Author Archive

I have just stumbled on this lovely video on data driven journalism via O’Reilly Radar.

‘Journalists are coping with the rising information flood by borrowing data visualization techniques from computer scientists, researchers and artists. Some newsrooms are already beginning to retool their staffs and systems to prepare for a future in which data becomes a medium. But how do we communicate with data, how can traditional narratives be fused with sophisticated, interactive information displays?’

Journalism in the Age of Data from Geoff McGhee on Vimeo.

You can watch the full version with annotations and links at datajournalism.stanford.edu.

October’s JellyLiverpool was held at Studio 2, Parr St Studios and by all accounts this great environment went down a storm with the creative bunch that are making JellyLiverpool their own.

If you missed it, you missed the opportunity to work in a fantastic city centre location among a group of smart and creative people whose areas of expertise range from web designers, smart phone ‘app’ developers to legal eagles, psychologists, marketing & educational researchers … plus of course the free wifi, free coffee and on this occasion a bacon buttie!

The next JellyLiverpool is on Thursday 2nd December 2010 & will be at the new Leaf Cafe on Bold Street…. we’re there from 9am so come and join us….you never know who you might meet.

If you are a Facebook user then you can sign up here. Alternatively you can sign up on the main Jelly Wiki but you will have to sign up to edit the page.

Check out our main Jelly Livepool page for more information.

A really beautiful video showing how young people are exploring fabrication.

‘They begin to internalise incredibly complex mathematical concepts…  I see incredible risk taking.  They are willing to mess around with the software.  I haven’t given them any instructions in the software,   I haven’t said here are the cuboids or here are the shapes or whatever. I just let them open it up and go for it and they ask each questions to try and figure it out.’

Paula White, Teacher Crozet Elementary.

For more information on the software shown see http://www.aspexsoftware.com/desktop_engineering.htm

While reading Scott Summit’s work on 3d printed prosthetics I stumbled across this video from the Singularity University.   In this 50 minute lecture Scott discuss the current state of 3d scanning and 3d printing.  Summit explores where we are heading and what we can achieve when we throw out the old rules of mass production and invent new tools that require new rules.

ATM Skimmer

The ability to create almost anything raises interesting legal and ethical questions.  One example of the dark side of fabbing was identified recently by 3d printing service company i.materialise.

Read the rest of this entry »

A number of people felt that the end of the month was crammed with events so we have decided to move to the beginning of the month.

The next Jelly Liverpool will be on Thursday 2^nd September 2010 at the Bluecoat.  We’ll be there from 9am so come and join us….you never know who you might meet.

If you are interested then please add your name to the wiki along with a little bit about what you do.  Alternatively you can confirm on Facebook.  Signing up is just so we have an idea of numbers for the tea and coffee.    If you forget to sign up then please feel free to pop along anyway.

Special thanks to the Bluecoat for sponsoring Jelly Liverpool.

Art & Design

Street Clocks

Fluid Form is one of an increasing number of personalised product companies.  Easy to use online tools allow the customer to design unique creations based on geographical data (maps, topography etc).   Read more: http://www.fluid-forms.com/

Read the rest of this entry »

Digital fabrication, or fabbing, is the name given to a range of techniques and technologies that can make physical things from your digital data.   Create your design in your favourite 2d or 3d package then send it to one of a range of machines that can cut, machine, drill, or sculpt your design into a physical object.

Fabbing has been around for decades but recently cheaper and more powerful equipment has made it far more accessible to creative makers.    The range of things that you can create with fabbing technology is increasing by the day.   Here are a few of our current favourites.

Read the rest of this entry »

What is Jelly Liverpool?

Jelly Liverpool is a casual work-together.  Anyone is welcome to bring their laptop and come work alongside other creative, fun people for the day.

Who is it for?

Jelly Liverpool is for anyone who likes the idea of working alongside inspiring, creative people in a warm and welcoming environment.

First Jelly Liverpool …

The first Jelly Liverpool took place at Static (off Berry St, Liverpool) on Thursday 29th July 2010.  Those who normally work at home or independently in remote office premises found themselves working side by side with like-minded people.  The coffee spot offered a great opportunity to mingle and those who vaguely know each other from the Liverpool circuit took the opportunity to speak to people and find out what projects they were working on.

The atmosphere at Static, were office space is regularly rented by some local and thriving SMEs, created an environment which stimulated a casual but great work ethic.

The format going forward will be to host a Jelly Liverpool on the last Thursday of every month.  So put 26th August in your diary…..we’d love to encourage a lot more to attend and to spread the word wider in Liverpool to attract artists, graphic designers, or anyone else who works remotely or independently … the greater the range of attendees, the more interesting the Jelly Liverpool becomes … and who know what you might get from it?  Come join us.

When and where the next JellyLiverpool?

Thursday 26th August 2010 (9-5pm). Venue TBC.

What do I need to bring?

Laptop, power leads, headphones and a smile!

What do I need to do next?

Nothing!  Just drop in, have a chat and do some work!

If you really want to you can sign up over at http://wiki.workatjelly.com/JellyLiverpoolUK (but nobody will be offended if you don’t!)

The videos of all the speakers at Thinking  Digital 2010 have just gone up over at http://videos.thinkingdigital.co.uk/category/thinking-digital-2010-day-one/.

I have already written a little about a few of my favourite talks so check them out.

The one session I really wanted to write about in my previous post was a talk by Tom Wujec  (I tried several times but I just couldn’t do it justice).

The video below  is essential viewing for anybody interested in near future technologies and especially those interested in the future of digital fabrication.

Tom Wujec speaking at #TDC10 from Herb Kim on Vimeo.