by A’mina Dowe

During the Visual Hacktivism studio, Sophie and I selected the topic of modern slavery for our visualizing data project (our other options being health and trade routes). We decided to work on this project on modern slavery with the aim of informing people that slavery is not over, as many people would assume to be the case. Based on our initial research, we found that slavery is worst than it has ever been before; therefore we decided to create a map of the world that visualizes the amount of slaves in each continent.

Continuing on the research, Sophie and I realized that the number of slaves in any one location depends on the economy, so we grouped geographical areas together based on their economy. We built a physical standing structure for the world map that would connect to Processing, an open source programming language, to create an interactive installation. The structure allows you to pick up different geographical areas like a puzzle. Since most trafficked victims are children, the puzzle symbolizes slave children who are trapped in this lifestyle when many children of this age should be playing with friends, toys, and puzzles.

The project was made to look simple and appealing but Read the rest of this entry »

Post written by Madeleine Cary (current NuVu Student)

Thursday May 3, 2012
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Not many children come home from school and ask their parents: “What do you think I should I ask Barney Frank about tomorrow?” But then again, NuVu is not any school–it is a laboratory of learning and exploration situated near the MIT campus. On a rainy morning in May, students took time off from their investigations–animating comic books and analyzing digital data, to name two– to hear the Congressman speak. After a short briefing from the instructors, and some fidgeting by a local camera crew, Barney Frank entered the large and airy studio. He informed us that instead of a stump speech or boiler-plate platitudes, he really wanted to talk about what we were interested in, and wanted to ensure we were engaged, not only in the give-and-take he proposed for our time together, but in the entire political process to which he has devoted over thirty years. I was called upon to ask my question first: “Given the recent resignation of Romney’s foreign policy advisor, due to pressure from the Conservative right over the fact that he is gay, do you think that President Obama will highlight the fact that this election is, as importantly, about civil liberties as it is about the economy?”

Madeleine Cary taking notes on Congressman Barney Frank’s responses to various questions

Because of the economy, Frank said, voters appear less concerned about civil liberties. Of course, Democrats seem to care more about these issues and can therefore appeal to a growing cohort of open-minded young people, whom he says will make the difference in the general election. “Twenty years ago, conservatives argued that {homosexuality} was a choice. This has been a wholly discredited theory.” In Mitt Romney’s case, Frank added, the candidate asked his former foreign policy advisor to “be quiet” about the fact he was gay, so the campaign would not be “ashamed” of him. Frank expressed surprise that the man was appointed at all, as Romney directly appeals to Anti-LGBT voters across the Republican political spectrum.

NuVu students listening to Congressman Frank

The conversation then shifted to the price of education. This is a tricky topic, Frank admitted, Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, we had our first Central Squared Challenge in collaboration with The Community Art Center and supported by Microsoft. The challenge was an interactive and team-based technology design competition that involved high school students from Area 4 in Cambridge and winners from around the world of the “Do It Your Damn Self!!” National Youth Video and Film Festival. During the challenge, teams learned about, and worked hands on with, this year’s featured technology, the Microsoft Kinect, to solve an important community issue of their choice. Participants got a taste of various NuVu projects that put sensor technology to use in an imaginative way, explored and played with the Kinect, and then put their brains together to design a product that uses sensor technology to solve an important issue.

The projects included sensor-based devices for the blind, emergency medical bracelets, and anti-bullying devices. All teams presented their designs at the end of the challenge to a panel of judges and peers who then chose a winner. The Pink Team won the challenge having the most creative, implementable and practical idea which was then showcased at the DIYDS!! Premiere Screening which was held at the Microsoft New England R&D Center later that evening. The five winners of the challenge got Xbox 360 consoles with games and Kinects!

Getting to know how sensors work by playing some games powered by the Kinect

Teams brainstorming ideas for their sensor-based projects

Students filming their commercials for their designed products

The whole group at the end of the challenge

This is a movie about the projects our students created in the Codes of the Brain Studio taught by Michael Sidorov, Sean Stevens, David Wang, and Dan Paluska.

In The Art of Storytelling studio that finished last week, students explored various elements of documentary storytelling by finding and sharing some of the most relevant topics of interest in Cambridge and Boston. By working with photography, video, audio, and the written word, students discovered a number of different ways to convey stories in a compelling and informative way. The students collectively created an online publication called “NewsVu” which highlights stories from around Cambridge and Boston.

Feature Articles:

NuVu students interviewed business owners, citizens, and visitors to understand the most pressing stories happening around Cambridge and Boston. Here are a selection of some of the feature stories from NewsVu.

Growing Up in America

Local Eating

Homelessness in Cambridge

Read the rest of this entry »

We had our biggest exhibit this past Saturday for the Cambridge Science Festival. Around 400 people attended the exhibit, including many kids who had tons of energy and were jumping around the space playing with all the interactive toys, games and gadgets our students had produced. It was great to see how the young kids engaged with the projects. Overall it was an action-packed Saturday afternoon of showcasing food robots, synesthesia-inspired projects, an interactive body-painting screen and much more.

Kids playing with the iMat – an interactive soccer and drawing game

A boy tests out the Personal Painter – a Kinect-based live digital painter

Kids playing with Catch Me-bot!

Father and son examining the robotic Wall Printer

A boy inspired by the shifting rays of colors drawn based on users’ movements in the iMat game

A girl testing the Personal Painter

On display is the Plant-bot, a mobile light-following plant with a water trailer

During the Government 3.0 studio, NuVu students explored ways that Government can push technology forward to improve the world around us, including some of our public amenities. The team of Sophie Weissbourd, Emily Lynch and Jilly Hughes looked at ways to improve the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority), the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area. The idea behind their proposal is to increase revenue for the MBTA while offering beneficial services to its riders. The two main components of the proposal include the E-Z Vending Machine and CharlieCard App.

E-Z Vending Machine

The touch screen vending machine is able to go inside the Commuter rail trains and in train stations. There are four main screens that have images of food, drinks, reading material, and electronics. Ordering from the machine is like ordering from online. You choose what you want and then a total appears on the bottom screen. People can delete what they do not want then check out when they are finished. This way it will take less time for people. People can choose to pay using their credit or debit card, cash, CharlieCard, or using the CharlieCard app. On the side of the machine is a coffee, tea, and hot chocolate dispenser. Milk and sugar packets are available and are dispensed in the main bin. Trash and recycling disposal are available in the machine making it less likely for trash to collect on the trains.

CharlieCard App

The CharlieCard makes the MBTA easy to get around Boston quickly. It is more efficient then paying in cash each time you ride. Even though the CharlieCard is easier then using cash it is still a little bit difficult to handle. People have to put money on their card frequently and update it if it expires. People can also add money to if from an online account but then they would still have to update it with a machine in a train station before they use it again. Instead of going through this, people could have an app on their smart phones that would carry the CharlieCard. The app would have a bar-code that could be scanned. This would be instead of having the actual plastic or paper card.

It was an amazing Sunday at NuVu: Winter Brain Exhibit. We had a crowd of over 200 people in the studio exploring, playing, interacting with the numerous student projects from the Brain-themed term! The studio was humming of multiple sounds from the blobs of the iMat creatures popping to the sonic tones of the Music Box to the piano chords of the Soundscape to the moving Kinetic Chandelier.

iMat: interactive brain-game-art piece

Soundscape: real-time music-light installation

Guests at the Exhibit

iMat: virtual pong game

Us - the NuVu Crew!:)

Camera Canter: remote-operated moving camera holder

SmartSeat: sensor-operated toilet seat opener/closer

Visitors listening to the music tracks from our Mind Music studio

Personal Painter: interactive live-action painter

Mind Pod: brainwave-controlled lighting-mood environment

Music Box: sensor-based, multi-user DJing light-sound instrument

Wall Printer: iPhone-controlled wall printer

Kinetic Chandelier: moving light sculpture
viagra

The Mind Music studio ended with a melodic mix of sounds found and formed from EEG (Electroencephalography) headsets, electronic beats, a computer voice generator, and Siri. Here are the final audio collages and music tracks produced from the five music groups, everything from drumstep to tense preludes to electro-glitch-house beats to abstract narratives. Enjoy!

Drumstep
by “Pistolas y Rosas”
Produced by Robert Alper

Carnage Down the Hall
by “The People Down the Hall”
Produced by Olumide Lucas, Annie Mangone, Ian Travis
Lyrics by Olumide Lucas, Annie Mangone, Ian Travis
Vocals by iMac

Dangerous
by “DJ Blu”
Produced by Liam Brady
Lyrics by Liam Brady
Vocals by Siri

Anomalies are Everything
by “Trancey Twosome”
Produced by Diego Fiori, Tim King

Electro-brain
by “Pistolas y Rosas”
Produced by Jessica Hernandez

Digital Pain
by “Los Conejitos del Fuego”
Produced by Noah Goldstein, David Taus
Lyrics by Noah Goldstein, David Taus
Vocals by Siri