DorkbotPDX brings you Collin Oldham, Shelly Farnham and Steve Davee
Come
join us for an evening of geek meets art. The fine folks at AboutUs
will be hosting us for this event, which takes place December 7th at
6PM. AboutUs is located at 107 SE Washington St, Suite 520. Feel free
to bring snacks and drinks to share. Please spread the word!
Collin Oldham: The RT (radio trowel) and The Cellomobo
Collin spent the 2005-2006 academic year at Stanford's Center for
Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) where began to develop
the electronic musical instruments he is presenting today.
The RT (radio trowel) uses a capacitive sensor array based on Max
Mathew's radio baton to detect the position of the trowel on the
playing surface. The trowel's movements control sound synthesis
parameters, including filters which process live sound from a contact
mic attached to the trowel.
The cellomobo is a computer music instrument that attempts to model the
behavior of a bowed string. It gives haptic feedback to the bow at
audio rate to simulate the stick-slip action of a bowed string. This
feedback stream finds it way back into the audio stream, creating a
unique hybrid of digital and analog synthesis.
Collin Oldham is a cellist who has performed around the world with such
varied and luminous artists as Placido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa,
Rosemary Clooney and Aretha Franklin. He's active as a session player,
and has recorded with the Decemberists, Richmond Fontaine, and Elliott
Smith, among many others.
Shelly Farnham: Dorkbot Dorkbot Dorkbot + Seattle
I am that rare
combination of geek, artist, and scientist and when I first met Dorkbot
Seattle I felt like I'd *finally* found my people -- where technology
is artistic medium, science is art, and geeking out is just a whole lot
of fun. My one complaint was that Seattle Dorkbots were not
collaborating enough, and when I took over as Seattle's "Dork Overlord"
it was my main mission -- to cultivate the creative geek community.
In
this talk, I will review the best of Dorkbot Seattle's art, geekery,
and science, and discuss how we have worked to increase
cross-disciplinary collaboration through our meetings, workshops, and
art shows.
Shelly Farnham received her Ph.D. in Social
Psychology at UW in 1999, after which she worked at Microsoft Research
for seven years studying community technology. A few years ago she
quit to join the start up world, and is now co-founder of Pathable
(professional networking for events). In her "spare" time she paints,
does collaborative installations, and instigates people to have more
fun creating stuff.
Steve Davee: Not to kill a thought: The impact of language on curiosity, creativity and scientific inquiry.
This talk explores how easy it is, even with the best of intentions, to
stifle creative thought and true learning when it comes to working with
children in the areas of science, math and engineering. We will
investigate examples of simple but powerful changes in language, with
the intention of provoking the best of creative potential and shared
inquiry.
Steve Davee is a math and science teacher at Opal Charter School and a
Media Specialist for the Center for Children's Learning at the Portland
Children's Museum. He is a recovering Biochemist with a background in
physics and over 20 years of volunteer and work experience in education.