Tag Archives: British Broadcasting Corporation

The Space, a new digital museum opens with an international splash

Erica Berger in a June 14, 2014 article for Fast Company provides a fascinating account of a project where Arts Council England, the BBC, Open Data Institute, and other cultural groups partnered to create: The Space (Note: Links have been removed),

This Space is no final frontier. Rather, it’s just begun as a new place for digital and experimental art.

A free and public website aimed at discovering the best emerging digital artistic talent around the world, The Space opened yesterday and is launching with a weekend [June 14 – 15, 2014] hackathon hosted by the Tate Modern in London, a first for the formidable institution. Born from a partnership between Arts Council England, the BBC, Open Data Institute, and other cultural groups, it’s “a gallery without walls,” says Alex Graham, chair of The Space. The Space is putting out an international open call for projects, the first round of which is due July 11. The projects will be funded by the partnering groups with amounts ranging from £20,000 (about $34,000) to £60,000 ($101,000) for an individual commission, and up to 50% of the total cost. Each Friday, new collaborations will launch.

Among the first installations are pieces from high-profile artists, including Marina Abramovic, who broadcasted live on the site at midnight last night, and Ai Weiwei, who has an interactive piece on The Space. There will also be a live, Google hangout theater project with actors in London, Barcelona, and Lagos and directed by Erin Gilley.

The Space can be found here,

About The Space

The Space is a free website for artists and audiences to create and explore exciting new art, commissioned by us and shared around the Whole Wide World.

We commission new talent and great artists from all art forms, creative industries, technical and digital backgrounds, through Open Calls and partnerships. The Space is one of the most exciting places on the internet to find new art to explore and enjoy.

An open call was launched on June 12, 2014,

The Space launches first Open Call
Posted … on 12 June 2014

The Space Open Call is looking for original, groundbreaking ideas for digital art. We are encouraging artists to take risks and do crazy things with technology!

This is a great opportunity for artists to be bold, ambitious and experimental, creating a work which can communicate wi people round the World via mobile, tablets and desktops.

We are seeking artists working across a range of art forms and industries including, creative and digital, technology and coding, art and culture sectors, to pitch the very best original ideas to the Open Call.

If you have an idea for The Space, please go to thespace.org/opencall and complete the online form before the closing date: 12 noon (GMT) 11 July 2014.​

Organizers have produced an inspirational video for this call,

I don’t know if this offer is still available (from Erica Berger’s Fast Company article about The Space) but here it is,

Sign up to be one of the first 10,000 newsletter subscribers to The Space and receive a free digital work of art from Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller.

I availed myself of the offer at approximately 1000 hours PDT, June 16, 2014.

The ultimate DIY: ‘How to build a robotic man’ on BBC 4

British Broadcasting Corporation’s Channel 4 (BBC 4) will be telecasting the ultimate do-it-yourself (DIY) project, How to build a bionic man on Feb. 7, 2013, 9 pm GMT. Corinne Burns in a Jan. 30, 2013 posting for the Guardian science blogs describes the documentary (Note: Links have been removed),

Created by Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP, the TV company behind Touching The Void and Richard Hammond’s Engineering Connections), with the help of robotics experts Shadow Robot Company, the bionic man was conceived as a literal response to the question: how close is bionic technology is to catching up with – and even exceeding – the capabilities of the human body?

DSP got in touch with Dr Bertolt Meyer, a charismatic young researcher from Zurich University and himself a lifelong user of prosthetic technology, and invited him to, essentially, rebuild himself in bionic form. The result can be seen in How to Build a Bionic Man, to be broadcast on Channel 4 on 7 February. The Bionic Man himself will then reside in the Science Museum’s Who Am I? gallery from 7 February until 11 March.

Richard Walker (left), chief roboticist, and Dr Bertolt Meyer (right) at the Body Lab. On the table is an iWalk BiOM ankle. Photograph: Channel 4  [downloaded from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/jan/30/build-bionic-man]

Richard Walker (left), chief roboticist, and Dr Bertolt Meyer (right) at the Body Lab. On the table is an iWalk BiOM ankle. Photograph: Channel 4 [downloaded from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/jan/30/build-bionic-man]

Burns goes on to discuss some of the issues raised by the increasing sophistication of prosthetics (Note: Links have been removed),

The engineering behind modern prosthetics is certainly awe-inspiring. The iLimb Ultra, of which Bertolt is a user, is part of the new class of myoelectric prosthetics. These custom-made devices function by placing electrical sensors directly in contact with the skin. These sensors pick up the signals generated by muscular movements in the residual limb – signals that are then translated by software into natural, intuitive movement in the prosthetic limb.

We all know about prosthetic limbs, even if many of us are not aware of just how sophisticated they now are. Less familiar, though, is the idea of bionic organs. Far removed from the iron lung of yore, these new fully integrated artificial body parts are designed to plug directly into our own metabolism – in effect, they are not within us, they become us. They’re the ultimate in biomimicry.

It’s one thing to use a bionic organ to replace lost function. But in a future world where we could, feasibly, replace virtually all of our body, will we blur the boundaries of artificial and natural to an extent that we have to recalibrate our definition of self and non-self? That’s especially pertinent when we consider the reality of neural prosthetics, like the “memory chips” developed by Dr Theodore Berger. Instinctively, many of us are uncomfortable with brain implants – but should we be? And will this discomfort be reduced if we broaden our definition of self?

Bertolt himself is pleased with the increasing normalisation, and even “coolness”, of prosthetics. But he expresses caution about the potential for elective use of such technology – would we ever choose to remove a healthy body part, in order to replace it with a stronger, better prosthetic?

Burns’ posting isn’t the only place where these discussion points and others related to human enhancement and robotic technologies are being raised, in a Jan. 18, 2013 posting I mentioned *a television advertisement for a new smartphone that ‘upgrades your brain’ that ‘normalises’ the idea of brain implants and other enhancements for everybody. As well, The Economist recently featured an article, You, robot? in its September 1st – 7th, 2012 issue about the European Union’s RoboLaw Project,

SPEAKING at a conference organised by The Economist earlier this year [2012], Hugh Herr, a roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, described disabilities as conditions that persist “because of poor technology” and made the bold claim that during the 21st century disability would be largely eliminated. What gave his words added force was that half way through his speech, after ten minutes of strolling around the stage, he unexpectedly pulled up his trouser legs to reveal his bionic legs, and then danced a little jig. In future, he suggested, people might choose to replace an arthritic, painful limb with a fully functional robotic one. “Why wouldn’t you replace it?” he asked. “We’re going to see a lot of unusual situations like that.”

It is precisely to consider these sorts of situations, and the legal and ethical conundrums they will pose, that a new research project was launched in March. Is a prosthetic legally part of your body? When is it appropriate to amputate a limb and replace it with a robotic one? What are the legal rights of a person with “locked in” syndrome who communicates via a brain-computer interface? Do brain implants and body-enhancement devices require changes to the definition of disability? The RoboLaw project is an effort to anticipate such quandaries and work out where and how legal frameworks might need to be changed as the technology of bionics and neural interfaces improves. Funded to the tune of €1.9m ($2.3m), of which €1.4m comes from the European Commission, it brings together experts from engineering, law, regulation, philosophy and human enhancement.

There have been some recent legal challenges as to what constitutes one’s body (from The Economist article, You, robot?),

If you are dependent on a robotic wheelchair for mobility, for example, does the wheelchair count as part of your body? Linda MacDonald Glenn, an American lawyer and bioethicist, thinks it does. Ms Glenn (who is not involved in the RoboLaw project) persuaded an initially sceptical insurance firm that a “mobility assistance device” damaged by airline staff was more than her client’s personal property, it was an extension of his physical body. The airline settled out of court.

RoboLaw is a European Union Framework Programme 7-funded two year project, which started in 2012. There is a conference to be held in the Netherlands, April 23 – 24, 2013, from the RoboLaw home page,

RoboLaw Authors Workshop and Volume on ‘Opportunities and risks of robotics in relation to human values’

23-24 April 2013, Tilburg University, Tilburg (The Netherlands)

Call for paper and participation. Robotic technologies, taken to encompass anything from ‘traditional’ robots to emerging technologies in the field of biomedical research, such as nanotechnologies, bionics, and neural interfaces, as well as innovative biomedical applications, such as biomechatronic prostheses, hybrid bionic systems and bio- mechatronic components for sensory and motor augmentation, will have a profound impact on our lives. They may also affect human values, such as privacy, autonomy, bodily integrity, health, etc. In this workshop, we will focus on the impact of new technologies, and particularly robotics, on fundamental rights and human values. …

Important dates
Before 1 January 2013: Send an email to Ronald Leenes confirming your attendance, expressing your intention to either submit a paper or act as a commentator/reviewer.
Before 1 February: Send a 300 word abstract of the intended paper to Ronald Leenes
Before 8 February: Notification of acceptance.
Before 1 March: If your abstract has been accepted, send a draft of your full paper in PDF format to Ronald Leenes
Before 5 March: Circulation of papers
23-24 April 2013: Workshop
10 May: Selected final papers to be handed in.

According to the schedule, it’s a bit late to start the process for submitting an abstract but it never hurts to try.

Canadian academic, Gregor Wolbring, assistant professor, Dept of Community Health Sciences, Program in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at the University of Calgary and past president of the Canadian Disability Studies Association, offers a nuanced perspective on human enhancement issues and the term, ableism. From my Aug. 30, 2011 posting on cyborgs, eyeborgs and others,

… Gregor’s June 17, 2011 posting on the FedCan blog,

The term ableism evolved from the disabled people rights movements in the United States and Britain during the 1960s and 1970s.  It questions and highlights the prejudice and discrimination experienced by persons whose body structure and ability functioning were labelled as ‘impaired’ as sub species-typical. Ableism of this flavor is a set of beliefs, processes and practices, which favors species-typical normative body structure based abilities. It labels ‘sub-normative’ species-typical biological structures as ‘deficient’, as not able to perform as expected.

The disabled people rights discourse and disability studies scholars question the assumption of deficiency intrinsic to ‘below the norm’ labeled body abilities and the favoritism for normative species-typical body abilities. The discourse around deafness and Deaf Culture would be one example where many hearing people expect the ability to hear. This expectation leads them to see deafness as a deficiency to be treated through medical means. In contrast, many Deaf people see hearing as an irrelevant ability and do not perceive themselves as ill and in need of gaining the ability to hear. Within the disabled people rights framework ableism was set up as a term to be used like sexism and racism to highlight unjust and inequitable treatment.

Ableism is, however, much more pervasive.

Ableism based on biological structure is not limited to the species-typical/ sub species-typical dichotomy. With recent science and technology advances, and envisioned advances to come, we will see the dichotomy of people exhibiting species-typical and the so-called sub species-typical abilities labeled as impaired, and in ill health. On the other side we will see people exhibiting beyond species-typical abilities as the new expectation norm. An ableism that favours beyond species-typical abilities over species-typical and sub species-typical abilities will enable a change in meaning and scope of concepts such as health, illness, rehabilitation, disability adjusted life years, medicine, health care, and health insurance. For example, one will only be labeled as healthy if one has received the newest upgrade to one’s body – meaning one would by default be ill until one receives the upgrade.

You can find more about Gregor’s work on his University of Calgary webpage or his blog.

Finally, for anyone who wants a look at BBC 4’s ‘biionic man’,

A television company asked Dr Bertolt Meyer – who has a prosthetic arm – to rebuild himself in bionic form. Photograph: Channel 4 [downloaded from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/jan/30/build-bionic-man]

A television company asked Dr Bertolt Meyer – who has a prosthetic arm – to rebuild himself in bionic form. Photograph: Channel 4 [downloaded from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/jan/30/build-bionic-man]

* The articles ‘an’ was corrected to ‘a’ on July 16, 2013.

Mathematical theorems as spiritual practice

Alex Bellos in an Oct. 16, 2012 article for the UK’s Guardian newspaper discusses a unique practice combining spirituality and mathematics (Note: I have removed a link),

… one of the most intriguing practices in the history of mathematics.

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, the Japanese used to hang up pictures of maths theorems at their shrines.

Called “sangaku”, the pictures were both religious offerings and public announcements of the latest discoveries.

It’s a little like as if Isaac Newton had decided to hang up his monographs at the local church instead of publishing them in books.

More than 700 sangaku are known to have survived, and the above shape is a detail from the oldest one that exists in its complete form.

Here’s a picture of a sangaku that Bellos took while in Japan to make a documentary on numeracy for BBC Radio 4,

Picture: Alex Bellos

The purpose of a sangaku was threefold: to show off mathematical accomplishment, to thank Buddha and to pray for more mathematical knowledge.

There are more images and details in Bellos article about this intriguing practice. I look forward to hearing more about Bellos’ documentary, Land of the Rising Sums, due to be broadcast Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 on BBC Radio 4 from 11 – 11:30 am GMT.

Thailand’s NANOTEC develops nanotechnology-enabled solutions for addressing natural disasters

Thailand  has invested heavily in nanotechnology research and, as noted in my Dec. 6, 2011 posting, the country’s National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) has made disaster mitigation solutions a major focus. An undated (June 2012?) news release at the NANOTEC website describes a new water purification system (SOS mobile water purification system) that’s been developed,

Researchers at Thailand’s National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) have build the first locally made prototype solar powered water purification unit “SOS water” which combined the use of antimicrobial nanocoating to ceramic filters. Compared to conventional ceramic filter, an antimicrobial nanocoating ceramic filter will increase an extra security by killing or incapacitating bacteria left in the water and preventing the growth of mold and algae in the body of the filter. The project was implemented as a result of the need to provide drinking water to communities affected by the 2011 mega flooding in Thailand.

The researchers adapted the antimicrobial nanocoating know-how for water filtration and assembled into in the production of mobile solar-operating system (SOS) water purification. The raw water goes through 6 filtration steps one of which is the antimicrobial nanocoating ceramic filtration unit. The quality of drinking water meets the 2010 guide standard of drinking water by Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. The SOS water system is capable of producing 200 liters of drinking water per hour and easily integrated into a pick-up, light truck, a trailer or a flat hull boat. The researchers have collaborated with the Thai Red Cross Society to do field testing of a prototype SOS water the result of which was outstanding. NANOTEC has donated the prototype SOS water to HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Executive Vice President of the Thai Red Cross Society on June 28, 2012 for community relief effort. Also attending the royal ceremony was Dr. Plodprasob Suraswadi, Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Dr. Pairash Thajchayapong, Chairman of NANOTEC Executive Board, and Dr. Thaweesak Koanantakool, President of National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA).

“The 2011 flood in Thailand was an eye opener for both the public and the government sector and we are glad to be in a position to utilize our research capabilities to help minimize the suffering of rural communities during the recent flooding” said Prof. Sirirurg Songsivilai, Executive Director of NANOTEC. “It is our hope that the SOS water will become a must-have item for national relief effort and rural community use”.

Dr. Chamorn Chawengkijwanich, researcher at NANOTEC and head of SOS water project informed that silver atoms are chemically bonded to the ceramic’s filter surface. The filtering function is long lasting and there no traces of silver particles are detected in the drinking water. SOS water is a stand alone unit which can be setup and operated using solar energy within 10-15 minutes.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has produced a 6.5 min. video highlighting the SOS water purification system and other disaster relief innovations such as a replacement for traditional sand bags (nSacks) and a new type of mosquito netting to protect against malaria (if your country has suffered massive floods as they did in Thailand in 2011, the standing water provides a new breeding ground for mosquitos and an increased likelihood of malaria).

The Code; a preview of the BBC documentary being released in Canada and the US

The three episodes (Numbers, Shapes, and Prediction)  of The Code, a BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) documentary featuring Professor Marcus du Sautoy, focus on a ‘code’ that according to du Sautoy unlocks the secrets to the laws governing the universe.

During the weekend (June 16 & 17, 2012) I had the pleasure of viewing the two-disc DVD set which is to be released tomorrow, June 19, 2012, in the US and Canada.  It’s a beautiful and, in its way, exuberant exploration of patterns that recur throughout nature and throughout human endeavours. In the first episode, Numbers, du Sautoy relates the architecture of the Chartres Cathedral (France) , St. Augustine‘s (a Roman Catholic theologian born in an area we now call Algeria) sacred numbers, the life cycle of the periodic cicada in Alabama, US and more to number patterns. Here’s an excerpt of du Sautoy in Alabama with Dr. John Cooley discussing the cicadas’ qualities as pets and their remarkable 13 year life cycle,

In the second episode, Shapes,  du Sautoy covers beehive construction (engineering marvels), bird migrations and their distinct shapes (anyone who’s ever seen a big flock of birds move as one has likely marveled at the shapes the flock takes as it moves from area to another), computer animation, soap bubbles and more, explaining how these shapes can be derived from the principle of simplicity or as du Sautoy notes, ‘nature is lazy’. The question being, how do you make the most efficient structure to achieve your ends, i.e., structure a bird flock so it moves efficiently when thousands and thousands are migrating huge distances, build the best beehive while conserving your worker bees’ energies and extracting the most honey possible, create stunning animated movies with tiny algorithms, etc.?

Here’s du Sautoy with ‘soap bubbleologist’ Tom Noddy who’s demonstrating geometry in action,

For the final episode, Prediction, du Sautoy brings the numbers and geometry together demonstrating repeating patterns such as fractals which dominate our landscape, our biology, and our universe. du Sautoy visits a Rock Paper Scissors tournament in New York City trying to discern why some folks can ‘win’ while others cannot (individuals who can read other people’s patterns while breaking their own are more successful), discusses geographic profiling with criminal geographic profiler Prof. Kim Rossmo, Jackson Pollock’s paintings and his fractals, amongst other intriguing patterns.

I paid special to the Rossmo segment as he created and developed his geographic profiling techniques when he worked for the Vancouver (Canada) Police Department (VPD) and studied at a nearby university. As this groundbreaking work was done in my neck of the woods and Rossmo was treated badly by the VPD, I felt a special interest. There’s more about Rossmo’s work and the VPD issues in the Wikipedia essay (Note: I have removed links from the excerpt.),

D. Kim Rossmo is a Canadian criminologist specializing in geographic profiling. He joined the Vancouver Police Department as a civilian employee in 1978 and became a sworn officer in 1980. In 1987 he received a Master’s degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University and in 1995 became the first police officer in Canada to obtain a doctorate in criminology. His dissertation research resulted in a new criminal investigative methodology called geographic profiling, based on Rossmo’s formula.

In 1995, he was promoted to detective inspector and founded a geographic profiling section within the Vancouver Police Department. In 1998, his analysis of cases of missing sex trade workers determined that a serial killer was at work, a conclusion ultimately vindicated by the arrest and conviction of Robert Pickton in 2002. A retired Vancouver police staff sergeant has claimed that animosity toward Rossmo delayed the arrest of Pickton, leaving him free to carry out additional murders. His analytic results were not accepted at the time and after a falling out with senior members of the department he left in 2001. His unsuccessful lawsuit against the Vancouver Police Board for wrongful dismissal exposed considerable apparent dysfunction within that department.

… he moved to Texas State University where he currently holds the Endowed Chair in Criminology and is director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation. …

Within what appeared to be chaos, Rossmo found order. Somehow Jackson Pollock did the same thing to achieve entirely different ends, a new form of art. Here’s a video clip of du Sautoy with artist and physicist, Richard Taylor,

Intuitively, Pollock dripped paint onto his canvases creating fractals decades before mathematician, Benoit Mandelbrot, coined the phrase and established the theory.  (I wrote previously about Jackson Pollock [and fluid dynamics] in my June 30, 2011 posting.)

I gather that du Sautoy’s ‘code’ will offer a unified theory drawing together numbers, patterns, and shapes as they are found throughout the universe in nature  and in our technologies and sciences.

The DVDs offer three extras (4 mins. each): Phi’s the Limit (beauty and the golden ratio or Phi), Go Forth and Multiply (a base 2 system developed by Ethiopian traders predating binary computer codes by millenia) and Imagining the Impossible: The Mathematical Art of M. C. Escher  (Dutch artist’s [Escher] experiments with tessellation/tiling).

I quite enjoyed the episodes although I was glad to have read James Gleick‘s book, Chaos (years ago) before viewing the third episode, Prediction and I was a little puzzled by du Sautoy’s comment in the first episode, Numbers, that atoms are not divisible. As I recall, you create an atomic bomb when you split an atom but it may have been one of those comments that didn’t come out as intended or I misunderstood.

You can find out more about The Code DVDs at Athena Learning. The suggested retail cost is $39.99 US or $52.99 CAD (which seems a little steep for Canadian purchasers since the Canadian dollar is close to par these days and, I believe, has been for some time).

In sum, this is a very engaging look at numbers and mathematics.