c.onscio.us/ly

I’ve been thinking about my personal optimal mode of operation lately.

I like presentation, I like conceptualising things, I like making connections, and outlining things.
I occasionally really enjoy dabbling in making things, and giving direction. When I was teaching, I was doing several of those things. With that comes a disappointment that you don’t make some of the things yourself.

But also an opportunity or mode which is more about observation critiquing and learning or remaking things, or even curation!

I think being able to do a PhD has a lot to do with being in the right frame of mind and being able to afford to do it (time and money). If you can satisfy both criteria then superb, you’re on track. Miss one of those and its basically a no go.

When I left my teaching role at the university it was at the point where I felt staying there was endangering my ability to perform fluidly as a lecturer and comprimising my ability to do a PhD to a standard that I wanted to and in the time frame that I wanted. Because I didnt want to put the PhD ahead of teaching, and because I loved both of those things so much to risk degrading them (even in my head). I felt it was time to move on and find other avenues that will permit me to carry on operating at my optimal level of performance and outlook on life.

Obviously it wasn’t as simple as that but thats one way of looking at it, which I think is little sad but quite positive.

Consequently, regardless of my current ‘regular salary’-less financial standing, I think I’m in a better position altogether. I feel positive about applying myself creatively to the topic of glitches , Im genuinely not as stressed and I feel positive that my role as creative director / designer in a startup that I own is even more conducive to the spirit of being a PhD student who’s willing to take risks. It also allows me to evaluate how a former academic could fit in within a commercial environment and make a success of it firsthand.

Since I left I’ve been able to abandon any old notions of having to learn something because it has some teaching value, or learning things in a way that I usually do, which is to learn it to an extent that I can teach it. I always felt that limited me.

As creative director, in a small company, I’m exercising being a maker. Being ‘a maker’ is all about learning technologies and methods as you use them in practical applications. This is a mode of operation I find myself in daily which I think is conducive to a practice based PhD.

In my opinion ambitious practice based PhD and dedicated teaching schedules don’t mix, something has to give. Whether its your health, mental wellbeing, teaching quality or the scope and breadth of the PhD you think you’re capable of.

Glitch: Designing Imperfection, originally uploaded by Iman.

as my PhD hangs precariously in the balance… heres something nice.

Going to Iran was actually quite amazing. not only did I get on with some essential research but I also got a chance to show my partner round Tehran and of course see my relatives. The last time I visited there was over 5 years ago which is a very long time indeed, in terms of how far things change over there. Going there made me question some of the things I value in life, and since I came back I’ve had a renewed interest and vigour in altering my normal trajectory and take on things.

Sadly as my students could potentially read this I cant be as candid about my current predicament as I’d like to. But a couple of fairly large changes are on the horizon for me, and they’re all fantastically good.

16/03/2009, originally uploaded by Iman.

I think I’m still on schedule for publishing the ideas I’ve been working on. before I leave for Iran.

On the 16th of March, I went to see Nicola Perren in the Textiles department to discuss carpet making. Nicola was incredibly generous with her time and showed me round a few places in the workshop building. I had a look at hand tufting and the Jacquard Loom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom we had a really good discussion about computation / glitch aesthetics. It turns out she’s a fan of Maedas work! I think we might be able to work on something together.

Designing Imperfection Site Redesign, originally uploaded by Iman.

a lot of good things are happening, and everyone in my network is being incredibly supportive as ever.

But I’m actually in a weird situation where I can’t exactly say whats going to happen next year. I love my teaching and I love my PhD. Im looking at options so I can focus more on my PhD and related work with a remission in my teaching responsibilities, in particular the parts which require lots of redesign , rethinking and planning each year, as well as awkward documentation. So far this year, I havent in any way permitted myself to let the PhD take precedence over my teaching responsibilities.

In my experience so far, I think doing a PhD to the standard that I want requires a rethink on how much teaching I can have in a given year. As a priority I certainly dont want to jeopardize the quality of teaching, or be in a situation were I’m doing a PhD just at the weekends.

Anyhow, Im being as positive and constructive as I can. I enjoyed redesigning the Glitch Designing Imperfection site at the weekend. I’ll post it when its up.

Im going to go insane dont write this post. Theres a lot going on.

Ive had a rough time over the past few weeks, someone beat me to doing the Glitch Carpet idea which is a concept I’d originally written about in my PhD project proposals, and its actually very clever and very nicely done, nice job Mr Richard Hutten. A carpet as an analogue decorative and functional object is so far removed from all that is digital, apart from its link to the pixel aesthetic in its making so I thought that idea would be safe and quite unique but it clearly isn’t. Despite this initial dissapointment. I’m still going to do my concept which is based on the idea of the ‘persian flaw’, where the god fearing carpet weaver would deliberately create a mistake in the carpet so as not to presume divinity in creating an object which exudes total perfection.

Over the past few years, Ive come across a few trends here and there. but few things have both amused and irritated me more than data moshing. Lets start with the name. which I hate btw. ‘Mosh’ is one of my most detested words in the english language.
I dont care massively for its etymology or wish to propose anything other than saying these are simply the manifestation of compression artefacts as David O Reilly has also pointed out.. Secondly this is like a completely mindless effect. Its like giving some kids crayons and allowing them to let rip on the walls. Ironically I think its been really hindered by the two music videos which have promoted it the most, Although I love the chairlift one, and I dont mind Kanye’s vocals and the lyrical content, the use of this effect is bordering on the abusive. Its like a lensflare effect circa 1991.

1. “Welcome To Heartbreak” Kanye West
2. “Evident Utensil” by Charlift

yes Ive seen them and I’ve got them on my bleeding ipod touch.

Im far more interested in research like this:
http://rogeralsing.com/2008/12/07/genetic-programming-evolution-of-mona-lisa/ recently. portraiture, representation, and a slight glitch aesthetic (maybe)

I’ve come to the realisation that to avoid further frustration I’m going to put all of my PhD proposal ideas out there. There are so many concepts I’ve looked at, maybe the public scrutiny will force me to tighten them up.

Face Detection, originally uploaded by Iman.

I’ve been looking at this for a few days. For the HCMF09 collaboration, some form of face detection would be useful. I started by looking at a couple of recent projects.

after a few minutes of wrangling with a few kludgy facedetect libraries tonight, I discovered an OpenCV example, I now know where the framework sits, where the library should go and its up and running as the example shows. fun stuff tomorrow.

For even more speed, I might try OpenCV in C++.

in 1273 Rumi, the Persian mystic wrote “New organs of perception come into being as a result of necessity - therefore increase, your necessity so that you may increase your perception” - Bill Viola’s Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House.