H79.2556 Lecture 4 Credits
Instructor(s): Maw
The Code of Hammurabi is over 35 centuries old. The department of energy has commissioned a design competition for a "Hazardous Waste" marker that will retain its meaning for 10,000 years, and your Physical Computing final will be obsolete in 3 months. Since we began saving information on magnetic disks, we have taken our collective memory beyond the capacity of a human being to perceive directly. What would it mean to use those very advances in technology to reverse the process and create objects with meaning and grace? This class looks at the issue of preserving information over time by embodying it in tangible objects. Emphasis in the readings is on what it means to be "archival" or to be on a "human scale" and the question: "What is worth saving?" Technical topics include:
- How to "read" found objects with sensors, cameras and scanners;
- How to generate literal data objects using the laser cutter and other technology;
- How to cut the cord between you and your programming environment by making projects that adapt without being reprogrammed.
Examples are offered in PicBasic Pro, Processing, Flash, Perl and Java although students may pick the programming environment of their choice to complete assignments.
Prerequisites: Introduction to Computational Media (H79.2233) and Introduction to Physical Computing (H79.2301), or the permission of the instructor.
