Visit from Simon Conlin

On Thursday, November 29th, our Interactive Multimedia class was privileged to have Simon Conlin visit our class.

Simon is originally from England and came to Canada a few years ago. Simons first passion was music and this developed into a love for Interactive Multimedia. Like the professors of IMM Sheridan, Simon is another pioneer in this ever growing field. Click here to go to Simons Site

Simon is an ambassor to Flash in a Can. Flash in a Can is A “Do It Yourself” festival for new media designers and developers who will learn the latest in interactive techniques and technologies and how to apply them to their own work. World-class speakers, Canadian debuts of new media art exhibits, a prestigious international awards show and late night mixers round out the festival, providing an energizing round-the-clock experience for the delegates. This Paragraph was copied from the FITC Site.
Click here to read more of the Bios of Flash in a Can

Today Simon took us through some of the amazing things that are being done in IMM. Here are a just a few of the examples,
Tracking Fingers with the Wii Remote
Mine-Control
Diffusion
Marble Marshall - Interactive art by Zack Booth Simpson
RNA Folding - Interactive art by Zack Booth Simpson

Dan Zen, our professor then took us through some of his Focuso and Lightshow work.
From flick'r
Dan' Focuso Site
Dan's Lightshow

This 2 hour presentation provoted thought, ideas and passion of the History and Future of IMM.

CLF 2.0 Standards and Guidelines

I was surprised to find out the other day that a website has to allow access to everyone and this is a stringent law. Click here to see the Common Look and Feel for the Internet.

This would include Flash Sites only sites. This is still something that I am researching and will provide more information in future.

Visit to Gesturetek

On October 12, we visited Gesturetek (Video Gesture Control Technology) as part of our Multimedia Pioneering Class. We met with Vincent John Vincent, the President and Co-Founder.

Our class met at the Gesturetek office on Adelaide; and like the company, it is beyond the norm. The atmosphere and architecture is a mixture of taking something that was old and renovating it to retain the orignal beauty giving it an air of the surreal. The same can be said for their technology. Taking older technolgy (video cameras) and mixing it with human gesture and the latest cutting edge technology to create a product that is not only for entertainment, advertising and gaming, but also for education, assisting the disabled and provide a way to exercise. Vincent John Vincent and his partner, Francis MacDougall are true pioneers in this industry and encompass everything that Interactive Multimedia is all about.

Vincent John Vincent gave us a demonstration of all the latest technology. We experienced the gaming, interactive walls, tables, and floors. One of the highlights for me was when he was giving a demonstration of how this technology has assisted in physical rehabilitation by using the gesture technology. Each person has a session programmed for them to follow along depending upon what they need to work on. I was very impressed.

Go to the GESTURETEK WEBSITE and you can see for yourself all the groundbreaking Computer Vision Technology. They are too numerous to display.

Jelauddin Rumi - 13th Century Mystic

From Santas Little Helper Simpson to Rumi. But here goes.

In our Web Authoring Class we talked about Creativity. One thing that struck me was one of my favorite quotes "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep!"
-Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th Century Sufi mystic

Read a great article on Rumi

Tutorial Creation Software

Free Tutorial Software similiar to Camtasia if cost is a factor.

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

Visualization Lab

Today we took a trip upstairs to visit the Sheridan Visualization Lab. I was impressed with the atmosphere and the culture.

We were shown some interactive multimedia applications by going through the Lab's project site.

The first example was a application created for the Police. Go to for a look. This was used for many reasons but the one shown was developed for Police Officers as an investigation tool to enable them to write a report for a traffic accident. This was a Flash-XML based application.

The next link was for Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) was using an XML Driven Engine using Flash 6. It was an imported swf that plays fla files. This is a Go to

We also were shown a demonstration using Facial Recognition Software.

I was surprised to learn that the graphics used for game type programs was from a graphics applications, but more complex using api. The free Opensource graphic engine that they used with a game type application using OGRE

I was also happy walking around seeing some of the manuals, books and software that they use.

Go to their site. Amazing and you don't have to physically be there.

Click Here to go to the Sheridan Visualization Labs Main Page

A Quote from the movie Second Hand Lions. This is one of my favorites quotes from a movie.

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."

Something More

I have named my Blog Something More in appreciation and gratitude of the Book "Something More" by Sarah Ban Breathneath.

I have read this book many times along with Simple Abundance. Truly a life changing book for women.

Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart. Sarah Ban Breathnach