DorkbotColumbus - the Blog

Internet as jellyfish - a squishable concept!

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have some up with a new way to visualize and describe the Web - as a Medusa jellyfish.

The approach is interesting, but the graphic is even more so. 

Risk assessment is key - but more diffiucult in new technology

If an acid will eat through anything, what kind of container can you use for it?  If nano particles are the smallest bits made, how can you build a filter to keep it from causing harmful effects if breathed or absorbed into the human body?  These are questions that have been asked - should be asked.  But now baby steps are being taken to collect answers for some of them.

Technology offers an apparently unlimited variety of opportunity - but opportunity cuts both ways.  Anything that presents a different pattern than our bodies (or other organic entities) have evolved to deal with - represents a potential danger.  And the effects may cause a lot of damage before we learn to recognize the symptoms.

We will not stop research, obviously.  And now a consortium - including the Environmental Defense Fund and DuPont - has come up with a first step - a mechanism to begin to capture the data that can assist in assessing the risks associated with new nanotechnology.  It's called the Nanotechnology Risk Framework. 

It can be downloaded now for your information.  It is a paper-based system at this point - a lot of data is collected and stored in a totally useless format.  But at least the thought-process is in place, and the data is being collected.  Soon, one can hope that progressive heads with look for ways this data can be incorporated into the research process in an active way, and be constantly updated and refined as time goes by.

This is a job for - MetaDataMan!!

Dreaming of the Internet on 3X5 cards

Link: Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society » Mundaneum, the Index Card Internet.

Humans have been trying to collect and organize their knowledge, almost from the time we became conscious of the concept of "knowledge" as separate from just "behavior."  From the Greeks to Alexandria to the universities of the Renaissance - it seems there has been an ongoing effort to create a central access point for the collective knowledge of the species.  In most modern times, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language and the Encyclopedia Britannica may mark our first attempts to match the best information publishing technology with knowledge. 

But here is an interesting and little-known story of the creation of a knowledge bank based on the simple premise of 3X5 cards, organized in a system devised to retrieve the knowledge when needed.  It reminds me most of a paper-based version of Douglas Lenat's Cyc project.

The futility and ultimate failure of the effort seems - from here - pre-destined.  But, as this writer points out, the concepts were echoed later in Vannevar Bush's "As We May Think" - a description of the Memex - which is often credited with being the conceptual root of modern information storage and retrieval systems.

So the question emerges - what if the Internet turns out to be - in retrospect from some future date, less than 100 years from now - as klutzy and cumbersome and obviously futile as the Mundaneum.  What will that next leap look like?

Arts & Tech Events- Dorkbot meeting a success!

Good time was had by all - the spring quarter display of the work of students in the Ohio State University Arts & Technology program - along with a Dorbot Columbus meeting - has to be considered a success.

Several hundred people toured the 3 floors of displays and the video festival in the "black box" theater.  And about a dozen participated in the Dorkbot meeting itself.

We're going to focus a future event - possible early-mid August - on Toys - just because Dorkbots love to play and technology presents us so many opportunities!

Stay tuned for more news about time and place as it develops!

Wind-powered USB peripherals (sort of)

Link: instructables : Breath powered USB charger.

Everyone is so excited about gigundic propellers in the sky, creating electricity from the passing breeze.  And then there's the magical notion of making electricity from almost any repetitive motion - like the waves of the ocean.  A growing number of experimenters are seeking ways to generate power for handy USB or small-battery-powered devices. 

Put all that together - and then make it comparatively very very small - and you have this new idea for human-powered electronics.  By taking advantage of the fact that you must breathe (thus the wind) combined with the repetitive chest movement inherent to breathing - and you've got a new way to maximize the pay-off from that PowerBar.

This instructable leverages a gear train with a rubber-band around the chest to generate power - while it is small power today, the creator promises possible improvements that may be more efficient.  Like the man said - small is beautiful!