Stories

flowerGarden sees the light again!

2007-05-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Greg Judelman and I are getting ready for the "Speculative Data and the Creative Imaginary, Shared Visions between Art and Technology" exhibition at the National Academy of Science (June 4-August 24). We have 2 visualizations in the exhibit, the flowerGarden and the NorthernWords. Both of these were done at the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) during my tenure there.

The flowerGarden was created in June 2005 as part of the Bodies in Play Summit that was held at the BNMI. It is actually the second iteration on a work that surfaced as part of a participatory exercise at the Simulation and Other Re-Enactments Summit the year prior. Both summits were funded as part of a SSHRC (Sara Diamond, PI). We are deeply indebted to the fertile ground of the summits and to the participants who generouslyuploaded information about their conversations.

You can see the "re-enactment" of the flowerGarden growth here.

The NorthernWords visualization (pictured above with cutout) is a visualization of the evolution of the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) discourse over the last decade. The look was inspired by the ebb and flow dance of the Northern Lights that frequent the skies above the Banff Centre in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. The word frequency statistics were generated by Andrew Salway using a text analysis package from the University of Surrey called System Quirk. The input was the corpus of texts in BNMI’s 1993-2004 archives (websites, summit agendas, press releases, etc.) . These frequencies were mapped both to word size and glow intensity. Large words with a bright glow behind were important topics in the discourse in that year, while small words with a dark sky behind were less significant.

The NorthernWords visualization was a collaboration between Greg Judelman, Maria Lantin, Matthew Sloly, and Andrew Salway.

A homeless guy fed us

2007-03-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here's an unlikely story. Steve and I went for a long long walk in Stanley Park last Sunday. We ended going around the sea wall, through the park, out by the lost lagoon and the Heron's colony, and back through St-Paul's towards Yaletown. If this means nothing to you, it's enough to say that it was a 4 hour walk and by the time were were heading home it was 7:30pm.

We were starving and as we walked a short stretch near Davie we could smell the food. Neither of us had any cash or means to get cash. We talked about how crazy it was to be surrounded by food but have no way to access it. We talked about begging. We talked about what it must feel like to be homeless and penniless. We talked about the Vancouver Street Retreat that is being planned. All the while just aching to get home and eat.

Just as we were crossing the last park before getting to our building we run into a homeless guy that Steve had talked to before (Danny). Danny says hello and starts talking to us. We talk for a bit but then tell him that we're very hungry and need to get home. He says "Oh I have food...here! Take this!" and hands us an untouched large portion of chicken fried rice. We feel bad about taking his food but he assures us that he has had 4 pieces of pizza and he's not hungry. Steve heartily digs in.

We keep talking for a bit and we can tell Danny is getting a little anxious. He wants money. It's not clear why but the discussion touches on marijuana...and later beer. Hearing no judgement from us he suddenly admits that he is a 'user' and that he's been lying about the other drugs. He is needing his fix. He needs $10 ("that's how much it costs?" I'm incredulous). But of course we have no money on us. But we're across the street from our apartment...we have money there...he's given us food..and all he wants is a fix. Ok, all morality aside, seems like $10 will make him very happy. I promise to return with $10.

I return a few minutes later with $20 and I give it to him. He then admits that the story about the 4 pieces of pizza is a lie. This is crazy! "Why didn't you eat the food?" He says that the heroine makes him not hungry. I can't tell if this is the complete truth or if he was planning on selling the food the whole time? Or? In any case, he is smiling and telling me he's "going right now" to get a fix at the safe injection site. Just before he leaves he tells me that I shouldn't kid myself, all panhandlers are users.

With all this reading about narrative and fiction and non-fiction and possible world theory, the stories Danny tells are such a mix that they are an invitation to ride uncertain ground without insisting on a truth break.

What I'm reading

2007-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

I just got my order from Amazon:

Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media By: Marie-Laure Ryan
Avatars of Story By: Marie-Laure Ryan (Author)
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide By: Henry Jenkins (Author)

These were recommended by David Humphrey, a graduate student in Emily Carr's Masters of Applied Arts program. I am particularly pleased with the Avatars of Story book. It does a good job of creating a classification of story and narrative (narrative being an instantiation of story). This classification allows a discussion of which media is suited to which type of narrative. I like how she makes a distinction between something "being narrative" and something "having narrativity". For example, she claims that our individual lives have narrativity but are not narratives. She also makes the point that it is quite possible that it will take a while for us to fully take advantage of the narrative potention of digital media because we have been so immersed in verbal and textual narratives.

I will keep posting thoughts as I continue reading.

The tragic story of Iraq as told by Evan Kohlmann

2007-03-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm posting this because it is perhaps the sanest account of what is happening in Iraq that I've seen to date. It really brings home the point that, having created an unfortunate chaotic situation, we have to engage with it with a view to regaining some sort of just and dignified position. I know it sounds completely idealistic but it seems to me that even if something was started on the wrong premise, there is always a chance to change our motivation. I say 'we' even though Canada is not fighting in Iraq because I feel we all bear the burden, and therefore responsibility, for the outcome of this war. It shouldn't have been started but there's no going back so let's think about how to make some space in this conflict -- some space to think about an ending that doesn't involve suffering for the next 10+ years. This is perhaps where the UN could make a difference. If it is incapable of dealing with this type of destabilizing influence then we need a different model for unity between nations. One of the most shocking quotes in the Salon interview is this:

"You know we're doing a bad job of communicating our own message when we're losing the propaganda war to people who cut other people's heads off on camera. Think about it: People in one of the most Westernized countries in the Middle East would rather trust al-Qaida than the United States. That's a terrible sign of things to come". -- Evan Kohlmann

99 rooms in interactive pictures

2007-02-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

Stumbled on this interesting place to visit...interactive pics of 99 rooms. The room captured above had some very nice auditory and visual interaction.
I wonder if this type of work could be a middleground...something between animated worlds and web hopping. As a navigation strategy it could be very interesting to explore.

Uh oh...internet rage ahead

2007-02-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Apparently we're heading towards 'epic' (love these words) traffic jams.

D-Wave with a claim to Q computer

2007-02-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

D-Wave a Vancouver company (yay Canada) has announced a demo next week of their 16 bit Quantum computer. I was too late getting the news to book a front row seat. But it will be broadcasted on the internet the 13th of Februrary, Tuesday.

Here's a nice pic...beautiful but almost too "the same" :) like I was expecting some kind of crazy chaotic design with wires all over the place and dry ice...

I find this image amazingly evocative

2007-01-28T19:02:00.000-08:00

This image is incredible on its own...but it is also advertising an event taking place at ECI. Please come if you can. Here are more details.

Digital GuestBook

2007-01-27T02:40:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to the Digital GuestBook I created for the IDS opening (which went well!) About 89 people signed. During the opening there was some optimization issues which I've since fixed.

I've disabled the database update so the signing feature works while you're on the site but it is not recording it. So if you sign and restart, your signature won't be there anymore.

A preview of a digital guest book

2006-12-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Something I'm working on for the IDS opening on January 23rd.

qweeky.com

2006-12-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

If you have a tablet pc or a cintiq, this site is pretty addictive in its blend of simplicity and sophistication.

I just happened on it as I searched for a flash drawing component. The fact that it does movies of the progress of the drawing is very nice...and a nice tool.

stardust at home

2006-12-23T22:13:00.000-08:00

This image appeared as I was doing my scientific duty at stardust at home. It's time to come clean. I'm addicted to looking for stardust. It's a combination of the delight of finding beautiful images like the one above, a healthy sense of competition, a desire for stardust glory, and yes obsessive compulsion. I had to share.

Great description of Bhuddist deity

2006-12-22T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of a bhuddist tulku describing the vajrayogini deity. I post this here because it's a great example of the precision needed in visualizations.

Quantum Layer 1 (Q-Power Water)

2006-11-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

...that's what I drank today on my walk along false creek...I looked for signs of special smartness induced by more fuel as I drank this special oxygenated water. Then I started thinking...extra oxygen...is that some sort of heavy water? Is this oxygen just floating around without a hydrogen? Maybe it's just hydrogen-deprived water. Who ever thought to name a bottled water with [more] oxygen, Quantum Layer 1. I bought it just for the label...so I guess as a marketing strategy it is not a total failure.

Anyway, it's interesting that the Q word carries so much mystery/promise/fear/hope. It's heavily projected on.

Introduction

2006-11-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

I've created this blog to start a discussion around quantum stories. These stories involve concepts like entanglement, superposition, decoherence. They are told by physicists, lay people, dabblers, and meta physicists to make sense of this science of the small and to try to relate it to something we know. None of the stories are totally consistent but they work to the extent that they help us deduce more information or at least get us to the next story.

Stories are sometimes better with illustrations. Hopefully we can generate illustrations for our quantum stories that are both inspiring and informative.

note: I am not a quantum physicist. I'm a devoted groupie. I have read extensively on quantum physics and quantum information science. One of the reasons for this blog is to attract quantum physicists who are interested in the story and its illustrations.