"migrate" content from old blog version

Author: benswift

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "benswift.me update (July 2017 edition)"
+tags:
+categories:
+---
+
+Well, `benswift.me` has been given another coat of paint. The content's still a
+bit sparse, but hopefully this time it'll be the place to go to keep up with my
+adventures in livecoding, research and just generally making thing with
+computers---and teaching others to do the same.

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+---
+layout: post
+title: COMP1720 teaser
+tags: teaching
+---
+<style> #logo-sketch { display:flex; justify-content: center; }</style>
+<div id="logo-sketch">
+    <script src="/sketches/logo-sketch/lib/p5/p5.js"></script>
+    <script src="/sketches/logo-sketch/lib/p5/addons/p5.dom.js"></script>
+    <script src="/sketches/logo-sketch/lib/p5/addons/p5.sound.js"></script>
+    <script src="/sketches/logo-sketch/sketch.js"></script>
+</div>
+
+If you're an ANU student and you want to learn how to make art with code, then
+sign up
+for
+[COMP1720/6720 in semester 2, 2017](http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/COMP1720).
+Taught by me and a bunch of internationally recognised artists (there's a weekly
+computational artist guest lecture) it's the best way to scratch the art+code
+itch at the ANU.
+
+No previous programming or artistic experience is required: we'll teach you both
+things from the ground up, then we'll teach you to put them together.
+
+Here are 5 reasons you should take COMP1720 this year (number 4 will **shock**
+you!):
+
+1. the course has been tweaked from last year's version: this year we'll make
+   art in the browser (with javascript and the [p5 library](https://p5js.org/))
+   
+2. the major project theme this year will be ANU Grand Challenges---here's your
+   chance to say something about the big problems facing the world
+   
+3. if you're doing a CS degree but find some of the programming stuff a bit
+   difficult, here's a secret: *making art with code is how **I** learned to
+   program*. This course is the perfect chance to make sure those fundamentals
+   are solid, and will teach you skills you can use in all of your CS courses
+   (even the non-arty ones)
+
+4. this year we'll be doing more sound/music stuff than ever before (because, as
+   you'll know if you've seen me perform or clicked around this site a bit, I
+   love me some code + music)
+
+5. if you're not a computer science student, but you've heard that computers are
+   going to eat all of the jobs in the future and you want to get on board, then
+   this is a perfect "intro to programming" course, and you'll learn about how
+   to communicate through interactive digital media
+
+So head on down to student services and sign up.

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Science Week gig
+tags: gigs
+---
+
+I'm playing a livecoding set at the [ACT Science Week launch party
+tonight](https://www.scienceweek.net.au/national-science-week-act-launch-future-earth-festival/?search-location-code=2600&search-location-lat=-35.306768&search-location-lng=149.126355&search-location-name=CANBERRA&search-location-type=T&search-location=ACT&search-date-start=Today&search-date-end=All+dates&text=&audience=All+ages&search-topic=&search-events-count=74&search-online-count=30&utm_content=buffer19391&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer).
+Sorry about the late notice to anyone who uses this blog to come to my gigs---I
+really should set up a newsletter or something. I think there are still a few
+tickets left ($5, available from the website linked above).

_posts/2017-07-06-benswift-me-update-july-2017-edition.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Telopea Hour of Code
+date: 2017-09-06 08:57
+tags:
+---
+
+Welcome, Telopea Hour of Code students. Here are a couple of links you'll need
+today: the [p5 web editor](https://alpha.editor.p5js.org/) and the [slides for
+the presentation](/p5-hour-of-code/).
+
+Have fun!

_posts/2017-07-10-comp1720-teaser.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "The Other Side: Algorithm as Ritual in Artificial Intelligence"
+date: 2018-04-24 09:50
+tags: kieran-browne
+---
+
+Tomorrow morning (Wed April 25, 9am Montréal time) Kieran Browne and I are
+performing an Artificial Intelligence divination ritual as part of the *alt.chi*
+session [Scary, Sporty, Ginger and
+Posh](https://chi2018.acm.org/technical-program/?sessionId=-L6Uzypel81JpsiUKYQ2&publicationId=-L7SB7rZwtlVgobKgWoH).
+
+This is not a talk *about* the ritual; we will be performing the ritual **live**
+at CHI, using an analog computing apparatus to communicate with an artificial
+intelligence to divine the answers to our questions.
+
+The ritual will **start on time at 9am** in [room
+514B](https://chi2018.acm.org/technical-program/?maps=true)---it's a small room,
+so please come a touch early to make sure you don't miss out on a seat.
+
+See [Kieran's blog](http://kieranbrowne.com/works/the-other-side/) for more
+details about tomorrow's ritual, and read the
+[paper](https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188404) for the full story.

_posts/2017-08-11-science-week-gig.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Centre for the Public Awareness of Code
+date: 2018-06-05 09:13
+tags:
+---
+
+*What's your favourite movie? Most folks already have an answer to this
+questions (because they've been asked before). Mine's [The
+Castle](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/).
+
+{% asset images/the-castle.jpg alt="Cast of 'The Castle'" style="width:100%;" %}
+
+*What's your favourite band/album?* Again, a pretty standard "dinner party" line
+of questioning. As a muso (at least in the loose sense of the word) I find this
+a much tougher one to answer, partially because I have so many favourites, and
+partially because I'm trying t
+
+*What's your favourite scientist or scientific theory/fact?* This one is harder,
+but thanks to great work by many
+[gifted](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan) [science](http://drkarl.com/)
+[communicators](https://twitter.com/ANU_CPAS) people increasingly have an answer
+to those questions.
+
+***What's your favourite bit of (software) code? What's your favourite
+algorithm?*** I reckon that most people will struggle to have an answer for this
+one. In fact, most folks probably won't understand the question. Yet code (and
+the algorithms they manifest) *does* impact the world today. Mark Zuckerberg is
+still
+[travelling](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/11/zuckerberg-facebook-hearing-congress-house-testimony/)
+[around](http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-facebook-zuckerberg-europe-20180522-story.html)
+with a suit and a haircut apologising for the way his code changed the course of
+history. It also true that a naive "code doesn't kill people; people kill
+people" techno-dualism doesn't really stack up in practice. The modern world is
+a complex, socio-technical assemblage (a glorious hot mess!) and everything
+affects everything else.
+
+This isn't about setting up a dichotomy between those who "get" code and those
+who don't, and it certainly isn't about adding a moral dimension to code
+literacy (so that if you don't code, you're a bad person). There are some
+amazing code communicators out there---check out Dan Shiffman on the [Coding
+Train](http://thecodingtrain.com/). And there's stuff like [Critical Code
+Studies
+(CCS)](http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/electropoetics/codology),
+although that's more about understanding code-as-text *deeply* rather than
+raising awareness of what code is currently doing in the world.
+
+What we need is a **Centre for the Public Awareness of Code**, with a bunch of
+folks doing for code/software/algorithms what Carl Sagan did for space science
+with [Cosmos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Personal_Voyage). I've got
+some ideas about how we could do it ([musical
+livecoding](https://vimeo.com/269115310) is one of them) but I'm sure there are
+other ways as well.
+
+I know that there are a lot of people (and organisations) who are working hard
+at this problem right now, all over the world. Which angles are they attacking
+the problem from? Who's doing it best? What can we all learn from each other?
+Let's discuss on [twitter](https://twitter.com/benswift) :)

_posts/2017-09-06-telopea-hour-of-code.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: ANU Laptop Orchestra
+date: 2018-06-06 09:20
+tags:
+---
+
+One of the coolest parts of my job is doing livecoding gigs---here's a recent
+set I did at Smiths as part of [Soundscapes
+#21](https://www.smithsalternative.com/events/soundscapes-21-44719). A big
+shout-out to Ushini Attanayake (not in the video, sadly) who did a **fantastic**
+job of her first livecoding set.
+
+<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/269115310" width="640" height="1138" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
+<!-- <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/269115310">live @ soundscapes #21</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/benswift">Ben Swift</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> -->
+
+Somehow I've managed to make that stuff part of my day job as a (*cough*)
+respectable computer science lecturer, because Laptop Orchestras (or *LOrk*s)
+are a thing. Seriously, [look it up on the
+internet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop_orchestra). But ANU doesn't have
+one---sadface. And it's time to fix that.
+
+- **if** you're a current ANU undergrad or coursework-postgrad student (*any*
+  ANU student, not just in computer science) and you're into
+
+  1. **music**: hi-tech DJing (including livecoding, live patching e.g. Max/MSP,
+     PD, live loop manipulation e.g. Ableton), and other instrumentalists who
+     want to perform live with the laptop orchestra are invited too
+
+  2. **visuals**: VJing, projection mapping, 2D/3D graphics e.g. shaders, Unity,
+     etc., and other drawers/dancers/painters/glassblowers who want to perform
+     live with the laptop orchestra are invited too
+
+  3. **organising**, **managing** and **promoting** these sorts of gigs and
+     bands so that people actually show up and have an awesome time (because
+     even laptop orchestras need agents
+
+- **and** you want to get together with like (and unlike!)-minded folks and play
+  some gigs *for university credit*, and you have 6--12 credit points (1--2
+  courses) of room in your ANU degree in S2 2018 and S1 2019
+
+- **then** you need to get in touch with me (<ben.swift@anu.edu.au>), perhaps
+  with a link to some of your creative work, and we can try and make this
+  happen.
+
+I'm putting together a [Laptop
+Orchestra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop_orchestra) (or, alternately an
+[Algorave](https://algorave.com/) group) as a
+[TechLauncher](https://cs.anu.edu.au/TechLauncher/) project. Don't wait till the
+start of semester 2; the groups might be full up by then and you'll miss out!
+
+Even if you're not sure if you're the right person (e.g. you're not sure how to
+fit it into your degree program) if you've always liked technology, creativity
+and live performance but never found the right outlet for those passions, then
+[get in touch](mailto:ben.swift@anu.edu.au), there might be ways to make it
+happen.