Blog & Resources | IICloud(s) – Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s)

I&IC’s public survey of 355 links related to “Clouds” on Pinboard – last updated 11.2018

By Patrick Keller Thursday, October 25, 2018 Resources, Thinking Tags: 0162, Architects, Cloud, Data, Datacenter, Designers, Designers (interaction), Engineering, Hardware, Infrastructure, Open source, Software, Tools, Users Permalink 0

https://pinboard.in/u:toorop/t:i%2526ic_designresearch/

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Along the design research, we are going through many different types of references that we don’t necessarily post or document on the blog. We usually only post about the ones that we consider relevant to the research process, which doesn’t mean the other ones are not interesting. We’ve just decided not to dig deeper into them at some point, or to keep some of them for later.

Yet, this is a consistent amount of survey that we are leaving on the side of the road and that could possibly be useful for similar or later researches. At least a good starting point… That’s why we’ve created this i&ic_designresearch tag on Pinboard.

Interestingly, some new thematics emerged along the way within these links, like for example on the technological branch, the combination of personal cloud based services, peer to peer protocols and blockchains that were not on the radar when we started our research.

Website and final results > www.cloudofcards.org

By Patrick Keller Thursday, October 25, 2018 Cookbooks, Design, Ethnography, Interaction Design, Publications, Resources, X-Posts Tags: 0161, ABCD, Cabinets, Cloud, Datacenter, Furnitures, Library, Open source, Tools Permalink 1

The website presenting the downloadable results of the joint design and ethnographic research Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s) is now online.

Web design by Eurostandard; Photography of the final artifacts by Daniela & Tonatiuh.

Book > Design research about the cloud, a creative process and its results

By Patrick Keller Thursday, October 25, 2018 Design, Interaction Design, Publications, Schools, Thinking Tags: 0160, Cabinets, Cloud, Clouds, Datacenter, Designers, Designers (interaction), Domestic, ECAL, Open source, Scientists, Tools Permalink 0

More than a year after our last publication on this blog and the end of the scientific part of the design research Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s), we’re very happy to signal the publication of two books in Print on Demand (Lulu) and their accompanying free PDFs.

One book concerns the ethnographic the ethnographic research: Cloud of Practicies, while the other is dedicated to the design research and its results and uses many of the resources published on this blog along the process: Cloud of Cards.

A website gives access to the results of the research in the form of a kit: www.cloudofcards.org

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Cloud of Cards:

Download the free PDF on the Cloud of Cards website (under “Publications” link), or buy the paperback version on Lulu.

Graphic design by Eurostandard; Photography of the final artifacts by Daniela & Tonatiuh.

Book > Ethnographic field study about the cloud

By Patrick Keller Thursday, October 25, 2018 Ethnography, Publications, Schools, Society, Thinking Tags: 0159, Cloud, Ethnographers, HEAD, Users Permalink 0

More than a year after our last publication on this blog and the end of the scientific part of the design research Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s), we’re very happy to signal the publication of two books in Print on Demand (Lulu) and their accompanying free PDFs.

One book concerns the ethnographic the ethnographic research: Cloud of Practices, while the other is dedicated to the design research and its results and uses many of the resources published on this blog along the process: Cloud of Cards.

A website gives access to the results of the research in the form of a kit: www.cloudofcards.org

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Cloud of Practices:

Download the free PDF on the Cloud of Cards website (under “Publications” link), or buy the paperback version on Lulu.

Graphic design by Eurostandard; Photography of the final artifacts by Daniela & Tonatiuh.

Cloud of Cards (ABCD), a home cloud kit

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Cookbooks, Projects, Resources, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0158, ABCD, Clouds, Data, Datacenter, ECAL, Infrastructure, Makers, Object, Storage, Tools Permalink 0

Photography: Daniela & Tonatiuh

Research and Art direction by Patrick Keller and Nicolas Nova.

Assistants at ECAL: Lucien Langton & Léa Pereyre. Assistants at HEAD: Anaïs Bloch & CHarles Chalas.

Cloud of Cards, a home cloud kit to re-appropriate your data self, is the principal outcome of the joint design and ethnographic research Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s), accompanied by two books in print-on-demand that document it.

The main results of the project are four artifacts [ A) - B) - C) - D) ], both digital and physical that constitute a set of modular tools (“cards”) that are delivered in the form of an open-source diy kit, freely accessible on www.cloudofcards.org as well as on Github. The purpose of these tools is to give everyone, the community of designers and makers in particular, the possibility to set up their own small size data-center and cloud, manage their data in a decentralized way or develop their own alternative projects upon this personal small scale infrastructure.

A) 19″ Living Rack

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Architecture, Design, Projects, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0157, A, Cabinets, Computing, Domestic, ECAL, Furnitures, Housing, Infrastructure, Storage Permalink 0

Project developed by Léa Pereyre

19” Living Rack is an open source variation around the standardized 19” computer server rack (or cabinet). Dedicated to be distributed in domestic environments for personal or for small size community uses, the modular base of the standard rack is getting combined with additional functions, to address this renewed small office/home office context.

In making clear reference to the famous Ch. Eames toy, the modular House of Cards project, the 19” Living Rack comes in one technical “Base” that can then be combined and customized into three different types: “Office”, “Home”, and “Garden”, to set up personal and somehow undersized data centers.

For each configuration, air flows have been taken into consideration and act as design and functional factors: the air in the front part of the rack remains temperate before entering the rack and cooling the servers, while the back and top air flows are getting warmed up and dried due to the computers heating process. “Office” functions comes therefore mainly in the front part of the rack, “Home” on the back where elements can be tempered or dried, while “Garden” comes on the top, equipped with moistened plants to clean, re-humidify, perfume and cool down the air.

A) 19″ Living Rack, cookbook only: recipes and other elements

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Architecture, Cookbooks, Design, Resources, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0156, Cabinets, Computing, Domestic, ECAL, Furnitures, Housing, Infrastructure, Makers, Storage, Tools Permalink 0

Please find below the necessary recipes, blueprints and information for the 19″ Living Rack project.

Download manual of assembly, and recipes for the 19″ Living Rack technical “Base”, “Office”, “Home” and “Garden” extensions (PDF).

Download “all-in-one” 19” Living Rack full pack (ZIP). It contains all blueprints (DXF) to be separately cut out (at the CNC), manual of assembly and recipes for the “Base”, so as “Office”, “Home”, and “Garden” extensions (PDF).

B) Cloud of Cards Processing Library

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Interaction Design, Projects, Schools, Sciences & Technology, X-Posts Tags: 0155, Automation, B, Cloud, Code, Data, ECAL, Library, Open source, Programming, Service, Storage, Tools, Visualization Permalink 0

Project developed by Christian Babski (fabric | ch)

Cloud of Cards Processing Library consists in the unification of three different API dedicated to online files and folders manipulation and the development of an additional fourth one specific to the needs of the Cloud of Cards kit and the Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s) research project. The overall final package has been adapted to the Processing development language and linked to the open-source cloud software ownCloud.

Additional behaviors are included that can also be used in relation to ownCloud (or Nextcloud), for both its server and clients. These additional functions are the implemented results of the design research process, linked to an ethnographic study about the cloud user experience.

Through the use of this new library written in Processing and linked to other open-source tools, it is now easier for a wider public to experiment, sketch and develop alternative interfaces, visual or physical applications for the cloud. In particular, the communities of designers and makers that are used to the Processing language.

B) Cloud of Cards Processing Library, cookbook only: recipes and other elements

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Cookbooks, Interaction Design, Resources, Schools, Sciences & Technology, X-Posts Tags: 0154, Automation, Cloud, Code, Data, ECAL, Library, Makers, Open source, Programming, Service, Storage, Tools, Visualization Permalink 0

Please find below the necessary recipes, blueprints and information for the Cloud of Cards Processing Library project.

Download Cloud of Cards Processing Library manual (PDF).

Download Cloud of Cards Processing Library on Github. Codes, recipes, how-to, instructions & forks.

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You can also:

Install ownCloud server (for Linux) & client (or Nextcloud, optional).

Install Processing.

C) 5 Folders Cloud

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Interaction Design, Projects, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0153, Automation, Behavior, C, Cloud, Computing, ECAL, Service, Software, Storage Permalink 0

Project developed by Christian Babski (fabric | ch)

5 Folders Cloud is a software implementation (among many possible) of the Cloud of Cards Processing Library and exemplifies its use, server and software side. It is a version of ownCloud with automated behaviors and cascades of events, in particular when linked to the 5 Connected Objects. As a matter of fact, this variation on the cloud combines a client-server architecture with a distributed, almost horizontal peer-to-peer approach.

Linked to the results of the research project’s ethnographic research on the uses of the cloud, 5 Folders Cloud translates in the form of five verbs of action the various identified motivations that seem to push users to drop files and data into this technological setup. These verbs in turn become the main functions and names of five synchronized cloud folders that serve the various files interactions. Each of these folders automates digital procedures linked to these motivations.

C) 5 Folders Cloud, cookbook only: recipes and other elements

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Cookbooks, Interaction Design, Resources, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0152, Automation, Behavior, Cloud, Computing, ECAL, Makers, Service, Software, Storage, Tools Permalink 0

Please find below the necessary recipes, blueprints and information for the 5 Folders Cloud project.

Install ownCloud client.

Look for, Subscribe and syndicate to one or many 5 Folders Cloud (recipes, how-to & instructions included).

D) 5 Connected Objects

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Interaction Design, Projects, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0151, Control, D, Data, ECAL, Gestures, Interaction, Interface, Networks, Object Permalink 0

A project developed by Lucien Langton

5 Connected Objects consist in a physical implementation (among many possible) of the Cloud of Cards Processing Library and exemplifies its use, client side. Linked to the 5 Folders Cloud (both server and software sides), the five physical objects work exclusively as its complements and have no independent digital functions of their own. They seek to propose a form of natural gestures interface (“clients” for the cloud) to locally access, monitor and manipulate ones data or files in the distant cloud, with a Cloud of Cards twist…

Indeed, directly linked to the results of the design research, as well as the ethnographic field study on the uses of the cloud, the purpose of the 5 Connected Objects is to materialize in daily environments the “ghostly” presence of one’s distant data. It is to incarnate as well the “digital anxiety” caused by various problems that can occur to personal files and data when dropped in a distant cloud (fear of losing one’s files, apprehension of erasing versions, of wrong sharing or access rights, of having private files being openly published, of undesired updates, of hacks, etc.)

As a consequence, the objects, and in particular their physical manipulation, can trigger automated procedures linked to these potential problems…

D) 5 Connected Objects, cookbook only: recipes and other elements

By Patrick Keller Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Cookbooks, Interaction Design, Resources, Schools, X-Posts Tags: 0150, Control, Data, ECAL, Gestures, Interaction, Interface, Makers, Networks, Object, Tools Permalink 0

Please find below the necessary recipes, blueprints and information for the 5 Connected Objects project.

Download list of electronic ingredients, manual of assembly and recipes for the 5 Connected Objects (PDF).

Download the complete pack for 5 Connected Objects on Github. It contains the blueprints (DXF) to be separately cut out (at the CNC), and the base code to set up the objects.

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You can also:

Download configuration packs for Raspberry Pis from Dexter Industries or Raspbian for Robots distro.

Download Processing for Raspberry Pi.

Cloud of Cards. The (coming) book

By Patrick Keller Friday, April 21, 2017 Design, Publications, Thinking Tags: 0149, Books, Clouds, Datacenter, Documentation, Research Permalink 0

A sneak peek into the coming book that will present and discuss the design process as well as its results, sorted out from this documentary blog. Design EUROSTANDARD with a new font by NORM.

As announced a few times already, two books in print-on-demand will summarize the overall research Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s), at the term of the design and ethnographic process we went through during almost three years.