cyborg echoes

Understanding Affective Computing and the Future of Sousveillance Architecture

2005-11-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

Article to Understand the Cybernetics of how RFID chips could interface with the Human-Computer interface.

There is much wisdom in this book that can help computer scientists and laypersons understand the human brain.

Swedish TV on Sousveillance:scroll down to Jill Magid, it is in English

2005-11-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

Scroll down to Jill's interview

This is important to think about architecture and sur/sous balances.

also the Glowlab people have been doing great work in showcasing sousveillance art: Here is a link to an art Panel with Jenny Marketou.

The Architecture of one and RFID's: new Hospital design based upon Clinical Sousveillance

2005-11-13T08:46:00.000-05:00

Julia Scher has done some interesting work in predictive engineering, and from this, one can understand how medical culture is being transformed by technology. So how RFID systems track inventory, medical equipment, medicines as well as infectious diseases, and patients with memory loss, one will need to come to terms with the transition of catagorizing towards sorting large amounts of information.

This trend will also intesect with the rationing of medical benefits as the medicare system becomes strained with an aging baby boomer generation. Medical error is one of the main things that verichip seeks to prevent: but in the sea of information, one still needs to balance the human input/output symmetry towards dealing with tons of information that is approaching being continously archived, and needed to be retrieved. This will require an augmentation of ones ability to monitor the immediate world around them and will require a mediated reality to understand.

This intersects with Donald Knuth's book "The Art of Computing Programing" and the historical trend to sort and organize large amounts of information. This began with the Babylonians, and goes to the Telephone book, and then to bar coding. Future computer scientists will deal with new chapters on RFID's.

It is interesting how Knuth make reference to architecture of libraries being in his lecture,"things that computer scientist rarely speak about" and this is a very deep thought that intersects with some of the trends William Mitchell's book mentions.

It seems that a lot of the surveillance artists are contemplating architecture in the setting of ubiquitous computing: but how do persons empower themselves with the arhitecture of one? Hence Ayah's suggestion of RFID verichips integrated into cloths would be very fascinating. But as Steve Mann's Sousveillance work is demostrating, as as confirmed with sousveillance artists such as Clayton Patterson, and Aldo Tambellini, the act of retrieval, if independent of the individual, and overly dependent upon surveillance systems can create all sorts of problems. Individuals need to be able to recall for themselves to prevent a machine induced amnesia, or institutional dementia. Hence systems need to be based upon clinical sousveillance paradigms to maintain subjectright freedom and autonomy.

So how do I engineer without being an "engineer"

2005-11-10T20:51:00.000-05:00

A Google scholar search brought up this article: this brings me back to the question on how a non expert encounters the augmenting powers of data that is available thoughout the internet.

So as patients encounter new topics, I too encounter new ideas. Have an Idea about a Maybecam shirt that is RFID powered....Perhaps I can explain Wark's ideas towards developing an open source hacker community that allows openess of information, and allows for the creative application of information towards developing ideas that can help persons through the language of invention. Then there is the idea of patents. So if I can find out info about rfid's and invent stuff in the key of humanistic intelligence, then what? What will happen when the Vector Class catches on to the real purpose of the invention?

So I begin to learn about magnetic Fields, Faraday, and Maxwell.

Calculating the power recieved by the Transponder requires 3 laws to RFID's

1. Magnetic Field Formula

2. Lenz's Law

3. The Lossy Transformer system

of the three terms, I only found one of the three.

Someone else has already thought of about self powering cloths in the form of powered shoes. But this article, like many other articles are restricted by requiring one to be a member to the IEEE or ACM.

The same thing goes with Medical articles: many great abstracts are available, but to get the articles, one needs to "belong" to the organization.

kinematics of fabric

2005-11-10T18:20:00.000-05:00

The above two images are from the MoMa Safe exhibit: below is Ayah's work.

Ayah also is into dance and clothing. How we move and encounter the world has to do with the style of choice. the movie is of a curtain system that covers and uncovers the body; shelter and unsheltering it from the enviroment. There is a very deep statement here, in that the intimate contrasted by the conservative duality of the dress's mechanism confronts the viewer with the very sacred nature of feminity in Islam and raises very deep issues regarding the multicultural aspects of privacy.

Link to the open stitch performance

Communicating With Patients About Medical Errors: A Review of the Literature.

2005-11-10T18:03:00.000-05:00

Communicating With Patients About Medical Errors: A Review of the Literature.
Mazor KM, Simon SR, Gurwitz JH:
Arch Intern Med; 2004; 164: 1690-1697

Objective: To review the literature on the disclosure of medical errors. Design/Methods: The authors searched 4 electronic databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Social Sciences Citations Index. The references of these articles were also reviewed to identify additional articles. Of the 825 articles reviewed, 17 reported original empirical data on the disclosure of medical errors to patients and their families. The definition of medical error varied among the different studies. Results: Results of the literature search indicated that patients and the public both support disclosure. However, although physicians also support disclosure, they often do not disclose. Results of studies using self-reporting by physicians suggest that disclosure often does not occur. Reports of patients and their families also suggest low rate of disclosure. The authors found insufficient evidence to support conclusions about the disclosure process as well as its consequences. Conclusions: Research on the area of medical disclosures to patients and their families is limited. Most studies have focused on the decision stage of disclosure rather than the disclosure process, the consequences of disclosure, or the relationship between the two. More research is needed "to understand how disclosures are made, to provide guidance to physicians on the process, and to help all involved anticipate the consequences of the disclosure." (Reviewer–Albert W. Wu, MD, MPH).

© 2005, Oakstone Medical Publishing

Saftey of Cochlear Implants: some products are better than others

2005-11-10T18:01:00.000-05:00

Reliability of Cochlear Implants.
Maurer J, Marangos N, Ziegler E:
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg; 2005; 132 (May): 746-750

Background: Cochlear implantation, especially in children, involves the placement of the device, which is designed to remain functional throughout the entire life of the patient. Therefore, seeking long-term data in terms of reliability is often first and foremost on the minds of patients and physicians. A 91.7% implant survival rate has been calculated, but often data reflecting true survival rates and reliability of implants are lacking. Objective: To provide data from a center with a large cohort of patients on successes and failures with cochlear implants. Methods/Participants: The implant center in Koblenz, Germany retrospectively reviewed 192 cochlear implants from different manufacturers both in adults (n=58) and in children (n=134). Results: The overall survival rate was approximately 91.7% over 11 years. The authors noted that the main reasons for failures were typically product design errors coupled with consequences of trauma to the implant site, especially in children. These various traumatic incidents often result in breakage of the implant body and/or the electrode array. Conclusions: To improve the knowledge about reliability of cochlear implants, it is important to very carefully examine the problems that arise in present day implants. Improvements in design that are learned from these reports will often result in improved long-term reliability. Children are receiving implants earlier and earlier, increasing the lifespan of implants. Therefore, implant reliability must be guaranteed by improving mechanical, electrical, and medical designs. Cochlear implant reliability data germane to individual manufacturers should be considered when choosing an implant for a specific patient. Reviewer's Comments: The authors describe their experience with 3 different devices, including Med-EL, Nucleus, and MXM. Clearly, their experience was most robust using the Med-EL implant, but complication rates in children approached 15% with the Med-EL (15 of 102) as opposed to zero with the Nucleus (0 of 32). The authors suspect this may be due to the form and/or material that is used in the Med-EL device, that being a ceramic encasing, and other potential design errors, which are in the process of being corrected. (Reviewer–Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS).

RFID movie

2005-11-10T17:10:00.000-05:00

Regine's link to a RFID movie

Some more links from Regine.

link 2: stolen rfid stuff

link 3: RFID'd periscope in the woods

Really good RFID paper

Hacking the RFID

WebMD towards a collabrative doctor patient relationship

2005-11-10T16:03:00.000-05:00

The power of social networking software, is becoming manifest as I ponder Gemma's question on how patients interact with WebMD.

Reviewing Gemma's web page, and google searching of her bio, I find certain things we have in common: my daughter loves ballet, I enjoy greek dance, and I share a concern with Gemma about endangered species. I looked through it back in early oct, but its a month later, so hence i am re-reading the bio after meeting the person attached to the data, Gemma.

The ability to see from someone else's perspective is very key to the imaginative process towards developing empathy: hence I understand her collabrative performances. Such is the purpose of the humanities: to understand the narrative of life from the perspective of the other but also to learn how to collaborate with others.

The question of how patients deal with information deals increasingly with how information is exchanged, but also how it is interpreted.

In developing this blog entry, I remembered that Danah Boyd had insights about this process, but I cannot remember where she blogged it, and I did not file it, so hence it is lost within my memory.

How do patients learn information in the sea of ideas, comments, and web pages? The key is to understand that the doctor is ethically bound by duty to advocate and treat patients towards healing, or at least, to do no harm.

So my feeling is that technology can enhance a collabrative enviroment between the doctor and physician: and the idea of a persistant on line conversation can built both trust, and respect.

The same problems that persons run into with wiki's, or google search engines also happens with online communication with patients. But as the movie on Despotism mentions, that democratic communities are those in which information is shared amoungst the largest number of persons. Secrecy, and lack of transparency leads to all sorts of problems with how information comes into being: verification is key to developing reputation systems. There is a lot to the patient doctor relationship that represents a very complex anthropolology. How is industry, and information technology changing things?

Power, and in the patients perspective, licensure, is granted to the physician for advocating for the patient as best as one can.

Check out the comments from Carl, who is part of a Clinical sousveillance family area network

Some doctors can collaborate, others are paternalistic, and others are kind of removed and distant and have no relationship with the patient. Differnt situations require different doctoring styles, and this affects the communication.

So how does a patient approach their physician when they have looked up information? How does the Doctor make sense of it and communicate his interpretation and judgement? Does the patient trust the doctor if WebMD says something different and maybe the doctor is telling a lie?

The idea of developing a stable trust system is what the Verichip persons are banking on, hoping to establish a verification system of identity, but this is only one part of the equation, and perhaps not the most important.

Great Post that contextualizes the idea of social networking

It can be magnified by going to lower right corner with the curser: it contextualizes the tensions between identity and on line collaboration.More Latter....

Katherine's email response to Politech

2005-11-10T15:27:00.000-05:00

Email to Politech

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Politech] RFID protesters target Wal-Mart, demand new
laws and regulations [priv]
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 12:30:31 -0500
From: Katherine Albrecht
To: Jim Harper
CC: Declan McCullagh
References: <0A1602CE917AD6499B8C85E3C68F5564019F3202@exchange.cato.org>

Jim:

We are not protesting the use of RFID on "pallets and cartons" as you
suggest, but the use of _item-level tagging_ in Wal-Mart stores. There's
a world of difference.

-Katherine Albrecht

Spychips and related protests

2005-11-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

Like the Book, Smart Mobs, Spychips is a book attacted to a blog.

It looks like Katherine Albrect, and Liz McIntrye are organizing protests around the book: not flashmobs as the Smart Mobs blog did, but old fashion picket holding.

Didn't realize that I drove right past the RFID protests back from Boston.

But it was nothing like Ben Morea's or Aldo Tambollini's protests.

3 articles on RFID chips: Declan calls for FCC like agency to oversee the chips

2005-11-10T14:49:00.000-05:00

link to CNET story

If you care about privacy, now's your chance to let the industry know how you feel. (And, no, I'm not calling for new laws or regulations.) Tell them that RFID tags are perfectly acceptable inside stores to track pallets and crates, but that if retailers wish to use them on consumer goods, they should follow four voluntary guidelines.

First, consumers should be notified--a notice on a checkout receipt would work--when RFID tags are present in what they're buying. Second, RFID tags should be disabled by default at the checkout counter. Third, RFID tags should be placed on the product's packaging instead of on the product when possible. Fourth, RFID tags should be readily visible and easily removable.

Given RFID's potential for tracking your every move, is that too much to ask?

Second article

Sousveillance:

2005-11-08T08:17:00.000-05:00

John Perry Barlow organizing a flashmob dance

What are the goals of this talk?

What is Sousveillance

How does Sousveillance make itself manifest in Art?

In Science and Technology?

In real life?

What is Incidentalism and Witnessalism?

How is memory being influeced by images, both surveillance and sousveillance?

How did the Word "Sousveillance" come into being?

2005-11-08T08:15:00.000-05:00

one begins to see a connection of ideas that become apparent as one observes ones glog: that is, as one takes notice of the world through extensions of memory, or memory prosthetics, one will begin to review the recording and begin to make note of things that where not noticed during the original experience

Does Technology turn ordinary persons into mathematicians?

This could happen as we begin to reveal the true meaning of Aesthetics:

From living and experiencing life, mathematics represents all sorts of physical phenomena. As we find ourselves watching and watching back, do aethetics go back to the original meaning, which is to feel? Can Feeling be translated into a mathematical representation in a multimedia world? How do we find the old balance of living within a village in a very complex and cosmopolitan world.

Steve's trip to the MIT book store

2005-11-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

my interest in glogs begins with my interest in the idea of treating persons with memory loss. Can images be used to stimulate the memory, or even serve as a system of therapy in the setting of dementia?

So hence, the idea of continously recording ones entire life, becomes of great interest to one who treats those with memory impairments.

So hence, we delve into the past: as Steve begins to glog his experience at the MIT book store.

I began to record via a "memory prosthetic"

2005-11-08T08:13:00.000-05:00

here is an icu that has several cameras: this is at the county hospital. One begins to realize that all things, if recorded, would create a stir.

A year ago, a group of patients was so desperate to document living
conditions that they sneaked a disposable camera into the hospital.
Their pictures showed steel beds crammed into dirty, crowded rooms,
filthy toilets, torn furniture, broken sinks, and portable bathrooms
in the outdoor yard overflowing with urine and feces.

So hence, the power of the Maybecam shirt, introduces the idea of what if one could record everything a Geriatrician sees in the course of day, or a week, or even a career.

Chat Circles

and some other media based work

Artifacts of the present era

Exhibit Photos

Understanding Reflectionism: art and situationalism

2005-11-08T08:12:00.000-05:00

Understanding the balance of surveillance vs. sousveillance, begins to become a subject of the Arts. so hence, the long tradition of poetry becomes a social barometer of how the world is changing now, and represents the actualization of science fiction.

Perhaps before we speak about Reflectionism, we should speak about Situationalism.

Those who followed the "artistic" view of the SI might view the evolution of SI as producing a more boring or dogmatic organization. Those following the political view would see the May 1968 uprisings as a logical outcome of the SI's dialectical approach: while savaging present day society, they sought a revolutionary society which would embody the positive tendencies of capitalist development. The "realization and suppression of Art" is simply the most developed of the many supercessions which the SI sought over the years. For Situationist International of 1968, the world triumph of workers councils would bring about all these supercessions

Reflectionism is a method by which one reflects back to those who are recording to demostrate the issues of recording without consent. Frequently, persons react negatively.

And within art, one begins to see how the world is changing

2005-11-08T08:11:00.000-05:00

below is a poster by Jill Magid, who also is a performance artist contrasted with surveillance electrical systems being installed in NYC

There is something about situationalism and reflectionism that touches upon Milgrams Experiments: it seems that those who take pictures continously, find themselves attacked by those who they are photographing from time to time.

So is the process science, or art?

History of Sousveillance in Art: Who Guards the Guards?

2005-11-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

As Juvenal said: "who guards the guards?" Restricting information assumes the good will of those doing the restricting, as if they did not also have interests.

What is the difference between a sousveillance society vs. one that becomes an informant society? how do various societies deal with saftey and communal watching out for one another? and when does this become racism, or take the form of intolerance?

Power relationships towards a balanced sur/sous enviroment

2005-11-08T08:08:00.000-05:00

Understanding that Futurism is not Sousveillance

Something here predates the rest of the 19 hundreds and continues to shadow todays exhibit at the MoMa

William Mitchell lecture on "The Cyborg Self and the networked self

Technologic Change unfolds fast: Evolution of Real time scholarship: Phenomena can lock in very quickly.

How is the reintegration of digitaland physical world via wireless technology?

Increasing portablility of technology is changing our center point of community.

How did we congregate around the village well or fire

How did the electrical grid change this?

how is a community spacially organized?

Points of presence:

Village well/ Piped Water/ Bottled Water
Camp Fire/ Electric Grid/ Batteries
Live Performances/Broadcast/ distributed file mp3 sharing

How does one extend presence?

How are things Centralized vs distributed in terms of power?

What is Despotism?

Power: Shared vs Restricted
Respect: Shared vs Restricted
Information: Shared vs Restricted
Wealth: Shared vs. Restricted

what happens with fragmentation and reintegration of our communities due to technology?

Paul Virilio

Museum of Accidents

"Contemporary civilization differs in one particularly distinctive feature from those which preceded it: speed. The change has come about within a generation," noted the historian Marc Bloch, writing in the nineteen-thirties. This situation brings in its wake a second feature: the accident. The progressive spread of catastrophic events do not just affect current reality, but produce anxiety and anguish for coming generations. Daily life is becoming a kaleidoscope of incidents and accidents, catastrophes and cataclysms, in which we are endlessly running up against the unexpected, which occurs out of the blue, so to speak. In a shattered mirror, we must then learn to discern what is impending more and more often-but above all more and more quickly, those events coming upon us inopportunely, if not indeed simultaneously. Faced with an accelerated temporality which affects mores and Art as much as it does international politics, there is one particularly urgent necessity: to expose and to exhibit the Time accident.

sousveillance Grid?

Humanistic Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence and the engine of invention

2005-11-08T08:06:00.001-05:00

Inventing wearables to shelter from the volatility of software and the the datashpere

2005-11-08T08:06:00.000-05:00

Wearable review

Studing the Social Network of visually impaired artists

2005-11-08T08:04:00.000-05:00

Rich data is available from the perspective of those who are not able to see: they watch by "feeling" and hearing their enviroments: yet they are able to understand and represent a progective geometry.

Drawing and the Blind

Webramp

Generational Perspectives on Sousveillance

2005-11-08T08:02:00.000-05:00

Doctor Pantagis: what is a verichip?

2005-11-08T07:47:00.000-05:00

Web MD article on the Verichip