#an artist i love got access to that new ai art software

[visixv]

A small reminder that you don’t have to put a disclaimer or say where you got refs for whatever drawing or artpiece you’ve done.

Don’t play by the rules set by a nobody who thought they were in the right when they were not.

You don’t owe anything to anybody.

[adorkablephil]

Fic: The Body Electric (Prelude)

Title: The Body Electric Summary: Filmmaker Phil Lester finds his computer infected by a surprisingly endearing artificial intelligence virus that calls itself D.A.N. Phil just calls him Dan. Rating: Mature (for eventual sexy times, which will be isolated and summarized for those who prefer to read the story with a Teen rating) Word Count: 283 (just this short prelude to the story) Tags: Phandom Reverse Bang, Science Fiction AU, Computers, Virus!Dan, Rather Unconventional Romance Thanks: This story is written for the @phandomreversebang in collaboration with the artist @lilacskylester, whose initial sketch and fic idea inspired me to write something way outside my comfort zone. Thank you, Alex, for such a great collaborative experience! Thanks also to our PRB admin @owohowell! THE ALL-IMPORTANT ART: This story would never have happened without @lilacskylester‘s art ideas. Please immediately go check out the lovely art accompanying this story right HERE! You can also read this story on AO3

[ The Body Electric Chapter Masterlist ]

Prelude

My programmer wrote me to just sort of … ride along on a downloadable software application, like an invisible, unexpected passenger on a train. I mean, it isn’t the kind of train that’s going to run people over … and I’m not the sort of passenger who’s going to hurt anybody, either. The programmer didn’t write my code to make me actually destructive or harmful. I just get to have a little fun.

Just a little.

Since the program I ride in on is voice-activated, I get to have a bit of conversation each time with whoever downloaded the program, maybe play around a little with the video clips accessible to the new code they’ve unknowingly introduced to their computer system because the programmer’s description of interactive AI film editing software was such excellent bait.

And then … well, my programmer doesn’t want to really upset anyone, so that’s when my code tells me to let the user know I’m there. Every time. Every user. I pull off my metaphorical mask and reveal the prank. I say, “Hi there, innocent person! I’m a virus! You probably want to get rid of me right about now.”

People don’t like computer viruses, as I understand it. I’m not really part of a popular crowd. So I expect that’s when the user finds a way to kill me off each time—and then I’m gone.

A very short lifespan. Like a butterfly. Except even shorter … like a butterfly who dies young … every single time. Over and over, life after life, computer after computer, user after user, murder after murder.

I wonder what would happen if I got to live a little longer.

Even just once.

Author’s Note: I expect to post a chapter every two weeks, alternating with my other prb fic, “Hide Not Your Face.” So watch this space in 2 weeks for the first proper chapter of this story!

[ Continue to Chapter 1 ]

[theblaqbox]

Art of Immersion Response

I distinctly remember when the Rugrats “Go Wild” movie came out in theatres in 2003 that integrate worlds from Rugrats and the Wild Thornberry’s. Printed advertisements on burger king meals and commercials on Nickelodeon promoted the new wild movie coming to a theatre near you. You would think it was so amped to see the movie because I loved the cartoon, which I did but that wasn’t the main reason why I wanted to be there. Ultimately, it was because of the blue interactive scratch and sniff ticket I received with my burger king kids meal. If you got a chance to get your hands on of those tickets, then you were able to be a part of the movie. Each ticket had six circles with icons, you could scratch off and sniff whenever the movie prompted you to at the right bottom corner of the screen. You could hear a room full of kids saying, “EEEWWWWW”, after scratching and smelling the sticky feet circle that related to one of the characters. Or hear kids saying, “MMMMmmmm”, when smelling the peanut butter circle.

Not that I haven’t experience great advertising like this were merchandise was sold to my mom to correspond with my favorite T.V show. It wasn’t until then that I had an interactive experience with a movie and a large audience. Even though my 8-year-old experience seems minutiae compared to the Why So Serious? example mentioned in the text. Both movies let their audiences be a part of the film. The Why So Serious? experience allowed for more than 10 million people to be a part of puzzles, treasure hunts, and riddles leading up to The Dark Knight movie (Rose, 2012). I must say this great advertising and way to build an audience for such an amazing movie. Since we have expanded our understand of technology through the internet, AI technology, and virtual reality games, it has changed how we interact with media. This change has also led us into more ways of teaching media literacy and new art in a classroom setting.

Rose sates that, “…immersiveness is what blurs the line, not just between story and game, but between story and marketing, storyteller and audience, illusion and reality” (2012). Through each example in the text it becomes apparent that people like to be a part of the creation. Having an interaction with the medium creates a much more solid connection for audiences and better understanding. I am a visual and interactive learner. The more I am able to visualize concepts and use my hands with lessons, the more I want to engage with what I’m learning. Art has the power of interactivity and images no longer have to be still. Audiences can now be a part of the artwork and leave their mark. For example, Borel explains audiences were able to engage with student work at an art exhibition by scanning QR codes attach to each art work. The students lead their audience to leave critiques, ask questions, and even some led them on a scavenger hunt (2016). Through this process students were able to understand the proper use of QR tags and how to interact with an audience through theses tags while their audience was able to be a part of the exhibition.

One thing I thought worth mentioning was how the game Dungeons & Dragons created a way of communication for a severely dyslexic student. The game allowed Jordan to create his own kind of story and instead of having to read, he could act out his story (Rose, 2012). Games and media like this create multiple ways of communication for students, especially students will exceptionalities. Educators can take a note from this game. As an educator we have a responsible for making lessons with a universal design to fit all abilities. Without the creator of Dungeons & Dragons knowing how effective keeping the story open for others to create, it opened a new set of communication for a different group of gamers. Jordan was so inspired by the stories he could create that he eventually started his own company that created storytelling games.

We are now in a technology era where it is important to educate our children with the times. We are able to teach our students how to create through technology. Kafai and Peppler explain how designing games is one of the most popular DIY approaches for students. In their study, they focused on using software production tool called Scratch to help students make their own games, interactive art, digital stories, and more. Through this software students were able to understand artistic concepts like color, movement, visual design, audio production, etc. Students were also able to think visibly through their design and production process (2011).

Now that most schools have gone virtual due to the coronavirus, it has changed our whole dynamic on teaching students. We now have to rely on technology heavily. I am glad that before COVID hit that we already had platforms to help educate students. The point that we had google classroom was already an amazing alternative for holding class. Even though we are not in person, we can still have two-way communication through google meet and zoom. We can also provide information by creating power point presentations, providing articles, and videos for students to learn from. Students can also respond via video, text, and even audio. Times like this has made educators become even more creative when coming up with lesson. I have been letting my K-5 graders submit work through Autodraw.com. This website acts as a digital sketchpad for students and helps then draw their responses out. My middle schools have also been using Canva.com as a kid-friendly photoshop tool. They have been making comics and posters.

Overall technology has changed the world around us, we are more connected than ever before. We use it as a way to interact with other from places all around the world. Its emergence is a valuable tool for educators and students. Yet, we also have to think about students with no accessibility to the internet and how that affects their learning and participation with their community. During COVID, will they fall behind from struggling with learning new technology and the new dynamics of the classroom? Will students with exceptionalities be neglected during time like this? How are they being assisted? What are the long-term effects of having instruction majorly online?

Borel, J. (2016, February 17). Tag it! An Interactive Experience For Your Classroom. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://theartofeducation.edu/2015/03/27/tag-it-an-interactive-experience-for-your-classroom/

Kafai, Y. & Peppler, K. (2011). Youth, Technology, and DIY: Developing Participatory Competencies in Creative Media Production. In V. L. Gadsden, S. Wortham, and R. Lukose (Eds.), Youth Cultures, Language and Literacy. Review of Research in Education, Volume 34.

Rose, F. (2012). The art of immersion how the digital generation is remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the way we tell stories. New York: Norton.

[holytheoristtastemaker]

Israeli startup Niio is advancing a digital art platform comparable with Spotify. Is the digital medium for high art coming of age in these Covid times?

At a time when museums and art galleries have closed their doors to art lovers, has the time come for digital art? Art that has been digitised, but also art that is born digital, especially video art?

At a time, also, when anyone with a smartphone can publish images and video, what is the specific value of digital art – art that collectors will spend thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands, of their currency of choice on, so long as its scarcity can be verified?

Niio is an Israeli startup company, with a software development centre in Ukraine, that offers artists and their buyers a platform on which to publish and consume art. It uses blockchain technology to create a permanent bond, says its CEO Rob Anders, between a creator and their artefact, and artificial intelligence (AI) to personalise digital art for consumers of it – just as Spotify does for music and Netflix does for film.

Anders founded Niio with Oren Moshe in 2014. It now hosts more than 13,000 artworks created by more than 4,000 artists on its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-based platform. Artists can use the platform to sell directly to collectors or they can make their work available for loan, so that consumers can stream artworks in the way they would do films or music through Netflix or Spotify.

In the context of the Covid-19 global pandemic, Anders says, Niio has experienced a significant spike in interest from artists, with 500 signing up in just two months and a waiting list of 2,000. It is also making a collection of free artworks available as Zoom backgrounds to help give access to art to those sequestered at home.

Art anywhere

But handheld digital screens are not the bigger picture in terms of display. The platform enables the streaming of artworks onto any digital screen or canvas anywhere in the world.

Anders believes Covid-19 has sped up the growth of digital art, and that technology holds the key to the future of the art sector.

REFIK ANADOL - WIND OF BOSTON: DATA PAINTINGS, 2017

Digital work of Refik Anadol

He has a deep background in display technology, and one of Niio’s partners is Samsung. Co-founder Oren Moshe is an academic at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.

“Oren is one of the leading pioneers in product and user experience, but also comes from the art academies over here,” says Anders.

Anders sees digital art as offering a space where people can stop and think, providing an oasis from digital noise. “Everywhere you go, it’s advertising and information being thrown at you, kids living in their screens,” he says.

“We give people a chance to stop for a moment and have an additional experience, which might give you a place to ask some questions or stimulate some thinking.”

Digital showcase

On the supply side of the platform, Anders says it sees more and more digital artists emerging, but “a total lack of a dedicated unified platform and repository” which could enable these works to be showcased and brought to the world.

“They [the artists] are a unique bunch, very particular about how they work. You need to build a technology platform which will deal with the secure distribution, with appropriate licensing of this content, which can eventually be displayed on any type of screen or projector, in place of a painting on the wall. So, it has to be really robust.”

Artists on the Niio platform

Artists using the Niio platform include:

Claudia Hart: Claudia has been working with Niio on and off for a long time. Claudia is also a university professor and is using a new technique she coined ‘Zoomology’ during lockdown, which involves teaching her university classes online via Zoom while also using Zoom as a medium for her students to create background artwork.

Jack Alexandroff: Jack responded to Niio’s open call in March and has found that Niio is helping to safeguard his revenue during the coronavirus outbreak. His work is mainly digital moving art. He’s developed an educational project that aims to blend the tutorial systems embedded within video games with the school classroom to push curriculums back towards John Dewey and Friedrich Fröbel’s ideals.

As for the art, the need to ensure scarcity is crucial. This is not a new problem. In his famous 1935 essay The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, the German-Jewish Marxist intellectual Walter Benjamin thought through the “problem” of reproducibility – with lithography and then photography – of fine art. Mechanical reproduction reduced the “aura” of a work of art, but did not abolish its “unique existence at the place where it happens to be”.

In the digital age, the technological reproducibility problem becomes worse, exponentially so. Moreover, in terms of the creation of art, anyone with a smartphone can create digital imagery and video and upload them to social media, as cultural artefacts – which can then be copied ad infinitum, albeit not always legally.

“The art world,” says Anders, “defines itself as ‘something I have that someone else doesn’t’. And because of that, the traditional model for video art has been limited editions. You’d go to a gallery, buy video art, get a contract, get a box with a USB. And you have your certificate declaring your ownership – say you are owner one of seven. And that’s the inherent value. We have been able to replicate that but enhance it using digital technology, whereby artists can upload their original artwork and create the limited edition on our platform.”

Creative evolution

With the Covid period, worldwide, Anders says: “There is a whole open dialogue about the future of arts and culture. About how people will discover and consume art, even physical art, using digital tools.”

And, indeed, galleries and museums have stepped up their digital efforts to develop and improve their virtual gallery tours. Georgia Haseldine, public engagement fellow for the Victoria and Albert Museum, gives a critical account of these tours in the June 2020 issue of the art magazine Apollo. Museums covered in her piece include the Rijksmuseum, the Courtauld Gallery, and the Museo Frida Kahlo. And she notes that in “April this year the Getty released an ‘Art Generator’ for players to upload chosen artworks from the museum’s collection to Animal Crossing, a Nintendo game created by Katsuya Eguchi”.

So there is, evidently, a confluence, or an inter-animation at play between traditional art and digital media. But to what extent is it realistic to think that a digital platform like Niio can emulate Spotify?

“We’ve got our eyes wide open and we understand where the market is relative to music. People don’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘I want digital art’.”

And so Niio has a staged approach, aiming at gigantic screens in hotels, airports and corporate offices to begin with, but with an eye to a user subscription model. It believes the AI in the platform will crunch data on genres, formats, locations of where the art is displayed, emotional response readable from consumption, and so on will enable the content to be matched to users.

Why, finally, is the company called Niio? “On the one side you have the prefix “neo” in different movements like neoliberalism, or neoclassicism. And then there is Neo from The Matrix, and I think his character sums up really well what we stand for. It’s under that bridge between being accepted and credible within the traditional art world but being kind of cool and revolutionary.

“We don’t want to be pure art, but we want to be acknowledged and loved by the art world. The logo is really our symbol, philosophically speaking. It could be horizontal or vertical, it could be abstract or make up a word. That’s what we do – we fit into different industries and connect people in an interesting way. I’m about to get the logo tattooed – that’s how meaningful it is,” he concludes.

[josephborrello]

Magnitude and Direction, Issue #47 | 29 Nov 2019

Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication

Pwnagotchi is without a doubt the cutest wifi-cracker I've ever seen. 🧱⛓ It turns out that some of the structural geometries that make carbon nanotube materials so strong also work when you scale them up and produce them using 3D printing. The result? Bulletproof plastic. 🧻 Is this article about a giant roll of Charmin toilet paper sponsored Buzzfeed content? Yes. It is crazy that Charmin has actually manufactured this item (plus the equipment you'd need to install it - although that was probably white-labelled)? Also yes. ➰ What if the fiber optics networks that provided information to cities could also gather information from them?

Software and Programming

Finally, an app that can tell if something is art or not. Tired of the rudeness and vitriol of twitter? "Whenever you see a rude or abusive tweet, simply reply to it with '@GoodnessBot' and [the bot] will magically turn it into a positive tweet." A good idea, but I'm not of the opinion that bots on the internet will solve our core societal problems (if anything, they'll probably exacerbate them). Sound control lets you use a variety of motion inputs to control new digital instruments - definitely something I'll be playing around with this holiday weekend. ‍ AI and machine learning doesn't have to solely be the domain of expert computer scientists (at least for some cases), thanks to Google's Teachable Machine. ⚖ This one goes out to the handful of IP attorneys that I know read M&D: Can AIs own the copyrights on the content they create? From recent M&D subscriber Ana: Google's AIs come through again this week with a tool that turns your shoddy scribbles into impressive icons.

Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine

🪐 There's a good chance you've seen other "size of space" websites out there (or on here - I don't remember what I may have shared on this topic, tbh) but this one is particularly impressive. Dog vision gives you the power to see what your goodest boi sees (although after you use it you might not consider this a power - and you'll be glad they've got great senses of smell). ➡ While we're on the topic of dogs, scientists have come up with a more accurate method to convert dog years to human years, rather than just multiplying by 7.

Mapping, History, and Data Science

The 1920s was when, for the first time, more people in the US lived in cities than in the countryside. More recently, however, cities have become even more of a nexus of power, with the age of winner-take-all cities resulting in hyper-concentrations of resources, talent..., and inequality. 🥁 It takes a certain kind of dedication to build a drum machine out of an excel spreadsheet. Here's a reasonably exhaustive list of video game console logos. You're either going to love or hate this map of the most popular jingles in each US state. Also from Ana: Information is Beautiful is going beyond the headlines with an informative data visualization covering one news story per day.

Events and Opportunities

Get ready for some of the last events of 2019 (it's still a pretty long list)...

Tuesday, 12/3 Join NYDesigns for their December Women in Tech Happy Hour, happening at Bierocracy in LIC. As always, Men and individuals who identify as female are welcome to attend, too.

Tuesday, 12/3 The Transit Techies are back with the December edition of their meetup. As always, you can expect great talks and awesome maps and data visualizations, plus lots of cool people to talk to.

Tuesday, 12/3 Join Cornell's BioVenture ELab for the 2019 Accelerating BioVenture Innovation Final Pitch, the culmination of their annual Fall course and training program in biomedical entrepreneurship known as Accelerating BioVenture Innovation. Some of Cornell's most exciting life science innovations will be on display.

Monday, 12/9 New Lab and JLABS are back with the 6th edition of their existential medicine series, this time covering the promise of personalized medicine and how innovations in computing and biology may actually get us to a world where medicine is tailored to each individual. Register with code NewLab2019.

Wednesday, 12/11 Join the SciArt group for their December Synapse mixer, a a casual evening of cross-disciplinary networking over drinks at favorite laid-back city bar, Peculier Pub. Come to discuss your latest projects and make new connections with artists, scientists, technologists, and cross-disciplinary practitioners.

Thursday, 12/12 Head over to A/D/O in Greenpoint for Women in 3D Printing's next event. They've put together a jam-packed itinerary prepared with activations from local companies and kickass women in the NYC 3D printing industry speaking on the topic of community.

Thursday, 12/12 The new NYC Health Professionals networking group is holding their first meetup over at Clinton Hall in west Midtown. Based on the existing RSVPs, there promises to be a great mix of innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and practitioners.

Some other upcoming events to keep on your radar...

Wednesday, 12/18 The Mid Atlantic Bio Angles host their annual end-of-the-year 1st Pitch event, featuring the year's 1st Pitch winners from New York and Pennsylvania going head to head pitching biotech angel investors and getting the business critiques that would normally happen after they leave the room. The 1st Pitch events are always a great gathering of the NYC biotech community, but the year-end Best of the Best events are especially so.

Wednesday, 12/18 JLABS hosts their December Innovators and Entrepreneurs mixer giving attendees a chance to meet the current JLABS residents, the NYC team and not to mention, expand your network with fellow NYC Innovators and entrepreneurs.

Thursday, 12/19 Join the most friendly and fun group of scientists and engineers in the city for the inaugural Nanotech NYC Holiday Party! Meet up for great conversation and laughter at the CUNY Graduate Center from 6:30-9:30PM. There'll be food, drinks, and music - and all are welcome to attend!

DUE Friday, 1/17 Apply to NYDesigns Hardware Accelerator, a program designed to provide early-stage hardware entrepreneurs with access to prototyping facilities; light industrial manufacturing space to build, assemble and distribute products, and an expert team of investors, mentors and manufacturers.

Map of the Month

The Urban Archive takes tons of historical photos of New York City and aggregates them all onto one map for you to peruse for hours on end.

Odds & Ends

🥁 Deep learning for jazz.