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fortDesk: a playful workspace

by | March 20, 2015 | MA Project, Process, Projects, Reflection | 0 Comments

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"] I've been working on creating these toyls (toy-tools) with simple circuits and using interesting materials that prompt playful interactions. As I was creating them and started sharing them, I realized that they were all lacking one...
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What Play Is(n’t)

by | January 28, 2015 | MA Project, Research | 0 Comments

I've been spinning my wheels trying to come up with a solid definition of “play” that assimilates all of the research I’ve done and fully and accurately describes my use of the word/idea in my research endeavors (and in life in general). As Brain Sutton-Smith argues...
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Explorations in Making: Paper Circuitry

by | January 22, 2015 | MA Project, Process, Projects, Research | 0 Comments

Paper circuitry is something I've only worked with tangentially before, and I've always thought it was a really cool idea. I chose paper circuitry as a medium to explore primarily because I was interested in the idea that paper is something you find in almost every...
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Introducing… The BRAINCHILDREN

by | January 15, 2015 | Process, Projects, Reflection | 0 Comments

For Graduate Critique, we were given an assignment to make a media representation of our creative praxis. I was struggling a bit as the only non-fine arts student in the class, so I went with what I'm good at- stories. I decided to take this opportunity to teach...
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Playful Verbs

by | January 11, 2015 | MA Project, Research | 0 Comments

Rather than provide a concrete list of play activities (e.g. go for a bike ride, tell a story, sing a song, etc.) this list of playful verbs allows the reader (and the author) to use their own imagination to decide how these verbs can be used to create play states....
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WorkToy: an Internet of Things experiment

by | November 20, 2014 | Process, Projects | 0 Comments

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"] WorkToy is a desktop toy and internet of things object made with a Spark Core. WorkToy sits on a platform that acts as a button- recording whether or not the toy is on the platform.   Many of the libraries and even the example code...
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JavaBean Coffee Cup: an Internet of Things experiment

by | November 20, 2014 | Process, Projects | 0 Comments

JavaBean isn't your average coffee cup- JavaBean is equipped with a LightBlue Bean microcontroller that connects via bluetooth to your computer and tells you how much coffee you've consumed today. The LightBlue Bean device rests in the underbelly of the JavaBean...
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Cultural Event 3 – MediaLive 2014

by | November 17, 2014 | Process | 0 Comments

For me, the highlight of the MediaLive 2014 performances was Nick Briz. Nick introduced the concept of lock-in to me: when an element of technology becomes "locked-in" as the norm and a basis for which all technological elements after it are built upon, even long...
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Cultural Event 2 – Processing & p5.js Workshops with Casey Reas & Dan Shiffman

by | November 17, 2014 | Process | 0 Comments

Casey Reas' Processing workshop focused on pixel manipulation. While many of the functions Casey discussed were things I had heard of and/or seen in code before, his explanations helped me understand how to work with images in Processing in a way I hadn't thought of...
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IoT Process – Week 10

by | November 11, 2014 | Process | 0 Comments

After quite a bit of tinkering and experimenting, I was able have a Google Spreadsheet retrieve the button state from my Spark Core once a minute and append a row to the spreadsheet with the value of the button state as well as a the timestamp of the retrieval. I used...
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IoT Process – Week 9

by | Nov 7, 2014 |

I'm working on trying to get my Spark Core to record the time to a Google Spreadsheet at the beginning and end of each "play period" (starts when the user has removed the toy from its dock, and ends when the toy is replaced on the dock). I'm working with this logic...

Dissemination

by | Nov 2, 2014 | ,

First and foremost, I plan to make the toys/tools I create through this project accessible on a website (either a subpage of my personal website, or a new website with the project’s title). This website will not only include access to the tools/toys I develop, but...

IoT Process – Week 8

by | Oct 28, 2014 |

Right now, I'm working on getting my new micro controllers up and running. The desktop toy platform I'm creating will be powered by a Spark Core. The idea is to create a platform for multiple work toys [toys that help people think and work]. Each of the work toys will...

Methods

by | Oct 27, 2014 | ,

Through my research experiences thus far, I have discovered that employing a playful attitude contributes to my overall grasp of play theories. I have started to identify some ways in which work can be approached playfully in my own life. This project aims also to...

Cultural Event 1 – ::vtol::

by | Oct 25, 2014 |

Dmitry Morozov, also known as ::vtol::,  is a new media artist from Moscow. Dmitry hacks electronic components from devices like scanners and credit card machines and creates sound performances. Dmitry's work primarily revolves around explorations of sound, however,...

Complexity and Emergence

by | Oct 20, 2014 | ,

Complexity and Emergence In Complexity: A Guided Tour, Melanie Mitchell defines a complex system as, "a system in which large networks of components with no central control and simple rules of operation give rise to complex collective behavior, sophisticated...

IoT Process – Week 6

by | Oct 16, 2014 |

Ideas for project 2: I want to create an internet-of-things object (or suite of objects) that attempt to measure time spent working. Each of these items individually could shed some light on work habits of the user. Based on the input data collected from the...

IoT Process – Week 5

by | Oct 7, 2014 | ,

Project 1 update: I decided to integrate some of the ideas I've been developing for my thesis project work into Project 1. Through Project 1, I'm attempting to make the sometimes tedious "work task" of searching for a job more playful. When a user runs my application,...

Abstract – Draft 1

by | Oct 6, 2014 | ,

Contemporary, “always-on,” US workforces have expressed frustrations with an increasingly disproportionate work-life balance. Building off of the concept of imaginative play, this project aims to address various “work tasks” in a more playful manner. Equipping the...