Sort-of-folio
Here's some stuff I've done
A non-professional portfolio-like collection of creative projects... call it what you will
by Nicolas Earnshaw
Who am I?
- Experience in Technical Writing, Digital Marketing and Data Management roles
- Masters degree in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media
- A fast and self-sufficient learner
- Life-long passion for technology and behavioural sciences
Objective: Use technology as a catalyst for group dynamics in a positive direction.
Academic projects
A few of the more interesting projects I worked on during my Master:
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Thesis:
"GestureAgents: An Agent-Based Framework for Concurrent Multi-Task Multi-User Interaction"
Using a Reactable and creating an app in Python we put a powerful new framework to the test by stressing it with simultaneous complex gestures.
Out of this thesis came a publication .
You can also read all about the interaction design of the app
"Drinkthesisers":
adding dimensions to the experience of drinking
Video 1
Video 2
We rigged a glass and the table it sat on with sensors (weight, tilt, temperature, light, etc) to capture changes relevant to the experience of drinking and to map these in real-time to musical parameters.
"Neural network controlled pan-tilt camera"
Using neural networks (IQR) to process computer vision, we programmed a pan-tilt camera to adopt certain tracking behaviors.
"Kinect video controller"
We built an installation using a Microsoft Kinect to track user movement. A sequence of looping videos was outputted accordingly.
"Tangible sliding frame"
Using computer vision we tracked the movement of a physical picture-frame over a screen that played a video. A section of a different video was shown in the space inside this low-tech frame, following its movement in real time.
"Exploring brain activity during video-game play: An EEG study"
Experiments on both expert and non-expert players to assess brain activity while playing video-games.
Projects about Music + Tech
Here are some projects that have two things in common
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"Nico y el Ataque de los Morrones Asesinos"
I used a Leap Motion Controller, a Makey Makey, a Mogees contact microphone, an Arduino board, among other things, and ran it all with custom built Usine patches.
I carried out several performances with the help of the audience, in several venues including the Centro Cultural San Martín
"Muletallica"
Video
Building upon the musical interfaces from "Nico y el Ataque de los Morrones Asesinos", we used Mulesoft's software to integrate the music engine to intelligent lightbulbs. It impllied building RAML APIs, Mule flows & Python scripts.
The performance was featured at a stand in Mulesoft's "Connect" event, with over 1500 attendees.
"Leap-Guitar"
Video
This app is made for using a Leap Motion Controller to send MIDI data out. The sensor detects the head of a guitar as if it were a hand. The MIDI messages can be used in any audio processing program to alter effect parameters.
Featured in 4 articles in Leap Motion's official Blog and leap.quitebeyond.de
Other Leap-Motion Projects
Here are some projects I´ve made with the Leap Motion sensor
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Leap Genetic Cars
I altered and adjusted this project to allow you to draw your own car with a Leap Motion Controller
Cars are randomly generated and improved iteratively via a genetic algorithm. You can create your own hand-drawn car to compete against these and test how well your design measures up against "artificial intelligence".
Featured in LeapGamer.com
Peew Peew
A humorous 3d shooter controlled with multimodal interaction: a Leap Motion Controller and microphone via HTML5
In this game you point and move with a single finger over the sensor and shoot by saying "Peew" out loud and in a hight pitch!
The game is done with Three.js.
"Red-Balls"
This game is made for playing with a Leap Motion Controller, if you don´t have one you can play the mouse-enabled version here!
Featured in LeapGamer.com
Other Programming Projects
Here are some other projects I´ve worked on
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AdaptaDocs
I coded this proof of concept for the MuleSoft 2013 DocAthon
A JScript infers your concentration level from the ammount of mouse movement (in a scale from Zen to Frantic). It then adjusts the page content accordingly.
People Connector/Touch me in the Mule
- A Makey Makey registers if two people touch
- javascript determins if it was a hi5, a handshake or an awkwardly long handshake and triggers the laptop cam to take a picture
- MuleStudio posts a corresponding comment to Facebook
Our project won the People´s Choice award in the MuleSoft 2013 Hackathon, competing against roughly 20 other teams
"Runner"
Speeches and Events
I have given speeches in a few different Events
UX2013
Google DevFest 2013
Slides
DorkBot Buenos Aires 4th edition
Video coming soon!
Pecha Kucha Night Buenos Aires -28th edition
Video
Pecha Kucha for Tenaris University
I have given several different talks in english to an international audience of students at the Tenaris university
MercadoLibre's Bizzare Blog
I envisioned, launched and managed this project
and curated all of its content.
MercadoLibre's Bizzare Blog
It went viral in Latin America in 2009 and 2010
and even got mentioned in several newspapers and newsletters.
MercadoLibre's Bizzare Blog
It achieved amazingly high engagement levels:
9:30 minutes of average visit time - 10 pages viewed per visit
Unfortunately, the site no longer exists.
Bonus
Some creative more artistic projects
Flash Animations
"Hipolito el Hipocampo Hipocondriaco"
Music
"Dentistofobia" is an inmersive 3d-sound experience. I put a lot of effort into composition and digital sound synthesis to simulate the experience of visiting the dentist.
Other Programming Projects
Here you can find other projects I´ve worked on. They involve programming in Processing, Python and Pure Data