Joys and Images from Phd Away week

Smart lab is a trans discipline outfit within the University of East London, which runs one of the most unique practice-based Phd programmes in the UK.

Three times a year we gather for away days - a week of intensive seminars and papers.

It's a chance to catch up with one another, observe the development of ground breaking work and learn ourselves about issues frankly we might rarely come across.


Each morning we start with a warm up exercise which sometimes incorporates a problem solving task. Here, Smart Lab staffer Deveril is getting us to feel our space and self. In effect it's not too disimilar to Tai Chi warm ups.

Bruce Damer, Pioneering virtual realist, ex Nasa, talks about his Phd research work, creating an evolution grid in virtual realitiy. His intentions to create artificial life in VR mimicing real life.

The implications for medicine and discovery cures, he says, could be huge.



Fabulous exercise in problem solving in a group by Deveril.
1. Write down a pressing problem.
2. Pass it onto someone. You remain anonymous who provides a solution
3. The anonymous person passes it onto a third person, who attempts their own solution.
4. The original problem and solutions are read out; then put on table for all to read.

My favourite solution to a problem was this ( the bottom paper, above)

"Coming through Customs, the officer asked me how I managed to acquire "stay" status in the UK. Why did he ask that? Was he allowed to?"

The response was

"Keep focused get through customs".

Taey, an artist, performer and writer presents in her 30 min slot "Dictee and the Travelling Language" - an analysis of Theresa Hak-Kyung Cha, the basis of her Phd research.

Flaneurism, dream sequences and the influences of the little well known, but hugely significant Theresa Hak-Kyung Cha are laid out. A mental journey, and so layered was my thoughts.

Behind the camera about 20 or so Phd Students are listening providing critique feedback and questions

The image behind Turliff s Captain Jane way of the the star trek ship Voyager. She's asking the computer to materialise a cup of tea. That's the reality Turliff is working to for his Phd.

He passed around a 3d object which was created from a 3d printer. The computer conceives the constituents of the substance, then sends it to the printer. Human Tissue is one of the areas on Turliff's radar.



Sapna preps for her presentation, a documentary maker. She's researching the cause-effect of people with disabilities engaged in interviewing and doc making. Sapna is situating herself at the centre of this research, as someone with a disability herself.

Below she demonstrates in a ground breaking performance how she is able to play an instrument through eye movement on a device called Mytobii. (vid coming soon)

I'll post some more from the extraordinary people at Smart Lab in the near future.



David Dunkley Gyimah is researching the Outernet and innovative programme making at Smart Lab, looking to build on his own theory of film originally posited by Delueze

Big theme ideas

A lot of people marvel at Smart Lab's phd programme. Most Phders are left to their own, to forge their own path and possibly see their supervisor once every eclipse.

We meet three times a year in full on one week sessions that cover interdisciplinary approaches to learning.

This morning started off with the new dean of the computing school, popping by to say hello and given us a presentation. He said some profound things backed by a ppt on how he devised a programme to test the effectiveness of e-learning.

Extraordinary. I so need to post this in more detail. But the slogan he left us with was we've haven't changed us system of learning. We interested in teaching, but the idea of standing in front of a board, black or electronic, has not enhanced the student experience.

He cited the case of a tracking programme in a research study whereby the majority of students were only interested in passing exams, not learning.

Susan Korzel, faculty, whose speciality is philosophy and dance took us through an eye opening journey of writing about yourself yet apt for an academia. It's not as easy as it sounds.

The epistemology is known as Phenomenology. I'll post more on this and some of the fab things to emerge from smart lab during the week

Burning Man, BBC, Vid-Journalism and Smart Lab

Bruce's pics of Burning man which he and Galen are part of the committee

Posting later today, a snapshot of Smart Lab and interviews with the Smart Labbers - all of whom are doing extraordinary things.

Take Bruce Damer and Galen - husband and wife team.

Bruce is everything you want to know about computers, avatars, new computing - sort of things you'd see in Popular Science; Galen is technology, poetry, art and storytelling.

Bruce was sharing his pictures with us from Burning Man and the one which made us all chuckle is his picture here of a well known BBC presenter Peter Day.

Picture 1 shows Peter just arriving at Burning Man



Picture 2, 4 days on shows what can even happen to a hardened BBC Presenter.



To view more of these and Bruce's projects; I'll try and bring you more with a vid interview, but meanwhile go here to his site


Thanks to Bruce for allowing me to use his pics. On viewmagazine.tv you can find a clip of Bruce talking about his Phd research into creating life forms from nothing.

How to bust assumptions creatively

I have got Alison Williams, Phd student colleague at Smart lab

You'll remember two days ago Alison set a problem, which was how do you cut one cake with three knife cuts and get eight equal bit.

Many of you who answered and also emailed got it right. Huzzah!

Now Alison who works with blue chip companies in unlocking creativity wants to push that further.

The challenge now is to find at least six other solutions, she says.

I just said wow!

How do you go about that, she adds.

The clue, Alison says is in the words of the problems.

I am asking Alison what she's getting at here.


Solving the problem
Alison says that those of you who solved the problem challenged the assumption that the knife cuts were vertical.

the minute you realised they could be horizontal the solution was obvious.

Now challenge what do you mean by knife.. what do you mean by cut.. what do you mean by equal... you get the picture.

Every time you challenge an assumption, you get another solution - go for it!


That done.. a couple of q and as for Alison.

Is creativity something you can learn?

Alison: Yes and Yes. Creativity is a basic thinking skill like any other: you can get better at it using simple thinking tools.

David says like what?

Alison: there are amazing tools developed by Michalko, by de Bono, by Osborn (the father of creativity). My favourites are Roger van Oech's pack of cards called "The Wack Pack" and de Bono's Po: Impossible.

Anything that kicks you out of your assumptions and comfort zone!


David: Now I know you're not a journalist so this might be an unfair question but journalists are not usually associated with that word, however a lot of the innovations online that have to do with factual story telling have to do with experimenting and creativity. Have you got something to say in this?


Alison: There's a lot of baggage around the word 'creativity'. It gets associated with 19th century romantic geniuses: men behaving badly, take substances, cut off their ear, die young. People are often put off by this, and go to great lengths not to be seen to be creative.

There's two kinds of creativity - Big-C or special talent creativity; and small-c everyday creativity.

Everyone has small-c creativity and uses it all the time even if they're not aware of it. This is the kind that you can get better at, using techniques from the great guys I mentioned earlier, and - back to the cake - challenging your assumptions when you get stuck.

The innovations come out of this - pushing the boundaries, pushing your luck!


David: ok we're about to start the second session of talks so we have to go but one last one for Alison. If people want to know more about your work and what you do with creativity etc, where can they go to find you?

Alison: Find me at www.creativitysyntax.com

look forward to seeing you there!

Phd Seminar online - Smart lab

Awaiting Phd Seminar online with colleagues. See Screen Grab below at 16.02 FRiday 13th.



Accompanied by Video here

live event from dublin that we're tuning into. More details follow

Domestic Violence and Fashion WorkshopDublin Science Gallery 13-15 June 2008SafetyNET & SMARTlabTitle Page Image: by Ralph BorlandMAORI DOMESTIC VIOLE

speaker@16.56 according to Camille who's bloggin live from drupal
ONCE WERE WARRIORS A case study based on the film Dir. Lee Tamahore, 1994 based and Bestselling Novel by Alan Duff 1990 and paints a violent portrait of domestic violence

lizbeth from Smartlab says:
linked to 'stockholm syndrome' as in hostage abuse, where eventually over time the hostages

Aspects of violence relays Camille
Some of the most worrying are those that draw from arguments stemming from Biological Determinism which is the viewpoint that was used in the nineteen

17.14 camille:
FASHION AS SURVIVAL WEARFor effective protection until the Cycle of Violence can be breached it is possible to use techniques of Survival Wear as as combative methods that provide:• Invisibility• Protection• Subversion

lizbeth:
camoflauge technologies,. a form of augmented reality- a camera that take a pic
camille:
INVISIBILITYOptical-camouflage technology, University of Tokyo Augmented RealityCamera, reflective garment, specific observer position


.........lots gone on since including discussions on various clothing, heat resistant, gps enabled, camouflage, bakable - all within the sphere of development and towards combating violence/ violence related.

At 18.06 we're atill online and I have to say arguably one of the best e-online seminars I have experienced.