Categories
Asides Technology

My goodbye letter to Facebook

fb

Hi friends. I deactivated my account a couple weeks ago and found that with the time I saved I was doing:
– more online Dutch practice (on memrise.com)
– more brain games (on lumosity.com)
– more reading interesting things that are relevant to me
– more drinking tea and staring out the window (very important for us creative industry types)
– more online courses (yeah MOOCs are not the new face of education, but useful to pick up a thing or two)

In other words, it was better for me.

My friends who I connect with here who I don’t see very often (hello people in Canada, the US, New Zealand, the UK, etc) let’s have one on one time on Skype. My Skype handle is mkultra0000. Add me.
I still use Twitter, because it’s a usable archive of links to research I want to look at again. The FB Wall is too unwieldy for that. You can also connect with me there, I’m @mkasprzak.

Email me, Skype me, send me an SMS or even call (I don’t always pick up though, maybe I’m busy staring out the window), or best of all — write me an old fashioned letter or postcard if you are really after my heart.

Also think of me when you are listening to Glenn Gould, watching The Sopranos, shooting a gun down at the range, at a great exhibition, at a crappy exhibition, digging out your real film camera and taking some pictures, doing some barbell squats, making some delicious meal out of what you have on hand, stealing the hotel toiletries, appreciating some Finnish design, riding your bike aimlessly after midnight, holding a falcon on your arm, or any other nice shared memory that we have. That means more than a thousand “likes”.

So I’m just back to say I’m downloading all my stuff and moving on. Soon.
It’s been fun, but it’s kinda feeling like leaving Friendster in 2005. Time to go.

Happy trails!

My comments on my own post:
If you want to do the same, download your info here: https://www.facebook.com/help/131112897028467 and then deactivate here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=security
And then go read this great article by Rebecca Solnit about our fragmented attention spans these days, and the pleasure of focusing on one thing at a time. (Sorry to say, it means not just quitting Facebook but being present… that’s next level). http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n16/rebecca-solnit/diary

Categories
Art & Culture Technology

A Report from Repair

Meet ASIMO in Deep Space Rhizome has just published my report from the most recent Ars Electronica festival, with the theme of “Repair”, in Linz, Austria. There was one point I couldn’t find an elegant way of making in the article itself, but I’ll make it here: the conference programme was quite lacking in diversity, which is difficult to pardon in this day and age (2010, ferchrissake). Anyway, check out the diversity-rant-free piece on Rhizome.

Pictured: ASIMO the robot, who I didn’t get to meet in the end. Photo courtesy Ars Electronica.

Categories
Technology

About Eva Schindling


Eva with the Banff New Media Institute’s 3D printer.

It’s a little cheeky for me to title this post “About Eva Schindling“, because there are so many things that I don’t know about her, which makes it difficult for me to even scratch the surface of what she is “about”. I decided to forge ahead with this post when I realised that being intrigued by her was a good enough reason to write something.





Some of Eva’s circuit visualisations.

What I do know about Eva I have picked up by rubbing shoulders over the past month here at the Banff New Media Institute within the Banff Centre for the Arts. I’ve discovered that she analyses, visualises, and builds a wide range of things, often with visually arresting results (examples above). She works with and thinks about patterns, fluid dynamics, 3D printing, circuit design, coding, emergence, and complex systems. Despite her obvious technical virtuosity, she avoids a common trap of those with that high level of technical skill, which is to only engage with the surface of an issue. Instead, her project references show that there are many layers of thinking that go into each of her experiments.

On top of the fact that she’s thinking about the intersections between some interesting and timely areas, she’s also very charming company. I only wish I could stay here in Banff another month so that I could get to know her better!

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. This is my contribution.

Categories
Art & Culture My Projects Technology

This happened Edinburgh #3

powerof8.org.uk
powerof8.org.uk

On October 12, the third This happened Edinburgh event will take place at the Wee Red Bar. Our exciting line up includes: Peter Pratt, Michael Salmond, Sarah Drummond & Lauren Currie, and Paul Rodgers & Euan Winton, and Anab Jain.

Tickets are available now at this site. Be fast — last time tickets sold out in under an hour! The event is sold out! If you want to follow all the This happened Edinburgh news, become a fan on Facebook, use the #thedi hashtag on twitter, or just keep an eye on the This happened website.