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Another Semester Over at ITP
Highlights from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program
Another semester at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) has come to a close, and we were lucky to get a hosted press run-through the show, talking with students and kicking some tires. Historically, one needs to attend
both days of the show—the first day everything hasn't broken yet; the second day it's easier to talk to the students sitting on the floor with soldering irons in their hands doing the repairs. We risked it by visiting right in the
middle, and the payoff was sweet: students were practiced up without being burned out; the projects were well-loved without being rubbed raw.
The Fall '04 semester's crop of work was alternately inspiring and overwrought. A certain unevenness is always present in a show like this, and the student body would have benefited from a "Do one thing and do it well" sign
posted up above all their whiteboards. Too often, students over-promised with their premise, layered on meaning where there wasn't any, or extended an idea past its freshness dating. With all the talk of social networking and wireless
communication, we found the simplest projects to be the best. Just like in straight-up product design, less usually is more.
And if these issues weren't enough to subvert the students, there's always this granddaddy of them all: in 2004, physical computing and tangible media aren't so new anymore, and projects need to do a lot more than motion track and image
process to give us a thrill. There were some highlights of course, and we're happy to share our favorites below. Congrats to all the students, and wishing you a great new semester ahead.
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| BlueFish Ian Curry http://www.nobodaddy.org/portfolio/bluefish.htm Bluetooth surveillance setup that snaps a pic/vid of anyone with a 'toothed device on 'em that happens by. |
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| Please Release Me - The Marionette Project Mirit Tal, Daniel Holsopple, Keunyoung Oh http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~mt1192/pcomp/marion.html Show highlight of marionette-controlled navigation through various spaces. Bonus ingenuity: Putting the video projector behind the puppet creates protagonist as shadow. Easy. |
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| Solar Wallpaper Marta Lwin, Ty Whitfield, Teresita Cochran Ramakrishnan Subramanian Electroluminescent film gives beautiful glow to floral wallpaper patterns. Blog-attractive and worthy of it. |
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| Connect Morgan Barnard http://www.morganbarnard.com/solarcoustics Plug your headphones into this solar-powered device for a "personal sonic landscape." A simple device with crazy potential. |
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| fish-byte.net Jason Babcock, Michael Kertesz http://stage.itp.tsoa.nyu.edu/~jsb314/projects/fish/wintershow.html Crowd-pleasing installation with motion tracking on a hidden fishtank; fish's behavior is tied to actor/avatar gesticulation on flatscreen in front of you. Peek behind the wall to find that you've been conversing with a goldfish! |
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| The Bureau of Doctor Goodman Jeffrey Galusha, Emily Conrad Non-linear audio narrative triggered by drawers in an antique bureau |
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| Virtual Patient Project Jean-Marc Gauthier, Martin Nachbar http://tinkering.net/vp Fascinating exporation of the intersection of computer games and medical visualization. |
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| Sonictroller Spencer Kiser, David Hindman http://www.sonictroller.com Entertaining instument- and voice-controlled Mortal Kombat game. Shout to punch. |
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| The Crowd in Us Beliz Demircioglu http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~bd319/lipp.htm For a video-capture-and-effects piece, this was a standout, time-delaying and superimposing you over yourself. |
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| Club Robot Jason Lee, Richard Miller, Kuan Huang http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~kh861/Pcomp/Final_Pres.htm Synthable outputs midi notes to a synthesizer as well as serial commands to dancing robot. |
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| Mouse Trap Mouna Andraos, Michael Kertesz http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~ma1392/projects/mouse/show Sweet one-liner with mouse running away into its home when it senses you near. |
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| Pulse Lamp Matty Sallin http://www.mathlete.com/portfolio/pulselamp.php Show highlight of contemplative lamp that reads, then blinks back, your heartrate. |
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| Victoria, Live from 1916 Jeffrey Galusha Rotatable LCD allows visitor to look around the East Side's Tenement Museum. |
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| Bicycle Wheel Michael Kertesz http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~mk1845/projects/snl Sure it's obvious, but this guy built it. Now how do you lock it? |
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| Out of the Closet Sonali Sridhar http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~ss3546/Wearables Two skirts use radio frequency detection to mimic each other's colors when in close proximity. |
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| NYC Wind Portrait Marta Lwin, Noah Shibley http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~mjl359/cgi-bin/windFIN.pl Simple, sweet and effective video still capture of visitor, with pixels breaking up and flying away according to current NYC wind data. |
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| cell.SPACE Dana Karwas http://www.dk22.com/x.html Text messages are rapped back to the user with photos and live image graphics. |
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| Wireless Wind Inshan Khairullah http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/~ik368/wireless A fascinating start on wind visualization exploration. |
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| Predatory Mirror Abraham Burmeister Spooky-cool video superimposition of visitor and stripped-out background. Ghostworld. |
FOr a complete list of projects check out http://itp.nyu.edu/show. ITP is at 721 Broadway, 4th Floor South, New York, NY 10003. Telephone is 212-998-1880. Inquires to itp.inquiries@nyu.edu.