Test Post Number 2

      Bionic Arduino is a set of four 3-hour classes in November 2007 hosted by Machine Project and taught by Tod E. Kurt. It is an introduction to microcontroller programming and interfacing with the real world using the Arduino physical computing platform. It focuses on building new physical senses and making motion with the building blocks of robotics, using Arduino as a platform. In the class, participants are shown and experiment with the Arduino’s capabilities and learn the basics of common microcontroller interfacing, such as: digital output to control lights and LEDs, digital input to read switches and buttons, analog output to control motor position or LED brightness, and analog input to read sensor inputs.
 I also think it’s important not to wax nostalgic about a “lost” public space. If public space was once considered the geography of the public sphere—as the physical embodiment of the sphere where private people come together as a public (Habermas)—today the two operate within increasingly separate domains. Today, notions of “the public,” “publics,” and “public opinion” are formed more through cable and network news channels, internet blogs, and websites than on the sidewalks, streets, cafes, parks, or shopping arcades of the contemporary city. Online social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have replaced the street or the mall as the preferred place to “see, be seen, and connect” for today’s youth. Sociable web media such as Flickr enable forms of media sharing and exchange previously unimaginable in physical space. Ultimately, looking forward, I think we need to loosen our grip on categories of public space, the public, publics, etc., if we are to apprehend some of the new possibilities afforded by technologies such as mobile phones.