kurt

People, Tools and Money

Wish list.

People (Thesis Committee)

Scott Fisher
Peggy Weil
Joi Ito

People (Production Team)

Want: Will Carter, Todd Furmanski and Tripp Millican
Need: a C/C++ or Java programmer with 2D graphics experience

Tools

Each user in field will require:
1 GPS device
1 tablet/PDA computer
1 digital camera
1 mobile phone (data).

My guess is that 5 users in the field in an area the size of USC would generate the density required for really interesting interactions to start occuring. Perhaps 3 or 4 users could work but I have my doubts...

The development machines should be:
1 desktop for programming/development with serial and wireless connectivity
1 notebook for tweaking in the field with serial and wireless
1 external hard drive for backup and synchronization

Although it would be convenient for me to work exclusively in GUI authoring tools, it seems very unrealistic. So I expect that a C or Java programming environment will be necessary for both development machines. And of course I will use Adobe Photoshop for visualizations and mock-ups.

Money

GPS device - $200
tablet/PDA - $600 - 1000
camera phone - $500
1 year of mobile service -$600

desktop dev box - $1500
notebook dev box - $1500
external hard drive - $400
software expenses - $2000

finishing your MFA thesis on time, graduating and getting a real job - priceless

ugh... I cringed as I wrote that. Sorry to be so tacky.

So about $2000 per user in the field, at 5 users that is $10,000 plus $5400 for the development machines comes to $15,400. Let's just round it up to $20,000 (for coffee, alcohol and parking tickets) because it reminds me of a book I read when I was a kid.

Possible sources of funding:
Research branches of Microsoft, Intel, Sony, AT&T, Docomo