After triple checking the schematics and design files and ordering 80 PCBs (50 sensors and 30 i2c boards) there was an anxious wait for them to arrive and do some initial tests to find out if there were any mistakes. We now have enough boards to make two new pattern matrix devices, one 4X4 and one 5X5 - the plan is to evaluate the design and refine it for future …
The concept for the viruscraft game is to have a realtime genetic model or simulation of the host evolution which is adapting to the properties of a virus you are building (either on screen or via a tangible interface as part of an exhibit). This model needs to be realistic, but only up to a point - it can be more of a caricature of biology than a research model …
We launched the accesslab project last week with two pilot workshops. This is a write-up of how the workshops were run and why, together with some of the feedback and modifications we will make in future.
A few weeks ago we kicked off the new Penelope project, one of our first jobs was to deliver the prototype pattern matrix (built with the help of Makernow) to the Museum of Casts of Classical sculpture in Munich for exhibition over the summer as part of our Penelopean lab. Our next mission in Cornwall is to design new pattern matrix hardware so we can start manufacturing a small run …
Following on from the first viruscraft workshop, we can now start planning the viruscraft game. The field of virology from genetics and interactions on the microscopic scale to the spread of disease and it's effects on the ecosystem is huge, so we used the workshop primarily to identify the core things that are the most important to convey, and promising ways we can use to explain them. Getting high quality …
Moving Mongoose data from Uganda to the UK is a problem as the current Mongoose2000 system has no automatic data transfer step. Dave and I sat down and tried to think of some stratagies.
For the Accesslab workshops this week, Hoon has devised a menu with a mix of cultivated and foraged ingredients. The workshop is all about helping people to access peer-reviewed scientific literature to benefit their work and artistic practices. We've spent a bit of time applying the same process to the ingredients that Hoon has chosen for the food he will make for the events.
The first workshop for Viruscraft is now complete – merging biologists with craft practitioners and researchers, we began to prototype a tangible interface game to understand why viruses infect some hosts but not others. This blog covers the event and our notes for future events.
In 2015 the "Weaving Codes:Coding Weaves" project was a chance to investigate a whole bunch of new things: building new forms of hardware, make tangible programming interfaces, taking the long view on technology and investigating other digitally based societies, such as the Inca with their Quipu knot databases.
This work has fed into so many new projects that it's great to be able to announce our participation in the new …
During my week at FoAM I worked on the project Molecular Soundscape which I am developing with chemists at Newcastle University. The aim of the project is to develop sound based work which can accompany visualisations of protein dynamics both to communicate the process of drug design to non-specialists and to aid scientists in analysing the effects of experimental drugs on specific proteins. The scientists I am working with have …
An overview of our Tanglebots workshop, re-developed for autistic young people and their families, together with the Cultural Minds research group from the University of Exeter. What we did to adjust the workshop format, what worked and didn't work, and changes we'd recommend others make if they run similar events.
Today is my final day of my week-long residency with FoAM Kernow. Amber and Dave had already developed a Sonic Kayak system which allows a paddler to listen to underwater sound, and sonified temperature changes, in realtime. I did my PhD on underwater noise in Falmouth Bay assessing the impact of a wave energy converter so when I heard about the Sonic Kayak I was pretty excited! The plan for …
Towards the end of last year we were struggling a bit at FoAM Kernow, a busy year with lots of media exposure and overlapping projects had left us excited and energised but it seemed at times as if the organisation had gained its own momentum and we were being carried along with it.
We had a very timely chat with Jane Sutherland at Krowji in Redruth who told us about …
Some photos of the our citizen science game Dazzlebug being exhibited at the Anchorage Museum in Alaska as part of their Camouflage: In Plain Sight Exhibition running from the 28th October 2016 to the 5th Febuary 2017.
The bugs which have evolved throughout this exhibition and before have already been sent for processing by the researchers - more info on that here soon!
FoAM Kernow is an organisation in one of the most disadvantaged parts of the UK. Many of the gaps in our society are particually obvious in Cornwall, the separation between those whom our social structures benefit and those who they do not are clear to see in the separation between the coastal and inland regions, and in many finer grained distinctions.
We’re prototyping a system for behavioural change for sustainable planting and fertilising in allotments and smallholdings, based on the Farm Crap App.
This autumn we have been developing a new version of the Farm Crap App with the Duchy College and Rothamstead Research. This project is about tackling the difficulties farmers have using natural fertilisers while needing to report realistic figures the government agencies - and understanding the guidance they provide. The original version was a big success, but only contained information on a handful of manures and didn't deal with the …
Working on a NES game you are treading in the footsteps of programmers from the 80's, and going back to modern development feels strangely bloated and inefficient in comparison. This is a log of some of the things I've encountered writing game code for the What Remains project.
Last week we launched our Sonic Kayaks for the first time at the British Science Festival in Swansea. Sonic Kayaks are scientific instruments for citizen-led marine microclimate data collection, as well as musical instruments for expanding our senses allowing exploration of the underwater environment in real-time through sound. The installation ran over two days, and was fully booked with 64 participants. This post forms our documentation of the practical lessons …
A run through of physical models made from voxel data obtained from LiDAR flights through cities.