Paperspace 3d is a open source real time 3d engine for flash. The graphic design firm Pentagram recently used paperspace 3d to redesign the diller scofidio + renfro website. This is the type of high end use of flash that really shows the potential of the program to introduce a more dynamic web experience, and reveals the programs ability to be utilized for sophisticated architectural presentations.
Tutorials for using paperspace 3d can be found on the paperspace blog.
There is one issue concerning web2.0 that will continually pose concerns particularly within academic settings. It has to do with the questionable accuracy of content on the web. Where any user can edit the site content, issues arise about the legitimacy of the information. As O’Reilly observes Wikipedia, “is a radical experiment in trust…”
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/ASeismicShiftinEpistemolo/46613?time=1222384418
This article (above) discusses changes in education introduced by the new web2.0 technologies. One topic in the article is the questionable accuracy of data defined by users. A noted in the article, “In the Classical perspective, “knowledge” consists of accurate interrelationships among facts, based on unbiased research that produces compelling evidence about systemic causes.” The article also poses arguments in defense of web2.0 and its educational potential noting the tremendous advantages that web2.0 instruments can bring to education.
If you’ve never listened to Radiohead, I suggest you give them a try. Over the last 15 years or so, they have been constantly re-thinking the music genres of the time. Somewhere in between rock, pop, and electronica, their sound has evolved over time to become something surprising for every release.
After their last record deal expired, rather than signing with another label, they decided to go independent, flipping the record industries “norm” right on its head. They released their latest album, “In Rainbows” on their website for anyone to download for the price of their own choosing. You could pay nothing, $5, or $50 if you wanted. It was an instant sucess… the day of the release, their website crashed due to an enormous amount of users trying to download the album.
More recently, they’ve taken another step in the direction of changing the way music is done today. You can now download each little piece (“stems”) of their new songs, “Reckoner” and “Nude”, remix them at your will, and re-upload them to their website www.radioheadremix.com. Users can now create the song they wish Radiohead would make using tunes provided by the band. Its a revolutionary and innovative look into the future of music that has infinate possibilities.
Microsoft Photosynth reconstructs a physical environment through a collection of photographs that you can navigate almost as if you were there in the 3Dimensional space. You are able to focus on details or take in the space as a whole. I personally would use this as a guide, to check out places I want to visit or discover places I should, because as great as this software is, nothing substitutes actually traveling to the site.
About Microsoft Photosynth
The Web 2.0 article references Christopher Alexander’s book titled, A Pattern Language (p.5). Noted in the article is a manner in which Alexander describes pattern sets and their solutions. By the way, the copyright date of this wonderful book is 1977. The connection between web 2.0 and the book is interesting given the date of the writing, but the book is timeless in many ways so it does not surprise me that there are parallels between its content and the nature of the web.
Please read and post relative to Tim O’reilly’s statement on what defines the Web2.0 paradigm shift. I am especially interested in reviews of succesful web2.0 sites, apps, services. Consider the notion of the mashup, its prominence as a creative action across mediums, and the ramifications of building models and intellectual property built around it. Are there web2.0 architecture services or what might be one that could be useful.
For next class period please read the following texts, as noted below “the Cathedral and the Bazaar” is the more ideological text, written by Eric Raymond one of the Open Source movements key propagandists. This is a must read! The second text “the political economy of open source” is a draft of a paper that eventually became Steven Weber’s important book, The Success of Open Source, this is probably the most clearly written and relatively comprehensive explanation of how Open Source works and what the key conditions that enable its success are. The third link We-Think, points to a text and author who takes the idea of open source and applies it to the world at large including design and generally to creativity at large, it is provocative and lays some interesting groundwork for a good conversation to be had in architecture school. Of all of the reading and discussion components of the semester I consider this to be the significant. Please take the time to read all of the first, atleast the first part of the second, and surf through the third before class next week. We will spend the first part of class with a short presenation and larger class discussion of which you should be able to intelligently participate.
These readings should also be great fodder for extended research and heavy blogging!
I came across this website dedicated to the idea of “breeding objects”. The conference asks: what is the future of manufacturing technology? They propose using the internet as a platform for user-generation and mass-customization of consumer products. Imagine a tool where you can design an object (a stool, bowl, desk, picture frame, jewelry, t-shirt graphics) and have it 3D printed, CNC’d, woven, or sculpted then sent to you for a price thats competitive with current day mass manufactured products.
Put the “aura” back in your everyday objects… Walter Benjamin would be proud : )
This article describes the difference between the two. The article also describes tagging as user-defined metadata and how the author is not only classifier of the work produced. As observed in the article, ”The real power of tagging though lies in its social nature.”
http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~comp1900/Lectures/comp1900_wk_5_data_metadata_notes.pdf
Its simple: type in your zip code… find out if you should grab your umbrella on the way out. You can also set it up to text you in the morning to let you know.
arch 430 | networked technologies 