Comments on: Analog Interactions

By: Dane

Dane — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:46:48 +0000

It is written. And so it shall be so.

By: Binaebi

Binaebi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:01:03 +0000

See, this is why I like you.

Can you picture it? A fleet of zeppelins, with Dane and Binaebi at the forefront, each in our own zeppelin shouting out commands to our crews; our brass welding goggles glinting in the sunlight while our white silk scarves flow majestically behind us as we face the future of interaction design…

It’s a beautiful thing.

By: Dane

Dane — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:22:53 +0000

@binaebi Yes. Oh yes. We surely must compare notes on all matters Victorian. And make costumes. And wear these costumes with our brass welding goggles when we present our fleet of zeppelins to the world.

Because one, it’s all about experience.

And another, capstone projects are all about developing an unstoppable fleet of zeppelins.

By: Binaebi

Binaebi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:34:54 +0000

@dane Oh now that is excellent. I’m obsessed with everything Victorian… I’ve done a lot of informal research in this area about how people used to live, social culture/dogma and all that. Which I think is why I find Steampunk so interesting; that we have this culture of bridging old and new into an alternate reality.

If you decide to design Edwardian costumes, know that
I will would totally wear them, and I’ll even help you make/construct the clothing

It would be like the ultimate “T-shirt surgery” project. Plus, I have tons of research on the clothing of the era, and could point you to some awesome books. It’s kind of one of my many hobbies. I’m a big history nerd, especially when it comes to clothing.

By: Dane

Dane — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:50:30 +0000

@binaebi Yes, this definitely has Steampunk connotations. The lovely Victorian/Edwardian architecture of San Francisco has definitely stoked my interest in the ornate stylings of the late 1800s and early 1900s. I met a bunch of Steampunkers at MakerFaire earlier this summer, and I find it a wonderful aesthetic. In addition to building interfaces, I would love to design Edwardian-era costumes for me and all my friends, complete with brass goggles and other punkish things. Steampunk has done a lot of the homework for me, but in the interest of historical honesty I want to look at true turn-of-the-century interactions. Steampunk is sometimes characterized as a re-imagining of the Victorian Age, riffing on the "what ifs" of airships and steam-powered computing. Mine indeed embraces this aesthetic, but in the interest of looking forward and reimaging interactions for the future, rather than an alternate-reality past. So yes. Steampunk for the next generation. @yuebwang That's awesome! It's really cool stuff. I might prepare a quick introduction to Arduino to present at Informatics next semester. I'm willing to guess there's plenty of interest among others in our program.

By: yuebwang

yuebwang — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:23:24 +0000

Great to see you are having fun with arduino. I am also very interested in the physical computing stuff, and I am planning and would love to do more stuff with it.

By: Binaebi

Binaebi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:40:36 +0000

So, I’m really digging this, Dane. Absolutely loving the fact that you’re getting into Arduino in your free time. As soon as you have something to show, I hope you do. Are you turning Steampunk? Because I want to go to there.

Have you heard the rumors about Apple getting patents for technology that suggests the iPhone will be more tactile? I don’t think it’s enough to convince me to get an iPhone yet, but it’s an interesting idea anyway.

Can’t wait until we’re back in school so we can have our crazy long conversations about stuff like this again.