Bread&Tech

20 Things about Ireland

2011-04-12T15:55:00.003+01:00

Ok, I follow Saruz's suggestion to write 10 things I like and 10 things i don't like about Ireland. After 11 years, I will allow myself the liberty to say something :)

10 Things that I don't like about Ireland:
1) The healthcare system (or lack thereof)
2) Poor standards of building
3) Religious schools
4) No pro-choice legislation and refusal to discuss it as a matter of public health
5) People who litter (still a lot of them around!)
6) The expression "It's different" to mean "it's shite": if it's shite, just say it
7) Overly local politics and backyard interests
8) The Dublin-centric focus of most things - how to waste great resources in the rest of the country
9) Scruffy dress has become standard in a lot of places (from pyjamas in town to ripped tracksuits in class)
10) It's very small

10 Things that I like about Ireland
1) Food and drink - from cruibins to lobster, from soda bread to porter cake, from Guinness to aged whiskey - all of it!
2) People: so friendly, helpful, witty, good-natured.
3) Places of incredible natural and artistic beauty right on your doorstep
4) The rugby at Thomond Park - it's electric
5) Although a small nation, it's well connected to the "outside world" thanks to English
6) Relaxed and curteous driving (compared to Italy)
7) The Limerick Jazz Workshop :)
8) Easy access to concerts and other events in Dublin and London
9) There's always a parking space somewhere
10) Shannon Airport

Northern Ireland

2009-03-22T19:08:00.003Z

Finally made it Northern Ireland, mainly because of this, but also with the idea of visiting the City of Derry and part of the Antrim Coast, also known ad the Causeway Coast.
We had a great time, both at the conference and outside. The success we had at the conference wouldn't have been possible without these brilliant lads :)

The walk through the open-air gallery that is the Bogside was also remarkable.

Also, at long last I got a chance to visit the Void Gallery, where Kieran works.
Finally, on the last day, a trip to the Giant's Causeway

How did it get to this?

2009-01-21T23:36:00.001Z

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Barack Obama: Path to the Presidency

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Digitalslaves @ Tweak

2008-09-29T21:13:00.000+01:00

LimerickMapping from colorsound on Vimeo.

Tweak!

2008-09-24T10:18:00.002+01:00

My PhD student Nora O'Murchu is the mind and driving force behind a new interactive art and live electronic music festival, Tweak, taking place in Limerick this week. There's so much going on at it that it's impossible to summarize: talks, an exhibition, workshops, concerts and a party on Saturday night!
Make sure to check it out!

Long time no see

2008-07-31T14:48:00.003+01:00

I have neglected the blog for a while, mainly due to a work overload...
It's been an interesting Summer so far, with a lot of admin stuff keeping me busy but also (hopefully) a couple of good publications in the pipeline. As well as this, I have been busy with some other stuff. I attended the SocGSD workshop in Waterville, Co. Kerry with the rest of the IDC, a week featuring some interesting work and a lot of fun as well, including an amazing day trip to the Skelligs.

The beach in Waterville:

Some late night music playing:

Trip to Skellig Michael:

I also finally took a real "sea and sun" holiday in La Gomera (Canary Islands). A good week of relaxation and fun, with a particularly interesting trip to the Garajonay National Park .

The town of San Sebastian

Views of the Garajonay National Park:

Finally, I enjoyed some pretty serious musical treats, starting with Radiohead in Dublin, and continuing with Rufus Wainwright and the Wayne Shorter Quartet in Limerick.

View of the stage during Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" finale at Malahide Castle:

The Wayne Shorter Quarter with Imani Winds:

Rufus singing "Want" at the University Concert Hall":

Jazz Workshop final concert

2008-05-31T19:58:00.002+01:00

That's me at the Limerick Jazz Workshop final concert, singing "I Get Along Without You Very Well". I had a great jazz winter, learned loads and met cool people. I'm looking forward to the new term in September. All the other performances from the night are on my youTube channell

He'll read anything that's written on that teleprompter

2008-05-15T18:07:00.001+01:00

"Nina Project" at Dolan's Upstairs

2008-04-05T21:43:00.002+01:00

IDC's very own Filippo Fano' and Giuseppe Torre made us all proud on Wednesday night as they -together with other musicians in the Dorota Konczewska and Filippo Fano' Sextet- rocked the house at Dolan's Upstairs with their "Nina Project" gig.
A small taste can be watched on-line.

At long last

2008-03-02T22:06:00.004Z

Thanks to the amazingly generous birthday gift I have received from all of the IDC this year, I finally managed to make a big dream come true.
i am now the proud owner of an absolutely beautiful almond cream KitchenAid mixer: I am in love with it, and have already experimented with some baking to test its capabilities. More goodies to come.
I'll take a photo soon, but it looks more or less like this.

Mobile Methods

2008-02-28T15:33:00.003Z

Today I had the great opportunity of "virtually" attending a workshop on "Mobile Methods", hosted by Monika Buscher at Lancaster University. The workshop website has abstracts and details of the speakers for those who are interested.

Recent article now available in Italian on-line journal

2008-02-14T22:37:00.002Z

A paper that myself, Liam and Mikael have written recently on our exhibition design work is now available (in Italian) on the latest edition of Tafter Journal.

Guess What

2008-01-25T12:02:00.001Z

Italy is at it again.
Oh I'm so happy I don't live there anymore.

10 Things

2008-01-25T11:31:00.000Z

Now, I love movies. Especially quirky, clever ones, with their own pace and ideas. One of my favourite contemporary actors who seemed to always be exactly in that kind of movies was Heath Ledger. Of course, "Brokeback Mountain" comes to mind, and how great he was in that sad and difficult role, so good that you could hardly think of him and only of the character. But he was great in many other roles: especially, Monster's Ball (never such a short role was more striking, and becomes more impressive when you think he was sharing the scene with Peter Boyle and Billy Bob Thornton), and "The Brothers Grimm" (Terry Gilliam's grotesque and subversive take on fairy-tales). Tow more examples are in cinemas now, "The Dark Knight" and "I'm Not There". I have no doubt that there would have been many, many more.
However, one of my favourite movies is a silly comedy called "10 Things I Hate About You". It's one of those movies that turn out not to be that silly when you take a good look at them: inspired by "The Taming of the Shrew", it's funny and sharp, with some quirky wit and great one-liners. Superficially, Heath impersonated the "hearthrob", but he couldn't be more distant from this stereotypical character. His performance is endearing, funny and charming. And with a bit of singing in it :-). Here he is:

A nice movie with great songs

2008-01-21T17:29:00.000Z

...Seriously great songs. "Once" by John Carney.

The Special Issue is out!

2008-01-09T17:58:00.000Z

Over two years of work, several rounds of reviews, a lot of headaches...but the Special Issue "Settings for Collaboration: The Role of Place" is finally completed and available on the on-line first version of the Computer-supported Cooperative Work Journal!

New Year Resolution

2008-01-03T22:55:00.000Z

Well, I finally manage to get on to the blog again. The end of 2007 was very busy between exams, grading and other loose ends to tie. I spent ten days in freezing Italy, which were quiet and had the advantage of making me not think about work at all. Hurray!
I am now back to work, with many things to catch up with. The new place is going great, I start jazz again in two weeks. Resolution: less work, more fun.

Happy Holidays Everyone

2007-12-18T17:20:00.000Z

From a survivor of the IDC xmas party!

Funny

2007-12-17T12:06:00.001Z

the thing

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Ears still ringing

2007-11-23T10:48:00.001Z

One not to miss

2007-11-16T15:41:00.000Z

Next week, UL and the IDC/CCMCM will be shaken from the foundation when PTBYBO3 duo, Bowers & Hellstrom, lands on this shores!
Wouldn't miss that for the world!

A new place

2007-11-13T10:04:00.000Z

I have had a new home for the past week! Things are going well there, although it's still a little funny to think that I am not going back to the old house, and this is not some long holiday I have taken. I am looking forward to weekend to go shopping for little things to make the place more interesting, and I am looking forward to testing all the cooking appliances and baking fresh bread in the new kitchen. I like the light colours and open space, the guitar sounds well in the room. And I love the old trees I can see from the balcony. I can even see a tiny gleam of the river in the distance in a clear day. My plants have adapted quite well to balcony life: not as much light rain, but more breeze and more to see, if that's what plants like.
All welcome to visit!

We have a venue

2007-11-01T16:18:00.001Z

View Larger Map

Something to keep us talking

2007-10-21T12:40:00.000+01:00

...When we thought all was revealed!
It all makes sense.

Surviving ECSCW07

2007-09-30T22:29:00.000+01:00

It's done! After 2 years of planning and a very intense couple of weeks towards the end, ECSCW 2007 has come and passed without a hitch (or, rather, all the hitches were dealt with ;-) ).
It was great to finally hold the conference in Limerick, and to see so many friends and colleagues from all over the world.
Beside organisation and management, my main job was to co-host a workshop together with Chiara Rossitto, Monika Buscher and Cristian Bogdan on the topic of "Beyond Mobility: Studying Nomadic Work".

Around 15 participants took part in the workshop which spawned some very interesting topics for discussion. It was also the first time that the new PRTLI project in collaboration with Breda Gray of the UL Sociology Department was presented! There are talks of a special issue of JCSCW to follow on from the workshop, so stay tuned.
The main conference was very interesting. As usual, the quality of the papers was very high, and I thought that there was a little more innovative thinking than in the last ECSCW 2 years ago. Still, there could.should be more. This is something that was discussed at both the conference panels, with very interesting interventions by the likes of Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Mike Fraser and Ina Wagner.

I enjoyed presentations by Alex Taylor, Carsten Brodersen and Pernille Bjorn.

Other memorable moments included the excellent evening at Dromoland Castle, and the final keynote presentation by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: "what makes an irish music session work".

It was also very nice to meet some new people, and particularly the great teams of volunteers who helped us run the event smoothly.

It's mainly ECSCW07 fever

2007-09-16T16:42:00.000+01:00

Haven't written much lately...Mainly because I have been really busy with the new term and with final preparation for ECSCW 2007, commencing here in Limerick next week!
More news to follow...

DAWN 2007 Opening on Monday

2007-08-30T18:25:00.000+01:00

DAWN’07 - DIGITAL ARTS WEEK NOW 2007 at UL, 3rd o 7th of September 2007
For the eight year in a row, the University of Limerick offers an exhibition and concert of Masters’ student work. It’s the students from the Masters programmes in Music Technology and Interactive Media that showcase their end-of-year work. The exhibition shows technology, media and music that may be the start of tomorrow’s revolution. With the freedom given to the students to envisage where current trends are going and what is possible with the latest computer hardware and software, we have the opportunity to see demonstrations and examples of what a not too distant future has to offer.
The Computer Science and Information Systems Department at the University of Limerick runs both programmes. What makes UL’s programmes so special is that they recognise the importance of interdisciplinary work, bridging traditional divisions between arts and science.
The faculty at UL teaching on the two programmes are highly enthusiastic about the exhbition. For example:
Jürgen Simpson, the Course Director of the Music Technology programme said “This is the one of the few programmes in Ireland where you can get a Masters degree in electroacoustic music composition. Some students also choose a scientific approach and do work in areas such as musical user interfaces, sound synthesis software and audio processing – which we know are increasingly important with the evolution of music and media on the Internet”.
Mikael Fernström, the Course Director in Interactive Media enthusiastically commented that “Over the last few years we have seen our students research and develop some extremely novel ideas and technologies. Some of our past students have started companies based on their ideas, others have become specialists or teachers in both technology and digital art. I have a strong feeling that many of this year’s projects may follow the same successful path.“
UL also has two undergraduate programmes, in Digital Media Design and in Music Media and Performance Technology. The Computer Science department has built a new laboratory with state-of-the-art digital music and media equipment and software to facilitate the new courses that will continue to strengthen UL’s position in an increasingly digital world.

Admission to the exhibition and to the concert is free.
Official opening: 18:00, 3rd of September, Ground floor atrium, Foundation Building.
Concert: 20:00, Performance Art Centre, Foundation Building
Exhibition: 3rd to 7th of September, 10:00-17:00, Shuman Building
For details about the works, see http://www.csis.ul.ie/imedia/dawn07/

Some rest at last

2007-08-10T22:29:00.000+01:00

I'm back after the first leg of my holidays, a week spent in Italy visiting my family. The extreme heat loosened its grip, thankfully, and we were able to take walks, day trips and even to sleep.
Back to Irish weather now, and ready for some more local sightseeing with friends in the next few days

Even Stephen

2007-07-24T16:08:00.000+01:00

And so it begins

2007-07-23T15:28:00.000+01:00

At mdnight and a few minutes on the 21st of July, I finally got hold of the precioussss.
Having made the big mistake of drinking a can of coca cola while waiting outside the bookshop, enjoying the free refreshments, I couldn't sleep for most of the night. Which meand that I finished the book around lunchtime on Sunday, after one full box of tissues and many surprises. Whoa!
I guessed many things right, others completely took me by surprise, the deaths were hard to take, some chapters were heartbreaking, others full of humour and wit. So what now?
I guess there will be much discussion and many questions to find out what was not included in the book. It's been a fantastic 7 years, both fictional (the 7 books) and real (since I started reading the series)

Full photo album of the midnight opening is here

...and speaking of which...

2007-07-19T13:49:00.001+01:00

When you'd think that it's only the jerks, the idiots, who take pleasure in spoiling a book who has been waited for by millions of people for ten years...You get a surprise!
And a big one: the New York Times (yes, you've read right) has purchased an illegal copy of "Deathly Hallows", written a review about it with major spoilers and PUBLISHED it last night, more than 48 hours away from the official release of the book!
Independently from having decided not to read any spoliers or leaks on the book until I lay my hands on it at midnight tomorrow, I am incredibly disappointed at the NYT behaviour. I look at the NYT as one of the most balanced, fair and responsible news outlets in the world. That they are ready to spoil the fun for I don't know how many millions of people just for a few dollars more, it's such a letdown, and an extraordinary show of bad taste, petty tactics and extremely bad journalism.

I have followed the appeal launched by TLC, and sent them a letter of complaint:

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my disappointment that your publication printed an early review and details of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This goes against the express wishes of the author and anyone that calls themselves a true Harry Potter fan.

It is hard enough for a Harry Potter fan to avoid spoilers on the Internet and news stations now that the book appears to have leaked; now we have to avoid trusted outlets as well. You've not only disappointed millions of children around the world with your actions, you have disappointed the millions of adults who look to the New York Times to be a bastion of good taste and standards. When the New York Times succumbs to such tabloid tactics, who won't?

Many ask why we care - why fans aren't all so rabid to get the book that we'll sop up any illegal download or purchase. There's one simple answer: We respect the author. We thought that a newspaper like yours, where so many of your reporters become authors themselves, would understand and respect that. We're so saddened that we were wrong. We feel let down by you and your editorial board.

A Public service announcement

2007-07-18T22:38:00.000+01:00

Amen!

It's goodbye time

2007-07-06T18:57:00.000+01:00

We're nearly there. Wish I could put it down as well as Stephen King does in this great editorial.

Memory of Place and Affect

2007-07-06T15:17:00.000+01:00

June has been a travelling month! After CREATE 07, I left again for the North of England, where I spent an interesting week.
Kindly invited by my colleague Daniela Petrelli, currently at the University of Sheffield and occasional visiting researcher in IDC, I gave a talk on "Experiences of augmented places: designing for memory, affect and sociality". It was good opportunity to hear more of Daniela's work on the Memoir project, aprticularly on her data collection in the participants homes, and meet some of her colleagues in the Information Studies department. Paul Glough talked to me about his current project on associating meaning to spatial trails; I had an interesting discussion with Joel Minion about his current PhD research aiming at understanding the lived experience of patients with long-term ilnesses dealing with medical information.
Daniela also kindly took me for a drive around the very beautiful Peak District countryside, just across the border into Derbyshire.
I then moved on to Leeds, where I spend three days attending the Affective Communication in Design conference, sponsored by the White Rose Consortium. The conference was a mix of people from very different design traditions, from industrial and product design, to exhibition design and interaction design. Interesting talks included Pat Jordan's overview of the "Dream Economy"; Jettie Hoonhout's description of the Philips Design approach and their incredible "Experience Labs" where their experiments in ambient intelligence are evaluated. Ann Light talked about experiences of aesthetic performance in both physical and digital environments. A dedicated session on "Place and Experience" featured presentations on museum exhibit design by Sharon MacDonald, Alison McKay, Serge Sharoff, Daniela Petrelli and yours truly. The journal special issue that collects al lthe papers presented at the conference is also available on line.

"The Curious Home"

2007-07-06T14:00:00.000+01:00

A few days ago, I visited "The Curious Home": an exhibition of work by the Interaction Design Studio at Goldsmith's College in London, directed by Bill Gaver.
The exhibition featured a number of interactive pieces designed as part of the Equator Project, plus an interesting overview of the methods that were used to guide the design, a some examples of video data documenting the trial of the installations at volunteers' homes.
The Drift Table is one of the earlier pieces developed by the project, it has been written on extensively and I had seen some footage of it in use in a couple of occasions. However, it was very interesting to actually use it, although the actual interaction with it is quite minimal: using weights placed at different corners of the table, the viewfinder slowly "drifts" around, showing aerial images of Britain.

Some more recent pieces included the "Plane Tracker": it looks like a postmodern telly, but what it does is capturing signals from planes' transponders while passing overhead, and showing to viewers a Google Earth version of their flight route.

For someone like me, who could spend hours looking at train timetables and flights arrivals information, it is addictive. The video footage showed how the family who lived with the Plane Tracker for a while, had developed a "trave; strategy" with world atlases and maps. I really liked the physical design of the piece: it has something of the golden age of air travel, without really being retro.
The "Local Barometer" is a system of small displays that can be placed unobtrusively around one's home to show news items of local interest.

The really nice thing about the barometer is that it displays information based on the direction the wind is blowing: down wind postcodes are the triggers for the device to retrieve news items related to those areas. It has a quasi-poetic sense of picking up what is floating around in a somewhat casual and random way, and I found myself unable to look away every time one of the little screens came to life.
Finally, the Video Window provided a viasual link to the putside: fed by a camera placed on the roof of the building, the window offers a live view of the landscape which could not be seen from an ordinary window.

As well as being decorative, it soon became a useful way to monitor the lightning going on during the storm outside!

The exhibition includes interesing sample of methods to inspire design, including mapmaking, diaries, and inspirational objects.
More info on all devices here, and the full photo album is here

Got an O!!!

2007-06-25T14:53:00.001+01:00

I rock!

Between travels

2007-06-18T11:54:00.001+01:00

I am just back from an interesting new conference, CREATE, which took place in London last week. A good mix of academia and industry, with an eye on creative inventions and less traditional evaluation-centred HCI projects. I really enjoyed two of the keynotes by Prof. Peter Wright from Sheffield-Hallam University, and by Prof. Bill Gaver, Goldsmiths College London. Both gave me interesting ideas on how to further develop my own research, which is exactly what good keynotes should do!
Bill gaver mentioned "The Curious Home", an interesting exhibition of his group's work whichi is opening soon in London.
Among the papers that were presented, I enjoyed hearing about the recent developments of Sarah Kettley and Michael Smyth's work on digital jewellery, and Anna Pohlmeyer's (MIT Age Lab) interesting ideas on in-car design.
Overall, a pleasant experience, a nice visit to London that also included wonderful Japanese food and meeting old friends! I will be back there in just two weeks time visiting the "Curious Home" exhibition and attending a museums and technology colloquium organised by the WIT Group at King's College London.
I'm off tomorrow to the North of England for talks and another conference!

Comedy or tragedy?

2007-06-06T11:39:00.000+01:00

I loved this movie. Funny, clever, deep, and Will Ferrell is in it!

iHCI takes off

2007-05-09T20:18:00.000+01:00

During the past month, I have been organising the first Irish Human-Computer Interaction Conference, which was held at UL on May 2nd. It was a lot of work, but it was great to finally meet a good group of people doing interesting research in this area in Ireland. I always was a bit jealous of the UK community for the possibilities that they have to organise seminars, lectures ad small projects together, without necessarily having to go through the channels of international ccoperation.
The first conference featured a number of organisational overviews describing what different groups and departments are doing. A real eye-opener on the amount of HCI-related work that is currently going on.
I am very much looking forward to more meetings!

Will Kaufman on Woody Guthrie

2007-05-07T20:20:00.000+01:00

I had the pleasure of attending Will Kaufman's wonderful presentation Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin'.

Dr. Kaufman was a very engaging speaker, narrating the story of Woody Guthrie during the Great Depression, and a fantastic performer on voice, guitar, banjo and violin of a number of great songs.

The trivia countdown

2007-05-07T10:16:00.000+01:00

Get this and other HP countdowns at LeakyNews.com

Cute, sweet and looking for a home

2007-05-01T13:46:00.000+01:00

She appeared at our door on Sunday morning, she hasn't left yet and was probably abandoned.
We can't keep her, although we'd like too, as she is a lovely little one.
Any takers?

UPDATE The puppy has found a home with a really nice family, and her new name is Chelsea!

Killarney National Park

2007-04-30T21:10:00.000+01:00

We spent a great day in Kerry, visiting the Killarney National Park. Funny enough it was the first ever visit for me, Mike, Gabriela and Anders, although it is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Ireland.
We went on a boat tour of the lower and middle lake, passing through the "Meeting of the Waters".

The scenery was breathtaking. The colours of the water, the mountains and the trees blend together in a unique way.

We enjoyed a picnic in the surroundings of Ross Castle, then visited Muckross House and its beautiful gardens. They definitely have the biggest rhododendron I have ever seen.

Last stops on the trip were Torc Waterfall and the Ladies' View, the panoramic spot where Queen Victoria and her ladies in waiting admired the view of the Upper Lake.

The day was concluded in style with a good fish dinner in Killarney town.

Supercool

2007-04-24T18:31:00.000+01:00

The full trailer of the OOTP is finally out, and -boy- if it isn't the coolest one so far and if the movie doesn't look like the best yet!
I don't know the director at all, and the screenwriter is at his first HP job, but from what we can glimpse the result will be stunning. I liked the visualisation of Harry's obsessive thoughts and fear over Book 5, rendered with quick flashes of slightly unsettling images in rapid sequence.
And I liked the "vision" (?) of Voldy on Platform 9 3/4.

Looks like Ralph Fiennes had the time of his life in this movie. The battle at the ministry will be something else, judging by what can be seen in the trailer.
Loved the glass-shattering roar below.

Il nuovo che avanza

2007-04-20T09:27:00.000+01:00

I heard only a few days ago that a good number of old georgian buildings in Rutland Street here in Limerick will be knocked down to make way for a new big shopping centre.

Most of the building on the left hand side of the photo above will go, replaced by this. Why couldn't they keep at least the facades of the old buildings? Why everything that has some historical interest in Limerick gets demolished?

Predictions!

2007-04-13T11:13:00.000+01:00

Ehm ehm

2007-04-12T22:15:00.000+01:00

At last, my body gave up. I got sick the day before leaving for Italy...The usual stuff:joints pain, high temperature, sore throat, sore ears, dizziness, etc etc. I decided at 4.30 in the morning that I would -after all- travel. Full of medicines and wrapped in heavy scarves I made my way South ending up in a long haul train to Sicily with families going home for Easter and eating large amounts of food while I was shivering quietly in a corner.
I got a little better after a 15 hours sleep and rest. The warm weather also helped, although the temperature is always ready to creep up and my cough has gotten much worse, affecting my sleep. Still, I managed to fulfill the duties of the prodigal daughter visiting home: meeting people, going places, eating homecoked meals, and so on. I even managed a trip to "Il Conte Matto" for some divine food...:-)
Still a little batteres, I had considered whether to postpone my return to Ireland by a few days, but the cost did not really allow it. Stuffed -again- with medicines, I boarded a very full plane heading back to the Isle. Got here, finally exhausted. I am now very tired, still quite sick and a bit confused. I will be staying at home for the remainder of the week, hoping to get rid of the flu at last.

A stormy day of Quidditch

2007-03-18T18:29:00.000Z

It's been a working Sunday after a hangover St. Patrick's day (big party in Galway the night before) spent watching rugby and nursing a headache. I have been finishing off yet another paper, this time for the CREATE07 Conference.
When I work at home, I usually listen to Lyric FM all the time, as a good relaxing background to my scribbling. Today, between the horrible weather outside and the paper struggling to take shape, I put in a request on Lunchtime Choice, something that I do quite often when I fancy listening to something in particular. In this particular request I asked for something by John Williams from the soundtrack to the PoA movie, probably my favourite of all the HP soundtracks, eerie and dreamy. I thought they'd go for something easy on the audience of all the tracks in the CD...But I was astonished when I heard the first notes of "Quidditch, Third Year", a very dramatic, almost frightening piece, and definitely one of the most "diffcult" ones of the soundtrack. The reason for this bizarre choice was explained at the end, by the slightly bewildered presenter: they had thought of combining my request with their idea of playing something of a "sport" theme in honour of the Irish cricket team who beat Pakistan in the World Cup yesterday! By the title, the piece must have seemed like the ideal choice for the purpose. Pity that that game of Quidditch has very little to do with sport: it is actually the scene of a frightening Dementor attack, meaning terrifying hooded creatures who suck happiness out of people and, if enraged, their soul.
Ah well, they had good intentions...I got what I asked for, and it sure went down well with the raging storm outside!

Happy Women's Day everyone!

2007-03-08T11:28:00.000Z

Click here for more!

Chocolate gooey mess

2007-03-05T14:59:00.000Z

I am working from home today, writing away (three papers due in the next 4 weeks!!!). I took a relaxation break, preparing a dessert for tonight. I had the recipe for this particular thing for quite a while, but never got around to making it before. It's known as sweet salami, or chocolate salami, and it's very popular in Italy. If you like dark chocolate, it's one to try!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
300 gr icing sugar
150 gr unsalted butter (softened)
200 gr unsweetened cocoa powder
250 gr rich tea biscuits in pieces
150 gr chopped almonds
100 gr glace fruit
1 small glass of rhum (or other seet liquor)

Preparation:
With an electric mixer or beaters, mix well the eggs, the yolks, the sugar and the butter, until forming a smooth cream. Add the cocoa and fold it in making sure there are no lumps. Add the buscuit pieces, the almonds, fruit and the rhum, mixing well and making sure all the ingredients are folded in. The best way to do this is by hand! (Resisting the impulse of licking your fingers every 30 seconds!)
Put the mixture on a large piece of greaseproof paper. Shape it in the form of a salami and tightly wrap the paper around it so, that it will keep the shape. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours until it has become compact and firm. Serve in small slices accompanied by vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
...The best part is cleaning the bowl ;-)

Utter Depression

2007-02-22T20:08:00.000Z

There is just no hope for my country...

From today's La Repubblica, a short editorial by Michele Serra that says it all.

"I Cavalieri dell'Ideale
di MICHELE SERRA

SI CAPISCE, uno ha tutto il diritto di coltivare i suoi ideali integerrimi. E di sentirsi eletto dal popolo lavoratore anche se è stato spedito in Senato da una segreteria di partito. Uno ha tutto il diritto di rivendicare purezza e coerenza, così non si sporca la giacchetta in quel merdaio di compromessi e patteggiamenti che è la politica. Però, allora, deve avere l'onestà morale di non fare parte di alcuna coalizione di governo. E deve dirlo prima, non dopo. Deve farci la gentilezza di avvertirci prima, a noi pirla che abbiamo votato per una coalizione ben sapendo che dentro c'erano anche i baciapile, anche i moderatissimi, anche gli inciucisti. A noi coglioni che di basi americane non ne vorremmo mezza, ma sappiamo che se governano gli altri di basi americane ne avremo il triplo.

Invece no: questi duri e puri se ne strafottono della nostra confusione e della nostra fatica. Prima salgono sulla barca della maggioranza, poi tirano fuori dal taschino il loro cavaturaccioli tutto d'oro e fanno un bel buco nello scafo, per meglio onorare la loro suprema coerenza e la nostra suprema imbecillità. Un bell'applauso ai Cavalieri dell'Ideale: tanto, se tornano Berlusconi e Calderoli, per loro cosa cambia? Rimarranno sul loro cavallo bianco con la chioma al vento.

(22 febbraio 2007)"

Addiction

2007-02-17T18:12:00.000Z

I must confess. I am hopelessly addicted to Lyric FM. Can't get enough of it. Must be the variety of music and genres, the playlists, the lack of ads...
Go and listen!

It's 07/'07

2007-02-01T15:29:00.000Z

So now we know!

"'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' by J. K. Rowling will be published
around the world in the English language on Saturday, 21st July 2007.

In making the announcement, J. K. Rowling's British publishers,
Bloomsbury, said they are delighted at the prospect of publishing this
most anticipated of books.

2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of 'Harry Potter and
the Philosopher's Stone'. The Harry Potter series has gone on to sell 325
million copies worldwide and been translated into 64 languages. The last
book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sold 2,009,574* copies in
the UK on the first day of its release, making it the fastest-selling book
of all time. All six Harry Potter books have been number one bestsellers
around the world.

Bloomsbury will be publishing their children's hardback edition (ISBN 978
0 7475 9105 4), an adult hardback edition (ISBN 978 0 7475 9106 1), as
well as a special gift edition and, jointly with HNP, the audio book, read
by Stephen Fry and released simultaneously for the first time. The
standard hardbacks have a Recommended Retail Price of £17.99. Trade
customers, please see order form for full pricing information.

Sale of the book in all time zones is embargoed until 00:01 BST (British
Summer Time) on Saturday 21st July 2007.

* Figures supplied by Nielsen Bookscan

Best wishes,
The Bloomsbury Web Club
www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter"

Birthday break

2007-01-29T12:31:00.000Z

We had a great break last week, mostly spent in the countryside outside Kinsale, West Cork. Our hotel was very comfortable and wit ha lovely view of Oysterhaven Bay. What I enjoyed the most was the spa, where I ended up spending a lot of money, but it is worth it being pampered at least once a year ;-)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-01-24T10:38:00.000Z

....Happy Birthday to Meeeee! 21 again!!!

Things to do in Stockholm when there's snow

2007-01-22T17:26:00.000Z

I was kindly invited by Prof. Kerstin Severinson-Eklundh and Chiara Rossitto, colleagues at the HCI Group at KTH, Stockholm, to give a talk at their research seminar series.

While I enjoyed talking about my work to an interested and challenging audience, I was also very glad to visit Stockholm and KTH again after quite a few years. It seems like yesterday since the end of the SHAPE project, but it is nearly four years already.
To make things more interesting, the snow started falling on the city on Saturday and in a few hours everything went white and fluffy. Fortunately, my flight home wasn't affected and I was able to touch down again on Irish soil last night.

Place and Mobility

2007-01-16T21:28:00.000Z

UL and IDC are hosting a Microsoft talk tomorrow by Professor Richard Harper of Microsoft Research Cambridge, on the topic of placeness and mobility. Very much looking forward to it, also because of the interesting connection to our NomadS project.

The anti-climax

2007-01-06T01:30:00.000Z

From the CNN website:
"Although no definite release date has been announced for the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series -- titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- author J.K. Rowling has indicated that she has almost finished writing it, and rumors are rife that it will be in the bookshops by the end of the year. Also rife is speculation that the book will contain a shocking last-minute twist. But what could the twist be? Will Harry Potter die? Will he turn to the dark side, joining forces with evil Lord Voldemort and transforming his best friends Ron and Hermione into lemon muffins? In fact Rowling, the master of the unexpected, delivers the ultimate post-modern double bluff by making her final twist a dramatic non-twist. After six, multi-million-selling adventures the boy wizard, in his final outing, decides that actually a life of glamorous necromancy isn't for him. Having gained middling grades in his final Hogwarts exams, he instead settles into a low-key job selling magic bath taps, wiling away his spare time eating owl-burgers, watching Quidditch on TV and making not very good origami models of famous witches. The last we see of him is as a balding, overweight 42-year old being harangued by his wife and six kids for being a boring lazy slob who can't even finish the Daily Prophet Sudoku puzzle let alone do any serious magic."

I wouldn't mind if it ended like this as fas as the fina book comes out!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently, I'm the rocking queen :-)

2007-01-03T21:57:00.000Z

(NANA test - Vita da band-man)
Sei è senza dubbio Nana! Un temperamento genuino e che odia perdere, è il tipo che realizza in fretta i suoi sogni. E inoltre i tuoi amori sono eccentrici e pericolosi...

Back at last, but not quite

2007-01-02T00:16:00.000Z

After a 2 weeks break, I'm back home and dreading it. I don't think this time off was enough to help me recover from the amount of stress of the past year. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet, though.
Anyhow, for those who are curious on how the holidays went, after leaving Ireland I spent a quiet weekend in Tuscany (mostly sleeping, after a surprisingly smooth journey) before heading off to Rome for 3 days intensive teaching at the TACI Master. Lovely warm weather in Rome and a group of 7 students who seemed reasonably interested. Mike joined me in Rome, and the following day we returned to Tuscany to spend Xmas there. It was a too-much-food affair right from the beginning, started with a visit to our favourite restaurant (new improved venue and the usual fantastic food), continued with an all-Irish dinner with friends at our place, followed by the Xmas eve, Xmas day, and St. Stephen's day extravaganza which featured too many excellent dishes and good company to mention in full. But the best part of all was meeting up with family and friends: job updates, new babies to meet, houses to visit, wedding photos to look at and another wedding announced.It's going to be a busy 2007. I hope it will be good as well: at least I have something to look forward to ;-)

Away, Back, and Away Again

2006-12-05T21:58:00.000Z

I just flew back from Italy where I spent the past five days. I travelled to Orio al Serio last Wednesday and enjoyed a quiet train ride halfway down the country to Tuscany. Going through the Appennines was nice as usual, still no sign of snow though.
The main reason for my trip was Luca and Laura's wedding, where I was also recruited as singer for the ceremony. We spent Thursday afternoon inspecting the church, which is a beautiful XIV century little thing, recently restored, therefore featuring no heating and no sound system!

We managed to set up a bass amp, plus microphone and pre-amplifier for myself and for the keyboard player. The day ended really nicely with a lovely seafood dinner offered by the groom-to-be!
On Friday I had the opportunity to pay a visit to one of my favourite bookshops in Montepulciano, the town where I went to high school back in the day. The place is still exactly like the last time I was there, and it was nice to meet up with the owners whom I know since my school days. It's very hard to resist stocking up with books when you're there, and despite my resolve of not adding up any weight to my suitcase, I walked out with my bag full!
Saturday was the big day of the wedding. It was really a lovely occasion, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The only problem was driving back home from the restaurant where the party was held through the thickest fog I had seen for a long time. I could hardly see two meters ahead of me, I took me a really long time to cover hardly 15 kilometers, but I made it home safe and sound.
On Sunday, there was just enough time to go for a drive and meet up with a few more buddies before it was time to start packing again. I will not be gone for long: I'm leaving again at the end of next week to deliver some lectures at the University of Rome and then to join my family for Christmas.

IDC in the media

2006-11-24T15:29:00.000Z

This week, there has been excellent media coverage of the IDC MetaMusic Project, led by Mikael.
The project featured in the RTE program This Note's For You, as well as in the Irish Times.
The video clip can be seen online on the RTE website.

Revving up for ecscw 2007

2006-11-21T10:01:00.000Z

We'll be hosting ecscw 2007 here in Limerick next year! Preparations are underway, the conference venue, the Limerick Hilton, is being built and we got a chance to visit it last night! After donning hard hats, size 8 boots and high-viz vests we were shown around by Paul, the site manager, and Hilary, the hotel sales manager. Of course, it's still a messy buidling site, but it shows great potential, especially the seventh floor, completely dedicated to business meetings, with fantastic views of the river and the city...The workshops will have o be very interesting to not let people getting distracted by the view!!!

Rose - from NANA

2006-11-06T23:37:00.000Z

Rose

I'm really enojoying this anime, "Nana", based on a popular manga by Ai Yazawa. The animation is very good and I like Yazawa's distinctive style. The music rocks as well. Check out the first opening theme, "Rose", sung by Anna Tsuchiya.

Aaaah! Cork!

2006-11-06T12:17:00.000Z

I'm back after a lovely weekend in Cork City. How great it was to be away from any work-related thoughts in a city that I love!
We walked a lot and met up with friends, enjoyed some great food and took it very easy.
Should do it more ofter, before the pressure of work makes me even more exhausted and worried than I already am.

video blogging

2006-10-27T16:34:00.000+01:00

Here's a stab at video blogging, with my own video of the Shannon Portal

Ah the Revolution

2006-10-24T18:36:00.000+01:00

Went to see Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola at the weekend. I quite enjoyed it, but mainly because of the film's fabulous production design. Everything else is just OK, nothing too memorable about it.
If you're looking for some serious French Revolution drama with all the romance, fighting and all-round characters, get yourself a Versailles no Bara box set instead (or watch it all on YouTube starting here). Nothing gets much better than the Ryoko Ikeda's beloved masterpiece.

Tech Weekend

2006-10-15T20:33:00.000+01:00

Last Friday, my new laptop arrived in a neat little box...I was very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend of watching movies and reading useless stuff on the Internet...Pity that things are never as straightforward as you think!
At the crucial moment of migrating all my data and settings from my old machine via firewire (which is usually fast and reliable), it turns out that my old machine has a serious fault on the hard disk, and that reading data on it crashed both machines, the old and the new. When Mike tried to run a disk scan on the old machine, a message appeared recommending an immediate backup of everything and wishing us good luck. Much burning of CDs followed, then a "reverse" import using the target machine as external firewire volume...and a manual resetting of all of my user information. Very frustrating...But it looks like I might have upgraded to a new machine just in time, before the old hard disk crashed forever...
Now that everything is done, I am very pleased with my new little MacBook: it's very sleek, very quiet (no usual iBook grumbling) and amazingly fast. There is also an embedded iSight, just to add to all the fun (see below)...The only drawback is its width: one extra inch means a nice display but a wider keyboard which means that I inadVERTENTLY HIT THE CAPS LOCK KEY A Lot

Another E!!!

2006-10-06T16:57:00.000+01:00

I got another E in my second W.O.M.B.A.T. test! Yay!

Fair weekend

2006-10-04T18:12:00.000+01:00

DSCN0898
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

I'm back after a weekend at home in Tuscany. I attended Alessandra's birthday party on Saturday night and Nico and Mihaela's wedding on Sunday. I had a good time, it was great to see so many old friends.
I also got a chance of visiting the big Fiera, a yearly fair that takes place in the part of town I'm from. It used to be the main occasion for country people to do their big annual shopping before the winter: in this huge open-air market all sorts of stuff is traded, from livestock and machinery, to clothes, plants, shoes, tools and housewares. The food is an especially important part of the proceedings as some of the delicacies are eaten only on this day. Examples are porchetta, celery, cheese, pickled eel and herring, and giuggiole fruits.

Afternoon Delight

2006-09-21T21:33:00.000+01:00

Have you seen Anchorman? If you have, then you'll love this! Stay classy!

New guests

2006-09-14T11:35:00.000+01:00

birdies
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

We have two new guests who have moved to the tall trees behind our house. They must love the chaos and wilderness of our garden, and they spend a lot of time around! The local cats are delighted and licking their whiskers already.
The robins are now called Rigoletto and Gilda: they sing so well, they need opera names!

Wish I was there

2006-09-07T22:42:00.000+01:00

sunset beach
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

Work is revving up again...
Shared Worlds is back on after a break following the "Portal" installation, the Interactive Media students will present their final projects in a few days time, term will start shortly after and with it our new Digital Media Design degree course, plus I'm overseeing the completion of the NomadS project....
I wish I was on the beach in Mulranny again :-)

British and Japanese

2006-09-01T14:23:00.000+01:00

Went to London for a day trip on Wednesday...I hadn't been there since January and had a really nice time just by being there. I really like London and I should try and go there more often.
The main reason for the trip was to visit the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, and particularly the special exhibition Dress for the Occasion, displaying a selection of the Queen's dresses and jewellery. Considering my interest in costume and jewellery, I couldn't miss this special exhibition which will run until mid-September only. It was also a good opportunity to visit Buckingham Palace: one of the touristy things in London I never got to do!
Even without the special exhibition -which is just fantastic-, the palace is well worth visiting: the State Rooms are very impressive and contain some fabulous pieces of furniture, sculpture and painting, from statues by Canova to a Rembrandt painting.
The rest of the day was spent walking around and enjoying some truly amazing Japanese food, which is not as easy to find in Ireland unfortunately. This site will keep me busy trying to replicate recipes, until the next trip to a Japanese eaterie!

The Story: Days Six and Seven (The End)

2006-08-28T15:12:00.000+01:00

Day Six is another “peace and relaxation day”, also thanks to the overcast weather that encourages reading and landscape-gazing as major activities.
I nearly finished my holiday book, “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell, sitting outside and admiring the view for most of the day. The evening sees another wonderful meal of sea bream with spinach and crab orzotto. Yum.

Day Seven has come at last: time to head back home.
As planned, we return to Castlebar to visit the National Museum of Country Life in Turlough Park. The stately home built in 1865 can also be visited, albeit only two rooms are open to the public.
The Museum is very well laid out and very interesting. I liked very much the section “Life in the Community”, where the different seasons in a year were portrayed, including the traditional festivities and activities that belonged to each time of the year.
At the same, after the end of the visit, I couldn’t help being a little sad: the museum is a memento to a past which is not so far back in time, which you can kind of relate to, but at the same time gone forever.
Next stop of the day are the Foxford Woolen Mills, a historic woollen mill which was established in 1892 as a famine relief project in the town of Foxford. The shop has some interesting crafts, and I bought a beautiful pink and beige bedroom set of sheets and merino blanket which will be a lovely (and cozy) reminder of the holiday in Mayo once we are back home.
Final stop of the trip is Knock, the famous Irish pilgrimage site. Neither of us is religious, but we thought it would be interesting to visit the village and to get a sense of its atmosphere and of the people that flock to it - one and a half million visitors every year!
The village is quite plain, except for the Shrine Basilica, but offers the most astounding array of religious merchandise. The most popular item seems to be containers for holy water in all shapes, sizes and types of cap.

In Knock we have our last Mayo lunch in a restaurant on the main road: walking in is like being catapulted in a scene from Father Ted, from the décor of the place to the customers! The food was very good, though!
The rest of the journey to Limerick is quite uneventful, except a stop in Gort, Co. Galway, which is now the Brazilian capital of Ireland. And actually, it IS full of Brazilian people walking down the streets and you hear more Portuguese than English! I must definitely go back and check out the Brazilian deli!

The Story: Day Five (The Achill One)

2006-08-28T14:22:00.000+01:00

Day Five features a trip to nearby Achill Island. The bridge linking the mainland at Polranny to the island is only 20 km away from the hotel. The road crosses the beautiful scenery of the Nephin mountains and Blacksod Bay.
It is very difficult to comment about Achill without writing a novel, for it is one of the most stunning parts of Ireland I have visited in my years here.
One of the first things to strike me is how not-touristy it seems to be, when compared to places like the Dingle peninsula and the Aran Islands. Perhaps it’s because Achill is a large island and there is plenty of room for everybody to spread out? Whatever the reason, traffic is calm and the views are spectacular.

We follow the main road until it climbs up mountains on a cliff side, and finally ends in a very dramatic fashion at Keem Strand: a beautiful smooth beach, nested between mountains and facing a turquoise-blue sea.
There are three clear streams from the mountains getting into the sea, and a few buildings which used to be used to be part of the basking shark fishery that existed at Keem until the ‘60s.
Keem is such a haven, a magical place. Everything is crystal-clear: from the water, to the green of the hills and the white sand. It’s probably the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The water is icy but I can’t resist dipping my toes in: I have to hop to prevent my feet from freezing!

Around lunchtime we set out trying to find someplace where to eat some nice fresh fish. We would never have thought it would be so difficult to find fresh fish on an island off the coast of another island! Eventually, after some searching we settle for a small restaurant in Keel village, near another beautiful beach.

After a windswept walk on Keel beach, we hit the road again venturing on the Atlantic Drive, which circles good part of the south-east of the island. It’s mainly cliff-edge driving, with many stops to admire the dramatic views.

At the end of the day I am sorry to leave Achill, but also sure I will be back again soon. Too beautiful to stay away for too long!

The Story: Day Four

2006-08-28T12:14:00.000+01:00

Day Four is just peace, relaxation and no driving!
Our hotel is very comfortable and quite interesting in its own right. The original building was erected in the 1890’s and opened as the Great Western Hotel in 1897. It was owned by the Midland Great Western Railway Company, that –until 1937- operated a train line from Westport to Achill Sound. The hotel closed down a couple of times in its history, and was finally re-opened in 2005 preserving much of the original Victorian features of the building – including a lovely open fireplace burning turf all day! John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed there in 1969, and the “Lennon suite” is still available at the hotel.
As it is perched on the side of the hill, the view from the hotel is truly spectacular: Clew Bay, Croagh Patrick and Clare Island are all part of the “picture”. The tide and the light change the sea colour several times a day. I could never get tired of looking at it.

The other interesting thing to explore is the causeway: a path built in 1899 for the pleasure of the hotel’s guests, which crosses the bay all the way to Mulranny beach. Just across the road from the hotel, a steep stairway leads to the path. The walk takes about twenty minutes, but I ended up spending much more time there, just looking around and taking photographs in different light.
The causeway was originally built to allow the passage of one car (lazy Victorians!), and it is now a pedestrian route rising just above the water to the beautiful blue flag beach. Two wooden bridges allow the passage from one small island to the next, and finally on to the pier.

A final remark should be made about the hotel restaurant: the food is fabulous, particularly the fresh fish. The swordfish with asparagus I had the first night was perfect, so was the monkfish with crab risotto and avocado cream I had on the second night. I read that the kitchen is headed by a former Michelin-starred chef who has returned to his native Mayo from Dublin. This doesn't surprise me in the least.

The Story: Day Three

2006-08-28T10:33:00.000+01:00

On Day Three, we leave North Mayo to make our way towards the South West. We take the “long route”, known as the Lakes Drive, with fine views of Lough Conn, Lough Cullin and Levally Lough.
At Pontoon, Lough Conn and Lough Cullin nearly touch, separated by just a narrow canal. Levally Lough is hidden among hills, nested at the foot of the Nephin. All you can hear there are the small waves and the birds.

We just drive through Castlebar with the plan of coming back in the next few days, and we finally reach Westport. Westport is a lovely Georgian town, wanted so by the local Lord who asked James Wyatt, the architect who build his house, to design a village for the people who worked at his estate, Westport House, just a few miles away.
The town is full of people, pubs, cafes and interesting shops, all in the shadow of Croagh Patrick.

After lunch in town, we head to the quay for a visit to Westport House and Estate.
Beside the fact that there is a plan to put on a new roof on the house, therefore the mansion is “caged” into a massive concrete and steel structure which will protect it from the elements during the building work, the house is magnificent. Set on a massive estate, including its own boat mooring point, the house is a fine 18th century creation, still retaining original furnishings and details.

What I didn’t like is the excessive commercial spirit of the whole enterprise: even considering that such a house needs massive amounts of money for maintenance, the presence of “attractions” at every corner aimed at milking more and more money out of people is downright excessive. The river is full of “swan pedalos”, the house’s dungeons of plastic ghosts and other tricks, the walled garden is now an animal and bird park, a miniature train runs through part of the gardens. Moreover, with a 9€ ticket, the visitor is not even entitled to a simple leaflet illustrating the house. These are for sale for 2€ each!
Pity, because the house is just fabulous.

After visiting the house, it’s time to keep travelling towards our final destination for today, Mulranny, where we’ll stay for the next four days.

The Story: Days One and Two

2006-08-27T16:38:00.000+01:00

Day One is quite a drive from Limerick to Ballina, Mayo (the Plain of the Yews). We have crossed nearly 3 counties in full to get there, albeit with a stop for refreshments in Tuam.
Once reached the northern shores of Mayo, we found the B&B, a nice enough farmhouse in the outskirts of the town, only a few miles away from the Sligo border. The countryside is lovely, but Ballina is a bit of a disappointment: the town is plain and not very well kept, the traffic just infernal.
A little corner of peace ad quiet is the Quay Village, just outside the town. Down there the river is full of leisure and fishing boats, and I love the dark mass of the “Crete Boom”, a tug boat built in the early twentieth century, sunken in Ballina harbour and then moved near the river bank in 1974, suspended in the smooth surface of the water.
The Quay also features a pub for good measure. We end the day there with some good beer and food.

On Day Two we start exploring the sights in the area, taking the North Mayo coast drive through Killala in the direction of the Céide Fields, a system of dwellings, enclosures and fields that dates back to over 5,000 years ago, and -incidentally- the most extensive Neolithic archeological site in the world.We can see the pyramid-shaped visitors centre building just outside Ballycastle, a good few miles before arriving there: it's on the side of a high hill covered in bog and multi-coloured heather, facing the ocean.

The view from the Céide hill is breathtaking: miles and miles of bog, grass rippled by the ocean wind, the Atlantic and the outline of Downpatrick Head and Dun Briste jetting into it. Dun Briste is a fragment of the cliff, 63m x 23m and 45m high, broken off in some natural cataclysm, 228m from the shore.
The Céide Fields visitors centre offers an interesting exhibition explaining the geology, botanics and history of the site. The centrepiece is a beautiful pine trunk, reclaimed from the bog, which now stands as a sculpture in the middle of the building and across its levels.
Some of the site can be visited following a path winding through the hill and cutting through tall bog walls.From there one can make out the walls, house foundations and enclosures built millennia ago.

From the Céide Fields we continue the coast drive towards Belmullet and the Mullet peninsula, which is -reputedly- the least visited strip of land in Ireland! We follow the road among boggy fields and low dunes until it just ends, at a place called Blacksod Point.
There is a pier, a lighthouse and a few rundown buildings. From this lighthouse, the D-Day forecast was issued back in 1944! There is also a fine beach nearby and one quite striking piece of the North Mayo sculpture trail, which looks like some ancient temple with the backdrop of the sea. We return to Ballina on the main road, edging the Nephin Begrange mountains, for a last drink on the Quay and a rest before heading off in the morning.

I'm off

2006-08-16T20:18:00.000+01:00

Well, it's holiday time at last. No more postings for me for a few days, but rest and relaxation somewhere in the West of Ireland.
I'm off!

The Portal on the Irish Independent

2006-08-06T22:18:00.000+01:00

The Portal on the Irish Independent
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

Here's the most relevant article written on the Portal in the past couple of weeks. It appeared in the Irish Independent.
Now that the Portal's exhibition is nearly over, a brief overview of people's interactions with it can be seen here.
The images "donated" by people to the Portal Gallery can be seen here.

MART, Rovereto, PDC'06

2006-08-06T21:48:00.000+01:00

MART, Rovereto, PDC'06
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

I spent a nice couple of days attending the Participatory Design Conference '06 in Trento, Italy.
I attended the "Locating Boundaries" workshop where we discussed interesting aspects of space, place and design. My second (and last day) of the conference featured Patrizia's excellent keynote, some interesting presentation and the ParticipART event held at MART in Rovereto, one of the most amazing contemporary art museums I have ever visited.

Airside

2006-07-26T20:32:00.000+01:00

I have spent the last 10 days in the transit lounge of Shannon Airport, overlooking the data collection around the Shannon Portal.
I have witnessed very interesting episodes of collaborative interaction around the installation, which hopefully I will write about in my next series of papers. Kids seem hardly to resist getting close to it. Adults are a bit more hesitant, but they do get hooked too. A lot of the airport staff have taken to it really well: some have brought in cameras to upload their own photographs, others wanted their picture taken in front of it. Today, one of the operations staff left his memory card in the Portal while loading pictures, went to dispatch a plane, and came back - ready to roll!
Besides the evaluation work, spending about 8 hours daily in that place, you notice things you'd never really spot when passing through as a passenger. For examples, the toilets in the transit lounge, although located in a fairly central spot, are very badly signposted. As a result, every day I get an average of 8-9 requests for directions to the toilets. Same for gate 1B, the real "phantom gate" which nobody seems t obe able to find. I suppose the fact that I am wearing an airport pass and high viz vest doesn't help either. But it cannot really explain the request I received from this guy the other day for the customer service number of O2 Ireland...
As well as finally seeing our system being used on-site, the best thing about my experience at the airport is getting to know some of the staff: duty-free, information desks, bar and catering, operations, security... Everybody is extremely nice, although they are engaged in very stressful jobs: hundreds of people every day, hundreds of problems, requests, and trouble in many languages. And rubbish. Piles and piles of rubbish left absolutely everywhere. I was astounded to see how much crap people leave behind themselves and do not bother to clear, even if the rubbish bin is literally two steps away. I checked: more or less every row of 5 seats has a bin attached to it. And still, the tables and the floor get covered in litter as fast as lightning, the bin remains mysteriously empty, and -after every boarding call- the cleaners appear to restore everything to normal. They are amazing. I usually don't leave anything behind me, but from now on I'll pay extra attention. I'm taking a lot of photographs of this disgusting phenomenon, to which I plan to dedicate a full post in due course.

Hot Hot Hot

2006-07-19T23:45:00.000+01:00

It's been really hot and humid during the past few days...Not an ideal climate for all the building and moving that has been going on around the "Portal".
We're finally up and running, today with Colm, Parag and Paul we fitted the microphones for evaluation. In two days, we had already a good number of users interacting with it and showing interest in the project.
Let's hope the Portal stays hot for another wile.

The Portal at last

2006-07-14T11:43:00.000+01:00

Finally, after one year of study at Shannon Airport, months of designing, building and testing, "The Portal" is finally in place in the airport's transit area.
I think it looks great and can't wait to see what people will make of it when it will be fully up and running next week.
I love its outlandish appearance, but so grounded in the region of county Clare: it's like the airport had a little portion of the outside inside...That's not the only reason why it is called "The Portal": it's also a way for people to leave a trace of their journeys and of their passage, leaving images and comments after them and beaming them into a shared space.
The design of The Portal is grounded on the airport itself: not oly its geographical location, but its function as an environment, and people's usages and experiences of it.
How will people react to its presence? How will they collaboratively use it? How will the "traces" be perceived and interacted with? How will their experience of place change?
I hope to answer these questions during the evaluation, which begins next week.

Lightheaded Once Again

2006-07-10T22:00:00.000+01:00

So here it is. After so much suffering, disappointment, struggling to get going. After 24 years Italy are football World Champions once again, for the fourth time in history.
So what? It's just football, after all...22 men in shorts running around kicking a ball...why should we even bother talking about it? Well, if you're Italian, you are genetically pre-disposed to loving the stuff, there is no way out. Even if you are the casual supporter, when World Cup fever strikes, there is no resisting it. And the Italy team playing in the World Cup is stuff made of dreams and of nightmares: great champions, epic battles, bitter disappointments, wonderful victories. And last night, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the penalty shoot-out was -indeed- stuff made of dreams, with no bitter awakening.
I was 7 years old when the 1982 heroes led by Dino Zoff lifted the cup last, after defeating West Germany for 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. I remember watching the match in awe at an aunt's house where we were guests for dinner and the game, wondering how could the referee have awarded a penalty to Germany when the Italians were so fabulous...Tardelli put things right then, ensuring our first world cup of modern times...Returning home that night was like entering a highly noisy and colourful amusement park with people shrouded in flags, a neighbour giving away free wine from the back of a van, songs and cries. All night long.
Then, there were 24 years of bitter disappointments. So think of what it's been like last night to see this:

France has been a cruel adversary in the past 8 years, but last night luck and skill where on our side for once. My phobia of penalties is perhaps cured forever (although I could not watch them last night out of fear of another 1994) and Italy can be proud again. For a country full of idiosyncrasies, contradictions and complexes, this victory is wonderfully clear and rightfully gained. It stands above all of us without doubts: we have been the best. Despite the attacks from the German press and the managerial corruption in Serie A. We can play, we can play well, and we can win.

I am extremely glad that the team who won last night is devoid of real "celebrity" players, but is full of honest, hard working people, from clubs and cities big and small, from the North and the South. No star scorers either, and a very Italian and perfect defense. I have a soft spot for defensive skills and good playmaking: the semi-final against Germany was my ideal of a perfect game.

Italy is ready to take the victory home, during a difficult year for the country and for our football.

Finally, I am delighted that the man who has led the team through to the victory is one of my favourite players of all time, and now our Captain, Fabio Cannavaro: an extraordinary player and a gentleman. I followed him since his early days in Serie A and with the Azzurri, from Napoli, to Parma and finally to Juventus, marvelling at how he could just get better and better every year. If there is an iconic image of what Fabio has now become in the Italian collective mind, is this one:

Buffon, Zaccardo, Grosso, De Rossi, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Del Piero, Gattuso, Toni, Totti, Gilardino, Peruzzi, Nesta, Amelia, Iaquinta, Camoranesi, Barone, Inzaghi, Zambrotta, Perrotta, Pirlo, Oddo and Materazzi: Well done! Bravi Azzurri!

Campioni del Mondo!!!!!!!

2006-07-09T23:58:00.000+01:00

lippi
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

After 24 years Italy are World Champions!!!!

Locating Boundaries

2006-06-30T17:06:00.000+01:00

On August 2nd, together with Liam I will attend a workshop at PDC06 in Trento: Locating Boundaries, on the topics of space, place and design.
Our short paper describes some of the work on recent and current projects motivated by our interest in and investigations of human experience of space and place. It stresses our focus on an embodied and activity centred vision of place-making, and a pragmatic approach to highlighting place dimensions in lived experience, rather than to imposing a framework or schema on things.
I hope the paper will sparkle some good discussion, and I hope the workshop papers will be made available soon. I am really looking forward to it and to discuss interesting issues with interesting people.

Guerins

2006-06-23T17:04:00.000+01:00

guerins
Originally uploaded by chocfrog75.

I thought I'd use my brand new account on flickr to show a photo of my favourite pub in the world, Paddy Guerin's in Castleconnell. Great music on a Wednesday night and delicious Guinness every day!

The Giant House Spider Saga

2006-06-22T20:17:00.000+01:00

...Started by Steve, you can read it here...Keep watch

Alive from the World Cup

2006-06-21T21:08:00.000+01:00

Haven't had much time to post lately, as -beside some hours dedicated to work- I have been very busy watching the FIFA World Cup being held in Germany!
Some interesting teams out there, with Italy having given supporters one very good and one very bad match...We'll see tomorrow that they'll be bale to do against the Czech Republic in the last day of Group E.
So far, I liked Ghana and Portugal, and I have been mildly impressed by Argentina. I have yet to see Spain in action and I'm very curious about them for all the positive reviews I have read. I have been disappointed by England, although they could still go far: traditionally there's always teams starting "low" and then growing during the tournament.
Fingers crossed for Italy's match tomorrow.
And, yes, I do hope Brasil does not win again!

A curious phenomenon

2006-06-15T10:49:00.000+01:00

Everybody living around here is aware of the chronic problem of parking around UL. During term time, it's impossible to park your car if you arrive to the campus after 9.30AM, even in the staff reserved car parks. Not to mention the trouble you incur if -for some reason- you need to move your car during the day and try and find another spot on your return. You find yourself stalking pedestrians fumbling with keys, in the hope of them leaving a precious parking spot free...Of course, most of the times, they are just fishing for a mobile phone in their bag or pocket, and you end up circling hopelessly for some more time.
Thankfully, during the Summer and during breaks from academic activity, the situation is much better, if it wasn't for a curious phenomenon which I have been noticing in the past few weeks. Maybe because of the lovely weather that makes people a bit light-headed, maybe because of the thrill of being able to park during mid-morning, people have just started parking their cars in the worst possible ways: the result is that there ARE plenty of free spaces, but not many where you can actually park!
Here's a little gallery of horrors just snapped this morning on my way from my (very far away) parking space to the office.

The House of One Moment

2006-06-09T11:52:00.000+01:00

In my quest to retrace the manga and anime I loved as a teenager, I acquired the full edition of one of my all time favourite stories, Rumiko Takahashi's "Maison Ikkoku". I had not read the manga back then, but just watched the anime (or the first part of it, given the fact that in Italy it had been broadcast at two different periods), curious about this work after the immensely popular and much loved Urusei Yatsura, which was one of the maddest, funniest and most brilliant things I had ever seen up to then!
"Maison Ikkoku" was indeed very different: less flashy, more adult and more subtly funny. Also, it featured some of the best characters an anime could offer: all-rounded, complex personalities, with flaws, fears and troubles. The story in itself is simple: in an old apartment house in the periphery of Tokyo, Yusaku Godai, a 20 year old penniless ronin (a student who has failed college entrance exams), meets beautiful Kyoko Otonashi, the new manager of the building, recently widowed despite the young age and struggling to cope with a life on her own. As the relationship between the two protagonists develops through several years, a surrounding group of characters has a part to play in the story: from the tenants of Ikkoku-kan, a bunch of hard-drinking and gossiping losers, to the people Kyoko and Yusaku will deal with in their personal lives, families, love interests, co-workers.
Reading the manga for the first time, it was wonderful to get back into the story and re-aquaint myself with the cast of characters, which I can appreciate better - being now myself older. I also particularly enjoyed the setting the how the story conveys the sense of time and seasons passing and of everyday life in the Tokeizaka district: a fictional neighbourhood that Takahashi created taking inspiration from real-life suburbs of Tokyo (look at this good page with photographs, although it's in Italian). The story really is not as much about romance as it is about the struggle in life to define a role for oneself: Kyoko has to re-build her life after losing her husband after only a few months of marriage, a man that she has met at a very young age and that was the centre of her world, and she has to drag herself out of the widow's stereotype of a half-dead woman (whose name -in the old days in Japan- would have been written on the husband's grave even before her death), and out of the expectations her extended family has for her. Godai has to take charge of his life and make decisions for himself; when we meet him at the beginning of the story he is a indecisive and spineless kid, with no ambition or motivation. He will mature into a honorable man, although keeping some of his character traits. Nobody becomes perfect, or a hero. They just find their corner in life.
The manga is very good in portraiying the characters' flaws still making the reader empathise and even identify with them.
In this sense it really is a time-less story, a story of one endless moment, such as the broken clock of Ikkoku-kan is there to tell us.

The very long weekend

2006-06-07T11:47:00.000+01:00

What a nice long weekend we spent in Italy!
On Friday, we travelled from Shannon to Bergamo (not far from Milan) to attend Serena's wedding, and -after cheering with the happy couple- we fitted in some sightseeing and appreciation of the local delicacies! We enjoyed some truly lovely local wine from Lombardia, a wide range of aperitivo with all the complimentary finger food that comes with it, and delicious local cuisine. The taleggio was worth the trip alone!
The full photo album is here

"...And Timmy the Dog"

2006-06-01T11:30:00.000+01:00

Myself, Mike, Marilyn and Daniel did our bit for Limerick Animal Welfare last night, participating in a table quiz in their support.
We came joint third, but without cheating or using mobiletechnologies...So that went quite well! Pity, though, that the organisers did not pick up our oh-so-subtle team name for the best team name prize...As Cyberviking knows well...

BTW, there are 4 EU countires with members of aristocracy depicted in their Euro coins...4!!!!

Manga, Japanese Punk and the 80's

2006-05-23T15:09:00.000+01:00

During my recent visit to Italy, I had a chance to browse through my manga collection, and read some old favourites. I am attached to manga from the '80s as they are for most part associated to anime series I grew up with and loved.
I managed to read again my favourite Kaoru Tada's Ai Shite Knight (or "Love Me Knight" in the Italian version), a funny and wonderful love story on the backdrop of the Japanese rock 'n' roll scene between 1982 and 1984. Shoulder pads, glitter and men with big hair and make-up were never portraited better in a manga! Not to mention the references to the bands of the period, such as "44 Magnum" and "The Stalin".
When the anime came out, including for the first time ever original songs within the episodes, it was a worldwide success. Although the story was toned down and "banalised" to some extent to fit a younger audience, the music was a great addition.
I prefer the story as it is in the manga: less "girlie", more provocative, funny and very forward-thinking for the times!
Recently, I gave a hand adding information on the original anime series for one of my favourite shoujo sites, the wonderful Neko-Bonbon.
If you read Italian, you can check it out here.

More recently, I have been reading the English version of "Mars" by Fuyumi Souryo, which I would recommend to anybody with an interest in unconventional shoujos. It is beautifully drawn, in a very modern way, and the story is just wonderful.

BTW, I have just found out on-line that "Mars" has been turned into a live action show in Taiwan! From I can read and see here, it's very faithful to the story and the casting is quite good too!

A lot of things

2006-05-23T14:59:00.000+01:00

After a brief spell in Italy, a EU proposal submitted, Munster winning the Heineken Cup, and a flying visit paid by an old friend, I am back on full-time office madness. There are so many things to do, that it's hard to decide where to start.
Thursday and Friday, Monika Buscher will be visiting the IDC and will participate in a seminar on the topic of "Supporting Mobile Work:Approaches to designing technology", which will also feature presentations of our work on NomadS.
Next week I will commence some cooperative evaluation on the interface for the Shared Worlds "Portal", before it reaches its final destination - Shannon Airport.
The special issue work is proceeding, although slowly given the reluctance from some reviewers in completing their assignments ;-).
Can't wait to escape to Bergamo on the 2nd of June!

Springy laziness

2006-04-26T15:35:00.000+01:00

Back after a short break looking after my family on a visit to Ireland.
I have decided that the job of driver/cleaner/cook/translator and general all-round assistant is not for me :-)
We had a good time, though, decent weather and and some nice trips to Cork and Kerry.
But now I am absolutely exhausted: could be the workload I have been on since the beginning of the year, could be that springy feeling in the air...but I'm finding it very hard to get back on top of things. And there's quite a lot there to tackle: the Portal finally coming together, new proposals, paper writing, the special issue and my guest lectures in Rome in about 10 days time.

The HP IQ Test (it's really a memory test)

2006-04-17T23:06:00.000+01:00

Bittersweet

2006-04-11T15:51:00.000+01:00

So, it looks like we managed -albeit by a handful of votes- to get rid of the evil midget. But for how long?

I just can't be happy about these results...Whatever way, half of Italy has voted for Berlusconi: an unvotable just by what he is, and after five year of disastrous policy which have seen Italy's economy dying slowly, its education system being dismantled, its constitution wounded and damaged. It hurt to see him in power. It hurts that over 20 million people are willing to see another 5 years of him.
I have nothing against right-wing voters (beside a healthy difference of views), but most of these people are not right wing voters. They are voting for a sort of liberistic and populistic wave. A whatever-ism which doesn't sadden me, but it worries me, because it represents good part of Italian society today: a place full of "furbi" (shrewdly smart, no matter the rules), a place in decline, with no interest for real politics, dealing with the common good and progress, but only caring about a little money in the pocket and somebody "strong" who'd protect them from change (and those who come with it: women, scholars, gays, etc.). And of course, thie people don't care about Italy's role in Europe and in the world, about how we could make a difference. We're already an international joke. These elections will probably confirm this.
Anyway, the left-hand rule probably won't last long: I hope they'll have at least the time to restore the integrity of the Consitution, and perhaps to get rid of the ridiculous election system created by Silvio and friends. I hope there will be somebody new on the horizon, and soon: we need a young and different face, in tune with the times.

The only positive feeling I have is about all the Italians abroad who voted and made it possible for the centre-left to win a majority in the Senate: I voted thinking that it wouldn't really made a difference. But it did and it's a sign that Italians abroad are young and reasoning. Nearly 70% of the Italians of Ireland voted the left. That feels good.

Another good comment on today's results is here