Interesting excerpts from Ursula LeGuin's introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness (1976)... about the fact that "science-fiction does not predict": "though extrapolation is an element in science fiction, it isn't the name of the game by any means. It is far too rationalist and simplistic to satis...
About The City and the City by China Miéville
One of the best novel I've read recently was The City and the City by China Miéville. Quick notes I've taken while reading it: What struck me (as well as lots of other readers of course) as fascinating in this book was the role played by the cityscape in the whole narrative. The action takes place ...
Recent columns debunking videogame "trends"
Two interesting columns on Gamasutra caught my attention recently. Both of them have been written by people I follow for a long time and they both debunk myths about video games. On the one hand, Ian Bogost writes about how hard it is to make games and the inherent problem of "serious games" or "ga...
From Hal to Kinect: live visuals, music and body tracking technologies - Mapping Festival Geneva
A bunch of curious visuals from the nice media art exhibit at the Mapping Festival in Geneva. A festival dedicated to VJing practices, Mapping combines various events ranging from VJ sets to workshops, conferences and art installation. In this context, I'll be moderating a conference session ca...
About the influence of failed products on technological change
Design failures and recurring non-products is of course a favorite topic of mine. Hence, a paper entitled "The Curious Case of the Kitchen Computer: Products and Non-Products in Design History" by Paul Atkinson appears clearly promising for a Friday afternoon train ride between two European countr...
Map practice: temporary with chalk
A chalk map found on a wall in Paris last Monday. An interesting example of a temporary object employed for specific purposes. ...
Different kinds of feedback of what a robot is perceiving
One of the talk at the Robolift11 conference that I found highly inspiring was the one by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer. In his presentation, he addressed different projects he conducted and several topics he and his research team focuses on. Among the material he showed, he described an interesting experime...
Lift France 11 program
Lift France 11 (in Marseilles) is 7 weeks ahead and the program is now complete. The general theme revolves around radical innovation and disruptions: when (high- or low-)tech contributes to redefining a market's terms of reference, a whole industry, a share of social life, etc. The program basical...
Potential user experience of pico-projectors
There's a currently a lot of interest directed towards screens and ubiquitous displays in interaction design. Interestingly, I've always been ambivalent about this topic and scarcely addressed it in my own research/consulting gigs. However, given that more and more client projects (as well as stude...
From pervasive to invasive computing
Why do I blog this? it's impressive how interfaces (such as ear bud headphones) can become personalized and invasive through various solutions. ...