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I&IC’s public survey of 355 links related to “Clouds” on Pinboard – last updated 11.2018

By Thursday, October 25, 2018 Resources, Thinking Tags: 0162, Architects, Cloud, Data, Datacenter, Designers, Designers (interaction), Engineering, Hardware, Infrastructure, Open source, Software, Tools, Users Permalink 0

https://pinboard.in/u:toorop/t:i%2526ic_designresearch/

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Along the design research, we are going through many different types of references that we don’t necessarily post or document on the blog. We usually only post about the ones that we consider relevant to the research process, which doesn’t mean the other ones are not interesting. We’ve just decided not to dig deeper into them at some point, or to keep some of them for later.

Yet, this is a consistent amount of survey that we are leaving on the side of the road and that could possibly be useful for similar or later researches. At least a good starting point… That’s why we’ve created this i&ic_designresearch tag on Pinboard.

Interestingly, some new thematics emerged along the way within these links, like for example on the technological branch, the combination of personal cloud based services, peer to peer protocols and blockchains that were not on the radar when we started our research.

I&IC’s public survey of 356 links related to “Clouds” on Pinboard – last updated 03.2017

By Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Resources, Thinking, X-Posts Tags: 0146, Architects, Architecture, Clouds, Data, Datacenter, Designers, Designers (interaction), Designers (product), Hardware, Links, Scientists, Software, Thinkers Permalink 0

https://pinboard.in/u:toorop/t:i%2526ic_designresearch/

…

Along the design research, we are going through many different types of references that we don’t necessarily post or document on the blog. We usually only post about the ones that we consider relevant to the research process, which doesn’t mean the other ones are not interesting. We’ve just decided not to dig deeper into them at some point, or to keep some of them for later.

Yet, this is a consistent amount of survey that we are leaving on the side of the road and that could possibly be useful for similar or later researches. At least a good starting point… That’s why we’ve created this i&ic_designresearch tag on Pinboard.

Interestingly, some new thematics emerged along the way within these links, like for example on the technological branch, the combination of personal cloud based services, peer to peer protocols and blockchains that were not on the radar when we started our research.

 

I&IC within Poetics and Politics of Data, exhibition at H3K. Pictures

By Tuesday, June 23, 2015 Publications, X-Posts Tags: 0107, ABCD, Architects, Art, Designers (interaction), ECAL, EPFL_ECAL_Lab, Ethnographers, Exhibitions, fabric | ch, HEAD, Media, Mediated, Scenography, Students Permalink 0
Works by Rafael Lozanno-Hemmer (left) and Jennifer Lyn Morone (near right). Photo: Marco Frauchiger Works by Ellie Harrison (left) and Marc Lee (right). Photo: Marco Frauchiger Works by Paolo Cirio (far left) and Jennifer Lyn Morone (right). Photo: David Colombini Design research I&IC by ECAL, HEAD, EPFL+ECAL Lab and scenography by fabric | ch. On the right, "Hello World!" by Christopher Baker. Photo: David Colombini Scenography "cabinet" by fabric | ch and projection by Christopher Baker on the right. Photo: Marco Frauchiger Hello world! by Christopher Baker. Photo: Marco Frauchiger Project by Rybn. Photo: Marco Frauchiger Work by Ellie Harrison. Photo: Marco Frauchiger Works by Erica Scourti (left) and Paolo Cirio (right). Photo: Marco Frauchiger Scenographic "exhibition wall-cabinet" by fabric | ch with dedicated entrance. Photo: David Colombini "Exhibition wall-cabinet" by fabric | ch displaying I&IC design research temporary results. Photo: David Colombini "Exhibition wall-cabinet" and archive by fabric | ch, research results and documentation by I&IC design research. Photo: Marco Frauchiger I&IC design research results, documentation. Photo: Marco Frauchiger I&IC design research results, in particular on the picture works by Martin Hertig and Bastien Girshig; Pierre-Xavier Puissant, Anne-Sophie Bazard and Jonas Lacôte; Nicolas Nahornyj. Photo: Marco Frauchiger The inside of the "wall exhibition-cabinet" and pathway by fabric | ch. Photo: Marco Frauchiger I&IC design research result: "Wifi Oracle" by Matin Herting and Bastien Girshig. Photo: David Colombini "Random Raspi for Datadroppers" by fabric | ch. Photo: David Colombini I&IC design research results inside the "cabinet", video documentation by Lucien Langton. Photo: David Colombini I&IC design research results inside the "cabinet", video documentation. Photo: David Colombini A few 3d printed models from the ALICE workshop. Photo: David Colombini Outside view from the "exhibition wall-cabinet" with a view on Deterritorialized Daylight that drives its inner lighting. Photo: David Colombini

Note: a few pictures from the exhibition “Poetics and Politics of Data” that is currently taking place at the Haus der elektronische Künste in Basel.

With works by artists such as Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Moniker, Aram Bartholl, Ludwig Zeller, Jennifer Lyn Morone, etc., the exhibition gives a sharp view on the production of artists (some of which were presented on this blog) around the contemporary theme of “data”.

 

We had the pleasure to present the temporary results of our design research as the main part of a scenography created by fabric | ch and accompanied by texts from Nicolas Nova and myself.

Note also that Nicolas Nova will be a speaker during the conference Data Traces: Big Data in the Context of Culture & Society that will take place at the H3K between the 3rd and 4th of July and when a publication will be released: Poetics & Politics of Data, Sabine Himmelsbach & Claudia Mareis, ed. Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel, 2015.

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Poetics and Politics of Data, exhibition at H3K

By Wednesday, May 27, 2015 Publications, X-Posts Tags: 0106, ABCD, Architects, Art, Data, Designers (interaction), Ethnographers, Exhibitions, Media, Students Permalink 0

Note: after some time of relative silence on the blog, we’re happy to say that the design-research project Inhabiting & Interfacing the Cloud(s) will be part of the next exhibition at the Haus für elektronische Künste in Basel (CH), in the form of a counterpoint or “behind the scenes” to the media art exhibition per se. This explains partly that, then…

We had to work hard for the exhibition, especially because I was also in charge of the scenography (a work by fabric | ch in this case though), while Lucien Langton produced almost all the video documentation content.

At the invitation of H3K curator, Sabine Himmelsbach, we’ll therefore present the work that has been realized so far, half-way through our research process.

This will consist for large parts in video documentation and few artifacts, including some new ones (“Tools” oriented). We will use this material later on the I&IC website to fully document the current state of our work. We’ve prepared some “automated documentation” based on our blog. Here’s a sneak peak about the first one about the overall project:

 

An automated introduction to "Inhabiting & Interfacing the Cloud(s), a design research" from iiclouds.org design research on Vimeo.

 

The opening of the exhibition Poetics & Politics of Data will  be tomorrow at 7pm, at H3K (Dreispitz neighborhood in Basel), the show will then last until end of August.

 

christopher-baker

Christopher Baker, Hello World! or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise, 2008

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I&IC Workshop #4 with ALICE at EPFL-ECAL Lab, Work in progress

By Thursday, February 5, 2015 Architecture, Schools, Workshops Tags: 0093, Architects, Climate, Data, Datacenter, Documentation, EPFL, EPFL_ECAL_Lab, Hack, Housing, Infrastructure, Speculation, Sustainability, Territory, Urbanism Permalink 0

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Above: an illustration of the third scaled model presented further.

 

As the week unrolls the workshop is starting to produce scenarios. Wednesday (yesterday) we had a quick presentation of the work in progress, which is documented briefly in the current post. Students Delphine Passaquay, Tanguy Dyer, Francesco Battaini & Anne-Charlotte Astrup working on Inhabiting the Cloud(s) as a team developed a global perspective on the subject. Their approach is focusing on four distinct territorial scales in order to question the centralized data center model. While the proposal doesn’t have a name yet, it however clearly speculates about a distributed isotrope network. The student architects focused on the preexisting urban infrastructure in order to establish their proposal.

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I&IC Workshop #4 with ALICE at EPFL-ECAL Lab, brief: “Inhabiting the Cloud(s)”

By Saturday, January 24, 2015 Architecture, Schools, Workshops, X-Posts Tags: 0092, A, Architects, Data, Datacenter, Documentation, EPFL, EPFL_ECAL_Lab, Housing, Interferences, Networks, Print, Teaching, Territory, Urbanism Permalink 0

Note: we will start a new I&IC workshop in two weeks (02-06.02) that will be led by the architects of ALICE laboratory (EPFL), under the direction of Prof. Dieter Dietz, doctoral assistant Thomas Favre-Bulle, architect scientist-lecturer Caroline Dionne and architect studio director Rudi Nieveen. During this workshop, we will mainly investigate the territorial dimension(s) of the cloud, so as distributed “domestic” scenarios that will develop symbiosis between small decentralized personal data centers and the act of inhabiting. We will also look toward a possible urban dimension for these data centers. The workshop is open to master and bachelor students of architecture (EPFL), on a voluntary basis (it is not part of the cursus).

A second workshop will also be organized by ALICE during the same week on a related topic (see the downloadable pdf below). Both workshops will take place at the EPFL-ECAL Lab.

I introduce below the brief that has been distributed to the students by ALICE.

 

Inhabiting the Cloud(s)

IMG_9021_m

Wondering about interaction design, architecture and the virtual? Wish to improve your reactivity and design skills?

Cloud interfaces are now part of our daily experience: we use them as storage space for our music, our work, our contacts, and so on. Clouds are intangible, virtual “spaces” and yet, their efficacy relies on humongous data-centres located in remote areas and subjected to strict spatial configurations, climate conditions and access control.
Inhabiting the cloud(s) is a five days exploratory workshop on the theme of cloud interfacing, data-centres and their architectural, urban and territorial manifestations.
Working from the scale of the “shelter” and the (digital) “cabinet”, projects will address issues of inhabited social space, virtualization and urban practices. Cloud(s) and their potential materialization(s) will be explored through “on the spot” models, drawings and 3D printing. The aim is to produce a series of prototypes and user-centered scenarios.

Participation is free and open to all SAR students.

ATTENTION: Places are limited to 10, register now!
Info and registration: caroline.dionne@epfl.ch & thomas.favre-bulle@epfl.ch
www.iiclouds.org

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Download the two briefs (Inhabiting the Cloud(s) & Montreux Jazz Pavilion)

 

Laboratory profile

The key hypothesis of ALICE’s research and teaching activities places space within the focus of human and technological processes. Can the complex ties between human societies, technology and the environment become tangible once translated into spatial parameters? How can these be reflected in a synthetic design process? ALICE strives for collective, open processes and non-deterministic design methodologies, driven by the will to integrate analytical, data based approaches and design thinking into actual project proposals and holistic scenarios.

 

http://alice.epfl.ch/

 

Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s) – Talk & workshop at LIFT 15

By Friday, January 16, 2015 Publications Tags: 0083, Architects, Clouds, Conferences, Designers (interaction), Ethnographers, Research Permalink 0

Note: Nicolas Nova and I will be present during next Lift Conference in Geneva (Feb. 4-6 2015) for a talk combined with a workshop and a skype session with EPFL (a workshop related with the I&IC research project will be finishing at EPFL –Prof. Dieter Dietz’s ALICE Laboratory at EPFL-ECAL Lab– the day we’ll present in Geneva). All persons who follow the research on this blog and that would be present during Lift 15, please come see us and exchange ideas!

 

Via the Lift Conference

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Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s)

Workshop
Curated by Lift
Fri, Feb. 06 2015 – 10:30 to 12:30
Room 7+8 (Level 2)
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Patrick Keller
Architect (EPFL), founding member of fabric | ch and Professor at ECAL
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Nicolas Nova
Principal at Near Future Laboratory and Professor at HEAD Geneva
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Workshop description : Since the end of the 20th century, we have been seeing the rapid emergence of “Cloud Computing”, a new constructed entity that combines extensively information technologies, massive storage of individual or collective data, distributed computational power, distributed access interfaces, security and functionalism.

In a joint design research that connects the works of interaction designers from ECAL & HEAD with the spatial and territorial approaches of architects from EPFL, we’re interested in exploring the creation of alternatives to the current expression of “Cloud Computing”, particularly in its forms intended for private individuals and end users (“Personal Cloud”). It is to offer a critical appraisal of this “iconic” infrastructure of our modern age and its user interfaces, because to date their implementation has followed a logic chiefly of technical development, governed by the commercial interests of large corporations, and continues to be seen partly as a purely functional,centralized setup. However, the Personal Cloud holds a potential that is largely untapped in terms of design, novel uses and territorial strategies.

The workshop will be an opportunity to discuss these alternatives and work on potential scenarios for the near future. More specifically, we will address the following topics:

  • How to combine the material part with the immaterial, mediatized part? Can we imagine the geographical fragmentation of these setups?
  • Might new interfaces with access to ubiquitous data be envisioned that take nomadic lifestyles into account and let us offer alternatives to approaches based on a “universal” design? Might these interfaces also partake of some kind of repossession of the data by the end users?
  • What setups and new combinations of functions need devising for a partly nomadic lifestyle? Can the Cloud/Data Center itself be mobile?
  • Might symbioses also be developed at the energy and climate levels (e.g. using the need to cool the machines, which themselves produce heat, in order to develop living strategies there)? If so, with what users (humans, animals, plants)?

The joint design research Inhabiting & Interfacing the Cloud(s) is supported by HES-SO, ECAL & HEAD.

Interactivity : The workshop will start with a general introduction about the project, and moves to a discussion of its implications, opportunities and limits. Then a series of activities will enable break-out groups to sketch potential solutions.