http://www.semeiotica.com recombining contemporary art, design strategy and life science Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:25:38 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The first day was organized to enumerate problems and the criteria by which to evaluate responses to those problems. The second day focused on our responses as 'designers' and the methods that we could use to find tactical responses to the difficult problems posed by water (and the lack ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/09/watercasting-day-2/ We started by looking at the neologism 'watercasting', coined for the purposing of re-imagining what it is that we would be doing in the class.  Casting for the purpose of making a mold, a cast that one would find in theatre or film, to broadcast, and even futurecasting were brought ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/09/watercasting-day-1/ The CEMA homepage is showing an image of scanner that has opportunistically been colonized by ants (anyone know which species?). I was present at the offending attack, and I have this to say. I didn't see it so much as an attack as it was (more perversely) an ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/08/minorty-report-scanner-ants/ This intelligence assessment on climate change came out a couple of months ago and had a bit of coverage in the press, NPR especially. National Intelligence Assessment on Climate Change (PDF) The compelling section of the report was its recognition of its own limitations, and the kinds of tactics that the ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/08/national-intelligence-and-climate-change/ So here is something neat: I was recently appointed a Senior Researcher at the UCLA Art |Sci Center. I'm currently working on a community website for the Leonardo Education Forum, and organization focused on promoting the intersections of art, science and technology– particularly in educational contexts. Here is a brief ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/08/new-appointment-at-ucla-art-sci-center/ Yesterday I made a point of visiting the exhibition "Design in the Age of Darwin" at the Block Museum of Art on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, IL. The title of the exhibition caught my attention when I was flipping through a Chicago guide while visiting with some family there. ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/08/exhibition-design-in-the-age-of-darwin/ A project called HealthMap (http://www.healthmap.org) makes epidemiological information available to all corners of the world via the web. As reported in the July issue of PLoS Medicine, it extracts, categorizes, filters and integrates a variety of Web-based data sources, even analyzing blogs, listservs, chatrooms, and online news reports as sources ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/08/mapping-emerging-infectious-disease/ I'm picky when it comes to using metaphors. They reveal so much about the biases and commitments that underscore our thinking and, more importantly, how that thinking gets translated into physical manifestations and action. Cathy Davidson at HASTAC has written a sharp brief on the use of the word 'selection' ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/07/on-the-selection-of-metaphor/ Ivan Chase demonstrates a compelling use of musical notation for visualizing social interactions and (conceivably) networks using musical notation. Chase suggests that: music notation graphs can be of particular help in a variety of fields interested in social interaction in humans, animals, and machines such as behavioural ecology, behavioural economics, ... http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/07/music-notation-as-a-method-for-visualizing-social-interaction-in-animals-and-humans/ http://www.semeiotica.com/2008/07/signals-truth-design/