Motion as manipulation: Implementation of motion and force analogies by event-file binding and action planning\ud

Tool improvisation analogies are a special case of motion and force analogies that appear to be implemented pre-conceptually, in many species, by event-file binding and action planning. A detailed reconstruction of the analogical reasoning steps involved in Rutherford's and Bohr's development of the first quantized-orbit model of atomic structure is used to show that human motion and force analogies generally can be implemented by the event-file binding and action planning mechanism. Predictions that distinguish this model from competing concept-level models of analogy are discussed, available data pertaining to them are reviewed, and further experimental tests are proposed

The very same thing: Extending the object token concept to incorporate causal constraints on individual identity

The contributions of feature recognition, object categorization, and recollection of episodic memories to the re-identification of a perceived object as the very same thing encountered in a previous perceptual episode are well understood in terms of both cognitive-behavioral phenomenology and neurofunctional implementation. Human beings do not, however, rely solely on features and context to re-identify individuals; in the presence of featural change and similarly-featured distractors, people routinely employ causal constraints to establish object identities. Based on available cognitive and neurofunctional data, the standard object-token based model of individual re-identification is extended to incorporate the construction of unobserved and hence fictive causal histories (FCHs) of observed objects by the pre-motor action planning system. Cognitive-behavioral and implementation-level predictions of this extended model and methods for testing them are outlined. It is suggested that functional deficits in the construction of FCHs are associated with clinical outcomes in both Autism Spectrum Disorders and later-stage stage Alzheimer's disease.\u

The Translocal Event and the Polyrhythmic Diagram

This thesis identifies and analyses the key creative protocols in translocal performance practice, and ends with suggestions for new forms of transversal live and mediated performance practice, informed by theory. It argues that ontologies of emergence in dynamic systems nourish contemporary practice in the digital arts. Feedback in self-organised, recursive systems and organisms elicit change, and change transforms. The arguments trace concepts from chaos and complexity theory to virtual multiplicity, relationality, intuition and individuation (in the work of Bergson, Deleuze, Guattari, Simondon, Massumi, and other process theorists). It then examines the intersection of methodologies in philosophy, science and art and the radical contingencies implicit in the technicity of real-time, collaborative composition. Simultaneous forces or tendencies such as perception/memory, content/ expression and instinct/intellect produce composites (experience, meaning, and intuition- respectively) that affect the sensation of interplay. The translocal event is itself a diagram - an interstice between the forces of the local and the global, between the tendencies of the individual and the collective. The translocal is a point of reference for exploring the distribution of affect, parameters of control and emergent aesthetics. Translocal interplay, enabled by digital technologies and network protocols, is ontogenetic and autopoietic; diagrammatic and synaesthetic; intuitive and transductive. KeyWorx is a software application developed for realtime, distributed, multimodal media processing. As a technological tool created by artists, KeyWorx supports this intuitive type of creative experience: a real-time, translocal “jamming” that transduces the lived experience of a “biogram,” a synaesthetic hinge-dimension. The emerging aesthetics are processual – intuitive, diagrammatic and transversal

Lisp, Jazz, Aikido -- Three Expressions of a Single Essence

The relation between Science (what we can explain) and Art (what we can't) has long been acknowledged and while every science contains an artistic part, every art form also needs a bit of science. Among all scientific disciplines, programming holds a special place for two reasons. First, the artistic part is not only undeniable but also essential. Second, and much like in a purely artistic discipline, the act of programming is driven partly by the notion of aesthetics: the pleasure we have in creating beautiful things. Even though the importance of aesthetics in the act of programming is now unquestioned, more could still be written on the subject. The field called "psychology of programming" focuses on the cognitive aspects of the activity, with the goal of improving the productivity of programmers. While many scientists have emphasized their concern for aesthetics and the impact it has on their activity, few computer scientists have actually written about their thought process while programming. What makes us like or dislike such and such language or paradigm? Why do we shape our programs the way we do? By answering these questions from the angle of aesthetics, we may be able to shed some new light on the art of programming. Starting from the assumption that aesthetics is an inherently transversal dimension, it should be possible for every programmer to find the same aesthetic driving force in every creative activity they undertake, not just programming, and in doing so, get deeper insight on why and how they do things the way they do. On the other hand, because our aesthetic sensitivities are so personal, all we can really do is relate our own experiences and share it with others, in the hope that it will inspire them to do the same. My personal life has been revolving around three major creative activities, of equal importance: programming in Lisp, playing Jazz music, and practicing Aikido. But why so many of them, why so different ones, and why these specifically? By introspecting my personal aesthetic sensitivities, I eventually realized that my tastes in the scientific, artistic, and physical domains are all motivated by the same driving forces, hence unifying Lisp, Jazz, and Aikido as three expressions of a single essence, not so different after all. Lisp, Jazz, and Aikido are governed by a limited set of rules which remain simple and unobtrusive. Conforming to them is a pleasure. Because Lisp, Jazz, and Aikido are inherently introspective disciplines, they also invite you to transgress the rules in order to find your own. Breaking the rules is fun. Finally, if Lisp, Jazz, and Aikido unify so many paradigms, styles, or techniques, it is not by mere accumulation but because they live at the meta-level and let you reinvent them. Working at the meta-level is an enlightening experience. Understand your aesthetic sensitivities and you may gain considerable insight on your own psychology of programming. Mine is perhaps common to most lispers. Perhaps also common to other programming communities, but that, is for the reader to decide..

Kolab: Improvising Nomadic Tangible User Interfaces in the Workplace for Co-Located Collaboration

Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) [Ishii 1997] offer an interface style that couples "digital information to everyday physical objects and environments" [Ishii 1997 page 2]. However this physicality may also be a limitation as the tendency to use iconic representations for tangibles can result in inflexible 'concrete and specialised objects' [Shaer 2009 page 107]. The current research investigates whether by reducing the dependence on specific tangible sets through the use of improvised tangibles we may begin to address the issue of tangible flexibility within TUIs. Improvised tangibles may be characterised by being potentially arbitrary and abstract, in that they may bear little or no resemblance to the underlying digital value. Core literature in the field (e. g. [Fitzmaurice 1996] [Ishii 2008] [Hornecker 2006] [Holmquist 1999]) suggests that a system based on improvised tangibles would suffer from impaired usability and so the research focuses on the impact on usability due to a lack of close representational significance [Ullmer 2000] during co-located collaboration. Using a prototyping methodology a functional, shareable, TUI system was developed based on computer vision techniques using the Microsoft Kinect [Microsoft2011]. This prototype system ('Kolab') was used to explore an interaction design that supports the dynamic binding of improvised tangibles to digital values. A simple co-located collaborative task was developed using 'Kolab' and a user study was conducted to investigate the usability of the system in a collaborative context. Within the limitations of the simple task the results of the study show that a) users appeared comfortable with improvising artefacts b) the high rate of task completion strongly suggests that a lack of close representational significance does not impair system usability and c) despite some temporary issues with users interfering with other's action an overall indication of equitable participation suggests that collaboration was not impaired by the 'Kolab' prototype

Design and semantics of form and movement (DeSForM 2006)

Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM) grew from applied research exploring emerging design methods and practices to support new generation product and interface design. The products and interfaces are concerned with: the context of ubiquitous computing and ambient technologies and the need for greater empathy in the pre-programmed behaviour of the ‘machines’ that populate our lives. Such explorative research in the CfDR has been led by Young, supported by Kyffin, Visiting Professor from Philips Design and sponsored by Philips Design over a period of four years (research funding £87k). DeSForM1 was the first of a series of three conferences that enable the presentation and debate of international work within this field: • 1st European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM1), Baltic, Gateshead, 2005, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 2nd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM2), Evoluon, Eindhoven, 2006, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 3rd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM3), New Design School Building, Newcastle, 2007, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. Philips sponsorship of practice-based enquiry led to research by three teams of research students over three years and on-going sponsorship of research through the Northumbria University Design and Innovation Laboratory (nuDIL). Young has been invited on the steering panel of the UK Thinking Digital Conference concerning the latest developments in digital and media technologies. Informed by this research is the work of PhD student Yukie Nakano who examines new technologies in relation to eco-design textiles

Sensorial perception: empowering dance practice embodiment through live and virtual environments

A thesis submitted for the Masters of Arts by Research At the University of Bedfordshire, United KingdomThis thesis presents a phenomenological study exploring the practice of creating movement in live and virtual environments. The title of this study is Sensory Perception: Empowering dance embodiment through live and virtual environments. The aims of this study are: to experience the sensorial embodiment within live and virtual environments; and to understand the cognitive responses to a set of visual moving images that are mediated through the visual perception of the participant. This study was conducted by the author Lucie Lee in 2012-2013 at the University of Bedfordshire. The theoretical underpinning for this study used mainly two French phenomenological philosophers Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1859-1941) and Henri Louis Bergeson (1908-1961). This thesis discusses other cultural theories, which were contextualised in theoretical and practical approaches to this study such as post-modernism in dance, Liveness defined by Philip Auslander (1999) and Embodying theory (1998) described by Sarah Rubidge. The other component of this practice led research focuses on cognitive science. This study uses the software developed by Mark Coniglio founder of Troika Ranch Dance Company, call Isadora. This software provides the level of interaction needed for this study. Although the software was developed for creative application of technology in performance, in this investigation it acts as a research tool. Through the software’s applications the explorative creative tasks were interactive and utilised in the live and virtual environments. This practice-led research adopts the methodology of practice as research and an approach developed by performance theorist Professor Robin Nelson (2006). It also draws on the improvisatory processes of two American dancers and practitioners Alma Hawkins (1991) and Anna Halprin (1995). The improvisation technique deployed in this study is directly linked to Feldenkrais Method (1972). The explorative tasks were practically undertaken by a dancer in order to explore the role of sensory perception with improvisatory context. Wassily Kandinsky’s (1866-1984) works were used as a stimulus within this method to engage the performer in the use of colours and objects within creative tasks. In conclusion, the thesis highlights the importance of the development within the practice-led process of the processes and methods undertaken by the researcher and dancer. The summary of findings of this research created several practical improvisatory short scores with ten minute durations. The future developments of this research study are outlined in this conclusion chapter

Merleau-Ponty and neuroaesthetics: Two approaches to performance and technology

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Digital Creativity, 23(3-4), 225 - 238, 2012. Copyright @ 2012 Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14626268.2012.709941.Assisted by the rapid growth of digital technology, which has enhanced its ambitions, performance is an increasingly popular area of artistic practice. This article seeks to contextualise this within two methodologically divergent yet complimentary intellectual tendencies. The first is the work of the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, who recognised that our experience of the world has an inescapably ‘embodied’ quality, not reducible to mental accounts, which can be vicariously extended through specific instrumentation. The second is the developing field of neuroaesthetics; that is, neurological research directed towards the analysis, in brain-functional terms, of our experiences of objects and events which are culturally deemed to be of artistic significance. I will argue that both these contexts offer promising approaches to interpreting developments in contemporary performance, which has achieved critical recognition without much antecedent theoretical support

Searching for design energy: re-visiting my generative process using selection, evaluation, and morphing to generate new ideas

My interests lie primarily with the energy behind the design of products. In pursuing the question of that energy and its potential, it has become clear to me that prior to any claims regarding transferability it is vital to first document and analyze the components that comprise the whole of design energy. Design Energy, in this case, is the creativity and intellect behind the process of design, from idea generation to production. I have focused on the creation of a method for documenting the design process that incorporates scans and images and other process data by utilizing AutoCAD, 3DMax, Photoshop, Morpheus, and various animation creating software. Through this method I re-visited my generative process in three phases; one by searching and selecting snapshots of my creative work, two by manipulating these found images using morphing software, and three by comparing and mimicking aspects of other design processes as explained by Nigel Cross. By looking back at my process I was able to reevaluate my steps through comparing them to other processes and through my analysis method of using morphing software which led to new idea generation