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CN Tower Light Show

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, the lights of the CN Tower are taking part in an interactive biometric art installation.

From 3,300km away, a participant in Vancouver has their brainwaves monitored as they watch a live video of the Toronto skyline. When they are inattentive, the CN Tower’s lights move at a lethargic pace. But as the participant concentrates, the lights of the CN Tower cycle around with the speed of Christine Nesbitt ’round the speed skating track.

The measurement being used to determine a participant’s attentiveness is their ratio of their alpha waves to beta waves. This very rough estimate of attentiveness is also what we used for an early project in the MindGames group called “BrainChild”, where a participant unlocked a door through sustained concentration.

What I like about the CN Tower installation (in addition to the cross-country nature of the biofeedback loop) was something I read in this Torontoist article. If participants are having trouble “concentrating,” they are encouraged to count the lights in skyscraper windows.

This is a very clever, indirect way to achieve the desired result. When working with “untrained” biofeedback participants, it can be difficult to articulate the subtle changes that they need to make which will lead to a desired signal (in this case, a change in the ratio of alpha to beta waves).

Mind Balance Training

Mind Balance Screenshot

A project we built at MIT MediaLabEurope called Mind Balance faced a similar challenge.

Mind Balance also relied on an electroencephalogram (EEG) metric to create a control mechanism. However, instead of measuring the ratio between alpha and beta waves, we were monitoring the occipital lobes at the back of the head to detect artifacts from the electrical signals produced by the brain’s visual processing.

The subtlety there was that success for a participant required not just having a visual pattern in your field of view, but also attending to that pattern – a “squishy” concept that required training. Some of the “indirect” methods we used to explain a “good stare” included encouraging a participant to “stare right through” a region on the screen.

We used a 45-second acoustic feedback training session to help participants learn this concept assisted by very clear and immediate feedback. It worked with varying degrees of success, but thankfully, enough success in over 95% of cases for a participant to successfully go on to generate a single reliable control axis.

We resurrected Mind Balance for the Microsoft Ireland Visual Studio 2005 launch and it was awesome (and somewhat improbable) that we got it to work in an Irish pub setting. You can read more about Mind Balance here, and check out the shots of our prototype headgear called Cerebus.

(Another MindGames project where indirectly achieving biometric results played a big role was Relax to Win. The techniques players used to achieve relaxation under pressure was an important and fun part of the interaction.)

Jedi Mind Tricks Re-Re-Rediscovered

Mindgames researcher Ed Lalor models Cerebus

Excitement around Brain-Computer Interfaces for commercial and artistic use seems to resurface every few years.

Although the headgear for the Olympic installation looks considerably refined compared to our prototype (pictured here), achieving reliability for novel and useful BCI metrics remains a really tough problem, principally because most people aren’t cool with having someone drill into their head, which is a shame, because the brain’s electrical signals are so much weaker by the time they reach the surface.

Later this year, with the imminent launch of Project Natal, the focus now seems to be on visual and acoustic interfaces.

But during the Olympics, it’s all about the Mind Games. My hat’s off to Interaxon for putting together this engaging cross-country installation.

(More about the Olympic mind-controlled art installation at PopSci, Interaxon, Torontoist)

(More about Mind Balance here with links to pics)

Meeting, 16 sept, 6PM, Bloor East, Toronto (click)

I’m looking forward to the conversation at this Metro Toronto .NET Users Group meeting:

Four Perspectives on Delivering
‘Return on Experience’

We’ve heard a lot recently, from Microsoft and others, about the importance of user experience (UX) and delivering ‘return on experience’ to clients. Tools like Sketchflow for prototyping, Expression Blend for visual design, and frameworks like Silverlight and WPF, are designed to change the way we deliver software projects that incorporate rich and intuitive user experiences.

The reality, of course, is that there are many stakeholders with different perspectives on this process. This evening, let’s talk about how things really work during project delivery “in the wild.”

We’ll discuss the process of enhancing user experience from four perspectives: a designer, a developer team lead, a client, and an account manager.  (not personas, but thoughts from real people who have performed or are performing these roles).   Their perspectives will begin a conversation about the tools and processes, challenges and rewards of delivering ‘return on experience.’

(September 16th, Manulife at 200 Bloor East, Toronto, 6:00PM)

[Update, 17 Sept - I really enjoyed last night - and a huge thanks to all 4 members of the panel (Susan Greenfield, Ernie Taylor, Daniel Cox, Bill Baldasti) and everyone who came out. I will post slides and follow-up either later today or early tomorrow!]

1. A few years ago, I won a “Door Prize” and had no idea!!

This one time, in Dublin, I was cycling along minding my own business, when a car passenger carelessly opened her door into the bike lane.

She’d given me just enough time to slam on my brakes and think “oh noes–” (or localized cussing equivalent) before I received what I now know is called a door prize straight across my helmet-protected face.

It can be a lot less funny and significantly more tragic.

So I am relieved to move swiftly on to report –

2. Proposed Changes to Toronto Cycling Routes will reduce your odds of winning a Door Prize!

The Toronto waterfront along Queens Quay is under review for a major redevelopment that, among other benefits, would make it significantly more cycle- and pedestrian-friendly.

It would “mend” the waterfront cycling trail, which currently suffers from an unpleasant discontinuity downtown.

If only Toronto's Queens Quay looked like this...!

The shortlisted plans in this document (.pdf), found on the WATERFRONToronto site, would improve “active transportation” and go a long way toward revitalizing the waterfront.  The sketch above is from the consultation report.

For more information, there is a summary report here (.pdf) which includes upcoming meetings at which the public can comment (including City of Toronto Executive Committee Meeting June 2nd, and Council Meeting July 6th).  Head to WATERFRONToronto to learn more.

You may be interested in one thoughtful cyclist’s recent concerns regarding the current state of the plan.

The redevelopment, of course, is about much more than cycling.  But for cyclists, it could offer a very welcome change.

(Also, in case you missed it, earlier this week Toronto City Council approved a bike lane on major north-south artery Jarvis as well! Woohoo!)

3. There is a vibrant biking community here in Toronto!

The 2009 Toronto Bike Summit was a packed house

I met some of that community today at the 2009 Bike Summit, which coincided with this week’s launch of Bike Month in Toronto.  The image above is from Ralph Buehler’s session this morning about Freiburg, which is widely considered Germany’s most sustainable city. The ways in which Freiburg’s infrastructure and culture accommodates cyclists provided the case study for Buehler’s very interesting presentation.

Considering I’ve been cycling like crazy of late, I’ve created a “Toronto Cycling” topic on this site, and what better way to kick it off than with a link-list.

Toronto cycling resources, publications and bloggers:

The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) co-hosted the summit today.

The City of Toronto’s cycling site includes a .pdf of the Toronto-area bike map.

The Toronto Bicycling Network, and BikeToronto, and BikeLane Diary, and IBikeTO.org sites all offer Toronto cycling community news and insight.

Roadrash chronicles the escapades of a Toronto cyclist who’s en route to cycling 1,200km this summer.

Dandyhorse is a new print publication – elegantly designed, clearly a labour of love, and filled with insightful and well-written articles about everything “Toronto on Two Wheels.” More love for Dandyhorse here at Eyeweekly.

I’d be very happy to hear of any other Toronto cycling resources you know of out there.

See you on the roads and trails!

Silverlight Beyond Mix09 By Active Application

Thanks to everyone who came out to Toronto CodeCamp on Saturday to talk about Silverlight Beyond Mix09.

As per the chart, my presentation was Powerpoint-free, but code+markup heavy. Actually markup heavy, really.

There wasn’t a lot of Blend coming that afternoon, and MIX09 for me was about embracing design and seeking “return on experience,” which are the reasons you probably care about Silverlight in the first place.

So I thought I would tee up the day’s Silverlight tracks by spending more time in Blend, with its “split” mode activated, so you could see both its visual surface and the XAML markup (now with AutoComplete!).

Links and Resource Hubs

Getting started: Please see the silverlight.net site. Silverlight 2 and 3 dev can be made to co-exist on the same VS2008 box via Amy’s very useful batch file trick. Designers see these getting started resources.

Follow the new stuff: Save yourself the trouble and just subscribe to WynApse’s Silverlight Cream – Dave aggregates all the Silverlight news of the day and adds his thoughtful, passionate commentary.

Hubs for Links: Please see Tim Heuer for an all-up look at what’s new in Silverlight 3, and BradA for .NET RIA Services (many link roundups).

Good summaries of individual features: What’s new in Blend 3, Pixel Shaders, Style Enhancements, Out-of-Browser, GPU Acceleration, Local Connections, Dialog Windows, Writeable Bitmaps.

This list is far from exhaustive – there are excellent Silverlight 3 link hubs like Tim’s out there and I hope this gets you started. Please drop me a note if I’ve missed a subtopic.

Sample Code

Here it is. Where I started from someone else’s sample, I include a .URL link back to the source.

Grease-What?

Sorry, the Legend of the Greasepole code (which I used to demo hardware acceleration and Silverlight Offline) isn’t in there. For more wacky inexplicable greasepole-climbing hilarity, you can play the Silverlight 2 version here, and learn more here and more about its move from XNA to Silverlight here. Yes, us Queens Applied Science types are a strange bunch.

Thank You

Thanks again to the organizers of CodeCamp, and particularly Chris Dufour and the many volunteers, for all your efforts. And thank you to the attendees: It was an early morning in late April, with a Toronto afternoon approaching that ended up flirting with 30 degrees Celsius. CodeCamp is a fun and energetic day, and I look forward to next year’s gig already.

Thanks to everyone who came out to my Silverlight Samurai Skills presentations this morning in Toronto, and to Microsoft Canada for inviting me to present at this event. When the Canadian team does events, they do them really big – and really well!

I hope you found the sessions useful and engaging.  They certainly provided a lap around a whole lot of the core features in Silverlight 2. I promised to provide code and links so you can follow-up, get connected with the community, and find out more.

The Code

As promised, click here for all the source code from the presentation, including start, end-of-part-one, and completed versions. Import the .vssettings file into Visual Studio to get the code snippets.

I’ll post the slide decks soon – I’ve been asked to hold off a little bit on those.

The Links

Note – this list is far from exhaustive, it just points to some things I’ve found really helpful.

Silverlight.NET – Get Started section has all the bits you need

Additional Silverlight Controls and Themes

Silverlight Toolkit (Microsoft, MS-PL)
Silverlight Contrib (Third-party, MS-PL)
see also
Blacklight, which comes from the Patient Journey Demonstrator

Layout

Silverlight Layout Fundamentals (DevDave)

VisualStateManager, Parts and State Model

Parts and States Model with VSM (scorbs, 4-part series)

IsolatedStorage

IsolatedStorage quickstart (wildermuth)

Browser DOM Integration

Forward-Back Browser Integration (webjak)

More Links [update 12 Nov]

Qixing and Laurent have also put together a FAQ based on feedback from the Montreal version of Silverlight Samurai Skills.

The P.S.

My consultancy, Carrington Technologies, specializes in Silverlight and WPF consulting and training, and we’re based out of Toronto. If you’re interested in finding out more, please drop me a line via the contact page, or through rob at robburke dot not.

p.p.s. Silverlight Streaming has now been updated to Silverlight 2 RTW, so the Deep Zoom FractLOL should now work. [Updated November 2nd]

final p.s. [update] I am greatly indebted to Microsoft’s Mark Rideout, whose excellent TechEd 2008 session on Silverlight 2 formed the basis for the core demo I used in these sessions. I’ve updated his demo to highlight some of the features added to Silverlight 2 between Beta 2 and RTW (including additions to the IsolatedStorage API, and an allegedly more compliant browser history implementation).