Tag Archives: publishing

The future of academic discussions, on Limina

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Limina n.2

Limina n.2

Our article “Utopian Architectures and the Dictatorship  of the Imaginary. A Selection of Topics in Favor of Holistic Education Paths, and the Role  of the Fish Eye in the Observation of Reality” (by Salvatore Iaconesi and Stefano Bonifazi) has just been published on the n.2 Issue of Limina (on page 183), by Planetary Collegium’s M-Node.

It is a peculiar article, as it uses a novel form of system which has been designed and proposed to suggest new forms of publishing which can be used to structure academic discussions, including their outputs in terms of papers and articles.

THE PROBLEM

“Classical” scientific publications are created by crystallizing the results of the research of one or more academics/scientists/researchers at one specific moment in time, also loosing the information about the dynamics according to which these results have been produced, their connection to the evolution of the research process, the relations and interactions occurred between among all parties engaged, and their unfolding through time and relational space, including the possibility to represent  the network of contributions (be them practical, relational, theoretical, operational, thematic…) which have brought to the scenario described in the “paper”.

The “paper” or article is, basically, a narrative, structured along the lines defined by good academic and scientific practices, which looses all dynamic information about the research process being described in it, also making it very difficult to connect to its further development.

THE SOLUTION

To produce the paper we have used a system called Knowners, an Open Source WordPress Plugin which allows you to represent the network of relations running among the content produced by multiple authors operating onto the same publishing space (implemented through a website running the WordPress CMS).

During the research process all the activities which formed the research were added to the Architon website:

http://architon.artisopensource.net/

While adding the various parts of the research to the system, a network formed, which can be seen in the home page of the site.

Architon's main network

Architon’s main network

The various elements of the network are  calculated in real-time by a keyword based and natural language based algorithm which analyzes the content added to the platform, and uses the themes and tags used in the various information bits (parts of article, texts, data and meta-data added to the system under the form of posts and multimedia elements) to describe the relations running among all elements, their authors (which can be more than one, under the form of multiple WordPress users, or under the forms of commenters).

Each element of the visualizations is interactive, allowing users to decide the focus of their navigation, and to easily traverse the topics and relationship networks defined through the research.

So, as the research process unfolds, its content network unfolds as well, preserving the time-scheme (under the form of the time-data generated when creating the content elements) and the relational-network running between the authors and other forms of contributors (e.g.: commenters) taking part in the research under various roles, and also running between the various contents, allowing to highlight:

  • the themes touched by the research, and their relations
  • the contributions of each author in relation to each theme
  • the time-based dimension of the research process

The system also allows to keep track of the future development of the research: by simply including a QRCode and a link to the graphic layout of the paper, readers can connect directly to the online system and, thus, see its updated status, in real-time, and also eventually contribute to it, making all this wealth of information not only immediately accessible, but also interactive and participatory.

The scientific article becomes alive: a relational network which evolves in time and to which anyone can participate.

FUTURE STEPS

We’re developing the Knowners system to allow interconnection between different systems.

Imagine two teams of researchers working on the similar issues, maybe from a different point of view.

Imagine they work using this kind of system to produce the content and the outputs of the research.

Since the two teams share some of the same issues, some of their content, keywords and themes will match, with the resulting relations-network reflecting the differences of their approaches, methodologies and results.

We’re developing the function which will allow to interconnect two or more of these Knowners systems so that different researches could be visualized onto the same graph.

This would bring an incredible result: the possibility to being able to immediately and visually compare researches operating on related themes, and to visually understand and interact with their interrelations, dependencies and mutual interactions.

Also: the fact that all this is working on standard, open, consolidated protocols (such as the ones used by web systems such as WordPress, including RSS, pingback, XML-RPC, atom, etc) opens the doors to incredible possibilities, such as the one (which we are developing) in which as soon as someone produces scientific content about a theme which is relevant and interrelated to your research, your visualized graph would transform to reflect this, showing, actually, who is working on your same themes, and how, and how it is related/different/complementary/divergent from your work.

AOS at Roma Contemporary: Ubiquitous Publishing, cities and bodies

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We will be at Roma Contemporary, at the MACRO Museum, Testaccio, Rome, on May 26th 2012, at 5pm, to have a presentation about the scenarios of Ubiquitous Publishing and the transformations which it brings on to cities and human beings.

We will be together with Dario Salani, presenting his Prinp self publishing house, Valentina Tanni, art critique extraordinaire, and Chiara Passa, who will use her wonderful projects to show even more radically fascinating scenarios.

Be there!

Layers, a workshop on ubiquitous publishing at Ualuba

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layers, a workshop un ubiquitous publishing

layers, a workshop un ubiquitous publishing

 

We will be at Ualuba, in Brescia, Italy, on May 19th-20th for LAYERS, an intensive workshop on Ubiquitous Publishing.

 

LAYERS

SALVATORE IACONESI & ORIANA PERSICO

May 19+20 2012
16 hours / 2 days / 1 week
from 9am to 6pm
intensive workshop (registration needed)

at:

Cen­tro Arti&Tecnologie
via Forcello 38/a
25124 Brescia
Italy

 

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The spaces of contemporary cities are covered by membranes of digital information.

The wide and ubiquitous availability and accessibility of digital technologies and networks transform our perception of spaces.

Ubiquitous publishing technologies and methodologies – such as augmented reality, location based applications, digital tagging and near-field computing – allow to design natural interaction systems in which content, information and experiences become accessible through bodies, objects and architectural spaces.

In the workshop we will design and build an ubiquitous cinematographic experience: an augmented reality movie, disseminated in the city and accessible by traversing its spaces.

 

Minimum requisites:

The workshop is designed in order to be accessible even for people who never had experience in technological design and development.

Main requirements: curiosity, desire to learn and, most of all, to work in collaborative groups.

The workshop is also designed to provide insights about novel uses for technologies to people who already have previous experiences in Java, C++/Objective-C, graphics, animation, mathematical models, environmental and architectural design.

Program:

  • augmented reality context: design methodology for physical spaces which include ubiquitous interactive experiences;
  • interactive ecosystems: design of interactive ecosystems which traverse media and physical spaces;
  • content management systems: how to transform a plain content management system (we will use a WordPress installation during the workshop) into a system which allows to manage ubiquitous content (location-based, tag-based, augmented reality), optimized for use on multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, Android, tablet computer);
  • design of ubiquitous narratives: what is an ubiquitous narrative and how is it possible to design one; non-linear, emergent, multi-author, disseminated in space;
  • accessibility and usability: digital inclusion and alternative strategies; how to include in experiences people who do not possess smartphones;
  • technologies: cocos3D, cocos2D, Android SDK, iOS SDK, OpenGL ES, OpenFrameworks, Processing, QUalcomm AR SDK, PHP, SQL
  • implementation of an ubiquitous cinematographic experience

VersuS, a conference about the realtime lives of cities, a video

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VersuS Conference

VersuS Conference

Latest updates on the VersuS project, observing and analyzing the realtime lives of cities, as seen through social networks and ubiquitous devices.

A video has just been published of the VersuS conference held for the Piemonte Share Festival 2011 at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni, in Turin, hosted by Fablab Italia, who helped us out in the fabrication of the 3D generative sculptures which we produced to give physical representation of the information captured in realtime from social networks to analyze the forms of digital expression of people.

Here is the video of the conference:

During the conference we gave scenarios about the ways in which it is possible to use the practices investigated by VersuS: realtime capture of data from social networks and the application of natural language analysis processes to understand what and how people express their visions on their cities, cultures, emotions, relations, business, politics and ecology can be the key to a new understanding of the city, built through the reinvention of the role of citizens and through a new vision of the role of public space: departing from its administrative definition, it  can become a framework, a space for possibility, an enabler for things-that-could-be, planned and designed through active participation of all stakeholders.

More info about the VersuS/ConnectiCity project can be found here:

And if you happen to be in Turin on Dec. 14th, please consider stopping by at our VersuS and ConnectiCity presentation at the NEXA Center at the Polytechnic University of Turin.

the Network: a symphony on freedoms

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This is a really hard time for Italy, and economic downfall and repressive strategies are only two of the symptoms.

La Rete, una sinfonia

La Rete, una sinfonia

In the continuous debate on culture and freedoms, the most powerful italian agencies for the preservation of the current, repressive regulations on copyright and intellectual property are defending policies which constitute a real danger not only to the possibility to invent and promote innovative economic models for arts and creativity, but also represent a real threat for the freedoms of expression in our country.

Some of these rules, for example, provide that: should any copyright holder deem a website is breaking his rights, he can have it shut down without notice. There are subtleties, obviously, but the main point is this: if I think that you are breaking my copyright I can shut down your website.

It is clear how this kind of regulation can be used for all kinds of political purposes, including the creation of widespread, centrally controlled political censorship practices. Let’s remember how Italy has all major media controlled by only one (or two, maximum) enormous subjects.

In the last few days the AGCOM published a set of really threatening regulations.

While doing it the SIAE published a set of 10 really single-minded questions, to ideally (and unrealistically) promote dialogue on the subject.

The questions are obviously made to sustain only one side of the story, and are full of wrong assumptions and fabricated  starting points. This has created an enormous response in the network, with lawyers, journalists, organizations, hackers, artists and entrepreneurs publicly answering and making questions back to the offenders.

Together with Agorà Digitale, AVAAZ, FakePress Publishing and a whole incredible crowd of people supporting our freedoms, we have brought up a resonant, collaborative reply.

You can find it here on

La Rete, Una Sinfonia

the website holds all the questions and answers given on this occasion. It also is planned as a collaborative tool.

All the contributions that are collected are being published in two ways:

The ebook collects in realtime all the contributions arriving from twitter (using the “@AGCOMunica” tag, so that the contributions arrive directly to AGCOM, as well :) ) and all the contributions added to the website, under the form of further articles and comments.
The book is generated in realtime, meaning that if you add your contribution, it will be included in the publication.
The visualization is done in realtime, as well, by using Knowners, another tool produced by FakePress Publishing: by tagging content on the website a structural representation is built using HTML5 which can be interacted with to explore in a visual way the themes covered in the publication.
So: contribute to the discussion and let’s join forces to defend our freedom of expression and information!