Category: Interaction Design

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It’s Alive! Colloquy of Mobiles at ZKM — Progress Update #16

Colloquy of Mobiles at ZKM

Above and below: Replica of Gordon Pask’s 1968 “Colloquy of Mobiles” by TJ McLeish and Paul Pangaro at ZKM. Photo and video by TJ McLeish and Patricia Machado.

Today at the ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany, a fully-animated Colloquy of Mobiles was displayed at the opening of their exhibition titled »BioMedia: The Age of Media with Life-like Behavior«. Our replica of  Gordon Pask’s 1968 Colloquy is perfectly poised to respond to ZKM’s intentions as expressed on the exhibition’s web page: “Who or what defines what is alive and what is intelligent? … What does cooperation of human beings and artificial agents look like? … The exhibition »BioMedia« invites visitors to learn about and discuss possible forms of cohabitation between organic and artificial forms of life.”

When Pask conceived the Colloquy of Mobiles in 1968, those questions were hardly on everyone’s mind — though they certainly are today. Continue reading “It’s Alive! Colloquy of Mobiles at ZKM — Progress Update #16”

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#NewMacy 2021: Responding to Pandemics of “Today’s AI”

Recursion among Digital, Analog, and Cybernetics

This post is an overview of the direction of #NewMacy Conversations as of August, 2021.  Click here to read #NewMacy documentation, including more recent activities .

The need for #NewMacy Meetings arose at the start of COVID-19. Overpowering realizations about global systemic challenges, beyond the current biological pandemic, demanded response. Design began with a broad community of colleagues through conversation and critique. A comprehensive manifesto emerged, followed by a focused and justifiable path for responding to the pandemic of “Today’s AI”. Most recently a conference keynote has captured the rationale and overall plan.

Why “Today’s AI” as a phrase? Not all AI is negative—yet so much of the artificial intelligence inside of today’s tech is manipulating what we see and distorting the world we share. Fueled by massive increases in “big data” and compute power, the machine-learning algorithms behind “Today’s AI” are tirelessly fomenting polarization, spreading social bias, pushing irrelevant products, co-opting our attention, addicting us to harmful activities, and surveilling our lives. A single, unregulated, global social-media platform, implicated in that litany of harm, has 2.8 billion active users. The Internet and its ubiquitous digital devices touch over 4.5 billion people. Surely “Today’s AI” is a pandemic of technology at global scale.

Technology itself is not at fault. How we fashion it, the values we embed in it, and the motivations that promote it are at fault, serving the ends of companies that compromise the social fabric of our lives.

Exposing values inherent in code

Continue reading “#NewMacy 2021: Responding to Pandemics of “Today’s AI””

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Colloquy of Mobiles at ZKM — Progress Update #15

Colloquy of Mobiles at ZKM

Above and below: Replica of Gordon Pask’s 1968 “Colloquy of Mobiles” by TJ McLeish and Paul Pangaro now installed at ZKM. All photos courtesy of Morgane Stricot, ZKM.

Today we celebrate the  anniversary of the unveiling of our replica of Gordon Pask’s Colloquy of Mobiles on February 26, 2020, at Centre Pompidou in Paris where it was part of the extraordinary exhibition MUTATIONS / CRÉATIONS 4: NEURONES / LES INTELLIGENCES SIMULÉES.

Colloquy of Mobiles at ZKM

That opening was rich in energy and interactions as demonstrated in these short videos.

In March the exhibition had to close prematurely due to COVID.

Thereafter the great staff of Centre Pompidou and ZKM disassembled, transported, and reassembled Colloquy at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany, where it has become part of the permanent collection.

We look forward to the museum’s reopening to the public and the opportunity for TJ Mcleish, Colloquy’s master fabricator, to travel to ZKM and animate the replica to make it fully operational once again.

Read more about Colloquy here.

 

 

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Cybernetics, AI, and Ethical Conversations

“As a designer, I shall act always so as to increase 
 the total number of choices for a user.”

Quote above: An approach to interface design based on Heinz von Foerster’s Ethical Imperative where “choices” are distinguished from “options” — options are anything that is possible, while choices are only those options that are viable and well-suited to this user in this moment.

More and more, today’s AI makes the world we see and the world we live in — and we need to respond. In a presentation hosted by the AiTech Agora at TU Delft, Paul Pangaro responds with a proposal for collaboration that bridges AI and cybernetics with conversation.

Click for video of presentation.          Click for full abstract and slides.

“Pandemic” comes from “all” and “people”, meaning something negative that effects us all. While not biological, today’s AI foments polarization, pushes irrelevant products, spreads social bias, and surveils our lives. AI touches billions and sways more of us,  in more invasive and uncontrolled ways, every day.

AI came out of cybernetics, a practice that evolved from a series of trans-disciplinary conversations called the Macy Meetings. This history offers a way forward. Continue reading “Cybernetics, AI, and Ethical Conversations”

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Colloquy of Mobiles displayed at Centre Pompidou — Progress Update #14

Image above: Replica of Gordon Pask’s 1968 “The Colloquy of Mobiles” exhibited in the gallery of Centre Pompidou in 2020.

The replica of Gordon Pask’s 1968 Colloquy of Mobiles, reproduced by Paul Pangaro and TJ McLeish in 2018, is now on display in Centre Pompidou’s exhibition entitled MUTATIONS / CRÉATIONS 4: NEURONES / LES INTELLIGENCES SIMULÉES through April 20, 2020.

Click here for a gallery of short videos of the installation.

Continue reading “Colloquy of Mobiles displayed at Centre Pompidou — Progress Update #14”

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Colloquy Arrives to Centre Pompidou — Progress Update #13

Image above: TJ McLeish calibrating light and sound in the gallery at Centre Pompidou for the public exhibition opening February 26, 2020.

Here at Centre Pompidou for the installation of Colloquy of Mobiles (its 2018 replica) to be displayed as part of a large-scale exhibition, with a conjoined history of brains, neural nets, AI, and cybernetic artifacts.

The exhibition entitled MUTATIONS / CRÉATIONS 4: NEURONES / LES INTELLIGENCES SIMULÉES is perhaps the largest retrospective connecting to cybernetics and art since Cybernetic Serendipity in London in 1968, where Gordon Pask’s original Colloquy was shown.

Connected to the exhibition is a 2-day symposium, including a panel named “Dead Ends and the Future of Cybernetics” where Andy Pickering (author of The Cybernetic Brain), Margit Rosen of ZKM (a great and long-time advocate for Colloquy), and I are joined by two French philosophers. Continue reading “Colloquy Arrives to Centre Pompidou — Progress Update #13”

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Colloquy Featured in INTERACTIONS MAG — Progress Update #12

Inside page showing Colloquy images

While the 2018 replica of Gordon Pask’s Colloquy of Mobiles is being crated in preparation for its time at Centre Pompidou, the magazine INTERACTIONS has printed a brief description of the project in their DEMO HOUR feature section. Here’s the text of the story: Continue reading “Colloquy Featured in INTERACTIONS MAG — Progress Update #12”

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Colloquy Begins Journey to Paris and Centre Pompidou — Progress Update #11

TJ McLeish working with Colloquy

(Banner Image: TJ McLeish upgrading Colloquy in preparation for its heading to Europe. Perrier in tribute to Gordon Pask.)

After many weeks of toiling, master fabricator TJ McLeish has completed the mechatronic, digital hardware, and software upgrades to Colloquy 2018 in preparation for its crating and shipping to Centre Pompidou in Paris. There it will be shown in their major exhibition, MUTATIONS / CRÉATIONS 4: NEURONES / LES INTELLIGENCES SIMULÉES from 26 February through 20 April 2020.

When first created by Gordon Pask and shown in London in 1968, Colloquy of Mobiles was unlike any immersive gallery experience. Five interacting, human-scale mobiles (see photos below) held a “conversation” with each other through light and sound, exhibiting cooperation and competition. In significant ways, Pask’s “colloquy” (a “speaking together”) of mobiles from 1968 exceeds the interactivity of today’s conversational interfaces.

On the 50th anniversary of Pask’s original creation, the Colloquy 2018 Project implemented a replica faithful in appearance and behavior, while utilizing modern mechatronics and digital technology. With the success of the replica, the world-renowned Centre Pompidou requested that it become part of a major upcoming museum exhibition. Similarly, the ZKM Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany, has asked to acquire the work for their permanent collection.

1968: Gordon Pask’s Colloquy of Mobiles, London
2018: Colloquy of Mobiles Replica, Detroit

Final preparations for this future of Colloquy 2018 were completed at Omnicorp Collective Detroit this past weekend, with the help of current and former students of the MFA IxD program of the College for Creative Studies, where the project was initiated 2 years ago by McLeish and Paul Pangaro. (You can read here about replicating Pask’s original Colloquy.) A wide range of upgrades were made to improve the reliability and behaviors of the mobiles before transferring the work to Artpack Services for crating and shipping.

Continue reading “Colloquy Begins Journey to Paris and Centre Pompidou — Progress Update #11”

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Colloquy 2018 is going to Centre Pompidou and ZKM — Progress Update #10

Image above: TJ McLeish, master fabricator of Colloquy 2018, presents to guests of Design Core Detroit

Last viewing of Colloquy at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Winter 2018

Colloquy 2018 will be exhibited in Paris!
Centre Pompidou from  February 26 through April 20, 2020

Colloquy 2018 has a permanent home!
ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany

(Click here for a brief video overview. Read the full story of the COLLOQUY 2018 Project or visit the project’s student website, ColloquyOfMobiles.com.)

Updated September 1, 2019: We have just received an important piece of Colloquy history. Mark Dowson, responsible for the electronics of the original Colloquy of Mobiles from 1968, had an exchange in 2005 with Margit Rosen, long-time devotee of Colloquy. Dowson reveals additional details  about Colloquy’s behaviors, especially in regard to the sounds made by the mobiles (no known audio recording exists). This increases the importance of the funding we are seeking for upgrades before shipping Colloquy 2018 to Europe. Please visit our funding campaign. Thank you!

We need your help to get Colloquy ready! 
There is much to be done to prepare Colloquy—updating specific mechanical parts for longevity and upgrading the software to most closely match Gordon Pask’s original vision. We are seeking $15,000 via GoFundMe and are grateful for your donations and for forwarding this post to your friends and colleagues.

Colloquy awaiting reanimation and upgrades at Omnicorp Collective, Detroit

The Colloquy replica represents the design power of the city of Detroit!

The COLLOQUY 2018 Project was undertaken at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, with generous support from private donors as well as the University of Waterloo (Canada) and Design Core Detroit.

Continue reading “Colloquy 2018 is going to Centre Pompidou and ZKM — Progress Update #10”

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I Want a “Turning Test for Conversation”

After Dubberly Design

(Diagram after Dubberly Design Office)

That’s not  a typo — A Turning Test. For Conversation.

We all know the Turing Test for Intelligence — when a human will judge if a machine is “intelligent.” I want a machine that will judge if a conversation is “intelligent.”

That’s right, “intelligent” — the quotes mean it’s ambiguous and we ought to discuss it. The meaning of “intelligent”  is subject to opinion and personal values. For me, intelligent conversations are forward-moving, collaborative, generative — they go to new and interesting places. And for you?

I like this proposal for a Turning Test because: Continue reading “I Want a “Turning Test for Conversation””