The Bushiad - the Idyossey

Still off-topic, if you're into anti-war satire in blank verse (and who isn't), have a look at the Idyossey.

Glen Hansard in Dolan's Tonight

Slightly off-topic, but Glen Hansard (lead singer, the Frames) plays a solo gig in Dolan's Warehouse tonight. According to the blurb:

"He enthralls audiences with a strong, assertive voice that mixes emotional honesty, humility, and beauty. Whether he's playing to the accompaniment of a full band (including violin) or solo, his voice and words reach out to the listener, drawing them in as the outside world slowly fades away. "The beauty is in the projection," he says. And Hansard's one of the best projectionists around.

Namechecking Van Morrison, The Pixies, Will Oldham, and Slint as just a few of his numerous influences, Glen has a few well-known fans himself. Bob Dylan asked Glen to open six London shows after seeing a rehearsal in 1996.

Nick Cave and Will Oldham invited him onstage at the Liss Ard Festival last year. A personal highlight includes travelling with and being a friend to the late Jeff Buckley. "At its best, the song is an invocation," reflects Hansard. Please give yourself the opportunity to be drawn into Glen Hansard's music

Tickets are 20 quid and available from the Scholar's.

Game design and cancer therapy

This kid Ben Duskin, 9, is recovering from cancer and designed a game to teach other kids to fight against leukemia...The game can be dowloaded for free.

Language & music

This is a post on slashdot about the relationship between language and music, seems to give some pointers as to why tonal music makes more sense than atonal (the author thinks its structure matches that of language more closely I think...).

slashdot post

For actual research paper

Brian

Skype project to dial real phone numbers

The Open Source Voice Over IP (VoIP) project Skype seems to finally be making moves into really useful territory with the new possibility of dialing real phones over the Internet - so long to those pesky
phone bills.

For more check out The Register - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/25/skype_real_phone_numbers/
or Skype at http://www.skype.com

/EB

missing equipment

Hi people, I'm trying to track down power supplies and pens for some wacom graphics tablets I have here - if anybody has them (or can even given me some leads as to where they might have ended up!) please post a reply.

thanks.

Partial Dutch e-voting software goes open source

Seems like the Dutch have released a limited subset of their e-voting software online under the GPL. Unfortunately its not the NEDAP system which is the one which was to have been used here in Ireland
for the elections. More on the story on the register at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/23/open_source_voting_software/ , the download is quite big
around 23~ Megs but should interest those who wish to examine what real voting software is like.

/EB

Bruce gets the John O'Gorman Award

Yesterday, Bruce Richardson received the John O'Gorman Award for presenting the best paper at the CSIS research conference.

John's brother Andy O'Gorman hands Bruce the cheque.

Won't someone *please* think of the children...

Further proof that you can use the emotive words "children" and "pedophile" to make people suspend any critical faculties.
Wired News: Ireland Leery of 3G Phones

Kids Educational Games Magazine

Try out a free trail...

http://www.web-land.net/family/explore/fexplorefond.asp.

Studentships available at IDC

Research Studentships at the Interaction Design Centre, University of
Limerick, Ireland

The Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick (Ireland) is an
interdisciplinary research group in the Department of Computer Science and
Information Systems focused on the design, use and evaluation of information
and communications technologies. The focus is on human-centred design, with
a strong interest in collaborative settings, exploring the design and use of
novel interactive and communicative artefacts to support human activities.
Several national and international research projects currently investigated
at the IDC focus on topics such as ubiquitous computing, interaction design,
haptic and auditory interfaces, interactive installations in public spaces
and computer-supported cooperative work.
The Centre is offering 2 full-time Master's research studentships on a newly
funded Science Foundation Ireland research project -"Re-Shaping Spaces in
Places for Nomadic Users of Interactive Artefacts" The project is led by
Luigina Ciolfi, IDC, and also involves Prof. Liam Bannon, Director, IDC.

Duration: 2 years, starting October 2004
Salary scale: Standard SFI Rates (approx. E17,000-E18,000 per annum
including fees, depending on experience).

The research will investigate how to take seriously the specific features of
locations - their history, architectural features, use by various groups,
changing nature over time periods, etc. can affect the provision of
location-based services for mobile workers who traverse these places. The
project will explore the work practice of nomadic users and will seek to
identify requirements for the design of mobile technologies based on
people's use and experience of place. Prototypes of interactive artefacts
will be developed and tested throughout the project.

We are seeking two candidates for the position of research assistant willing
to pursue a Masters of Science on the project.
One Masters Student will be concerned with the technical development of the
project, the exploration of mobile technologies to support nomadic workers
and dynamically adapt to a variety of workplaces. The other Masters Student
will be involved in conducting field studies, analysis, and developing
design workshops involving end-users.

Successful applicants will join a highly skilled and motivated team of
researchers in the IDC who are conducting research at the boundaries of
human-computer interaction, creating novel environments that merge our
physical and digital worlds.

Applicants should submit a full CV (electronic or paper version) by July
15th 2004 to
Ms. Anne Murphy,
Interaction Design Centre,
University of Limerick, Ireland
email: anne.murphy@ul.ie

Each application must indicate the key area and topics that the candidate
is interested in, and describe their research background and interests in
that area and topic. Candidates should be available for interview during
August.

Candidates are expected to have at least a 2.1 Honours Degree or equivalent
in a relevant subject. Familiarity with HCI and Interaction Design theory
and practice is an advantage. Conditional awards can be made if students
have yet to receive their final degree classification.
Candidates who wish to discuss these positions may contact Luigina Ciolfi by
email at luigina.ciolfi@ul.ie

For more information on the Interaction Design Centre, please visit our
website at www.idc.ul.ie.

MS SenseCam

A new camera from the MS Cambridge Labs packages a small digital camera with a package of sensors. It takes a snap every time a change in ambient conditions is detected (temperature, movement, light) - and stores 2000 pics on a 128Mb flash card.

One of the possible uses mentioned is that of a visual blog (which considering the amount of self-indulgent navel gazing which constitutes 99% of blog entries...may not neccessarily be a good thing) and as an aid for people suffering from memory loss.

It strikes me that it would also (when combined with a voice activated microphone) be a useful ethnographical tool.

Hello...

If you're in the IDC (or related to it in some way) and you want to contribute to this...send a mail to my University account. Specify whether you want admin access.

/SH

group blogging

OK, let's try this one as well... ;-)