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Hiking Hacks: Designing Interactive Systems Paper – Andy Quitmeyer

During our Digital Naturalism Conference, I will actually have to go full-on meta-conference  and present my research about the workshop model for Hiking Hacks at DIS 2018

http://dis2018.org/111-sessions-tuesday.html

Here is a full “pre-print” downloadable copy of the paper i will present

DIS_Hikinghacks_Revised_Final_PREPRINT

 

Hiking Hacks: Workshop Model for Exploring Wilderness Interaction Design (Preprint) – Andrew Quitmeyer by Andrew Quitmeyer on Scribd

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Setting up spaces – May 25, 2561 [dinaBlog]

Setting up spaces

May 25, 2561

Me and Tasneem really won with the venue we scouted out. Everyday is full of hard work that’s constantly offset by impromptu adventures and side-quests:

  • A gigantic gecko appears in the house and we drop everything to get good macro-shots of its fascinating feet,
  • we left something on the ship and we need some intrepid kayaks to retrieve it,
  • the dragonflies are suddenly congregating around the solar panels for some mysterious reason,
  • or you are putting out a small fire on your off-grid power system, and suddenly a golden tree snake wrapped in a wriggling death match with a monitor lizard plummets 20 meters down onto the ground next to you.

The monitor lizard is now inside the snake

I am convinced that one could work any boring job forever if there was constant, curious entertainment always being provided from a thriving, natural surrounding.

One thing I have learned about myself though, is how much joy i take from setting up creative spaces.*** A favorite aspect is how when setting up a maker space you constantly develop mutating philosophies about everything:

  • If the electronics bench is closer to the entrance than the biology bench, does that mean that we are saying it is somehow more important?
  • Oh it’s kind of nice working in the secluded biology area, maybe i will do some soldering there.

  • Is it TOO easy to setup a naturalist workstation on a porch of a house?
  • I need to set up ways to stop birds from stealing my tools.
  • If i set the lab up here, i can watch hornbills fly by at 6pm, but only after the 5 pm wave of mosquitoes make it unbearable.

  • All walls should be covered with tools, or else it is useless space.
  • Oh it would be nice to have some wall space for some pictures or maps

  • A lab is a complete failure unless everyone can access any tool within 2 seconds
  • A lab should have categorization clues in its layout that can guide you to finding something
  • In a good lab you at least KINDA know where things might be?
  • This box will just be labelled “miscellaneous “ (i promise i will limit this to one box)
  • This section of the house will be labelled “miscellaneous “ (please stop it from spreading)
  • A messy lab where you don’t know where everything is one of the most important tools for sparking creativity

  • It’s kind of nice having to kayak to the boat lab to get tools for the jungle lab
  • The soldering irons are all the way across the room? Screw it, I’ll just tape these wires together

  • We can’t put THOSE tools into drawers because they aren’t used enough and everyone will forget about them
  • THESE tools are used too much and can never be put in drawers because it will be too cumbersome to keep opening and closing them
  • Maybe drawers are awful? Abolish drawers!
  • Ahh! scrap fabric is perfect for drawers

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4fOkPXSgtCpOCGgM2

I like having the endless challenges of having to adapt some vague models of human movement styles, information displays, and ergonomics to the ever-changing needs of the environment, the living creatures, the anxiety of the landlords, and basic spatial geometries. Even the tools themselves have very particular needs which become even more apparent as laboratories move into the wild. You quickly learn which equipment can’t deal with high humidity, or salt water,  or being carried over rough terrain, or being dropped and lost in grass, or deafeningly loud cicada calls. It’s a tiring practice, but one that puts you deeply in touch with both your tools and the living world surrounding you. It’s refreshingly humbling.

***Through my dealings at various institutions, I have also learned that the opposite is true, and seeing places of creativity crushed meaninglessly is enraging.

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Yannick Mazy – Diva Marine

[May 20-July 15]

Yannick is the captain of the gorgeous Diva Marine. This is a vessel he and Tasneem have been working to develop into a marine makerspace on top of its normal duties as a commercial sailing and dive ship: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/vessel-for-inquiry-a-marine-learning-lab-pilot#/

Lucky for us, we got Yannick to join our conference with his amazing ship. He will be docked off our island and generously providing

  • Additional makerspace areas
  • Kayaks
  • Dingy
  • Waterfilter
  • Solar Panels
  • and his amazing experience and knowledge!
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Update #6 – Wow! Applications over!

That was amazing! We got applications for over 250 people from every continent except antarctica (snubbed by the penguins!). This is such an amazing group of people with such diverse backgrounds and ideas.
The applications are closed now, and we will be going through them and trying to figure out how to accommodate as many people as possible!
Application Rundown
From a quick peek at the application summary, here’s some fun quick stats about people who applied!
Places
We had people from every continent apply! (well except antarctica!) Most applications came from SE Asia, Europe, and North American.
Inline image 2
Genders
108 female-ish identifying applicants
28 non-binary / other
10 unknown
105 male-ish identifying applicants

Types of things you do
This was one of the coolest parts of this conference. We attracted folks with a crazy wide variety of talents and most people spanned multiple aspects of this conference based at intersections between interaction design, field biology, and art.
Over half the people identified as some sort of artist or designer, at least a third each seemed to relate as biologists or some kind of tech folks, and 13 of you were too amazing to be summed up in any of our boxes except that one box 😉
Timings
now this is the trickiest thing for us people running this thing, how can we get as many awesome excited people as possible to join us. Earlier I had joked that i will have to do some heavy logistics in case 100 people signed up to come for one week. uh oH! Currently each of these weeks can only hold 30 people :/
Inline image 1
 
Sponsors
Awesome sponsored raised over $2500 USD! adding to our initial budget of just $6800 for renting out the place

 

This money is helping us out do things like
  • Provide a couple travel stipends to some cool participants from far away!
  • pay some documentarians to help us capture the whole event!
  • Add sustainability measures to our conference (like industrial water purifiers instead of using tons of plastic bottles)
  • and lots more!
Expanders!
–So our conference is free! we got your housing covered, your food covered, and there’s not even “registration” fees. You just have to get there. At this basic level we have a big house we are renting (that can hold 10 people) and a big yard (that can hold 20). As of right now, these are the logistics we are planning for. There are several other cabins at Baan Mai, however that you can rent for ~45$USD per night. We are trying to see if we can rent some of these cabins, or more camping space at a reduced rate, but they can be slow to make deals with. But if you are an applicant interested in paying for their own room/housing while at the conference, please send me a note! This would potentially free up space for more participants to join us in total.
–What happens after Jan 30?
  1. We will look over the applications! My goal is to try to get as many of you here as possible! We had a LOT of folks apply though, so we are rushing to figure out how much we can expand it if possible. Logistics are going to be our big challenge here
  2. Refine dates period- lots of people have asked me about changing dates, we may send out a more refined survey to learn exactly what days everyone is planning on coming
  3. We will send your official acceptances (or waitlistings) in February (will try to make this as soon as possible, but bear with us)
  4. Refine your details period
    1. You will need to fill out a form to make any revisions to your project proposals
    2. You can revise any of your personal details and contact info (we will only use the personal info you give us, so you can make up pseudonyms or whatever you want).
    3. You will also send in a photo you want us to share related to you or your project
    4. you will also send in a SUPER SHORT 3 sentence bio (most node leaders already have this taken care of.
    5. you will select a publication type – see below
  5. Publishing Projects -You will have a choice after you are accepted of how we publish your project on our site (the goal is to connect you all to each other, so we want to get started on that!).
    1. Public-Web / print, Public-Group – This will be the default. We will list your projects and yourselves on our website in a way similar to how we have the node leaders listed at www.dinacon.org/people
    2. Anonymous-Web / print, Public group – If you want, we can leave your personal details or contact information off the website, and still leave up descriptions of your project and the timeframe you are going to be there (so maybe people can coordinate with you). You will still be included internally with our group mailing lists for better coordination.
  6. Waiver-  we will have a basic waiver you need to sign that just says you acknowledge that you are entirely responsible for your own self and safety and such.
  7. Code of Conduct: We will have a code of conduct you need to agree to about how you are required to be nice to your fellow people on the island (or we will literally kick you off the island!)
  8. Deposit – as noted in the FAQ, we want to make sure those people signed up and accepted actually show up to claim the space we reserved for them . http://www.dinacon.org/faq  So we will have you give us a 20$USD deposit that we can give you back on the island (probably in baht).
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Matteo Farinella and Pamela Parker

[July 5- 11] 

The Department of Amphibological Research

At DiNaCon, Parker and Farinella will collaborate on a playful drawing project in which image recognition software will be (mis)used to interpret the natural world. Inspired by William Beebe’s historical team at the Department of Tropical Research, we’ll employ the new technologies at our disposal as a means for exploration and artistic discovery. In a digital game of ‘telephone’ we will use only computer-generated descriptions of the island’s flora and fauna to communicate with each other the as a basis for illustrations. The results of feeding natural observations through multiple human and computer interpretations will create the basis for game of natural discovery with surreal and potentially revealing results. We will display the final drawings along with their AI descriptions as part of a small exhibition.

Matteo Farinella is an interdisciplinary scientist, illustrator and science communicator. He combines his background in neuroscience with a lifelong passion for art and storytelling to make science more fun and accessible for everyone. He is the author of the graphic novels Neurocomic and The Senses. He is currently a presidential scholar in Society and Neuroscience at Columbia University, New York.

Pamela Parker is a designer and artist interested in drawing connections and telling stories. She makes environmental graphic design work for exhibitions, installations for public spaces and urban play projects for fun. She spends a lot of time thinking about what makes a space into a place.
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Maggie Kane

]Maggie Kane (http://www.streetcat.media/) is an experimental artist that specializes in the design and development of sustainable social systems via technology and accessible educational programming.

Streetcat is ~ A free knowledge + education advocate. Founder of feminist/ trans/ non-binary friendly makerspace. Recycled materials artist. Aspiring anime character.

Dinacon 2 Project:

Plastics Hacking! Let’s demystify plastics recycling on a micro-scale and explore various methods of creating new objects out of recycled plastic with various open-source + easily accessible tools.

Maggie is currently focused on developing sustainable educational and income-generating programming for community organizations in the Atlanta area. She serves as a Director and Chair of Activities and Culture for Freeside Atlanta, famously known as Atlanta’s original hackerspace. There, she develops and manages the weekly educational programming that provides free or low-cost classes and events for the community to learn about robotics, electronics, knitting, DIY arcade building, and more.

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Update #3

Time is getting close! Applications only have about a week left! Here’s details on what’s coming up, and 2 incredible opportunities to go hop on a boat!

-Application deadline! Jan 30!

If you have applied yet, please do if you want to come! www.dinacon.org/apply

and help us spread the news for any last minute folks who want to join!

– mid-con sailing adventure! 

– a cool contingent of people including Jan (fellow NUS prof),  Miguel (fellow NUS Prof), and Yasu (Sound artist), are wanting to put together a little local sailing trip

They plan to “block 17-26 June for sailing in Phuket, and plan to sail for 7 days sometime within that time.

We have already 5 of us, so would need just 3 more for an 8-person crew (which I think shld be easy to find, or otherwise we cld get a smaller boat for 6). I am very preliminarily calculating that the bareboat rental would be about 50ish euro per day per person, so about 350ish euro per person per week (but could be a bit more or less, and there might be other hopefully-small expenses, deposit, insurance, beer fund, etc—but that remains to be researched).

http://yachtcharterinasia.com/yachts/isabella/   — maybe something like her.”

If you want to get involved with this mini-expedition, the point person is probably: Jan Mrazek <seajm@nus.edu.sg>   (they are also possibly considering a trip from around singapore to Phuket)

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Alex Rogers

[June 3 – June 23]

Alex Rogers is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford where his research focuses on developing and applying artificial intelligence and machine learning within physical sensor systems to address real-world problems around sustainability. Recent work has addressed future energy systems, such as the smart grid, citizen science platforms, and environmental monitoring. Much of his current work is exploring how to use the tools of open-source hardware and software, the ethos of online maker communities, and emerging low-cost lost-volume manufacturing, to develop open tools for environmental scientists. With two PhD students he is developing the AudioMoth acoustic sensor (www.openacousticdevices.info) and using it to search for a rare insect in the UK and to monitor tropical forests in Belize for illegal hunting and logging.

Alex is a computer scientist and engineer at the University of Oxford exploring how to use the tools of open-source hardware and software, the ethos of online maker communities, and emerging low-cost lost-volume manufacturing (such as 3D printing and laser cutting), to develop open tools for environmental scientists. One example is AudioMoth (www.openacousticdevices.info); a low-cost acoustic sensor that can be manufactured for $25, compared to $1000 for commercial devices, that is being used to monitor animal species and human activities, such as illegal hunting and logging, in tropical forests.

At the conference, Alex will deploy these devices to perform an acoustic survey of the island, capturing the sounds of native bird and insect species, and will explore a variety of designs for low-cost submersible waterproof housings to extend the range of AudioMoth to the littoral zone.

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Update #1 – Free Food!

Some Recent Cool things!

-100 folks! We reached about 100 folks already signed up to come to our awesome conference! That’s really cool! and we expect lots more folks to apply before the deadline Jan 30th!

– People renting their own bungalows- Some folks are renting their own bungalows which expands the conference a bit It looks like at max capacity we will be able to accommodate about 200 people for the 2 months we will be there!

-Free Food! An anonymous sponsor chipped in 1000$USD to help us hire a local chef to provide free vegetarian food for participants (and work with participants doing local-food based projects!) Sort of like we had at Pif.camp

-Other donations- we had about 300$USD worth of other donations people already pitched in to go towards sustainability measures for the conference, travel stipends, and documentation. If you know someone interested in tossing us extra money to sponsor these features for the conferece (or if you know folks who became incredibly rich with crypto currencies over the past couple months) send them over to www.dinacon.org/sponsor

-More node leaders- we have a couple more new node leaders enlisted to do public projects that participants can join in on- check them all out here: www.dinacon.org/people

-Next Steps- After Jan 30th, we will review the applications, and sort logistics, and hopefully send official acceptances a couple weeks after that!

Thank you! and help us keep spreading the word around! Applications are open until Jan 30th, so help share our conference www.dinacon.org
and its informative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sLuYeLH1Ho
and silly videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZArUoSMDk0 with cool people you know!

andy and tasneem!