Creative Computers?

-Tool or Medium?, Graphics or Art?, Money or Your Life?

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<http://www.catherinemason.co.uk/>

A Bigger (Digital) Splash

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Catherine Mason

David Hockney, perhaps Britain’s most famous living artist, has never been one to shy away from the use of new technology. Whilst a student at the Royal College of Art he embraced acrylic paints when they were still quite new in the 1960s and has used the photocopying machine and a Polaroid camera to create collages, exploiting the unique characteristics of each of these mediums. Recently Hockney has turned to the iPad and this month’s image, from a group called The Arrival of Spring in East Yorkshire, was made on the iPad, printed out on a large scale and is currently on show at the Royal Academy, London. Read the full article here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/43630
See also a related post here: http://www.spiritofplacenorfolk.org/pages/aspects.html

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<http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/news/16944/One-of-the-First-Raspberry-Pi-Computers-Donated-to-Museum>

A Raspberry-Pi

Eben had noticed a distinct drop in the skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science in each academic year when he came to interview them. From a situation in the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different; a typical applicant now had experience only with web design, and sometimes not even with that. Fewer people were applying to the course every year. Something had changed the way kids were interacting with computers.

Eben and colleagues from the university like Rob Mullins and Alan Mycroft (both now trustees of the Raspberry Pi Foundation) batted around ideas about what had happened in schools to cause this change. A number of problems were identified: the colonisation of the ICT curriculum with lessons on using Word and Excel, or writing webpages; the end of the dot-com boom; and the rise of the home PC and games console to replace the Commodore Amigas, BBC Micros, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 machines that people of an earlier generation learned to program on.

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<http://homepage2.nifty.com/ISEA-Japan/inl/rpt9192.html>

                              ISEA
                         Annual Reports
                               for
                      June 1990 - June 1992

              Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts

 PREFACE: History

 Roughly speaking, ISEA is a spin-off of the Rotterdam (Holland) based
Foundation for Creative Computer Applications (SCCA). The SCCA was founded
in 1984 to promote the creative use of computer technology, as opposed to
the more common, profit-based use. The one-sided introduction of computer
technology in our society has seemed to suggest destructive cultural
consequences if the cultural world ignored, or even opposed, the use of
computers.

The SCCA played an important role in the introduction of the computer to
art schools in Holland, and organized several educational projects. Of
these, the 'Information Project: Computer Art' (which included a one-day
symposium entitled 'Computer Art, Does it Exist?'), held in Rotterdam in
1985, was the most important.

At this point ...............

 -ISEA has been advising and supporting both TISEA92 (Sydney, Australia)
 coordinated now by Ross Harley (University of NSW) and FISEA93,
 coordinated by Roman Verostko (Minneapolis College of Art).

-In cooperation with the 'Athens Working Group', ISEA has applied for a
 research grant with the European Commission in order to start activities
 that will lead to an e-mail network for artists, as mentioned above.

-ISEA is currently seeking co-operation with other, related publications,
 in order to accelerate the start of the International Journal for the
 Electronic Arts.

-ISEA is now the coordinating party for the CD-ROM Project described
 above.

-ISEA gave presentations at the Nijmegen University Computer Science
 Department and at the Eindhoven University Computer Science Department.

-ISEA has helped and advised numerous individuals and organizations that
 have sought ISEA's support. It supported two american festivals:
 Montage'93 and the Rochester Animation Festival.

-ISEA sent in proposals for active participation in Siggraph and
 Montage'93.

-In cooperation with ISAST/ASTN, ISEA holds a meeting during Siggraph in
 Chicago (US).

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<http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/wim-van-der-plas/10/78/652>

Wim van der Plas

Sociologist specialised in art related subjects. Event and education manager.

Rotterdam Area, Netherlands

Education Management

1996-2011 University for Applied Sciences Utrecht,

2007-now Dept. of Economics & Management.
Project manager Connecting Creativity, involving 3 departments.

1998-2007 Dept. of Applied Sciences.
I co-developed the new study Media Technology. I started and managed a students lab at the Media Park in Hilversum, called MP4.5.

1996-1999 Dept. of Social Work
Head of the Bureau of Education and Student Affairs

1994-1996 Seventh International Symposium on Electronic Art, Rotterdam.
Managing director and Program Chair.

1992-1994 Free-lance.
Advisor for Philips CD-i, Eindhoven.
Managing editor for Professional Imaging Magazine.
Organised conference at the 1994 Trade Show 'Imagination', including a collective art work, created in real time for a live audience involving artists in Boston, Tokyo, Sydney and Utrecht.

1988-1992 Director
SCAN, National Center for Computer Animation, part of the U. for Applied Sciences Groningen. Organised the Second International Symposium on Electronic Art for the University in Groningen.

1987-1988 Staff R&D Utrecht School of Arts
Executive director, First International Symposium on Electronic Art.

1984-1988 Director SCCA, Rotterdam
The Foundation for Creative Computer Applications (SCCA) was instrumental in introducing the computer in Art Schools all over the Netherlands. Among many other projects, I organised an extended course on computer animation for the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation twice.

From 1980 onwards, I gave about one hundred lectures at the universities and art schools all over the Netherlands, all over Europe and in other continents, mainly on computer art.. I published in many professional journals in the Netherlands and edited proceedings and course books.

I am co-founder (1990) and board member of the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts, www.isea-web.org.

Specialisms

Education, (project) management, art & science, culture & technology,

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<http://www.ibiblio.org/nmediac/winter2004/ursyn.html>

A "History of Computer Graphics and Art" Project

By Anna Ursyn (bio)
ursyn@unco.edu

Terrence Masson
tman@visualfx.com

It's a big challenge to carry out the first step of action that would put past works in relevance to new creations. This is the case with the history of computer graphics and art. There are many reasons for archiving such a young discipline. People who made history of this branch of knowledge are still creating new works. Data accessible today may be difficult to be retrieved tomorrow. Approaches and assessments change along with the progressive advances in technology. With all these factors considered, this action calls for interaction between people representing various fields, from software/hardware programmers to scientists and artists.

A data bank of computer graphics and art is currently being assembled at the "History of Computer Graphics and Art" project as a part of the ACM/ SIGGRAPH resources. It documents the evolvement of computer graphics, art, and the thought about art in relation to the progress of technology. A collection of images and essays created by artists, scientists, art historians, people shaping the museum and gallery display and those who influenced these disciplines reflects the unfolding of computer art due to technical achievements (hardware, software, languages, etc). With this approach, computer art and graphics are related to the history of inventions in concurrent periods of time. The artists' web sites, along with the existing materials cumulated in various collections, complement this project.

Those who feel their work contributed to the fields of computer graphics and computer art are invited to describe their areas of action and accomplishments. Being a part of this project may be interesting both on a personal level and because it involves a great potential for new approaches in teaching and provides materials for visual learning. This call and the release form is posted on the ACM SIGGRAPH website: http://www.siggraph.org/education/cgHistory/history.html

A Prospective Book

Terrence Masson and Anna Ursyn are working on a collaborative project for a book by linking the text with an online database (http://www.kascope.com/cgibook/cgibookinfo.htm). The major idea for writing this book is to create a data bank that viewers can use to study first-hand comparative data gathered as a resource for art history, scientific visualization and technology-related education. Most of the people who developed progress in these disciplines are still reachable. Terrence Masson's book, "CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference" (1999, new Riders Publishing) is a comprehensive resource guidebook about people and the companies that formed the computer graphics industry. He is planning to divide a new edition into two sections: a reference for CG Professionals and the history book with an online component. The Artists' responses will provide interested parties (either readers and/or the users of the web site) with the source materials. This will enable them to relate artist's philosophy to technical resources and inventions, which influenced and made possible new ways of thinking about electronic art. For example, concepts and techniques such as morphing, topology, randomness, probability, fractals, laser light technology as affecting computer-based creation (both of art and graphics) might be introduced. Many times, an access to computer-controlled devices helped the artists working on algorithmic works to see the images they created. The idea of following the development of thought in relation to technical, political, 2289 cultural and social events can be applied in a similar way as in many fields of historical studies, such as cultural anthropology or history of mainstream art.

The ideas for further work on organizing materials that might be related to the current project are:

Mutual relationship between the disciplines (Computer Science, Dance, Visual Arts etc)
Selecting technological solutions most relevant to a particular problem.
Print vs. display art (presentation quality)
Programming and Art
Criticism - phases - artistic quality, Artist as a Critic
Thematic Work (e.g. Fractal Graphics)
Classification of the product
Grouping work (location, cultural tradition)
Process in developing a project (involving collaborative efforts)
Copyright related issues (detail as a form of representation, watermark, resolution)
Perception of the field (biases, preferences)
Abstract thinking

Rationale for the Project

There is no sole comprehensive resource describing this fascinating and important history of the inventions in computer graphics and computer art.. There are many books on the history of computers and computing that cover relevant topics but it is hard to find a single book entirely focused on and covering the topic of the history of computer graphics and computer art. There are not many web sites with a comprehensive list of people whose work has contributed to the fields of computer graphics and computer art. Also, there are no collections of syllabi that would be helpful in teaching the subject. The "Birds of a Feather" gathering at the ACM/ SIGGRAPH 2002, San Antonio, Texas (organized by Anna Ursyn and Anne Morgan Spalter) generated a helpful feedback to this online collection.

What did become clear was that the need for good resources in the field grows more urgent with every passing day. Needless to say, the need to establish a base for the subject is growing every day, as more technologies are developed. It seems like it will be harder to develop a documented history the longer we wait. The history written now will become what students of the future read and experience in whatever book, web site, or CD is ultimately created. It is up to communities like SIGGRAPH to ensure that this history is complete and correct. Some students might think that computer art began with Photoshop. Some people find it challenging that the invention of the hidden line removal helped to shape TV. Even for knowledgeable practitioners, putting together a package of materials for students containing a history of computer art requires a lot of research and funding for reproduction of article and papers. Most educators have accumulated a set of slides, articles, course notes, and conference proceedings over time. For new teachers putting together a course in this subject, the materials assembly task is daunting. In addition to not having a single book or web resource that covers the topic, teachers cannot go to a school's slide library and pull slides as they would for, say Renaissance architecture -- they just aren't there yet.

Quite a new approach can be developed, by relating the history of inventions to computer art and computer graphics created in concurrent periods of time. In educational terms, a curriculum for teaching history of computer graphics and art could be formatted according to technological progress and possibilities that have emerged from it. Also, the collection of artwork (access to images) and artists' approaches to their work resulting from the tools accessible makes it possible to develop a new curriculum for visual learning of computer art with the core of this approach based on cognitive study and semiotic analysis of technological thought, not just historical chronology.

Bonds Uniting the History, Actuality, and Education in Computer Graphics

-- Learning of computer art with illustrated and annotated resources. Unlike the history of the science of computers, an art history cannot simply report facts and put them into chronological order and historical perspective. The challenge also lies in interpreting the meaning of the work so far, in hazarding a guess as to what works will be seen and referred to 50 years form now, which will fade away, and in relating the work of computer artists to the rest of the art world and the cultures in which they were created. Although some large museums are now curating computer shows, a historical understanding of the field often seems lacking. Just as Clement Greenberg brought Abstract Expressionism into the art canon with his seminal essays in the 1960s, so we need modern critics and historians to help museum goers understand the vital role that the computer now plays in visual image creation. All we know is that there is an audience waiting.

-- Education in computer graphics must evolve every year to be current and effective. The uniqueness of computer graphics is in its dynamic changes going parallel to the developments in computer technology. Generally, with electronic computers being over 50 years old (the first-generation computer UNIVAC 1 was produced in 1951), personal computers for 20 years (microcomputers became popular in the late seventies), and the World Wide Web known to the public for less than 10 years, the computer competency demands are shifting from a proficiency in some computer applications, such as word processing, through the e-mail, to "visual literacy" which is essential for data mining and web visualization.

-- An increasing demand for education in computer graphics, intensifying with the ongoings in the time-based and interactive technologies in communication media. Understanding processes present in various disciplines becomes more and more intertwined with computer graphics. Both those people who want to gain better understanding of the tools they use and those who feel they are underutilizing them need a better preparation in computer graphics. Exploring options for the integrative learning environment involves collaborative, interdisciplinary learning and teaching with the use of web based 2-D, 3-D, motion, gaming and sound-supported visuals.

-- The time-based and interactive projects (such as websites). Computer graphics are essential for developing the container: how the story is being delivered. Every discipline -- archeology, history, geology, online environment, a game, to name just a few -- can be seen, or even should be seen as a set of stories, moreover, visual stories. The way we unfold and deliver the story depends on the needs and the environment. We have to analyze cultural implications of our products from the perspective of the user, not only in the artist's frame of reference. Website artistic quality is often affected by unintended presence of a banner, therefore a web page developer should not only design a product but also make it fit for the changing environment as perceived by the user. One needs to remember that every color coexists with others. The developer should be trained interdisciplinary, equipped to not only produce pretty pictures but also a cross-cultural impact, since the product delivery is often tested under specific technical or cultural conditions.

-- Computer graphics support mutual inspiration between art and other disciplines and enhance one another. Visual quality is of utmost significance, as people visually arrange and present knowledge by shifting from digits to pixels, even in specialized areas, for example, by creating artwork for financial analysis with the use of an information visualization technique, applying a 3D city metaphor for software production visualization, or making visual tools for editing and browsing semantic web resources. To be workable, every website must not only be visual, simple and effective, but also delightful to look at.

-- As for animation, it seems important not only how a story is expressed, but also how appealing it is, with visual metaphors, cognitive shortcuts, and actions aimed to compress time without telling stories in an ply-by-play manner. Every single frame in an abstract or a character-based animation should be a masterpiece. In interactive 3D interactive environments (a website, virtual reality environment, interactive publication, TV, animation) the recipient might feel encouraged to be an active part of the world and control how a story unfolds.

-- Visual learning is becoming a way of life for all of us. The Internet is a perfect vehicle for visual thinking, as it stimulates new art forms and visualization techniques, and intensifies collaboration between interested people such as artists, scientists, and engineers. It is becoming more demanding on everyone to grow in terms of the ability to think abstractly, compare/contrast and digest data quickly.

-- Many technical conferences include exploration of the relationship between visual arts, mathematics, and science, for example, the Symposium on Digital Art, and Online Gallery - CGIV05-Dart (http://www.graphicslink.demon.co.uk/cgiv05/DART.htm), the Art + Math = X Conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder (http://math.colorado.edu/Art&Math/revised_announcement.htm), the Bridges Conference Mathematical Connections in Art, Music and Science (http://www.sckans.edu/~bridges/) or the Mathematics and Design Conference (http://www.nexusjournal.com/CFP-MD2004.html). Organizations and journals, such as Art and Science Collaborations, Inc. (http://www.asci.org/), Leonardo, the Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology and Leonardo On-Line: Art, Science and Technology (http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/), Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com/wired/) or YLEM, Artists Using Science and Technology (http://www.ylem.org/), increase collaboration and communication between scientists and artists using science and technology.

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<http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-398495.html>

Whats the first creative thing you did with a computer?

08-28-2006, 06:46 PM

For me it was through programming.

When i was faced for the first time with GW Basic back in 1989 i loved the rand command. I was combining it with the sound command to produce random sounds, and make the whole class think my computer went nuts. Not the most creative thing someone could do with a computer back then, but for me it was just the first step into a new universe of endless possibilities. Oh i wish i had that early excitement now....

NeilMarriott

08-28-2006, 07:42 PM

I think artistically, it was random doodling on early MS Paint etc. I also remember these Basic games on our ancient school computers. There was this Gorilla game where you threw bananas at the other gorilla using speed and velocity values and the buildings could be damaged. Kinda like an early Worms type game. At school we found out we could go into basic and mess with the code to make the bananas disappear for like 10mins off screen, until they eventually came back down, or up values to make machine gun bananas.

It was funny at the time...

Animation wise, aside from flipbooks, I used to use the Animation programme that came with Paint Shop Pro and make little stick men cartoons.

Memories...

robertkist

08-28-2006, 07:48 PM

I remember that the ZX80 had special graphical characters you could use to "draw" simple things with, just like the C64 and VIC20. Was nice...for 5 minutes, but it got me hooked on computer graphics hehehe

Runecaster

08-28-2006, 07:59 PM

OMG you work for Funcom :) I met your PM guy at DragonCon a couple of years back - Jorgen.

http://aequinox.com/pages/meandjorgen.html

He was awesome. So full of energy. They talked a lot about DreamFall that year. We got a sneak peak!

Anywayyyy

I love all the old old memories. I was like 8 when basic was first around in machines you could toodle with -- but I've been around computers for so long (My mom worked for Digital Equipment) that I can't even remember my first foray... but I didn't even know I wanted to draw until about 10 months ago =D

NanoGator

08-28-2006, 08:13 PM

I useta edit BASIC games, put my own dialogue in them etc. I also remember taking Disney Animation Studio and animating a Calvin and Hobbes comic I had laying around. Fun stuff, heh.

Chris Bacon

08-28-2006, 08:19 PM

I drew a bike in paint, those were the days.

Kirt

08-28-2006, 08:30 PM

In 1980 I created an ASCII image of the Nostromo on a Commodore PET. That's the first that I could think of. Although I was doing other ASCII things and making some primative (read as "sucky") animations using BASIC and PEEK/POKE routines. A year or two later I was doing 8-bit drawings on a Commodore 64 using my friend's Koala Pad (early version of a WACOM).

robodesign

08-28-2006, 08:34 PM

My first creative thing on a computer was... painting pixel by pixel fonts on an Atari 520ST using Harlekin ACC. On the same PC.... slightly retouching scanned photos :).

enygma

08-28-2006, 09:06 PM

I made animated clips in QBASIC. That was a blast. I pretty much wowed my computer science class. While everyone was creating pictures with QBASIC, I recreated the white house blowing up in Independence day, and the James Bond intro... :D

Tirjasdyn

08-28-2006, 09:06 PM

hrm...Basic....

But truely creative? As in I made something...

I colored menus I made in DOS, for organizing my system. It someways it was my own graphical interface. Loved that. Complete with ascii images.

salman-fas

08-28-2006, 09:17 PM

***click***:)

Fudge

08-28-2006, 09:21 PM

Ms Paint! and possibly porn...

Daniel-B

08-28-2006, 09:43 PM

I made a lightsaber in Adobe Photoshop 5.0 the first time.

Michael5188

08-28-2006, 09:44 PM

Had to be doodling in Paint. Then finally taking photos into paint and drawing onto them. You know, making people have hats or lightning in their eyes. Good times...never looked all that good though...

Artbot

08-28-2006, 10:02 PM

Used the humungo-sized touch-console to keep my beer from hitting the floor. (Aesthedes 2d graphics computer, 1985). Don't tell anyone in the lab, they would be very upset. I think I was doing a watchface graphic or some such thing.
http://www.designforte.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/aesthedes.jpg

Apoclypse

08-28-2006, 10:48 PM

I programmed a really cool flashy screen thingy in qbasic on a 386. Then I programmed an adventure game with all the graphics drawn through qbasic. Fun indeed.

M31

08-28-2006, 10:52 PM

My first creative project on the computer was creating a text adventure game with AMOS Basic on the Amiga. I also created some pictures in the Amiga equivalent of Paint. I didn't finish the game as everyone else had PCs by this time and what's the point in creating a game you can't share with anyone? In high school I did complete a Space Invaders game in Visual Basic.

I've done traditional art all my life, but based on my experiences with Paint, thought it near impossible to create art on a computer. Then, in college, I took a course in computer art and was introduced to Photoshop and Illustrator. I was really excited by what these programs could do and it rekindled my interest in making a computer game. Next semester I took a course in 3ds Max and the rest, as they say, is history. :)

MisfitAnimator

08-29-2006, 12:33 AM

I started by drawing with macPaint on an old Mac SE
http://www.everymac.com/images/cpu_pictures/apple_mac_se.jpg

Ahhh...the good old days

erilaz

08-29-2006, 12:40 AM

I programmed a text-adventure on a mac plus. Or was that an XT??? Good times anyway. :D

-Vormav-

08-29-2006, 12:50 AM

Text-based adventure games in qbasic...
Don't remember exactly what they were about, but I seem to recall them involving lots of jelly beans.

miloshz

08-29-2006, 01:41 AM

ohhh.... it was ''painting'' with special characters on C64 back in good old 80's. something meaningful? different stuff in deluxe paint on amiga in 90's.

CGmonkey

08-29-2006, 01:47 AM

Ooooh I still remember when I first held a mouse in my hand in third grade.. Pure magic! Mspaint was my first application I ever started..

pnoland

08-29-2006, 02:03 AM

Uhh, hmm...in 2nd grade we used some old Mac tool to make powerpoint like programs and games so that was the first thing really. But, outside of school it was stupid text games and what not on my dad's commadore 64 then quickbasic programs when we got a better PC. From there I got into skinning character on Quake and making levels for duke nukem3d so that's what kinda got me into 3d work. :P

Memories....

mttjss

08-29-2006, 02:10 AM

MS paint is a early memory.. I also remember a floppy disc with Doom editor on it - early version of worldcraft...those were the days.

I remember messing with Marky Mark & the Funky bunch on the Sega cd :D

Matt -

SOE digital

08-29-2006, 04:41 AM

Definately using Qbasic when I was about 5 years old. Made a purple box and I was chuffed!!!
Ofcourse at the age of five I simply copied the commands out of a BASIC manual I had gotten off my dad from his college years.

JDex

08-29-2006, 04:50 AM

An exceedingly lame "low-rider" drawing in ClarisCAD on, I think, an first gen Macintosh.

Cypher666

08-29-2006, 05:01 AM

Back in my early teens me and my best mate would edit out the clothing from the women in Duke Nukem 3d using MS paint. How sad:hmm:

Jokinen

08-29-2006, 07:30 AM

I think my first experience was with paint shop pro doing some graphical design. Can't remember exactly but that's what i think.
Just my two cents.
-Juhani

salmonmoose

08-29-2006, 08:14 AM

A random and somewhat pointless animation involving dogs using keycode characters on a C64, hundreds of lines of code although it was essentially a bunch of print statements and for loops for timing - but then I was only 6 at the time.

Windmill

08-29-2006, 09:01 AM

Tents and houses with slashes and backslashes on my amstrad. After that is was text adventures in QBasic. I had a series of them, "The Detective" they were called, where you solved crimes (whilst avoiding instant deaths from seemingly harmless everyday activities).

petmoi

08-29-2006, 09:39 AM

I drew a picture of Bart Simpson in Art Studio on the C64.. with a magazine cover as a reference, I drew Good ol' Bart using a joystick! Those were the days. :D

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<http://www.catherinemason.co.uk/>

A Machine that Makes Art

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Catherine Mason

: Jack Tait, Turntable light drawing 14, 2011. Taitograph, dimensions variable. Copyright the artist, reproduced with permission.

The inspiration for this month’s BCS column comes from the great conceptual artist Sol LeWitt’s statement, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art” (1967). Although LeWitt’s ‘machine’ was metaphorical rather than literal, nevertheless this radical concept raised questions about the notion of art process and creative behaviour and challenged the notion of what art was or could be. This month we explore the history of the use of analogue mechanical systems and machines in art through the work of Jack Tait, seen above.

Read the full article here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/43260

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A 15 pound computer to inspire young programmers

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2011/05/a_15_computer_to_inspire_young.html>

| 12:50 UK time, Thursday, 5 May 2011

It's not much bigger than your finger, it looks like a leftover from an electronics factory, but its makers believe their £15 computer could help a new generation discover programming.

The games developer David Braben and some colleagues came to the BBC this week to demonstrate something called Raspberry Pi. It's a whole computer on a tiny circuit board - not much more than an ARM processor, a USB port, and an HDMI connection. They plugged a keyboard into one end, and hooked the other into a TV they had brought with them.

The result, a working computer running on a Linux operating system for very little, and a device that will, like the kit computers of the 1970s and 80s, encourage users to tinker around under the bonnet and learn a bit of programming. And it's a yearning to return to those days that is driving Braben and the other enthusiasts who are working to turn this sketchy prototype into a product that could be handed to every child in Britain.

They believe that what today's schoolchildren learn in ICT classes leaves them uninspired and ignorant about the way computers work. David Braben says the way the subject is taught today reminds him of typing lessons when he was at school - useful perhaps in preparing pupils for office jobs, but no way to encourage creativity.

Raspberry Pi is a non-profit venture, whose founders are mostly part of Cambridge's thriving technology sector. Their hope is that teachers, developers and the government will come together to get the device into the hands of children who may not have access to a computer at home or would not be allowed by parents to "muck about with it".

In some ways, the project resembles the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) scheme, which sought to create a laptop for children in the developing world at a cost of $100. OLPC was successful in promoting the idea of cheap computing, spawning lots of netbook imitators, but has struggled to get the price as low as they promised and to convince governments to back the idea.

There's a lot of work for Raspberry Pi to do. The volunteer team has to produce a better working prototype, has to show that it really can be manufactured for around £15, and then has to capture the imagination of the people in the educational establishment who will decide whether to give it the thumbs up.

So there is no guarantee that a new generation will discover that there's more to a computer than turning it on, updating your Facebook status, and making a Powerpoint presentation. But wouldn't it be great if an idea dreamed up by a group of Cambridge enthusiasts ended up inspiring young people here and perhaps across the world to engage with computers in a new way? I will keep you up to date here with how Raspberry Pi develops and my colleagues on the BBC's Click technology programme will also be taking a look at the project.

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<http://www.science.uva.nl/museum/bartjens.php>

An early Dutch computer: Willem Bartjens

Willem Bartjens was the author of an arithmetic textbook 'Cyferringe' (Arithmetic) famous - or notorious? - in the Netherlands. It was reprinted many times during two centuries: first appearing in 1637, the last edition was printed in 1839. Bartjens' name is still quoted in phrases expressing the obviousness of a result, like 'According to Bartjens, two and two makes four'.

Bartjens was a 'computer' in the original meaning of the word, i.e. a person doing computations. Therefore the game on the back of the Computer Museum's copy of Cyfferinge is an early example of a computer game!

The game (a simple example of a magic square) is shown below.

Rephrased in modern language, the text runs as follows:

"In conclusion, an amusing computation which always gives 24 whether the numbers are added along a diagonal, a row or a column.

For any other desired sum x, first compute y = x/3, then enter the following numbers in row order in the fields of the square: y+3, y-2, y-1, y-4, y, y+4, y+1, y+2, y-3.

Having done well was all my heart's desire: is it not as it should be, my heart will be hurt.

The End"

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Unfortunately, despite the large sums of money spent (and no doubt earned) by promoting and exploiting digital creativity in the arts by organisations like ISEA -it seems that the technology has become largely invisible and intelligent creativity has diminished accordingly.

In the arts, digital technology has largely been promoted and taught as a (commercial, consumerist) tool for production -instead of a medium for creativity.

The more "invisible" technology becomes -the less likely it is to play an inspirational and creative part in the creative process.

Historically, the idea and the medium have always combined to become the machine that makes the art: When the role of the medium in the creative process is ignored then an important part of the creative process simply dissapears.

It remains my belief that there is an enormous, invisible, problem regarding the development of cognitive skills and the way they are affected through the way computers and computing are conceptualised and implemented both in the arts and in society at large. I believe, this problem has huge global consequences as "modern" information systems are pushed into even the most isolated of places -with little concern for the social and cultural effects.

However much I support a shift in focus back to programming, I believe one should focus on the general cognitive aspects - and be careful not to make the same mistakes again by concentrating too much on the supposed needs of the commercial gaming industry.

Trevor Batten
Baclayon, PH
February 2012

The Paintbox, the Programme and the Creative Process
Computer Art Histories
Revolutionary to Reactionary

<trevor at tebatt dot net>
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