Mobile Processing Conference at UIC Innovation Center
Mobile Processing Conference, UIC Innovation Center
Tuesday night I returned from a 9 day trip to Arizona and tomorrow morning I'll be heading out to attend the Mobile Processing Conference being held at the University of Illinois – Chicago Innovation Center. The Mobile Processing Conference runs November 1 – 3 from 10:30am to 5:30pm. It's rare for events like this to be held here in Chicago so I'm indeed fortunate to be in a position to attend. From the web site:
The 2013 conference features artists, digital humanities scholars, and software developers in a series of presentations, panels, and workshops… The event is free and open to the public.
Note that there is a single track of programming. With one program per time period, I'll be able to attend every program offered. Following is the scheduled programming.
| Title: | Seeing Sound |
| Description: | Workshop on how to build a sound visualization system and "discuss why it's completely useless." |
| Presenter: | Lucas Kuzma |
| Comment | Having written my own sound visualization programs and as a presenter on the subject (see Live Art – Interactive Audio Visualizations) I am very anxious to hear Mr. Kuzma's take on the subject. |
| Title: | Do You Need A CS Degree To Build Apps? |
| Description: | A presentation dealing with whether or not a college degree in computer science is really necessary to be a successful software designer and programmer. |
| Presenter: | Brandon Passley |
| Comment | I will say this: in terms of the knowledge of specific programming languages I obtained in college, I've used none of that knowledge since graduating. The skills I learned while in college that have served me well are those associated with how to go about writing a program and how, in general, programming languages work. Mindset and experience is really what I gained from my college computer science classes. FYI – I received my masters in computer science and was just one class shy of also qualifying for a bachelors degree in computer science. |
| Title: | Breaking Barriers With Sound |
| Description: | A presentation by Stanford Professor and Smule Co-founder Ge Wang about computer music, mobile music, laptop orchestras, and apps. |
| Presenter: | Ge Wang |
| Comment | Another must see for me – especially since I am current enrolled in the Coursera class Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists in which I am learning to use the ChucK programming language to create electronic music. In fact one of the instructors for the class is Ge Wang, the creator of the ChucK programming language. |
| Title: | Off-The-Grid: Create Peer-To-Peer Collaborative Networks |
| Description: | A discussion on collaboration using peer-to-peer wireless networks (WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC technologies) with the Ketai library for Processing |
| Presenter: | Daniel Sauter/Jesus Duran |
| Comment | This is a new topic area for me. |
| Title: | Drawing Machines |
| Description: | A workshop on Processing coding techniques for creating customized "drawing machines". |
| Presenter: | JD Pirtle |
| Comment | Another one I must attend as I have used Processing extensively creating quite a few of my own drawing machines. |
| Title: | The Technology Landscape For Women And Issues Of Gender |
| Description: | A panel about women in computing and why there are a smaller proportion of women in the field today than there were in the 80s. |
| Presenter: | Amanda Cox, Marie Hicks, Lisa Yun Lee |
| Comment | I must say I'm curious as to where these ladies are coming from and what they'll have to say on the subject. According to a Wikipedia article on women in computing, In the United States, the number of women represented in undergraduate computer science education and the white-collar information technology workforce peaked in the mid-1980s, and has declined ever since. In 1984, 37.1% of Computer Science degrees were awarded to women; the percentage dropped to 29.9% in 1989-1990, and 26.7% in 1997-1998. Of course percentages can be deceiving. Left unanswered is the percentage of the female population so engaged in the 80s vs today. Also from the same article: A study of over 7000 high school students in Vancouver, Canada showed that the degree of interest in the field of computer science for teenage girls is comparably lower than that of teenage boys. The same effect is seen in higher education; for instance, only 4% of female college freshmen expressed intention to major in computer science in the US. I am curious to here how this issue is addressed. |
| Title: | Seeing Sound |
| Description: | A workshop for developing sonic visualizations including various methods for converting audio into images using openFrameworks. |
| Presenter: | Lucas Kuzma |
| Comment | From the description: Participants are expected to have a working copy of Xcode, as well as well as working knowledge of C++. Oops, Xcode is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for the Apple OS. I've played with openFrameworks before but found it to be more code heavy than Processing due to OpenGL issues. Unfortunately I do not currently have an appropriate IDE installed for openFrameworks on my Windows laptop. |
| Title: | Fast And Slow: Mobile Aesthetics And Civil Liberties |
| Description: | Described as a discussion on how to empower a new generation of makers to participate in shaping the technological artifacts that shape us socially and culturally. |
| Presenter: | Daniel Sauter |
| Comment | This could go either way – we'll see what happens. |
| Title: | Sketching The News |
| Description: | A look at some data visualization projects at the New York Times. |
| Presenter: | Amanda Cox |
| Comment | Another subject area in which I have interest and have done some work. |
| Title: | Processing Shaders, The Sunday Sessions |
| Description: | A workshop about GLSL shaders in Processing 2.0 with the main objectives being to present advanced applications of the shader API, specifically post-processing image filters and blending, procedural generation of 3D objects using fragment shaders, iterative effects with the pframe buffer, and shading of large-scale geometries. |
| Presenter: | Andres Colubri |
| Comment | Major changes were made between the Processing 1.xxx and 2.xxx versions. Most significant was the move towards OpenGL integration. This caused me some real headaches as Processing 2 just wouldn't work properly on my computer. However upgrading my graphics card drivers did solve the problem (though it took some doing and hurdle jumping to accomplish). For more, see Shaders in Processing 2.0. |
| Title: | Creative Coding on the Raspberry Pi with openFrameworks |
| Description: | Like the title says, Creative Coding on the Raspberry Pi with openFrameworks. Raspberry Pi Hardware will be provided for use during the workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop. |
| Presenter: | Christopher Baker |
| Comment | If you have never of it, you can find out all about Raspberry Pi here and read the Raspberry Pi FAQ. |
The Mobile Processing Conference is being held at the UIC Innovation Center located at 1240 W Harrison St in Chicago, IL. For information about the conference, visit the Mobile Processing Conference web site
| Return to the Blog Index | This entry was posted on Thursday, October 31st, 2013 at 3:26 pm and is filed under computer art, Computing, Digital Art, New Media Art, Processing.