From dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org Mon Oct 13 17:37:00 2008 From: dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org (dorkbotbristol-announce@dorkbot.org) Date: Mon Oct 13 17:37:17 2008 Subject: [dorkbotbristol] October Dorkbot Show 'n' Tell Message-ID: <48F3BF7C.3000603@slackmail.co.uk> Hi All, Pleased to announce that after last month's short break, Dorkbot is back! Returning yet again to the Pervasive Media Studio in Anchor Square, Dorkbot Bristol's October meeting to take place on Tuesday 21st starting at 7PM and running until 10PM, when we'll then adjourn to a nearby watering hole to carry on chatting about all things dorkbotical. This month's Dorkbot is another Show 'n' Tell session where you are all invited to come and show a thing, enthuse about something they love, share new ideas or even give a short presentation of a project to find people to work with. We also hope to have a special guest or two to come and show us what they're up to; more information on the web shortly: http://www.dorkbot.org/dorkbotbristol/?p=96 Unfortunately the days of free drinks is over :( Please note drinks will kindly be provided by the PMS, but they will appreciate your kind donations. You may also feel free to bring your own as well ;) Hope to see you all there, Mike. -- ---------- Mike Harris Mobile UK: +44 (0) 7811 671 893 PGP: http://mbharris.co.uk/mike.gpg.pub From dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org Wed Oct 22 05:23:26 2008 From: dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org (dorkbotbristol-announce@dorkbot.org) Date: Wed Oct 22 05:23:53 2008 Subject: [dorkbotbristol] Thanks for last night's Dorkbot Message-ID: <48FEF10E.2090202@slackmail.co.uk> Hi All, Thanks to all of you who came last night and made it another great Dorkbot. I was initially a little nervous faced with doing one on my lonesome. But thanks to the excellent assistance of Ale, and of Victoria and Genevieve from the PMS, and of course not forgetting all of you that came along and took made, it all run smoothly. I've put up a summary of last night with links. If anyone has any additions or corrections then please let myself or Rachel know and we'll update it. http://www.dorkbot.org/dorkbotbristol/?p=98 Also just to remind you that chaostreff bristol's hallowe'en kite building session will be starting at noon this coming sunday 26th: http://bristol.chaostreff.org/hacklab/ The next Dorkbot meeting will be on November 18th, same place, same time. If you'd like to present something, or have an idea for a theme, know someone who would, then please email myself and Rachel and let us know. Once again thanks for coming and keep dorkbotting everyone! Cheers, Mike. -- ---------- Mike Harris Mobile UK: +44 (0) 7811 671 893 PGP: http://mbharris.co.uk/mike.gpg.pub From dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org Tue Oct 28 07:46:00 2008 From: dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org (dorkbotbristol-announce@dorkbot.org) Date: Tue Oct 28 07:48:33 2008 Subject: [dorkbotbristol] Shaping Supertoys 25th November 2008 at the Arnolfini Message-ID: <4906FB78.4050802@slackmail.co.uk> Hi All, Victoria at the Watershed asked me to forward to the following to you all, that you might be interested in attending. Note you need to sign up to it. Next Dorkbot will be the Tuesday before this at the usual place. See you there. Mike. The Creative Technology Network Presents: Shaping Supertoys Venue: Arnolfini / Theatre. 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA Date: 25 November 2008 Time: (5.30-6pm - Optional tour of the Supertoys exhibition) 6-8.30pm - Main Event 8.30pm - An informal visit to the Arnolfini bar How will product design change as computing power becomes stronger, smaller and cheaper? Supertoys already integrate themselves tightly into society. They speak secret languages, play games, seek praise, form relationships, and seamlessly become ?the perfect friend? ? but how will they develop in the future? This practical workshop, invites you to join a team of technologists, creatives, product designers and young experts to consider ?if silicon chips were super cheap and super powerful, what toy would you design?? A prize will be awarded to the winning pitch, as voted for by a panel of young experts. This event is run in collaboration with Arnolfini, in response to Supertoys, 22 Nov - 18 Jan 2009. This is a free event, but please reserve your place by visiting: http://creative-technology-network.eventwax.com/shaping-supertoys -- ---------- Mike Harris Mobile UK: +44 (0) 7811 671 893 PGP: http://mbharris.co.uk/mike.gpg.pub From dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org Wed Oct 29 04:24:54 2008 From: dorkbotbristol-announce at dorkbot.org (dorkbotbristol-announce@dorkbot.org) Date: Wed Oct 29 05:25:43 2008 Subject: [dorkbotbristol] Robot hacking workshop In-Reply-To: <92819.21644.qm@web51811.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: The Arnolfini is one of Europe?s leading centres for the contemporary arts located in central bristol. Its next upcoming event is Supertoys. Supertoys is an exhibition and related events exploring toys, affective machines and play. Artists, technologists, children and adults examine how toys operate as 'transitional objects' in allowing feelings to be carried between the human subject and external objects. In the lead up to Christmas, Supertoys is a chance to think about toys in new ways. The exhibition runs from 22 November 2008 - 18 January 2009. One of the key exhibitors in the Supertoys event is Natalie Jeremijenko. Natalie Jeremijenko is an artist whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. Jeremijenko's projects, which explore socio-technical change, have been exhibited by several museums and galleries, including the MASSMoCA, the Whitney Museum, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt. A 1999 Rockefeller Fellow, she was recently named one of the 40 most influential designers by I.D. Magazine and one of the inaugural Top 100 Young Innovators by the MIT Technology Review. Part of Jeremijenko's exhibit involves a group contribution to create a number of feral robot dogs made from "hacked" toys. The Arnolfini is taking this as opportunity to provide six workshop sessions during the length of the Supertoys exhibition. The aim of these workshops are to introduce participants to the Arduino microcontroller board, and then use the Arduino to control a number of the mentioned feral robot dogs. The Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. For these reasons its a great platform to achieve this task. The feral dogs will be made from used electronic toys, and with aid of the Arduino, the behaviour of these toys will be altered to suits the task. The feral robot dogs will be designed with the aim to interact with their environment and perform some desired behavior when they discover something of interest. The Workshops: The six workshops taking place in the Arnolfini will teach participants to use the Arduino boards, some basic and easy programming, and the necessary electronics to create the feral dogs. A maximum of 12 people will in smaller groups create four dogs in total using the tools and toys provided in the workshop. Through attending the workshops the participants will learn the concept of "hacking" (changing how electronic things work) an introduction to Arduino, an introduction to electronics and programming. This will provide with enough information to start making your own interactive projects using sensors and motors. In addition to these workshops, workstations will be setup within the gallery space for the duration of the exhibition for any participants who wish to further their work with their dogs. During the final workshop the dogs that participants produce will be taken to a brownfield and filmed to record how they interact with their environment. To give you a better idea of what will be produced, a similar project of Natalie Jeremijenko can be seen herehttp://www.inhabitat.com/2007/02/26/robotic-pollution-sniffing-eco-dogs/ . This event is open to complete beginners through to experts. The Arnolfini is keen to mix all disciplines from visual artists through to roboticists and computer programmers. Would you like to participate in this event? Workshops will held at the Arnolfini, Bristol on the following dates from 6:30pm until 9/10pm - 27th November 2008 4th December 2008 11th December 2008 18th December 2008 8th January 2008 15th January 2008 The location of the Arnolfini can be found here http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/pages/getting-here/ There will be a fee of ?40 to participate. In return you will be provided with the six discusses workshops, one Arduino to continue your learning after the event and recognition of your contribution to the exhibition. To participate in this event email Ben Winstone at the following email address voidnoise@gmail.com stating your interest, your background. Please note that at least one member per group will need to provide a laptop in order to program the arduino boards during the workshops. Places are limited so apply asap. The cut off date for confirmations is Monday 24th Nov Regards, Ben Winstone -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotbristol-announce/attachments/20081029/8627f296/attachment.html