FLOSS

froi is a suite of programs for the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data using a region-of-interest (ROI) approach. Users can perform all necessary functions with froi, from creating and modifying ROIs, to using ROIs as a way to constrain analyses, to combining ROIs in a number of different ways.

froi is used in nearly all research of the Kanwisher Lab, with the results of analyses performed with froi published in journals such as The Journal of Neuroscience. froi is also in use in other research laboratories.

froi is currently written in a combination of perl, shell scripts, and matlab, and was planned to be re-written in python and C.

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froi manual

amia is the first device within a framework that we call “amiable media”, or technologies that aim at integrating the physical and digital worlds to give rise to new forms of interpersonal communication.

We did a simple user survey beforehand to get an idea of how people communicate with loved ones, what that form of communication misses from face-to-face communication, and whether or not people would be interested in a device like amia.

amia is a device for helping two people keep in touch: think academic couples separated by long distances, a spouse who travels frequently, and so on. The device has two main modes: passive and active. In passive mode, microphones on one device pick up the ambient noise level and transmit this noise level to the companion device. A band the encircles amia glows in response to the ambient noise level of the other device. In this way, we have a means of indicating the presence of the other person without being too intrusive.

The second mode is the active mode, made up of a number of components. First, heat sensors on device will activate when a person handles the device; this information is transferred to the companion device and translated into a more “reddish” color as the temperature on the other device increases. Secondly, capacitive sensors pick up hand motions across the outside of the device, which are converted into pulses or sequences of light; the user can then “compose” sequences of light patterns to send to the companion device, thus allowing for abstract interpersonal communication. Finally, actuators on the surface of the devices can be pushed in or popped out; pushing in on one device leads to popping out of the corresponding actuator on the companion device. Thus the users can, perhaps, send messages or play games using these push-in, pop-out components.

The goal with this project was to try and find a way for two people separated by distance to keep in contact non-verbally, since cell phones and IM are so prevalent, but yet miss out on a lot of the nuances of real-life interpersonal communication.

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The increased use of cell-phones in the recent past brought about a new form of communication: text messaging. Most popular overseas, many young people use this as a way to send brief messages to their friends through the phone. What makes text messaging on a phone different from other forms of electronic communication by text is its method of input. Since the majority of cell phones have only 12 keys, and the English alphabet, including both cases, numbers, and common symbols, is around 65 characters, a new method of input was devised that took as its first incarnation the use of the letters that already were found on most numeric keypads. For example, in order to enter the letter “c”, you have to press “222″; to get “N”, you have to type “*66″

When you step back and think about this, you can realize how odd of a input method this is. No other common form of input requires you to press the same key multiple times to get a different output. Even capital letters on most keyboards requires you to only press two keys at the same time (assuming caps-lock is off).

44#444 makes this disconnect visible by translating short sequences of text into the numeric key presses necessary to enter the text into a common text message. By doing so, 44#444 encourages the participant to consider the unnatural nature of what is by now a rather common mode of communication.

The interface to the work consists of an old DEC VT220 terminal. The use of the terminal is an additional way to highlight the disconnect: by using technology from the mid 1980s as an interface to translation of a 21st century mode of communication, the participant is further removed from what is likely a common experience.

Participants will be able to take a physical output of their message as printed on thermal paper from 44#444. I will encourage them to write and print out a message that they might send as a text message to a friend and then give the printout to the friend. In this way, I hope to extend the influence of the project outside of the walls of the gallery.

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