March 09, 2004
thesis specs
Video blogging will happen. The idea of not disposing or editing the footage,
instead allowing the end user the ability to quickly summarize the footage
and then drill down as interest piques is what has prompted this research project. I plan to focus on two halves for my thesis – both the creation of such a system, as well as attempting to create compelling content for it.
Certainly, video capturing hardware, filesizes, network connectivity, GL planes (or simple 2D frame representation) in a browser window, security, multi-user representations, GPS data and other technical pieces help make up the system.
I believe that something interesting happens when you begin to acknowledge this camera – your life, your choices change. You look at different things, aware other will judge based on the decisions you make constantly. Your decisions become more fake. Fake, in that you are no longer leading your life, you are performing for an audience. You are presenting a viewpoint that you have engineered for entertainment purposes. But this fake movie happens in reality. An interesting feedback loop emerges - living a lie that is presented as fact - and is fact because you are living it, though it is in direct contradiction with how one would normally behave. It is this dichomity I want to explore as content for the software.
Scott has pointed me to a lot of other resources on the net that are involved in similar projects - a darpa proposal for a lifelog, mylifebits, anil dash's idea of a personal panopticon. even the sensecam could be used as my hardware solution (though i have not yet heard back from steven about this possibility).
the difference here between my project and the others is not just in the collection (none of these involve recording your viewpoint for an entire day - or saving gps points), but also the interface and content issues, which is where i really want to focus my energies.
March 05, 2004
device news /ms stuff
from slashdot:
"An anonymous reader writes "SenseCam, touted as a visual diary of sorts by Microsoft Corp., is designed to be worn around the neck and take up to 2,000 images a 12-hour day automatically. The prototype responds to changes such as bright lights and sudden movements and might one day even respond to other stimuli such as heart rate or skin temperature -- to track medical problems as easily as to record a Hawaiian vacation."
this could be another device or hardware piece for my thesis.
and an article on the social computing arm of ms research, also from slashdot.
February 02, 2004
thesis pt1
not terribly exciting yet, but then, there are many holes to be plugged. this hopefully give some aim to some of it.
January 14, 2004
thesis thoughts
i stressed how much i wanted to create something that was reproducible the other day. it isnt simply important to create something that can be used in the future. i like having it be accessable - that is, the less the user must adapt to the technology and the more the technology can exist in the background, the happier i am.
i came into the program wanting to tell stories across media. the further ive gone into this program and research, the harder it has been to continue on this path. more and more, i feel i am working on beuilding the tools that will enable others to tell stories.
thats ok with me.
i see myself graviatating towards some sort of web interface/data mining/hardware creation of some sort. though i would love to be able to make a game/narrative to leverage location and player into the larger piece.
links
(i must admit i despise link lists, so these are a smattering in no particular order of site i like - either content, programatically, usefully, and other items...)
http://www.friendster.com
http://www.slashdot.org
http://www.underworldlive.com/
disinfo covering majestic
http://www.quvu.net/interactivestory.net/
http://www.grant-morrison.com/
http://grouphug.us
ai web game
