Alba

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I've finally found this amazing green rabbit named Alba ! French genetic researchers created Alba for artist Eduardo Kac. Thanks to genes borrowed from a jellyfish, the albino rabbit glows green when placed under special lighting. This mutant rabbit raises controversy over genetic manipulation. Alba is a "GFP Bunny” (for green fluorescent protein bunny).

Read on ABC News :

The French scientists created Alba using a process called zygote microinjection. In this process, the scientists plucked a fluorescent protein from a species of fluorescent jellyfish called Aequorea victoria. Then they modified the gene to make its glowing properties twice as powerful. This gene, called EGFG (for enhanced green fluorescent gene) was then inserted into a fertilized rabbit egg cell that eventually grew into Alba. As the cell divided, the “green gene” also replicated and made its way into every cell of Alba’s body.

Animal rights activists claim the project is a needless and abusive manipulation of an animal, while scientists who work with the fluorescent proteins have dismissed the project as interesting but silly.

Kac’s supporters point out, however, that furry Alba has already drawn attention to the often-overlooked, living creations of genetic research. And that is just what the artist hoped would happen.

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Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE Ca faisait longtemps que je voulais blogger sur ce qu'on pourrait appeler la théorie du gazon. Cela part d'un constat empirique simple : suivant le pays/la culture dans laquelle on se trouve, si l'on va dans un parc (en ville généralement), les bords des pelouses sont plus ou moins rognées et abimées (on ne voit alors plus que de la terre avec des restes herbacés). Un parc anglais a généralement des bordures correctes. A l'inverse le parc des acacias a genève est tout ce qu'il y a de plus rogné sur ses bords. La culture es donc la variable expliquant ce phénomène. Je ne m'étendrais pas plus, il y a pas mal de cynisme et de provoc' dans mon propos.

Cette théorie m'a été soufflée par claudine, une amie. Elle m'est revenue à l'esprit après une discussion avec dks sur le fait que lorsque l'on construit une théorie il faut des hypothèses SIMPLES.

Le fait que chez les non-latins (les anglais par exemple), les gazons ne soient pas rognés sur les bords pourrait s'expliquer par un trait culturel comme dire que les anglais ont plus le respect du bien public et comunautaire que les peuples latins (ce ne sont pas des freeriders quoi :). Cette hypothèse n'explique pas tout (mettons 30% de la variance). Une seconde variable pourrait être le fait que les anglais considèrent les parcs gazonnés comme un oeuvre d'art qu'ils ne veulent donc pas abimer.

Reste maintenant à valider cela, vérifier ces observations, par exemple si cela s'applique à tout les gazons ou juste certains types (si les gros parcs sont différents, c'est un indicateur pour l'hypothese jardin = art (car les gros espaces ne le sont pas).

Je vais arreter de bosser sur les objets nomades et faire une thèse de sociologie si ca continue :)

LBS

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Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE LBS means Location-Based Services, it's definitely the actual trend : pull and push services to get info about something in th area.

Another buzzword related to few LBS is "social technology" in which location information could be of interest in order to find somebody in the environment. To meet this end, Trepia proposes a location-based list of others nearby WiFi users. I've also seen similar systems to location other nearby bluetooth-enables cellphone users.

I've found on smartmobs how it works : "If two people are within range of the same Wi-Fi access point, they must be close to each other. Building on this idea, Trepia tracks the movement of people through access points, and then notifies you of other users who are in your area. "

The software could be downloaded here.

Buddyspace and Marc Eisenstadt

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Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE buddyspace is an Instant Messager based on jabber (java, xml).

It seems that is to be designed to investigate variou stuff that could be related to my research : Semantics of match-making, Presence semantics and dynamics, Presence in Massively Multiplayer Games...

Marc Eisenstadt leads this KMI lab. He claims that the most important thing for online communities/portal to be alive is to teach users how to make en input !!! His blog is worth to read. The authors claims that :

The aim of this aspect of our work is to focus on the notion of presence of other players in massively multiplayer games and investigate the potential of a game based purely on presence information. We are particularly interested in the issues that arise when designing a game for a multi-user experience. In particular we note that a very large number of participants can sometimes be disadvantageous for the game experience and complicate the design process. In most games we notice a limit either in the number of people that can take part, or in the number of people that can interact synchronously or see each other during game play.

For example, in massively multiplayer games like Ultima Online and Asheron’s Call the player's view is limited by an artificial horizon in the radar visualization: this conveniently narrows the immediate scope of events requiring urgent attention, but restricts the 'total immersion' effect that might otherwise be possible to achieve. This work attempts to explore the idea of a game where the very presence of a large number of people could not only be advantageous for the game itself, but actually form the fundamental premise of its play. The work is in an early state, and an indication of its progress is described in Yanna Vogiazou's Directory of Work on Massively MultiPlayer Presence which drawing on links from the worlds of games, mobiles, instant messaging, and telepresence.

I googled you !

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Fab send me this interesting news about google. It is clear now google is a social tool used for dating, selection candidates for a position, check my importance (vanity google).... I like those quotes :

"For Jeanne Hornung, Google has changed the rules of dating. The San Francisco PR woman wouldn't dream of going out with someone until she checked his name on Google."

`Google is a proxy for the World Wide Web itself,'' said Jon Greer of Emeryville.

High-tech guru Stewart Alsop recently confessed in Fortune magazine: ``I didn't used to need to do this, but now I can't work effectively without being able to `Google' someone.''

Stanford University Professor Vijay Pande did a Google search on candidates applying for a high-level information technology job. ``It's part of the hiring process,'' said Pande. For that position, ``a person's Web presence is important.''

Minimal art

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Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE Visual tagging system like the following examples is used in augmented reality applications. Cameras recognizes thoses tags and it can also be used to determine the 3D position of the tagged object as well as its ID number.

I ilke the appearance of those barcodes, it's arty and minimalist ;)

Recherche a propos d'Awareness Tool

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Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE Cécile Dumazeau fait sa thèse sur le rôle de "l'awareness" ou de la conscience partagée dans les communications à distance et en situation de travail dynamique et à risque (le contrôle aérien en particulier). "Dans une première étape, j'ai effectivement crée un jeu qui reproduit certaines caractéristiques de cette situation de travail pour étudier l'impact d'outils de partage d'information à distance. Le jeu n'est donc pour moi pas le centre de mon étude mais un outil intermédiaire, mais cela reste une situation très riche à étudier."

Son mémoire de DEA : "Analyse empirique des communications distantes dans le cadre du contrôle aérien", analyses faites dans la perspective de comprendre les besoins en partage de contexte pour améliorer la compréhension des contrôleurs aériens qui collaborent à distance.

William Gibson

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Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE I like William Gibson's conception of artists. He's an artist, which means he collects and refines ideas over time, and has a gift for organizing his language to maximal effect. Put another way, he chooses his words carefully, and he chooses the contexts in which they will have most impact.

That's so true ! I am crazy of those words he used : the grid, hypermesh..." The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel", and I hate the way marketing teams re-used those terms... The word cyberpunk turns to be a trendy hiptop fucking word that refers to nothing more than morons. AT the origini it referred to way more noble and poetic (new romancer = neuromancer) ideas...

Mobile phones impacts on time/space

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Cell phones do have interesting effects on our representation of time. Three examples : - Time is ‘softened’, blurred : When is somebody considered late? thanks to my cell phone I could warn my buddies that I'm late... - Cell phone are used to micro-coordinate schedules with others (“I’m at the mall now, where are you?”) - Enables other activities, talk on-the-go : Don’t have to set aside time & place for communication.

Additionnaly, there is also an effect on space :

- Public and private boundaries change : e.g., one person at home, one in restaurant - Physical space vs. Virtual space : Norms in one space != norms in other space + Social conflict e.g. Driving - Trade-off: leash or freedom? - Direct correlation: phone use , tolerance (Britain: 45% of age 24+ say ban phone in public, Compare to only 25% under age 24)

WIFI and truck drivers

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According to usa today, Symbol Technologies last year released a Wi-Fi/cellphone communications system marketed toward truck drivers. Drivers transmit data via cellphone when on the road, such as how many deliveries they've made. When they pull into a Wi-Fi-equipped dock, they can upload and download more detailed data.

RSS

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J'ai approfondi un peu RSS aujourd'hui en installant le plugin pour faire de la syndication avec movable type : cefichier propose d'aggréger les contenus venant d'autres blogs : c'est ce qui s'appele faire de la syndication (on "feed", on aggrège des data venant d'ailleurs). L'idée est passionante. Du fait de l'individualisation des personal boards, blogs, etc. et de la quantite impressionante de portals disponibles, les gens ne peuvent aller partout. Avec la syndication, on peut réutiliser l'informations postée dans les blogs de chacun pour les placer dans un news portal. smartmobs.com est un bon exemple d'aggrégation de contenus venant de plusieurs blogs personnels.

Le fonctionnement est simple, a chaque blog est associé un fichier xml avec le contenu (item, titre, description). Divers standards sont dispo : RSS, RDF. Ensuite, ailleurs (sur le site aggrégateur), un script parse les fichiers rss demandés (ceux des autres), récupère le contenu et l'aggrège sur le site d'arrivée (on le "feed"). Simple et logique.

Maintenant reste le problème des comments des posts...

About JDR

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Fab m'a demandé pourquoi je n'aimais pas ce que racontais joël de rosnay (par exemple), je réponds qu'il est trop positiviste, que la technologie c'est tout bo, magnifique pour le futur.... Il manque deux dimensions :

- le coté sale et dark :"let's put dirt in virtaul reality" disait l'artiste new-yorkaise Laurie Anderson - l'ultra-libéralisme, le coté marchand, business qui détruit tout sur son passage

voila ...mais le gars a un coté très intéressant dans le sens où il a une vision assez globale (un macroscope comme le titre de ce son bouquin), c'est d'ailleurs ce qu'il prone !

A new track : augmenting guy debord's derive

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I think I have managed to find a way to gather my research and my passion for psychogeography. Focusing on how information technologies could help us to reappropriate urban's life is definetely my interest... Debord, in 1955, defined psychogeography as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals ".

My stance is that IT could trigger new behavior in urban life (howard rheingold's smart mobs, social texting, location-based awareness services) that may encourage people to live new urban experiences.

I am trying to gather ideas about that, I begin to write something up...