Physical Computing

The aim of the present article is to analyze the relation of physical computing with the computational thinking dimensions and the transdisciplinary approach of STEM epistemology in inquiry-based learning environments, when the methodology of the computational experiment is implemented. We argue that computational science and computational experiment can be applied in connection with STEM epistemology, when physical computing activities are embedded in the curriculum for Higher Education students. In order to implement this connection, we present software applications that combine algorithms and physical computing. We believe that engaging students through their existing STEM courses in physical computing - in the form of the computational experiment methodology- is a strategy that is much more likely to succeed in increasing the interest and appeal of STEM epistemology. Different learning modules were designed, which covered the combination of easy java simulations (Ejs) with Ardui...

The aim of the present article is to analyze the relation of physical computing with the computational thinking dimensions and the transdisciplinary approach of STEM epistemology in inquiry-based learning environments, when the methodology of the computational experiment is implemented. We argue that computational science and computational experiment can be applied in connection with STEM epistemology, when physical computing activities are embedded in the curriculum for Higher Education students. In order to implement this connection, we present software applications that combine algorithms and physical computing. We believe that engaging students through their existing STEM courses in physical computing-in the form of the computational experiment methodology-is a strategy that is much more likely to succeed in increasing the interest and appeal of STEM epistemology. Different learning modules were designed, which covered the combination of easy java simulations (Ejs) with Arduino and Raspberry pi.

"It is the contention of this paper that posthuman creativity is already taking place, rather than solely existing in the domain of a biomechanical cyberpunk dream. Manifesting work in both cyberspace and meatspace, the posthuman in this case understood to be someone who embraces digital creative technologies (both hardware and software), taking advantage of the artistic opportunities they afford.

The effects of Moore's law over the last two decades has led to a profuse amount of cheap and obsolete computer equipment, both open and closed system. These castaway gadgets have become an abundant raw material, sparking the burgeoning movement of creative hardware hackers.

The internet has enabled the creative subversion of technology, through the dissemination of new creative tools and techniques. Closed video games consoles are been repurposed into new expressive platforms and tools. Indeed, the retro video gaming movement has grown beyond the digital domain, bringing pixels to oil painting to and the new flesh to performance art.

The posthuman aesthetic conceived in science fiction and nurtured online is now very real and tangible."

The PhD dissertation Cyberpunk and New Media Art: Digital Art and Performance aims to examine the literary and visual legacy of the Cyberpunk movement and to explore its ideas, concepts and methodologies in the context of New Media artistic practices. The goal of this work is to comment on a multidisciplinary level on the influence of Cyberpunk theory and aesthetics. Furthermore, it seeks to identify its practice in the construction of the creative mechanisms of contemporary digital art and media performance.
The Cyberpunk phenomenon is approached through the definition of its socio- historical, philosophical and aesthetic context as a science fiction genre. Likewise, New Media Art is defined through the characteristics of its language, its precursors, its pioneers and the state of the digital art currents. By focusing on the terminology and the creative expression of Cyberpunk and Media Art, this thesis sets off to examine the artistic results that emerge from their union. Special emphasis is given to the fields of virtual technologies, technology and mythology and the body as a technologically enhanced interface.

From its invention at the end of nineteenth century, cinema has been a composite art form, engaging with a multitude of art and design disciplines (costume, props, sets, credits, etc) often employed to fit or enhance a story. The aura that surrounds the narrative in cinema was created via a unique relationship with technology (filming, editing, projection) capable of creating and revealing a fictional world.

Robotics toolkits and physical computing devices have been used in educational settings for many decades. Based on a techno-historical analysis of the development of 30 years of development of these devices, this monograph examines their design principles and presents a framework for the analysis and future design, based on the analytic construct of “selective exposure,” which examines what is foregrounded or backgrounded in hardware and software design. Selective exposure has two sub-dimensions: usability, which examines how the material communicates rules for its use, and power, which looks at how cognitive and physical operations are mapped to each other, and how the design can make these connections more explicit. I show how these dimensions crucially impact what children can achieve with these materials, and make the case for the design of toolkits in synchrony with the child's developmental trajectory.

This paper presents The Quiet Walk, an interactive mobile artwork for sonic explorations of urban space. The goal of TQW is to find the “quietest place”. An interface on the mobile device directs the user to avoid noisy areas of the city, giving directions to find quiet zones. Data collected by the system generates a geo-acoustic map of the city that facilitates the personal recollection of sonic memories. The system is comprised of 3 components: a smartphone running a custom application based on libpd and openFrameworks, a web server collecting the GPS and acoustical data, and computer in an exhibition space displaying a visualisation of the sound map. This open- ended platform opens up possibilities of mobile digital signal processing, not only for sound art related artworks but also as a platform for data-soundscape compositions and mobile, digital explorations in acoustic ecology studies.

While existing analytical frameworks (Chion 1994, Coulter 2009) provide basic classification tools for experimental audiovisual works, they fall short in elaborating the variety of compositional possibilities falling within the notion of “synchresis” (Chion 1994). I propose to delineate the various shades of synchresis through a case study analysis of the somewhat simpler relations between light and sound in media installation works using luminosonic objects: objects which appear to emit both sound and light in an integrated manner.
I will suggest a graphical framework for the analysis and composition of audiovisual relations between sound media and self-illuminating light objects, detailing various forms of integrated audiovisual dynamics. The framework will relate the compositional concepts of vertical harmonicity and horizontal counterpoint (Chion 1994) to the perceptual notion of “cross- modal binding” (Whitelaw 2008), thus linking compositional dynamics to perceptual effects and affects.

The paper describes an approach to the control of electromechanical devices for musical purposes (mainly, DC motors and solenoids) using audio signals. The proposed approach can be named ``audio physical computing'', i.e. physical computing oriented towards sound generation by means of audio signals. The approach has its origin in a previous physical computing project dedicated to music generation, the Rumentarium Project, that used microcontrollers as the main computing hardware interface. First, some general aspect of physical computing are discussed and the Rumentarium project is introduced. Then, a reconsideration of the technical setup of the Rumentarium is developed, and the audio physical computing approach is considered as a possible replacement for microcontrollers. Finally, a music work is described, in order to provide a real life example of audio physical computing.

In the last decade, Single-Board Computers (SBCs) have been employed more frequently in engineering and computer science both to technical and educational levels. Several factors such as the versatility, the low-cost, and the possibility to enhance the learning process through technology have contributed to the educators and students usually employ these devices. However, the implications, possibilities, and constraints of these devices in engineering and Computer Science (CS) education have not been explored in detail. In this systematic literature review, we explore how the SBCs are employed in engineering and computer science and what educational results are derived from their usage in the period 2010-2020 at tertiary education. For that, 154 studies were selected out of n=605 collected from the academic databases Ei Compendex, ERIC, and Inspec. The analysis was carried-out in two phases, identifying, e.g., areas of application, learning outcomes, and students and researchers' perceptions. The results mainly indicate the following aspects: (1) The areas of laboratories and e-learning, computing education, robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), and persons with disabilities gather the studies in the review. (2) Researchers highlight the importance of the SBCs to transform the curricula in engineering and CS for the students to learn complex topics through experimentation in handson activities. (3) The typical cognitive learning outcomes reported by the authors are the improvement of the students' grades and the technical skills regarding the topics in the courses. Concerning the affective learning outcomes, the increase of interest, motivation, and engagement are commonly reported by the authors.

A critical commentary that presents and contextualizes a film and video making practice spanning three decades. It locates a contemporary visual music practice within current and emerging critical and theoretical contexts and tracks back the history of this practice to the author’s initial screenings of work as part of the 1980’s British Scratch video art movement.

At the heart of the body of work presented here is an exploration and examination of methods and working practices in the encounter of music, sound and moving image.
Central to this is an examination of the affective levels that sound and image can operate on, in a transsensorial fusion, and political and cultural applications of such encounters, whilst examining  the epistemological regimes such work operates in.

A combination of factors has meant that work such as this, arising in the UK provinces, can fall below the historicizing and critical radar – these include the ephemeral and transitory nature of live performance work; the difficulties of documenting such work; the fragility and degeneration of emerging and quickly obsolescent formats; and a predominance of a London–centric focus on curating, screening and historicizing of experimental film and video art practices.

The author's film and video practice has been screened nationally and internationally over three decades, and has been recognized as exemplary practice both in the early 1980s at the inception of the Scratch movement and in more recent retrospectives. The critical commentary argues that this work contributes new knowledge of the history, contexts and practices of film and video art and audiovisual and visual music practices.

CHROMOSCALE presents a novel framework that integrates numerical systems with color representation through a unique chromatic approach based on cyclic orders. The concept revolves around the relationship between different numerical bases and their visual representations, specifically focusing on Base 7. The paper explores the mathematical properties of cyclic numbers, monotonic functions, and their implications for establishing a harmonic system that maps numbers to colors in a structured way, thereby creating a cohesive language for sounds, colors, and numbers.

For more information see the following link:
https://pdpseven.wixsite.com/sound-color

The sonification of brainwaves produced by analog electrical and acoustical sounds in Music for Solo Performer by Alvin Lucier, was both an attempt to bypass the acculturated frame of sound ("I think that acoustical phenomena are universal, not cultural, so I decided…to explore the natural characteristics of sound waves" 1 ) and also a door through which we might hear the sound of the mind in process (and incidentally to experience our own musicreactions to it,) to the extent to which it is possible through the amplification of alpha waves. Music for Solo Performer poses an audacious challenge to conventional musical analysis; while normally a main goal of musical analysis is to address the mind of the composer, performer and/or audience, Lucier makes us listen to the rhythm of waves formed in the performerʼs mind itself, the minute specifics of which are, by nature, involuntary. How do we analyze the sonic projection of a natural waveform occurring in the electrical pattern of the brain?

Esta obra está sujeta a la licencia Reconocimiento-CompartirIgual 3.0 Unported de Creative Commons. Para ver una copia de esta licencia, visite http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.es_ES."

"""The automatization of processes is one of the most important things those days. Now, these automated processes can be found in the most common things. This project want to show a prototype of an automatized cocktails dispenser machine that is controlled by a micro-controller Arduino 2560.

La automatización de procesos es una de las cosas más importantes por estos días. Este proyecto busca mostrar un prototipo de una maquina dispensadora de cocteles automatizada, controlada por un micro controlador Arduino 2560.

En la parte de abajo se puede encontrar el link con el video de la máquina funcionando.

Video: http://youtu.be/53hBuiHMlpc"

GERASIMOS POLITIS E.A.P EKP37: PLHROFORIKH KAI EKPAIDEYSH. ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ ΠΑΙΔΑΓΩΓΙΚΗΣ ΕΠΑΡΚΕΙΑΣ ΠΕ86. ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ 3, 2021-2022. PHYSICAL COMPUTING -TINKERCAD - ARDUINO - MOODLE.

Τα τελευταία χρόνια, στην εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευση έχουν αναπτυχθεί διάφορα
ευέλικτα συστήματα, εφαρμογές και υπηρεσίες που επιτρέπουν την παροχή υπηρεσιών
σύγχρονης και ασύγχρονης τηλεκπαίδευσης (e-learning) με τη μορφή ολοκληρωμένων
συνήθως περιβαλλόντων (πλατφόρμες). Η σύγχρονη τηλεκπαίδευση επιτρέπει αμφίδρομη
και οπτικοακουστική επικοινωνία, καθώς και την παραγωγή, διαχείριση και ανταλλαγή
εκπαιδευτικού υλικού κατάλληλου για εκπαίδευση από απόσταση (βλ. Ενότητα 1.2.4, Γ’
Τόμος). Η ασύγχρονη/σύγχρονη τηλεκπαίδευση μπορεί να παρέχεται είτε συμπληρωματικά
ως προς την παραδοσιακή μορφή εκπαίδευσης, είτε αυτόνομα.
Η ασύγχρονη μορφή τηλεκπαίδευσης είναι αυτή που άρει τους χωροχρονικούς
περιορισμούς, οι οποίοι τίθενται από την παραδοσιακή μορφή εκπαίδευσης με
αποτέλεσμα να αποτελεί την πλέον δημοφιλή εκδοχή εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευσης. Το
Moodle, για παράδειγμα, υποστηρίζει αυτή τη διαδικασία. Οι πλατφόρμες εξ αποστάσεως
εκπαίδευσης παρέχουν εργαλεία, τα οποία διευκολύνουν τους χρήστες τους στη
διαχείριση των μαθησιακών πόρων, εκπαιδευομένων αλλά και εικονικών τάξεων. Κατά
αυτόν τον τρόπο μπορούν ακόμα και καθηγητές ή εκπαιδευτές που δεν είναι ιδιαίτερα
εξοικειωμένοι με την υπολογιστική τεχνολογία να σχεδιάσουν, να υλοποιήσουν και να
διαθέσουν στους χρήστες τους ολοκληρωμένα μαθήματα (online εγγραφή, διάθεση
εκπαιδευτικού υλικού, εκπόνηση εργασιών, ασύγχρονη και σύγχρονη επικοινωνία,
συνεργασία, αξιολόγηση-εξέταση, κλπ.) μέσω διαδικτύου με σχετική ευκολία.
Σ’ αυτή την εργασία, προκειμένου να γνωρίσετε τις δυνατότητες που παρέχονται από μια
υπηρεσία τηλεκπαίδευσης, καλείστε να διερευνήσετε τις δυνατότητες μιας συγκεκριμένης
πλατφόρμας ασύγχρονης Τηλεκπαίδευσης, της πλατφόρμας Moodle, αλλά και μια σειρά
εργαλείων που μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν για εκπαιδευτικούς σκοπούς. Συγκεκριμένα,
ο σκοπός της εργασίας αυτής είναι η διερεύνηση των δυνατοτήτων της πλατφόρμας
Moodle και άλλων εργαλείων μέσω του σχεδιασμού και της ανάπτυξης ενός εκπαιδευτικού
σεναρίου με την αξιοποίηση του Learning Designer (http://ucl.ac.uk/learning-designer) και
του tinkercad (https://www.tinkercad.com/).
Συνεπώς, η παρούσα εργασία σχετίζεται με ζητήματα σχεδίασης και ανάπτυξης
εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού, με την ευρεία έννοια του όρου, ενώ επίσης παρέχει την
ευκαιρία να γνωρίσετε από κοντά και να χρησιμοποιήσετε εκπαιδευτικές πλατφόρμες και
κάποιο από τα εργαλεία για το Physical Computing.

The art of electric guitar playing has remained almost unchanged for as long as the instrument has been available, as we know it today (Beauchamp 1937). With only a few
notable, rare and eccentric exceptions, such as artist Jimi Hendrix performing with his teeth (Hendrix n.d.) instead of fingers, not much exploration has been done around this subject on this particular instrument.

The goal of this project and paper, is to develop and document a proof of concept, up to date, cost effective and open source product, that would register change in the pick grip pressure,
in order to augment the musical experience and/or performance, by using an electronic signal to control a DSP host or other equivalent computerized audio/image/environment
processing system.

The ‘smart city’ is an oft-cited techno-urban imaginary promoted by businesses and governments alike. It thinks big, and is chiefly imagined in terms of large-scale information communications systems that hinge on the collection of real-time and so-called ‘big data’. Less talked about are the human-scale implications and user experience of the smart city. Much of the current academic scholarship on smart cities offers synoptic and technical perspectives, leaving the users of smart systems curiously unaccounted for. While they purport to empower citizens, smart cities initiatives are rarely focused at the citizen-scale, nor do they necessarily attend to the ways initiatives can be user-led or co-designed. Drawing on the outcomes of a university studio, this article rethinks the smart city as a series of urban scales—metropolis, community, individual, and personal—and proposes an analytical model for classifying smart city initiatives in terms of engagement. Informed by the theory of proxemics, the model proposed analyses smart city initiatives in terms of the scope of their features and audience size; the actors accountable for their deployment and maintenance; their spatial reach; and the ability of design solutions to re-shape and adapt to different urban scenarios and precincts. We argue that the significance of this model lies in its potential to facilitate modes of thinking across and between scales in ways that can gauge the levels of involvement in the design of digitally mediated urban environments, and productively re-situate citizens as central to the design of smart city initiatives.

Combining practices of craft and interaction design opens up new opportunities for both domains but structuring such cross-domain collaboration poses challenges. How to set up a crafter-designer collaboration to utilize the different fields of expertise and include separate practices? We address this question through a co-design research approach. First, we present an overview over existing approaches. Then, we propose our perspective that builds on an initial distinction between the collaborators, repositions the construction of the brief, and culminates into a collaboration through the shared object. Finally, we describe a successful collaboration between an interaction designer and a ceramic artist to support our model. We present a collaboration model that builds on distinct expertise, evolves through a design-based brief, and realizes through a shared dialectic object. We present this through a case study in pottery but we argue that the model is not tied to a particular craft technique and transferable to other collaborative settings in this field.

—The aim of the present article is to analyze the relation of physical computing with the computational thinking dimensions and the transdisciplinary approach of STEM epistemology in inquiry-based learning environments, when the methodology of the computational experiment is implemented. We argue that computational science and computational experiment can be applied in connection with STEM epistemology, when physical computing activities are embedded in the curriculum for Higher Education students. In order to implement this connection, we present software applications that combine algorithms and physical computing. We believe that engaging students through their existing STEM courses in physical computing-in the form of the computational experiment methodology-is a strategy that is much more likely to succeed in increasing the interest and appeal of STEM epistemology. Different learning modules were designed, which covered the combination of easy java simulations (Ejs) with Arduino and Raspberry pi.

This paper presents The Quiet Walk, an interactive mobile artwork for sonic explorations of urban space. The goal of TQW is to find the "quietest place". An interface on the mobile device directs the user to avoid noisy areas of the city, giving directions to find quiet zones. Data collected by the system generates a geo-acoustic map of the city that facilitates the personal recollection of sonic memories. The system is comprised of 3 components: a smartphone running a custom application based on libpd and openFrameworks, a web server collecting the GPS and acoustical data, and computer in an exhibition space displaying a visualisation of the sound map. This openended platform opens up possibilities of mobile digital signal processing, not only for sound art related artworks but also as a platform for data-soundscape compositions and mobile, digital explorations in acoustic ecology studies.

Microcontroller-based toolkits and physical computing devices have been used in educational settings for many years for robotics, environmental sensing, scientific experimentation, and interactive art. Based on a historical analysis of the development of these devices, this study examines the design principles underlying the several available platforms for physical computing and presents a framework to analyze various platforms and their use in education. Given the now widespread use of these devices among children and their long history in the field, a historical review and analysis of this technology would be useful for interaction designers.

ABSTRACT This project investigates the potential for designing playful cognitive enrichment activities for captive elephants. We explore the usefulness of applying conceptual frameworks from HCI and game design to the problem of developing species-specific smart toys that promote natural behaviour and provide stimulation. Available: doc.gold.ac.uk/aisb50/AISB50-S14/AISB50-S14-French-extabst.pdf

Robotics toolkits and physical computing devices have been used in educational settings for many decades. Based on a techno-historical analysis of the development of 30 years of development of these devices, this monograph examines their design principles and presents a framework for the analysis and future design, based on the analytic construct of “selective exposure,” which examines what is foregrounded or backgrounded in hardware and software design. Selective exposure has two sub-dimensions: usability, which examines how the material communicates rules for its use, and power, which looks at how cognitive and physical operations are mapped to each other, and how the design can make these connections more explicit. I show how these dimensions crucially impact what children can achieve with these materials, and make the case for the design of toolkits in synchrony with the child's developmental trajectory.

The work presented in this paper investigates the potential of tangible interaction to setup algorithmic rules for creating computational models. The research proposes a workflow that allows designers to create complex geometric patterns through their physical interaction with design objects. The method aims to address the challenges of designers implementing algorithms for computational modeling. The experiments included in this work are prototype-based, which link a digital environment with an artifact-the physical representation of a digital model that is integrated with a Physical Computing System. The digital-physical workflow is tested through enabling users to physically setup the rules of a Cellular Automata algorithm. The experiments demonstrate the possibility of utilizing tangible interaction to setup the initial cell state and the rules of a CA algorithm to generate complex geometric patterns. INTRODUCTION The work presented in this paper explores the potential of tangible interaction to setup algorithmic rules for computational models. Algorithms enable designers to generate complex geometric compositions that are imbedded with design intents (Wood-bury 2010, Aish 2005). Algorithms for computational modeling are commonly created through declarative (graph-based) and/or imperative (text-based) programming methods (Appleby and VandeKopple 1997, Davis 2013). Both programming paradigms require designers to explicitly implement mathematical functions and geometrical algorithms to create computational models (Stavric and Marina 2011).

I explore the conceptual foundations of Alan Turing's analysis of computability, which still dominates thinking about computability today. I argue that Turing's account represents a last vestige of a famous but unsuccessful program in pure mathematics, viz., Hilbert's formalist program. It is my contention that the plausibility of Turing's account as an analysis of the computational capacities of physical machines rests upon a number of highly problematic assumptions whose plausibility in turn is grounded in the formalist stance towards mathematics. More speciÿcally, the Turing account conates concepts that are crucial for understanding the computational capacities of physical machines. These concepts include the idea of an " operation " or " action " that is " formal, " " mechanical, " " well-deÿned, " and " precisely described, " and the idea of a " symbol " that is " formal, " " uninterpreted, " and " shaped ". When these concepts are disentangled, the intuitive appeal of Turing's account is signiÿcantly undermined. This opens the way for exploring models of hypercomputability that are fundamentally dierent from those currently entertained in the literature.

This project investigates the potential for designing playful cognitive enrichment activities for captive elephants. We explore the usefulness of applying conceptual frameworks from HCI and game design to the problem of developing species-specific smart toys that promote natural behaviour and provide stimulation.

The article summarizes the elaboration of a theoretical and projective body of work developed by the author through design studios VII and VII of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile’s Design School, as well as from work done at the Digital Fabrication Lab Santiago (Fab Lab Santiago). Diverse systems of personal digital fabrication are described, highlighting Sandbot. These systems seek to propose a new language around technologies oriented to digital fabrication of objects, gathering local contexts through materials, stimuli from the surroundings and interaction with users.

Bajo el título Material en (in): formación uno de tres articulos:  el texto «Arquitectura en (in) formación. Sobre la naturaleza de la información en la arquitectura digital» es la reproducción (y traducción al español) de extractos del capítulo 5 «Extensive Material» del libro Architecture (In)Formation, publicado por Routledge/Taylor & Francis (Londres, 2013) y editado por Lorenzo-Eiroa y Sprecher.

The purpose of this paper is to argue against the claim that morphological computation is substantially different from other kinds of physical computation. I show that some (but not all) purported cases of morphological computation do not count as specifically computational, and that those that do are solely physical computational systems. These latter cases are not, however, specific enough: all computational systems, not only morphological ones, may (and sometimes should) be studied in various ways, including their energy efficiency, cost, reliability, and durability. Second, I critically analyze the notion of " offloading " computation to the morphology of an agent or robot, by showing that, literally, computation is sometimes not offloaded but simply avoided. Third, I point out that while the morphology of any agent is indicative of the environment that it is adapted to, or informative about that environment, it does not follow that every agent has access to its morphology as the model of its environment.

ABSTRACT Digital media are central in almost every aspect of daily life, most notably in how we communicate, understand political issues, reflect (co-)produce, consume, and share knowledge. Perhaps nowhere is this digital influence contested more than in education, where questions arise about the ability of traditional systems to prepare young people for the social, economic, and political demands of a complex and connected new century. From these concerns springs an innovative approach to supporting the development of systems thinking in young people; one that allows them to see how systems are at play in the digital contexts they regularly engage and one that puts them in the position of designers of those systems. Soft Circuits: Crafting e-Fashion with DIY Electronics explores the field of electronics and "e-textiles," which involves making physical computing projects based in fabrics and other everyday materials. This volume incorporates microprocessors into these materials and programs them with an accessible tool called Modkit to further enhance e-fashions like light-up wristbands and t-shirts, as well as solar-powered backpacks.

“Critical making” is an umbrella term for various distinctive practices that link traditional scholarship in the humanities and social sciences to forms of material engagement in order to explore new ways of studying the relationship between technologies and social life by bridging the gap between physical and conceptual exploration (Ratto, 2011). The aim of critical making is “to articulate and develop novel modes of intervention into dominant systems of information exchange and knowledge generation” that “focus on assembling rather than deconstructing within the modern technological society” (Ratto, Wilie and Jalbert, 2014: 85). In order to reach this goal, critical making practices “theoretically and pragmatically connect two modes of engagement with the world that are often held separate - critical thinking, typically understood as conceptually and linguistically based, and physical “making,” goal-based material work” (Ratto, 2011: 253). Such practices can thus be conceived as engagements between design and social research, implying the exploration of societal issues and social theories through the fabrication of material, interactive prototypes.
Drawing upon the critical making approach, we have developed a project called “Game of ANT”, which focuses on the fabrication of a series of Arduino-based interactive devices reproducing the behaviour of actor-networks within the socio-technical world.  “Game of ANT” adopts the Latourian vision of technoscience as war (Latour, 1987) and physically embodies this idea by proposing a sort of war game during which participants play the roles of human or non-human actors engaging with the dynamics of socio-technical life. Using pre-assembled and coded components, participants construct and play with simple, electronic actors/actants that are able to associate and dissociate with each other, thus forming multiple actor-networks that compete for gaining power within an imagined socio-technical world. To win the game, an actor-network needs to crystallize and become a “black box”. The working of the game thus reproduces the basic principles of actor-network theory (ANT) and “translates” the sociology of translation into a gaming experience through which scholars and students can conceptually-materially engage with ANT, hence exploring and approaching it from novel points of view.

Bibliography

Latour, B. (1987) Science in Action, Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

Ratto, M. (2011) “Critical Making: Conceptual and Material Studies in Technology and Social Life”, The Information Society, 27: 252–260.

Ratto, M., Wilie, S.A. and Jalbert, K. (2014) “Introduction to the Special Forum on Critical Making as Research Program”, The Information Society, 30: 85–95.

In this paper, I show how semantic factors constrain the understanding of the computational phenomena to be explained so that they help build better mechanistic models. In particular, understanding what cognitive systems may refer to is important in building better models of cognitive processes. For that purpose, a recent study of some phenomena in rats that are capable of ‘entertaining’ future paths (Pfeiffer and Foster 2013) is analyzed. The case shows that the mechanistic account of physical computation may be complemented with semantic considerations, and in many cases, it actually should.

The article describes the design, production and usage of the ‘Rumentarium’, a computer-based sound generating system involving physical objects as sound sources. The Rumentarium is a set of handmade resonators, acoustically excited by DC motors, interfaced to the computer by means of various microcontrollers. Following an ecological/anthropological approach, in the Rumentarium discarded materials are used as sound sources. Every instrument is ‘produced while designed’ in an improvisation-like manner, starting from available materials. In this way, hardware is ‘softened’: that is, it can be continuously modified as in software development. Analogously, the onsite setup is very light, so that components can be added or removed on the fly, even while the Rumentarium is at work. Differently from typical computer music, the Rumentarium, while entirely computationally controlled, is an acoustic sound generator. On one hand, the Rumentarium can be played like an instrument in conjunction with a MIDI controller, for use in live musical performance. On the other side, it can be driven by algorithmic strategies. In this way, the Rumentarium can be configured also as a sound installation, in a standalone mode. Some artistic works are discussed while introducing the various control modalities that have been specifically developed for the Rumentarium.

Latest hardware improvements on transceivers supporting Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) make it feasible to con- nect small battery powered devices hundred of meters or even km away. In this paper, we propose a physical computing paradigm fully exploiting this novel technology. Spatial physi- cal computing (SPC) leverages not only natural manipulation typically used on TUI and construction kits but also integrates the necessary deambulation (around a building or a city) in the process of creating, testing and tuning a distributed smart sensor/actuator network. The overall system is a compound of (an unlimited) set of independent data-processing nodes supporting an event-driven data-flow programming scheme. We demonstrate in a few examples how such networks can be deployed - spatially programmed - through intuitive physical actions, and discuss the unique qualities and challenges of Spatial Physical Computing.

Multiple realizability (MR) is traditionally conceived of as the feature of computational systems, and has been used to argue for irreducibility of higher-level theories. I will show that there are several ways a computational system may be seen to display MR. These ways correspond to (at least) five ways one can conceive of the function of the physical computational system. However, they do not match common intuitions about MR. I show that MR is deeply interest-related, and for this reason, difficult to pin down exactly. I claim that MR is of little importance for defending computationalism, and argue that it should rather appeal to organizational invariance or substrate neutrality of computation, which are much more intuitive but cannot support strong antireductionist arguments.

The improvement of STEM education through new pedagogies and technologies has been the chief concern of policy-makers and educators for the past decades. Common threads among the proposed solutions have been to promote inquiry, discovery, and authentic scientific practices in the classroom. In this chapter, we present a novel inquiry-based framework which combines computer simulations and real-world sensing in real-time: bifocal modeling. Even though educational researchers have come to realize the potential of simulations, computer models, and probeware separately, little research and design have been done on the combination of these new technologies. When creating a bifocal model, students build a computer simulation and the analogous sensing apparatus, and link them in real-time, being able to validate, compare, and refine their conceptual models using data. In this chapter, I will focus on the technical and pedagogical aspects of this framework, describe several example models, and discuss four pilot studies, which suggest that the synergy between physical and simulated systems catalyzes further inquiry toward a deeper understanding of the scientific phenomena.