crunch

[morsla]

Things are a little... hectic... around here.

Four more weeks to finish off the year's uni work. After that, I can start getting my life back into some semblance of order. The tricky part is getting through that final round of deadlines, though.

Currently working on:

Feature article: A flock of cyborgs. Feature on "guerilla science," inspired by the Pigeonblog project. I want to look at environmental projects that foster a hands-on approach among the public. Science isn't just for scientists, and the environment is not a problem to be left for someone else. Get out there and get involved.

Capability statement, financial plan, portfolio. The "sell yourself" part of Communication Entrepreneur. A useful exercise, as it forces me to think hard about what I'm good at, and what I can offer other people. It's been helpful so far for sorting out priorities, but now I have fill in all the details on my financial plan - including two years of projected income.

Presentation: business plan. Also for Communication Entrepreneur. The presentation is assessed, and I'll hopefully have some handouts (brochure, etc) ready for it. I'm not particularly worried about giving the presentation, just about getting enough material together for it. Fortunately, I have a weekend to handle that.

Research essay: predictions for the communications workplace in 2020. Much less esoteric than the title sounds, this is directly related tot he business plan above. The real emphasis here is keeping it relevant, and keeping a weather eye on the horizon for changes in the way we communicate. Emerging and changing communication technologies are a big focus here, of course.

Research assignment: The future of the book, in the electronic age. For Publishing. I'm looking at trends in file formats and storage media, as well as devices to read the things. Digital ink, eBook readers, anything that makes a file accessible in some portable fashion.

Media Design assignments 3-5. Photographic story boards; graphics use in electronic game design; virtual reality technologies. A random grab-bag of stuff, much like everything else in the subject so far. I'm hoping that they become an interesting diversion, instead of an irritating distraction.

Speculative fiction: future human/computer interactions. For Media Design. Actually an essay, though a strangely worded one asking for a speculative account of possible futures. No plans for where to take this yet. By the time it's due, I will have a brain full of technology and futurist scenarios as a result of everything else on this list, so I'm hoping that inspiration will strike while I'm working on something else.

These are all due in the next four weeks. Well, three weeks for all the non-Media Design work, and an extra week for that.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch) I'm sorting out my 2005/2006 tax, finalising the UniCon budget for 2006, sending invoices all around the world, finding out how to use the ATO digital certificate for Business Activity Statements, finishing Junior Horizons 9-3 for an impending deadline, and working on the memoirs book.

If the last week of toothache is telling me anything, I'll also have to find time to get at least two wisdom teeth out. I'm hoping that I can intimidate them into staying up in my gums by showing them how much work they're interrupting... if that fails, I may still be finishing those final assignments in mid November.

Bring on January! I want to climb mountains, take photos, paint, sculpt, and get away from flickering computer screens. I have a bike that needs riding, and trails that need exploring. I want to find out where next year leads me.

Comments

A flock of cyborgs: Natalie Jeremijenko

[jod999.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already finalised your research for the Flock of Cyborgs article, you might want to have a look at Natalie Jeremijenko's work.

She does fabulous stuff, always with technology, often with the environment, recently with terror. Always edgy. She works with the public and with school kids a fair bit. She is an ex-pat Australian and an ex-colleague and lots of fun.

Currently she is playing around with nano-tech, with the aim of making it accessible to people at home. So that you can do nano-tech start-ups in your garage, in the same way that people could with personal computers and the Internet.

The idea of Natalie work on nanotech is kinda scary, but fun. Here are some pointers to past projects. She is probably best known for her feral robotic dogs.

+ "Fade to Black" - Web cams pointing skyward, that turn black as they get coated with particulate matter.
<http://bureauit.org/ftb/>

+ "Feral Robotic Dog, 'Sniffer'" - Robot dogs that sniff out environmental contamination.
<http://bureauit.org/feral/>

+ "The Sparrow Report" - Reporting sparrow deaths, or just the absence of sparrows.
<http://bureauit.org/uphone/sparrow/>

+ "One Tree" - 1,000 genetically identical trees, planted around San Francisco Bay Area in pairs.

+ "BIT Anti-terror line" - Reporting anti-terror attacks.
<http://bureauit.org/antiterror/>

And my all-time favourites:
+ "Bull ride" - a coin in the slot child's ride, set up on Wall Street, that allowed the rider to experience the 1987 stock market crash.

+ "Suicide box" - Camera triggered by vertical motion from the Golden Gate Bridge.
<http://bureauit.org/sbox/>
She said that she was going through a pretty dark patch when she did that.

Hope that this helps.

Re: A flock of cyborgs: Natalie Jeremijenko

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

That's exactly the sort of work I was looking for - it seems I should start searching on the UC web pages, and then work outwards from there...

The feral robot dogs and Fade to Black are probably the closest to the Pigeonblog project, as both groups are trying to make information legible to as broad a group as possible.

There's a great quote in a Sierra Magazine article interviewing Natalie - "The average citizen isn't likely to read a 400-page toxics report ... By making this public spectacle, you're giving people a license to have an opinion and to participate."

I'm slowly turning that kind of attitude into the focus of the article. First I thought I'd write about using animals in environmental research, then it turned into a cybernetics article... now it's changed into using technology for grassroots environmental work. One day I should go back and write all the offshoots that have been discarded along the way...

Re: A flock of cyborgs: Natalie Jeremijenko

[jod999.livejournal.com]

I'll read those!