Hacker Camp Blog ’09

anyMeta 4.19.12 - Atom module 0.3.2 2012-05-29T14:08:46+02:00 http://www.mediamatic.net/feed/atom/99715/en Hacker Camp Blog ’09 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/113531 2009-10-05T21:44:26+02:00 Broadcast suspended, please hang up At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009

Reality, Fantasy, Inspiration and Dreams to be continued next year.

Bloggers glitch Rosa and pandalover Jonnet signing off. Thank you EVERYBODY! Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/106521 2009-10-23T12:10:13+02:00 Hackercamp Manifesto At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009

Top tips behind a 5-day miracle in the hackers' own words

Stay cool, you won't figure stuff out when you're hot headed The world won't end if it goes wrong Have a plan B Have courage, dive into places you've never been before Divvy up a problem til it's doable Simplify, then simplify again Stick to the essential tasks to make it work Don't stay wed to your tools Have an amazing back up team to cover all your worldly needs and finally... Have fun creating fun experiences for others Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/113503 2009-10-04T18:14:25+02:00 It's (nearly) a Network Knockout! At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009

Most PICNICkers never did get to test how well they really know who is in their PICNIC network. We're still not sure whether the more promiscuous virtual networkers could ever know enough about their weak ties to outdo those who build a smaller network based on human to human contact.

So is there disappointment in the air that the team's knockout idea isn't quite a festival knockout? To installation constructor Tijmen, success doesn't ultimately matter as it was all about having fun. It was fun to make and, not surprisingly, players were in their element throwing balls through holes. The idea was to create a game that people love doing anyway and then RFID-enable it. The cool visual feedback for winners and losers had players coming back for more. By the last day of PICNIC the game worked smoothly so long as both contestants had an evenly matched network size. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113528/en/knockout-contestants"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/816/113528-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Knockout contestants" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Knockout contestants - Mediamatic.net" href="/113528/en/knockout-contestants">Knockout contestants</a> But so confident were the knockout team in their abilities to pull off this complex game that it came as something of a shock to them when they didn't quite deliver on the day. Out in the sun early on day 2 they had nailed the project with aplomb. The goals were so clear and obvious that they started trialling that very evening. Never lacking in dedication, hard work and self belief, the team were notoriously the most hardcore coders to pack up as late as 5am. There is only one reason why the project was knocked out in the final race against the clock: over-complication. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113522/en/ball-throwing-gets-beta-tested"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/871/113522-400-268.jpg" height="268" width="400" alt="" title="Ball throwing gets beta tested" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Ball throwing gets beta tested - Mediamatic.net" href="/113522/en/ball-throwing-gets-beta-tested">Ball throwing gets beta tested</a> Dirk, Erik, Tijmen and Tim had all notched up some previous hacker camp experience, albeit not all as full blown participants, so they were well versed in the challenges that faced them. But it took director Willem to step in and detect a classic case of overthinking. Such fripperies as a colour sensitive ball sorting system had to go. An RFID-enabled all-singing all-dancing bowling alley was no task for a 5 day deadline. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113521/en/the-confident-knockout-team"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/827/113521-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="The confident Knockout team" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - The confident Knockout team - Mediamatic.net" href="/113521/en/the-confident-knockout-team">The confident Knockout team</a> The team steamed ahead with what was still an ambitious project, which aimed to create a polished user experience with a superb Quartz Composer interface. Inspired by warioware, it allowed some quirky and energetic visual effects. Four time camp veteran Dirk sweated blood in transferring OSC data into QC even though he is a self confessed expert. It's hard to describe a problem in a visual programming language to get help elsewhere. He had a dauntingly ungoogleable problem on his hands. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113527/en/nice-interface"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/593/113527-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Nice interface" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Nice interface - Mediamatic.net" href="/113527/en/nice-interface">Nice interface</a> A prototype in processing was ready on schedule for the quiz questions. It worked but it didn't look good and the team decided to keep cracking on with the QC interface. There was never any suggestion of a plan B. By deadline day the team were exhausted and expert hacker Erik was running solely on Red Bull. The team admit they underestimated the amount of programming required but it's unlikely to put them off returning for more next year. And next year they really will try to keep it simple, stupid. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113523/en/ever-the-hardcore-late-nighters"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/389/113523-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Ever the hardcore late nighters" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Ever the hardcore late nighters - Mediamatic.net" href="/113523/en/ever-the-hardcore-late-nighters">Ever the hardcore late nighters</a> Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/106440 2009-10-01T17:40:00+02:00 Breaking the Frame 3D group photos in a circus tent

This year we see a considerable increase in the projects that use video. This is not a coincidence, in fact there are some serious moving image professionals at the Hacker Camp. There is for instance <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Lieberman_%28roboticist%29">Jeff Lieberman</a> who hosts the slow motion video show Time Warp for Discovery. This Hacker Camp there is we also document the different projects in the form of video. This footage can be found on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/MediamaticAmsterdam#play/all/">youtube</a> Another connection to video can be found within the Breaking the Frame project by Mike Wege, Carl Emil Carlsen and Dan Paluska.

On Tuesday Mike got the ikcam client discovery software working. After this turning point, the actual cameras needed to be bought. Also the method of how to assemble the different forms of footage needed to be thought through. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113329/en/mike-wege-coding-breaking-the-frame"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/523/113329-400-235.png" height="235" width="400" alt="" title="Mike Wege coding Breaking the Frame" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Mike Wege coding Breaking the Frame - Mediamatic.net" href="/113329/en/mike-wege-coding-breaking-the-frame">Mike Wege coding Breaking the Frame</a> On Wednesday the cameras were acquired and Mike connected them to the software. Subsequently Carl and Dan mounted them on a quarter ark. The initial idea to create time lapse videos that change from speed (depending on the users activation), was dumped down. Now every time a group swipes their tag only one frame of the continuous stream of video will be captured by 10 separate cameras, put together into an animated gif that will be embedded into the profile of the user. How to make such an installation look nice was the next phase of the construction Carl and Dan had to tackle. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/111559/en/carl-posing"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/589/111559-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Carl Posing" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Carl Posing - Mediamatic.net" href="/111559/en/carl-posing">Carl Posing</a> <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113339/en/dan-likes-to-play-games"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/684/113339-400-320.jpg" height="320" width="400" alt="" title="Dan likes to play games" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Dan likes to play games - Mediamatic.net" href="/113339/en/dan-likes-to-play-games">Dan likes to play games</a> Finally arriving at the Gashouder, the tent is not exactly what the group imagined; it is a circus tent with 8 different colors. This is another (cool) challenge. A problem that presents itself however is that there is not so much light. This takes away from the quality of the photos; they get very grainy. For a next project this could be easily solved depending on the situation. Dan, Carl and Mike were however satisfied that the project works and the actual results are directly embedded within the profiles of the users. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/109964/en/carl-dan-at-breaking-the-frame"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/406/109964-300-225.gif" height="225" width="300" alt="" title="Carl, Dan at Breaking the frame" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Carl, Dan at Breaking the frame - Mediamatic.net" href="/109964/en/carl-dan-at-breaking-the-frame">Carl, Dan at Breaking the frame</a> uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/110793 2009-10-06T18:22:59+02:00 Hacking the party At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009, Day 6

Mediamatic organized a get together for their clients and network. After an intense week, it's party night. The Surinamese food has run out but the champagne is still flowing and, under the umbrellas of the hackercamp balcony, hackers are finally letting their hair down.

But hacker habits die hard as shown in Sly's hands-free champagne glass. Edwin and Neil are like two boys in a toy shop playing with random electronic stuff on the hackercamp shelves, now finally free to explore and tinker at will. Tijmen can't be parted with a blue gnome hat, the winning ikGnome team. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113777/en/sly-s-champagne-hack"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/868/113777-267-400.jpg" height="400" width="267" alt="" title="Sly's champagne hack" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Sly's champagne hack - Mediamatic.net" href="/113777/en/sly-s-champagne-hack">Sly's champagne hack</a> A zealous wave of minimalism hits hackercamp this afternoon driven by project co-ordinator Deborah's military style campaign. By 6pm a multitude of PICNIC guests is due to tour the hackercamp installations, starting with a screening of the project videos. The electronic spaghetti bolognese of cables, the stuff of Health and Safety nightmares, is untangled and wound up into neat bundles by patient hands. Tiny gadgets and clunky contraptions alike vaporise as order gradually emerges out of chaos. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/113775/en/hardly-a-cable-in-sight"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/875/113775-400-300.jpg" height="300" width="400" alt="" title="Hardly a cable in sight!" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Hardly a cable in sight! - Mediamatic.net" href="/113775/en/hardly-a-cable-in-sight">Hardly a cable in sight!</a> Eight projects have been incubated in this space. Twenty hackers and as many back-up workers have inhabited the camp for almost twenty hours daily for the last 6 days, not to mention the whole Mediamatic office which squeezed in here for the final frenzied days. Such has been the level of focus on project completion that the bars and clubs on the camp doorstep were never a temptation. To a hacker with an amazing idea to be realised in 5 days there is no place for worldly distractions. The foreign hackers have barely seen more of the city of Amsterdam than the view from the number 10 tram. Now it's finally time to party!!! Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/110508 2009-10-01T14:05:10+02:00 #1-800 DIAL NOW! At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009, Day 6

One of the most troublesome installations.. fortunately occupied the most beautiful place!

<a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/111428/en/dial-1-800"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/751/111428-400-260.jpg" height="260" width="400" alt="" title="Dial #1-800" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Dial #1-800 - Mediamatic.net" href="/111428/en/dial-1-800">Dial #1-800</a> On the second day of the Picnic conference, Luis is still sweating blood and tears over the Dial #1-800 project. He spent the last 36 hours (with only some minor break when the Gashouder was actually closed and he was forced to go home) in a comfortable black chair, which serves as part of the cute decor of the tormenting project. The installation is working on the machine of Luis, but there are still some minor problems when the software is migrated to the final machine. The sound import, a PD patch with character, seems to be set on vanquishing all the work effort of Ubi and Luis. And so the battle to finish the installation continues... <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/111431/en/luis-fernandez"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/938/111431-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Luis Fernandez" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Luis Fernandez - Mediamatic.net" href="/111431/en/luis-fernandez">Luis Fernandez</a> Luis admits that the problem might have to do with the ambitious character of the project; the group (a duet) was to small and the project simply to complex. In the beginning they asked if any hackers interested to opt-in ...without success. Moreover, the concept was only finalized on Sunday, looking very different from the initial plan. This had a lot to do with the guidance from Willem, who gave very direct, useful feedback. He pushed the project to be something more then just a work of art and introduced 'fun' as a requirement. This is what eventually will make the project successful. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/111430/en/ubi-de-feo"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/513/111430-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Ubi de Feo" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Ubi de Feo - Mediamatic.net" href="/111430/en/ubi-de-feo">Ubi de Feo</a> We move away from Luis, to give him some peace and quiet while he is trying to master his final glitches. This gives Ubi the space to describe his experiences in hacker camp. For him it was the first time he had the opportunity to work with so many people that exactly understand what he thinks. In hacker camp, he is not the only coder, not the one man that has to answer all the questions. In hacker camp, Ubi is actually the hacker with the questions. It is a relief to work in an environment without to much discussion (except discussions with PD patches), an environment that focuses on (trying to) getting things done. Ubi also makes some promises for the next hacker camp: he will find a team of (at least) 3 people and change management styles. His team will finish their concept first. Then he will make sure the project is finished 2 days before Picnic starts (to get even with this year). uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/110487 2009-09-25T13:04:40+02:00 Polling station uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/110328 2009-10-01T14:50:08+02:00 friendSlicer A gem has been carved: the friendSlicer is finished on time and delivers!

5 days of non stop coding has made Sly not the least less social. In my opinion he is one of the most solid, happy and delivering coders of Hacker Camp this year. And he has the right to be happy, because unlike last year when he was kind of disappointed, this year everything works exactly as he was hoping. Sly, Jeff and Eric worked on the friendSlicer, a project that, given the amount of time spend on constructing it from scrap, could not have looked any more rich, professional and be more fun.

<a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/110402/en/friendslicer-team"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/651/110402-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="friendSlicer team" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - friendSlicer team - Mediamatic.net" href="/110402/en/friendslicer-team">friendSlicer team</a> Sly is of the opinion that the success of the project lies within the team he choose to work with. Even when you have a simple idea, you have to work with people that compliment each others skills and point of views. At first 5 people wanted to work on the friendSlicer project, which seemed a bit scary. The final 3 all exactly knew their own responsibilities and did need a lot of communication between them. They just delivered the separate parts and assembled. Even though everything went relatively smooth as ice, the friendSlicer also ran into some troubles when the software modules had to be migrated from the personal computers of the coders to the final, Mediamatic computers. This obstacle was however taken relatively easy. Sly tells us that he cannot imagine a better climate to work on such a project. All he needs to deliver is a deadline, food, internet and technical equipment, which was all available at the Mediamatic Hacker Shack. The best experience was to see people actually interact with the installation, to see them laugh and step into the booth to make a second video. An unexpected outcome was the enthusiasm of the users; once they are in the booth they are asked to create a sound without using their mouth. Who would know that the wooden box would have to endure so much force! Jeff really proved himself as a carpenter! Sly also notes how important it is to get feedback as soon as possible during the traject. This renews the train of thinking. With the feedback he got from the live action at the booth he has a couple of ideas to implement into a friendSlicer booth 2.0; for instance to record the people that are watching and listening to themselves outside the booth. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/110455/en/friendslicer-inside-action"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/603/110455-400-200.jpg" height="200" width="400" alt="" title="friendSlicer inside action!" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - friendSlicer inside action! - Mediamatic.net" href="/110455/en/friendslicer-inside-action">friendSlicer inside action!</a> Jeff is amazingly satisfied. He came to Hacker Camp not knowing what to expect at all, since he got introduced by a friend who did not come to Hacker Camp himself. He is very happy that the booth came to life. If there would be a next time, he would choose to order the wood for the booth sooner. Now there were only 2 days to build it. Obviously, they did not expect to built a studio booth. Given the time and the materials they had, the friendSlicer is perfect. The most unexpected outcome for Jeff was the feedback look the earlier users created. At first the users seemed to approach the installation as kind of a static experience. However, some more enthusiast users created a positive feedback, showing future users how much fun it is not to interact so statically. This kind of behavior spread quiet viral into the future movies. Jeff noticed how important it is to be honest about your strengths and limitations. The most important thing of a Hacker Camp project is to get things done to create a good, fun experience for the users. Technical specs final booth: 2 mac minis (playing and recording) A camera and a microphone. Open frameworks for recording and playing. Unix scripting + Python scripting for syncing between the computers. Rsync + SSH (for syncing). Python + sqlite3 for storing metadata and generating music files and open frameworks for playing the files. uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/110380 2009-10-01T16:11:09+02:00 ikSpin At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009, Day 6

Risk all your athletic credit at the concrete Frisbee games

Mark Wubben works in Copenhagen, for a web 2.0 start-up company. Every year though, he comes back to Amsterdam to deliver a project at Hacker Camp. Last year he and Eelco worked on the V-Bird project; a purple and orange bird-alike throwy with a lot of hardware in it. Unfortunately the bird only flew for 15 minutes, before it crashed and only lived on in our memories and <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/page/54461/en">the Mediamatic website</a>. The fun of throwing stuff proved to be persistent as Mark set out to create a V-Bird 2 project (something with throwing stuff) for this year. From last year he learned that throwing hardware is probably not a fertile undertaking. But the throwing of tags however, could be big fun! A RFID Frisbee provided the obvious core of the project. The initial gameplay was a little bit more complicated then the final implementation. Willem put his finger on the core of the gameplay, which is comes down to two teams fighting for a time stamp. 'The easier the gameplay, the more fun' became the mantra of ikSpin. Mark explains that every Hacker Camp he learns how important it is to dump down a project. Simplify until you can't simplify more and then simplify even further. This year he also learned that even the simplest of projects can have disastrous consequences, as there was a serious incident when one of the players got injured when she fell on the ground. Even the dumbest projects can still go wrong and sometimes these troubles cannot be overcome, since they just lie outside of your capabilities. <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/110463/en/mark-trying-to-pull-of-a-completely-fresh-face"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/906/110463-400-290.jpg" height="290" width="400" alt="" title="Mark trying to pull of a completely fresh face after a week of hacking" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Mark trying to pull of a completely fresh face after a week of hacking - Mediamatic.net" href="/110463/en/mark-trying-to-pull-of-a-completely-fresh-face">Mark trying to pull of a completely fresh face after a week of hacking</a> <a href="http://www.mediamatic.net/111558/en/eelco"> <img src="http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/sjnh/image/454/111558-400-267.jpg" height="267" width="400" alt="" title="Eelco" playable="1"/> </a><a title="Click to get a larger image - Eelco - Mediamatic.net" href="/111558/en/eelco">Eelco</a> uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 ARTICLE text 1 http://www.mediamatic.net/id/110257 2009-10-05T14:15:29+02:00 ik-a-sketch At Social RFID Hacker Camp 2009, Day 6

The art of collaborative drawing

Two big Americans just drew a cat -'no it was not a cloud'; a process that resulted in interactions that were very child-alike. A wonderful outcome within the setting of such a corporate, grown up conference. This kind of social outcome was one of the the things Neil and Edwin aimed for from the start. Neil and Edwin seem pretty satisfied with the result of the project. The giant (but unfortunately not biggest-ever) ik-a-sketch is however not a very surprising outcome. The project unfolded itself very linearly; nothing really changed from the start. They thought of a game, they build the software, then the installation, then it worked (all in 5 days). Of course there are also a couple of things Neil and Edwin would have done differently, if they were given the chance to do things over. Next time for instance, they would start with ordering the wood - now the materials were there only the day before the last day, which provided some last minute painting stress. But some stress was good though, since the rest of the project was kind of fluid. They would also choose to program in a more stable environment. Now the ik-a-sketch relies on Processing, open frameworks however, could be a more stable, robust environment. Another thing they would do differently is program the installation of the final computer from the start - the migration of the software from one mac to another wasn't trouble free (kind of lab labor intensive actually). The ik-a-sketch was one of the projects that was first up and running. Walking through the 'halls' of the Gashouder I heard the name of the project multiple times: prove of success! Some review can be found <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/rfid-fun-at-picnic-2009.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.rfidnews.org/2009/09/28/amsterdams-picnic-technology-art-expo-features-rfid">here</a> uɐɯʞuǝɯ ɐsoɹ http://www.mediamatic.net/id/17419 Jonnet M http://www.mediamatic.net/id/101585 ARTICLE text 1