digitaldust

Robin Hamman has just started a blog on cybersociology. Being an academic and a researcher at heart the posts are long and well annotated and starting yesterday he’s up to 9 posts already!

Close to my own messageboard operational heart is a GREAT post on the (ever so short) history of online libel law.

What seems unclear, based on the Demon Internet case, is whether ISP’s and internet publishers who were notified of libellous message board posts, and who took expedient action to remove those posts (Demon didn’t, and was criticised in the judgement for this), could still be found guilty under UK libel law.

This is really at the heart of the matter and it would be really interesting to see a test case or two happen. See if and what type of take down procedures for law breaking posts are addaquate in the eyes of the law.

This concept car from Toyota goes along with all my thoughts on IP style packet transportation.

The most innovative part in it really is the personal communication system. Something that can keep the nearby cars talking to each other. Mobile conversations based on destination and coincidence. A bit like being on the train with only the people you want to be. I wonder what it would be like crossed with one of those japanese radio sex tamagotchi type things.

a building out the back
Originally uploaded by digitaldust.

My first foray into colour polaroid on my new 5×4. I tried emulating the technique that Mark Rader amongst others uses, and I think quite successfully. The online version probably doesn’t do it justice.

tp2
Originally uploaded by digitaldust.

Michael Golembewski is a research associate in interaction design. He creates camera’s out of scanners and also does animation with them. He’s trying to make proper carry around type cameras, in the same way my sinar is a carry around camera.

It seems that photographers are interested in how scanners do stuff. I produced a scanner based piece for my course (mine was around focus and the scanners plane of lighting) and someone else did too. She made some works very like these, but with her hand, moving, wriggling and vibrating it. Not a suprise that this kind of experimentation goes on, most photographers are into experimenting, hacking or just generally messing around with gadgetry.

There is a “proper” version of this sort of thing around. Large format scanning backs. I’ve been lusting after one since I found out about them. A bit pricey, they start at £5k and go up from there.

Some random cool stuff from my new favourite blog read we-make-money-not-art.com.

Visual Flickr search engine that bleems out images as you type in the search terms. Dont do hentai at work.
http://www.fliker.com/

I like Steven Holl’s buildings. I saw some pictures of a water treatment plant of his, and thought they looked reminiscent of Kiasma in Helsinki. And there is a good reason for it… it’s one of his.

www.stevenholl.com

War of the Monsters!!! Man this rocks. 80 designers and illustrators from around the world commisioned to do monster vs monster. Two graphic artists walk in… and well two walk out. Not quite the thunderdome, but it is 40 cool pics of 80 monsters.
koadzn.free.fr/warz.html

Interesting designers putting a layer of technology over everyday life. I like the augemented animals
www.auger-loizeau.com/

Mobile phone picture game. Lots of cool stuff seems to happen in Brussels.
www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper_game/index.htm

People’s Commisariat for Heavy Industry
Originally uploaded by digitaldust.

Wow! 30s and 40s visions of Moscow architecture.

Among the far-reaching projections of the first stalinist “five year plans”, the 1935 General plan for the reconstruction of Moscow overshadowed all others. According to this plan, Moscow was to become, in the shortest possible time, the showpiece capital of the world’s first socialist state. The General plan envisaged the development of the city as a unified system of highways, squares and embankments with unique buildings, embodying the ideas and achievements of socialism.

The high point of these is definitly the People’s Commisariat for Heavy Industry. I can see in my head processions of tractors and more esoteric tracked machinery crawl by on Maydays.