of our event!

Saturday, September 20 | 9:30 PM
SECOND CHANCE (1953, 82 min., color) Cast: ROBERT MITCHUM, LINDA DARNELL, JACK PALANCE. Director: RUDOLPH MATE. RKO's first 3-D featured their top stars, and is enjoyable to watch, especially with bad guy Palance (fresh off of SHANE acclaim). Shot on location in Mexico, it's the first Hollywood 3-D feature shot on a foreign location. Robert Mitchum is terrific...and there's wonderful 3-D on a hanging tram!

With short, "Melody" (1953, 10 min., color) This excellent Disney cartoon depicts how music is born. Various methods, including abstractions, are used to trace the development of a musical composition.

Sunday, September 21 | 11:30 PM
GUN FURY (1953, 83 min., color) Cast: ROCK HUDSON, DONNA REED. Director: RAOUL WALSH. Rock Hudson stars in this excellent Columbia western, shot on location in Arizona. This well produced film was directed by Raoul Walsh, and also stars Donna Reed and Lee Marvin.

Sunday, September 21 | 1:45 PM
NEBRASKAN, THE (1953, 68 min., color) Cast: PHIL CAREY, ROBERTA HAYNES, LEE VAN CLEEF. Director: FRED SEARS. Cowboys and Indians fight it out... it's 1953, so guess who the bad guys are? This Columbia western hasn't been seen in 3-D in over 50 years!

This film has never played in 3-D in Los Angeles, even in its original release. This will be its Los Angeles 3-D premiere!

Sunday, September 21 | 4:30 PM
DRUMS OF TAHITI (1954, 73 min., color) cast: DENNIS O'KEEFE, PATRICIA MEDINA. Director: WILLIAM CASTLE. William Castle directs Patricia Medina (also seen in "Phantom of the Rue Morgue") and Dennis O'Keefe in this South Seas Island adventure... with volcanoes erupting, and flames throwing!

NOTE: The short "Down the Hatch" follows the feature, as this is the order in which these were originally shown.

With short, "Down The Hatch" (1954, 16 mm, b&w) Cast: HARRY MIMMO. Director: JULES WHITE. After a ruby has been stolen, the thieves devise a plan to smuggle the gem out of Italy and into America. They decide to employ Harry Mimmo, a simple peasant, whom they think will not draw suspicion as he carries the valuable stone. This Columbia short was done as a "pilot" for comedian Harry Mimmo and only released "flat". It has never been seen in 3-D in a public setting....until now! A true rarity!

Sunday, September 21 | 7:00 PM
FRENCH LINE, THE (1954, 102 min., color) Cast: JANE RUSSELL, GILBERT ROLAND. Director: LLOYD BACON. Don't miss this rarely seen film, with Jane Russell really "coming at you"! As the ad copy says, "J.R. in 3-D! It'll Knock BOTH your eyes out!"

Sunday, September 21 | 10:00 PM
MISS SADIE THOMPSON (1953, 91 min., color) Cast: RITA HAYWORTH, JOSE FERRER. Director: CURTIS BERNHARDT. This was Columbia's attempt at an "A" film in 3-D. Well produced, shot in tropical paradise, and featuring some excellent performances, including support from Charles "Buchinksy" Bronson, and starring a radiant Rita Hayworth!

With short, "Love For Sale" (1953, 10 min., b&w) Cast: BELLA STARR. Dan Sonney Productions specialized in rather sleazy "adult" material in the late 40's and early 50's. This short was shot in 2-camera 3-D, but only released (very briefly) in very poor anaglyphic (red/blue) prints. We have printed...for the first time ever!...this short in it's proper left eye/right eye format, and will premier it here! This features stripper Bella Starr in a dance routine, as well as a slick gambler and a party girl in a sensual dance sequence.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 3-D format is often thought of as "gimmick" filmmaking. While it was one of the many mid-20th century inventions of the motion picture industry to give audiences a big screen experience to compete with the new phenomenon of television, for the most part 3-D, (like the Cinemascope format for example), was used to great effect in high quality studio productions with some of the most talented industry professionals behind the camera. Such producers/directors as George Sidney, Alfred Hitchcock, William Cameron Menzies (THE MAZE), Budd Boetticher, Raoul Walsh, Ross Hunter and Douglas Sirk photographed films in the third dimension, as did cinematographers like John Alton (I, THE JURY), Karl Struss and Lucian Ballard (INFERNO). They often utilized depth as an integral aspect of the dramatic narrative. Seeing these films flat today on television or home video totally diminishes the impact of the original stereoscopic cinematography. The filmmakers composed, designed and intended these movies for 3-D presentation, and that's theway in which they should be seen. This unique series will give audiences that opportunity.

The presentation of 3-D has garnered a bad reputation over the years, mostly due to anaglyphic (red/blue) presentation, poor projection, lab problems, and so on. Actually, when shown with proper (Polaroid) presentation, good prints, professional projectionists, and so on, 3-D from the 1950's looks spectacular. The feeling of depth actually tends to suck you inside the action. It is not just a function of "coming at you" scenes (such as when objects are thrown at the audience), but is also used effectively in smaller, more intimate settings, such as in Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER.

This once-in-a-lifetime retrospective will give fans, historians and critics the unique opportunity to re-assess one of the most unjustly maligned aspects of cinematic history. Due to an awful succession of gimmick films throughout the 1970's and 80's, as well as poor quality re-issues of the older films in the inferior red/blue anaglyph system on television, 3-D movies of the 1950's have basically gotten a bad rap.

There is a printable version of the schedule on the website. Detailed information about the festival, film schedule, etc. can be found at:

http://www.3dfilmfest.com

TICKETS:
Tickets are available online. Advance tickets are recommended as shows are expected to sell out. Tickets are $10 with the exception of the rarities show which is $15. A festival pass ($320) includes admission to all 35 shows, plus a festival souvenir booklet.

The festival can be reached at:
Phone number: 661 538-9259
Fax number: 661 793-6755
*Special note: Although at the Egyptian Theatre, this festival is not a program of the American Cinematheque.

PRESS MATERIALS & INTERVIEWS:

Broadcast quality video clips will be available. To obtain clips for broadcast please e-mail your mailing address to us and your deadline for receiving materials.

Hi-Resolution, downloadable film stills and original poster images are available on this private "press only" page on the website:

http://www.3dfilmfest.com/3dpress.php

Festival organizer and 3-D expert Jeff Joseph is available for interview. He can be reached at his SabuCat Productions e-mail: sabucat@sabucat.com or at the festival phone number listed above.

blogging on yahoo

from Sven Latham (yet another blog) via slashdot: yahoo has activated blogs.yahoo.com and blog.yahoo.com, although they are both just redirects to yahoo groups. Something seems to be in the works here -- I wonder if yahoo is going to fly solo on this one or hook up with someone like blogger, etc. etc. This would be a really interesting step towards making personal publishing (even) more ubiqutous amongst general web users.

http://www.yetanotherblog.com/?post=507

A Stroll Through the Ivy, With a Tour Guide That Beeps

Today's Circuit Section of the NY Times reports on CAMPUS AWARE at Cornell University:

"...comments were made by Cornell students and graduates on a recent campus tour. But they were not physically on the tour: instead, their words appeared on the screen of a Palm organizer. Like ghosts in midair, such remarks surfaced whenever the palmtop, equipped with a small Global Positioning System unit, was carried to any of the spots where they were written a year or two ago.

The tour is part of a research project that explores the next generation of "context aware" computers - devices that can orient themselves in the real world and provide information about what is around them.

Simpler versions are widely available commercially in hand-held organizers or car-dashboard devices that display maps, sometimes with voice directions, based on satellite navigation information from the Global Positioning System. Cornell's tour guide, called Campus Aware, supplements this technology with richer content - the history and lore of campus sites - and with notes left "at the scene" by previous visitors. This e-graffiti, as researchers call it, adds a serendipitous touch to the tour.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/21/technology/circuits/21gpss.html

UCB Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium

The Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium
Fall 2003 - Spring 2004, UC Berkeley
Monday Evenings, 7:30-9:00pm, 160 Kroeber Hall
All Lectures are free and open to the public.

2003:

25 Aug: Mark Hansen, UCLA Statistics
Listening Post: Rendering the Evolving Landscape of
Online Public Discourse (Or: a Statistician, an Artist
and 200,000 Complete Strangers)

15 Sep: Shawn Brixey (DXARTS, UW) and Richard Rinehart, BAM & Art
Navigating the Maze: Collaboration and the Chimera Obscura

10 Nov: Jim Campbell, Artist, San Francisco
Formula Art : Computers as One Dimensional Translators

24 Nov: Nina Katchadourian, Artist, New York
Every Single Thing Around You Could Be Trying to Tell
You Something: Talking Popcorn and other Mildly
Paranoid Ideas Sprung Largely from the Everyday
2004:

2 Feb: Marie Sester, Artist, New York
Paradise under Surveillance:
Transparency, Visibility, and Network Access

23 Feb: Peter Selz, Curator, emeritus UC Berkeley
Directions in Kinetic Sculpture:
From George Rickey to Jean Tinguely

15 Mar: Vivian Sobchack, UCLA Film Studies
A Leg to Stand On:
On Prosthetics, Metaphor, and Materiality

5 Apr: Christopher Alexander, Architect and Professor of
Architecture Emeritus, UC, Berkeley
The Nature of Order: Unification of Humanity
and Computers: a Realistic Path to the Future

For updated information, please see:
http://www.ieor.berkeley.edu/~goldberg/lecs/

Urban Tapestries: Location based annotation

Urban Tapestries is a framework for understanding the social, cultural, economic and political implications of pervasive location-based mobile and wireless systems. To investigate these issues, we are building an experimental location-based wireless platform to allow users to access and author location-specific content (text, audio, pictures and movies). It is a forum for exploring and sharing experience and knowledge, for leaving and annotating ephemeral traces of peoples’ presence in the geography of the city.

Urban Tapestries allows users to author their own virtual annotations of the city, enabling a community’s collective memory to grow organically, allowing ordinary citizens to embed social knowledge in the new wireless landscape of the city. Users will be able to add new locations, location content and the ‘threads’ which link individual locations to local contexts, which are accessed via handheld user devices such as PDAs and mobile phones.

Online Game Economies

Andrew Leyden of PenguinRadio is developing ideas regarding risk managment for online game economies. He sent these links for backgound information. Some of these links are from last year so rules have changed - but what about having a currency exchange system between these games, and how do we tie that in with tangible goods and services?

Online Game Economies get Real
Buy virtual stuff with real dollars
Virtual Economy bigger than Russia's
Inflation threatens Everquest Economy.
Buy and sell virtual goods via PayPal

Friendster Fun

This week has brought up quite a lot of discussion, spurred on by a deletion of 'fake accounts' on Friendster (business-model driven, no doubt):

• SF Weekly: Attack of the Smartasses

  Marc Canter writes:

  "Mr. Asshole proves why" was one headline, another appropriate statement would be "Battle erupts, not friendly at all". For a service which portends to be a place to meet people, Jonathan is literally telling people to get lost.

  From Abstract Dynamics:

  Pretty fucking absurd, if you invented a wildly successful product would then wage war on your users and try and destroy everything they like about your product?

  The weirdest bit is that friendster is still growing rapidly despite a management that is completely hostile to the actual users. And on the flip, Tribe.net, listens closely and talks to its users, but is pretty much still born so far. None of the dynamism of friendster there, despite the fact that they welcome it. Could it be that friendsters antagonistic relationship to its users actually helps drive some of its success. Action is more fun if its illegal after all...

• Gawker: Friendster Exiles
• Friendsterious, Part 4: Spittin Craze - the 'Fakester Manifesto'
• Salon: Faking out Friendster
• Friendster Power Games
• Social networks got game - insight on social networks and gaming the system

Danah Boyd, a Berkeley researcher studying digital social networks, writes Connected Selves, a blog focused on discussion on social network tools. Definitely put it on your blogroll if you're intertested in this topic area.

Robowars in LA

On August 16th and 17th, Steel Conflict will hold our 4th fighting robot tournament. This time we'll be invading the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, Ca. We're expecting a sellout crowd in one of the coolest venues in Los Angeles.

CITYCLUSTER: Cave VR piece for Ars Electronica

CITYCLUSTER is a virtual-reality networking matrix, a high-tech container with original technological features, navigation, interactivity and graphic and content style. In which multiple environments, ambiences or cities both real and imagined, can be hosted, coexist and be interrelated within themselves through a common, virtual territory, interconnected by high-speed network, enabling remote participants to interact and collaborate in shared environments.

The framework may be expanded, modified, enriched, developed, and produced ad hoc in accordance with the nature and typology of the environment to be incorporated. The system has been designed to produce an integrated computing facility and to implement a creative high-tech container in which multiple environments may coexist and be interconnected within a common, virtual territory. City Cluster can be adapted to a number of diverse cities or virtual environments.

Shared Realities (in a hot tub...)

DECONversation / Maurice Benayoun, Pierre Levy, and Steve Mann, moderated by Derrick de Kerckhove

What would happen if we took what is restricted to some, nonpolitical, personal, concealed, domestic, tacit and implicit and made it open to everyone, in physical view of others, impersonal, acknowledged and explicit? Post-post cyborg, performance artist and visionary Steve Mann as well as virtual reality artist Maurice Benayoun and the French cyberspace philosopher Pierre Levy will take part in a HOT TUB PANEL discussion mediated by the director of the Marshall McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, Derrick de Kerckhove. The topic of discussion will be fictitious truth, virtual fiction, realiction, and conjured reality.

DECONversation / Maurice Benayoun, Pierre Levy, and Steve Mann, moderated by Derrick de Kerckhove

at DECONISM Gallery, 330 Dundas St. West, Toronto

(across the street from the Art Gallery of Ontario),

tickets available at the door.

What would happen if we took what is restricted to some, nonpolitical, personal, concealed, domestic, tacit and implicit and made it open to everyone, in physical view of others, impersonal, acknowledged and explicit? Post-post cyborg, performance artist and visionary Steve Mann as well as virtual reality artist Maurice Benayoun and the French cyberspace philosopher Pierre Levy will take part in a HOT TUB PANEL discussion mediated by the director of the Marshall McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, Derrick de Kerckhove. The topic of discussion will be fictitious truth, virtual fiction, realiction, and conjured reality.

The personal will turn political as the three intellectuals debate what is real, whilst submerging themselves in a translucent, networked, interactive and IMMERSIVE multimedia art installation. Displaying the private DECONversation as a public event will allow for an interactive reversal between the counterpublic and the counterprivate. The reversal will come into full effect as microphones and cameras will project the communal bath by means of simulation and simulacra, in the guise of Plato's Caves, into another spatial reality. Professor Steve Mann's vision that: In the coming decades we will live in an age of shared realities and new levels of cultural discourse Steve Mann and Hal Niedzviecki (Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer, Canada: Doubleday, 2001) p.38., will be exposed in the process of becoming.

Michelle Rosshandler: PR/Curator Deconism Gallery: mrossh@po-box.mcgill.ca
Steve Mann: Director Deconism Gallery: 416.593.9330 mann@eyetap.org

Brainwave Building Blog

Deconism Gallery/Arts Complex was designed as a blog --- something we call "buildinglog" (which, like cyborglog, abbreviates to "glog").

We've all seen smart buildings, smart lightswitches, smart toilets, and intelligent user interfaces, but what happens when you have "smart people"? What happens when you wire up the "intelligence" onto people?

2003 August 14th and 15th we explore what happens when the intelligent building meets intelligent occupants.

The August 14th event will be an intellectual discussion about the relationship between cyborglogs and buildinglogs. Three panelists (Maurice Benayoun, Pierre Levy, Steve Mann), moderated by the Director of the Marshall McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, will enter an immersive multimedia space (a brainwave bath) while discussing the implications of the post-cyborg age.

The August 15th event will be an actual collective (de)consciousness where the occupant-cyborgs interact with the building, to create an audiovisual experience from their brainwaves, as part of a brainwave (de)concert performed by jazz musicians Bryden Baird, James Fung, Dave Gouveia, Sandy Mamane, and Corey Manders.

For more information, see http://eyetap.org/deconism/index.htm
http://wearcam.org/ctheory/
www.benayoun.com

Remaking Space

Museums, Canals and Text Messaging: Three Ways we Remake Space with Technology

Barry Brown
Department of Computing Science, University of Glasgow

ABSTRACT:

One of the most innovative areas of technology research of late has been in the interactions between technology and geography. This has taken the form of both new technologies (such as positioning systems and ubiquitous technologies), but also new studies of technology which look at the interactions between place and technology. Yet, to understanding the geographical nature of technology we need to think not only how technologies are used in particular places, but also how those places are connected together. For example, computers do not just connect together places through the internet but through a network of standardisation. "Power-point" pervades through our working practices. In this talk I use three different examples to argue that space is frequently remade, in new ways, using technology. The first example I
discuss is a new mixed reality museum visiting system. This system
allowed museum visitors to ''co-visit'' with online museum visitors. In use, this system created a new type of space - a ''hybrid space'', which mixed both online and physical objects, online and physical spatial relations. In the second example I look at the advent of canals in 1800s America and, in particular, the effects this introduction had on the production of food. This historical example shows how a change in flow of food depended upon two ''micro'' changes - a transport revolution, but also a change of practice in the form of the standardisation of crops and weights. Lastly, using ethnographic material on mobile workers I discuss the changing practices of mobile workers, and how their work creates new spatial connections through the use of technology. Together these three examples provide a start to thinking about how technology can change our experiences of and use of space.

Bio
Barry Brown is a research fellow and ethnographer at Glasgow University where he explores the social issues surrounding work, leisure and technology. In his recent work he has studied activities as varied at tourism, go-karting, video game playing, map use, web-blogging and truck spare parts sales. He has also recently edited a book on mobile phone use (Wireless World, Springer Verlag).

Monday, Aug 11, 2003
15:30 - 17:00 Pacific Time

Intel Research Berkeley, 2150 Shattuck Ave., Suite 1300

Degrees of Separation

Today's NYTimes Science section cites a Columbia study hoping to replicate Milgram's famous 1967 "Six Degrees of Separation Study" with email.

"In this global study, more than 60,000 people tried to get in touch with one of 18 people in 13 countries. The targets included a professor at Cornell University, a veterinarian in the Norwegian army and a police officer in Australia. Despite the ease of sending e-mail, the failure rate turned out much higher than what Dr. Milgram had found, possibly because many of the recipients ignored the messages as drips in a daily deluge of spam. Of the 24,613 e-mail chains that were started, a mere 384, or fewer than 2 percent, reached their targets. The successful chains arrived quickly, requiring only four steps to get there. The rest foundered when someone in the middle did not forward the e-mail. As in most social networks, it is not just a question of who knows whom, but who is willing to help."

I should note that I participated in the program and the chain I initiated, to a technician in Punjab, was successfully completed in 5 steps.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/science/12MAIL.html

London Data Garden

Scott Wyant passed this 'toward a london data garden' along.

Scott's Back From Japan!

Scott has arrived back from his travels and research in Japan.

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