inspiration is geo-located
24 Aug 2011 by celine
Keeping myself inspired in order to keep myself healthy. Inspiration comes in many forms, its true, and recently I have noticed that it also reveals itself depending on where I am in the World. I could be on the street, or in a home. In a hotel room, or deep in the forest. Its like I get different wave signals and therefore different ideas, somewhat geo-located with where I am at the moment. Each city affects me differently, and this is truly essential in growing and making better art / work.
Decoding mysterious signs. Imagining a different way of guiding people through their everyday life.
Surviving usability
23 Aug 2011 by celine
This is the interface that will trigger the generator in case the electricity gets cut off. In Lebanon, we have the state’s electricity only half a day (if we are lucky). People have adapted sharing a generator. When the generator is on, the light goes on. When we have the electricity from the State, the light is on (the middle button).
Beautiful interface of an archaic present.
invisible line
23 Aug 2011 by celine
This is the year book of a friend of mine when he was a kid. The drawing on the cover are bombs and it says, this is the year of the war. The note of the school principle in there is beautiful, real and down to earth, he is announcing that the school was open part time, and was opening its doors to whoever needed shelter.
The invisible line between peace and war makes every moment in Lebanon feel like an eternity. The instinct of survival and of optimism for some pushes us far away from our land. Everyday is a chance to follow a dream, to become a better person, to push yourself forward. I live on these terms. And sometime I need to remind myself, we are just passing through.
Visualizing a player for visualizations
18 Jul 2011 by celine
It is alive!!! The player for Visualizing.org I worked on!
It was the hardest thing to design because the content is variable between a Flash, an HTML5 visualization, a static image, an interactive application, a video, etc… Visualizations are a way to illustrate data so that it is easily understandable to people. So the player has to be as invisible as possible offering the best way to share this data on other platforms. We are looking here at an attempt to design and code both in a universal manner so that it is easily embeddable and easily playable.
First we had to understand the series of interactions for each content type in order to analyze them and come up with a standard solution (as standard as we could get that is) for all content types. Then we tackled the brand identity, here being Visualizing.org who is a hub of visualizations that people uploaded offering a large amount of content under creative commons. The main goal was putting the content uploaded and the creator first. I share the same values so that was not a problem.
What was the most difficult was to find a standard way to say : Play / Launch / Visualize this, or if its a static image, View larger. It was an interesting collaboration and the whole team has worked very hard to contribute and come up with the best solution for the present times. I believe this is a first and will lead the way to other visualization players and inspire and be inspired to tweak the designs upon people’s feedback.
J’imagine le Web
13 Jul 2011 by celine
Pour ma conférence à Paris Web cette année, je vais parler du Web sous un angle cinématographique et personnel. Cela veut dire que je vais en quelque sorte raconter ce que le Web représente, et partager mes observations d’anthropologue expérimentale.
J’ai choisi comme titre : “La sagesse du Web” un titre inspiré du livre de Jodorowski “La sagesse des contes”.
Avant de rencontrer mon ami Karl dans un café tout près de chez moi, j’ai réfléchi dans un carnet à ce que je cherche à exprimer lors de la conférence.
Voici quelques notes abstraites tirées de mon carnet :
Métaphore.
Le Web est Homme dans le sens où il est mystérieux, multiples, chaque part étant unique. Il est [fait] d’intéractions.
Comme l’Homme, le Web a une psyché, une mémoire, un futur, un passé et un présent.
Par contre à l’opposé de l’Homme, le Web ne meurt pas.
Certains l’on nommé le miroir de l’Homme, de l’inconscient collectif, de l’Univers.
Pour certains le Web est une forme médiatique comme une autre, comme une onde à travers laquelle ils font de l’$
Leur business.
Pour d’autres, le Web est un outil leur permettant d’approfondir leurs connaissances ou de répondre à leurs besoins immédiats.
Avec le réseau, le Web devient omniprésent / omniscient.
Toujours en devenir. Dans le sens où il est là, il vit, et il est à continuer.
Le Web fait partie de nos vies.
Il est lui-même vie.
Dans le sens où il évolue.
Sur le Web, que nous soyons nous ou notre alter-ego, nous ne pouvons échapper aux quatre introjections qui sont autant de sujets de discorde pour l’Homme :
manquer de perspicacité, n’avoir ni vision propre, ni voix originale, ni action décisive.
“Rien n’est à jamais perdu dans la psyché.” (Jung)
Le Web c’est aussi comme ce monde, chaotique, random, anarchiste, incontrôlable.
Le Web est l’extension de notre réalité. (Intégrité avec qui nous sommes)
Rappel : Le contrôle vient de l’insécurité qui elle vient de l’ignorance. La peur vient de l’inconnu.
Karl m’a ensuite encouragé à trouver quel était mon objectif pour cette conférence. Sur ce je vais continuer à cogiter d’ici Octobre, et continuer à partager ce que je découvrirais.
Dans le réseau, les addresses ne sont pas des lieux, les territoires sont éparpillés, multiples et parfois détachés de la culture. À l’opposé du monde physique, les cultures sont souvent très encrées dans le territoire d’où elles viennent. Ceci n’est pas un lieu. Ceci n’est pas un espace. Ceci n’est pas une maison. Ceci n’est pas un “accueil”.
Les métaphores adoptés dans le Web en ce moment proviennent du monde physique : les pages, les enveloppes pour envoyer des messages, un téléphone avec un fil, une maison pour signifier un accueil, l’organisation hiérarchique, …
Ce sont des symboles, des pictogrammes qui bientôt seront étrangers aux nouveaux humains.
CC Qatar
1 Jun 2011 by celine
ICT Qatar invited me and my partner to entertain 1000 guest for the biggest most extravagant CC Launch in the Midddle East North Africa so far. For the event we were asked to remix CC Content (or Public domain) content that reflects the Arab identity. Its a big challenge to find CC images/videos of the Arab world that is not blood, destruction and pain. So I decided to use Old Classical Egyptian movies. I know its not under CC, although I manage to get most of them from the early 30′s and 20′s kind of considered Public Domain.
End of summer mix [waterlogged] by collisbrowne
Before..
Before we get to Qatar, sitting in the plane, I am watching from my seat movies from the seats in front of me of completely veiled arab women. They were watching Western cinema. And I couldn’t help but feel ashamed for them whenever a couple would kiss, or girls would have wild parties in the movies, or even sex scenes! Here I was witnessing the cultural crash of these women watching what is “Haram” on their mini airplane screens… and me thinking WOW I am going to remix images and videos of women belly dancing in Qatar, and have been warned not to be provoking anything and to put lots of effects on my images so we can’t really see the women..
I am uncomfortable already. How can such a hybrid arab like myself _ is half Lebanese and half mysterious remixed identity of all the countries I lived in_ can show what is Arab pride culture is/means?
How can I be safe?
It is my first visit in the Arab World even, because I don’t think Lebanon counts.
Doha
Luxurious, extravagant, Bling Bling… Doha assures you the WOW effect. We were invited to stay in the Sharq Hotel, and it felt like being in a sand castle, as sudden royalty. Dates and cardamon coffee were offered to us. The room is like 1001 nights, like you imagine an Arab room… The heat is paralyzing.
CCQatar
The CC Launch was at the Museum of Islamic Art, one of the most spectacular museum I have ever seen (Sorry Louvres) … Although I saw no art in there, only because I was busy setting up…
The director general of Al Jazeera gave a talk, we were very proud to be sharing the stage with such a respectable man and organization such as Al Jazeera!