7 ms·

The Art of Research – A History by Vi Hart

165 points by anonymfus 8y ago

peter_l_downs 8y ago
> Despite how inexpensive, powerful, and ubiquitous computers have become, very few of the ideas floating around in technology today are better than the ideas from half a century ago, and quite a few are quite a bit worse. Stand-out line from a fantastic essay. There are so many fruit to harvest that only now seem low-hanging because the hardware has gotten better. See: RNNs, for example. There has been a lot of thought about how the future could look; it's worth paying attention to it.
ycombinatoracct 8y ago
>when Evelyn shared a document about critique in art and how we could apply those techniques for CDG’s research. Up until then, I was thinking of the connection between art and research as something fuzzy and cultural, as if artists just happen to be good researchers due to some instinct for creativity, or that art gives us life and soul that helps to motivate interesting ideas. I don't classify myself as an artist but the cited document is wonderful! Vi Hart if you're out there somewhere, thank you for writing this! I've been a big fan of your work for a while and this was a delight to read. [1] http://elevr.com/portfolio/art-based-research/ http://elevr.com/portfolio/art-based-research/ [bonus] http://elevr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CritatCDG.pdf http://elevr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CritatCDG.pdf
mjcohen 8y ago
I support Vi Hart via Patreon. You can too: https://www.patreon.com/vihart https://www.patreon.com/vihart
j2kun 8y ago
Interesting read! I would have liked more details about what specifically they found useful about artistic methods of inquiry. Hart writes that they were able to isolate certain patterns of thought; what were those?
- sp332 8y ago
  She wasn't kidding about it being very well documented at elevr.com, but I'll link a few posts here. http://elevr.com/studio-metaphor-an-embodied-software-paradigm/ http://elevr.com/studio-metaphor-an-embodied-software-paradi... http://elevr.com/body-friendly-design-for-turntable-games/ http://elevr.com/body-friendly-design-for-turntable-games/ http://elevr.com/some-rather-different-social-vr-experiments/ http://elevr.com/some-rather-different-social-vr-experiments... http://elevr.com/yoga-for-building-vr-tolerance/ http://elevr.com/yoga-for-building-vr-tolerance/
azhenley 8y ago
She works at Microsoft now [1]? Didn't see that coming. I wonder what a researcher at the Office of the CTO at Microsoft does. [1] https://theartofresearch.org/contact-us/ https://theartofresearch.org/contact-us/
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  CTO's personal experimentation/prototype team? Like mini skunkworks for experiments that benefit from and ought to have zero bureaucracy. That's what I'd ask for if I were high enough up the chain. "give me a 5 person squad of elites and the mandate to point them at anything at all."
Waterluvian 8y ago
Everything I see in this post looks wonderfully healthy for the human spirit. But it also looks so insufferable for me personally. Which is why I'm so delighted that people like Vi Hart exist. And more broadly speaking, why there's beauty in the diversity of humans. You make your beautiful mathematical ribbon dances and I'll seek the beauty in my software architecture design.
- uxp100 8y ago
  I appreciated the article but was feeling the same way. Mainly the portion about working primarily in VR and refurnishing the lab for reclining on the floor as a result. It's interesting, but foreign to me. Strange Days and Existenz are cool movies and all, but I just don't find VR that compelling. I'm glad someone is working to find meaningful experiences in these new mediums though.
  - Impossible 8y ago
    Have you tried 6DOF VR? There are a ton of issues with current VR systems but your comment makes it seem like your only reference point is sci-fi movies...
    - uxp100 8y ago
      No, seems like its becoming more mainstream so maybe this year I will try it. But screens attached to your eyes can only be so compelling. At least in the movies it makes sense to work in these truly immersive environments. Working with an HMD sounds like hell.
  - sp332 8y ago
    M Eifler has been experimenting and creating stuff in VR pretty much every day and has been for years. I consider them a super creative pioneer and they really have an embodied sense of what works in VR. http://elevr.com/the-office-of-the-future/ http://elevr.com/the-office-of-the-future/ It's the kind of mastery of a medium that comes from "serious play", where someone's not afraid to just explore new ideas for the sense of discovery. And they keep notes on what works and what doesn't. http://elevr.com/would-you-like-to-see-an-invisible-sculpture/ http://elevr.com/would-you-like-to-see-an-invisible-sculptur... I wish basic research like this was funded to the hilt, and that VR designers actually read the results, just to see that they don't have to invent interaction design from scratch.
iamwil 8y ago
What was a standout result of her research in VR? What was the important question that she posed? Did she come to an answer? I read through some of the posts on elevr, and I wasn't able to find something that jumped out at me, like Bret Victor's talks and posts did for me. Did anyone else?
mar77i 8y ago
I really enjoy reading Vi Hart, and I had to think of a hobby I picked up recently, which is Super Mario Maker on the Nintendo Wii U. It's not quite Turing complete, but the complexity it brings forth really gets me thinking into similar directions. And if I'm now imagining a full-fledged programming environment in a Jump-and-Run world, I'm quite sure bringing all this into the third dimension would be mind-boggling. Also, there were attempts to bring computational complexity to MineCraft once? What happened to this stuff? Did it ever evolve past simple experiments? I imagine puzzles, the kind you can find in SMM, but in a somehow self-aware MineCraft environment, where when you do X, entire walls rearrange to give way to another cave. Maybe this would remove some of the open world aspects of the game, but still be pretty amazing.

165 points by anonymfus 8y ago

> Despite how inexpensive, powerful, and ubiquitous computers have become, very few of the ideas floating around in technology today are better than the ideas from half a century ago, and quite a few are quite a bit worse. Stand-out line from a fantastic essay. There are so many fruit to harvest that only now seem low-hanging because the hardware has gotten better. See: RNNs, for example. There has been a lot of thought about how the future could look; it's worth paying attention to it.

ycombinatoracct 8y ago

>when Evelyn shared a document about critique in art and how we could apply those techniques for CDG’s research. Up until then, I was thinking of the connection between art and research as something fuzzy and cultural, as if artists just happen to be good researchers due to some instinct for creativity, or that art gives us life and soul that helps to motivate interesting ideas. I don't classify myself as an artist but the cited document is wonderful! Vi Hart if you're out there somewhere, thank you for writing this! I've been a big fan of your work for a while and this was a delight to read. [1] http://elevr.com/portfolio/art-based-research/ http://elevr.com/portfolio/art-based-research/ [bonus] http://elevr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CritatCDG.pdf http://elevr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CritatCDG.pdf

mjcohen 8y ago

I support Vi Hart via Patreon. You can too: https://www.patreon.com/vihart https://www.patreon.com/vihart

j2kun 8y ago

Interesting read! I would have liked more details about what specifically they found useful about artistic methods of inquiry. Hart writes that they were able to isolate certain patterns of thought; what were those?

sp332 8y ago
She wasn't kidding about it being very well documented at elevr.com, but I'll link a few posts here. http://elevr.com/studio-metaphor-an-embodied-software-paradigm/ http://elevr.com/studio-metaphor-an-embodied-software-paradi... http://elevr.com/body-friendly-design-for-turntable-games/ http://elevr.com/body-friendly-design-for-turntable-games/ http://elevr.com/some-rather-different-social-vr-experiments/ http://elevr.com/some-rather-different-social-vr-experiments... http://elevr.com/yoga-for-building-vr-tolerance/ http://elevr.com/yoga-for-building-vr-tolerance/

azhenley 8y ago

She works at Microsoft now [1]? Didn't see that coming. I wonder what a researcher at the Office of the CTO at Microsoft does. [1] https://theartofresearch.org/contact-us/ https://theartofresearch.org/contact-us/

Waterluvian 8y ago
CTO's personal experimentation/prototype team? Like mini skunkworks for experiments that benefit from and ought to have zero bureaucracy. That's what I'd ask for if I were high enough up the chain. "give me a 5 person squad of elites and the mandate to point them at anything at all."

Waterluvian 8y ago

Everything I see in this post looks wonderfully healthy for the human spirit. But it also looks so insufferable for me personally. Which is why I'm so delighted that people like Vi Hart exist. And more broadly speaking, why there's beauty in the diversity of humans. You make your beautiful mathematical ribbon dances and I'll seek the beauty in my software architecture design.

uxp100 8y ago
I appreciated the article but was feeling the same way. Mainly the portion about working primarily in VR and refurnishing the lab for reclining on the floor as a result. It's interesting, but foreign to me. Strange Days and Existenz are cool movies and all, but I just don't find VR that compelling. I'm glad someone is working to find meaningful experiences in these new mediums though.
- Impossible 8y ago
  Have you tried 6DOF VR? There are a ton of issues with current VR systems but your comment makes it seem like your only reference point is sci-fi movies...
  - uxp100 8y ago
    No, seems like its becoming more mainstream so maybe this year I will try it. But screens attached to your eyes can only be so compelling. At least in the movies it makes sense to work in these truly immersive environments. Working with an HMD sounds like hell.
- sp332 8y ago
  M Eifler has been experimenting and creating stuff in VR pretty much every day and has been for years. I consider them a super creative pioneer and they really have an embodied sense of what works in VR. http://elevr.com/the-office-of-the-future/ http://elevr.com/the-office-of-the-future/ It's the kind of mastery of a medium that comes from "serious play", where someone's not afraid to just explore new ideas for the sense of discovery. And they keep notes on what works and what doesn't. http://elevr.com/would-you-like-to-see-an-invisible-sculpture/ http://elevr.com/would-you-like-to-see-an-invisible-sculptur... I wish basic research like this was funded to the hilt, and that VR designers actually read the results, just to see that they don't have to invent interaction design from scratch.

iamwil 8y ago

What was a standout result of her research in VR? What was the important question that she posed? Did she come to an answer? I read through some of the posts on elevr, and I wasn't able to find something that jumped out at me, like Bret Victor's talks and posts did for me. Did anyone else?

mar77i 8y ago

I really enjoy reading Vi Hart, and I had to think of a hobby I picked up recently, which is Super Mario Maker on the Nintendo Wii U. It's not quite Turing complete, but the complexity it brings forth really gets me thinking into similar directions. And if I'm now imagining a full-fledged programming environment in a Jump-and-Run world, I'm quite sure bringing all this into the third dimension would be mind-boggling. Also, there were attempts to bring computational complexity to MineCraft once? What happened to this stuff? Did it ever evolve past simple experiments? I imagine puzzles, the kind you can find in SMM, but in a somehow self-aware MineCraft environment, where when you do X, entire walls rearrange to give way to another cave. Maybe this would remove some of the open world aspects of the game, but still be pretty amazing.