Social Media as your new *living* search engine? You read all the rumors, you hear all the rants on how irrelevant + trivial these fleeting status updates are... And honestly, i'm still learning how/why to use these services MY way...

I've found that twitter and facebook have been my new go-to after obsessive internet searches when doing research... and these have spurred some incredible conversations and quick sources of great information! BUT, it's always so 1-to-many (versus 1-1 or many-to-many) and hosted in a way where all participants can't see the results. (i.e. i tweet a question and followers/repliers can't see all the other responses ~ and on facebook i have a status question and only those following it can see the evolving conversation)

End result? A post so i dont lose this fun conversation, and the valuable information that came up with it... So, if you're looking for where to stay in London during Design Week 09? (Sept 19-27) ~ well i was looking into Soho and/or Shoreditch, and here's what i've learned (on the next page!)

p.s.
if you want to join the conversation - follow notcot on twitter and friend me facebook

TO PAGE 2 of "A Social Media Conversation: London Hotels"! ----->

Tags: facebook - hotels - research - travel - twitter

Yes, Game Libratory = Library + Laboratory. And yes, games - meaning everything from those historical ancient emulated DOS PC games to low cost edu-tainment products to the latest PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii games... It's really something that all our current libraries are missing, and there aren't nearly enough (if any) great labs organizing the history of gaming as it flies by us - in such a way that people could someday check them out like microfiche and catch up on some games of the past that are no longer accessible other than to a few who snatch them up from ebay or at a garage sale! Also, imagine how much history there is in simply watching people play these various games, and seeing how the usability and interactions have evolved over time... and when you someday tell your kids, "back in my day, we used a JOYSTICK"... well you can drag them down to the Game Libratory to experience some historical gaming first hand.

So, when this brainchild of NOTCOT friends (from the pre-notcot the site even existing days), Daniel Rehn, Derek Lomas, and Jeremy Douglass, who hooked up with the Software Studies Initiative, Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) at Calit2, UC San Diego, launched, it was literally just an idea that is quickly growing out of the tiny lounge space they received from CRCA. They have been accumulating some incredible collections from donors (and shopping on ebay) and contributing their own gaming resources... and students and researchers internationally have been eagerly joining in to explore previously unavailable research opportunities! So while the space is quickly filling up, and they're hopefully expanding to a new home soon - i convinced Daniel to let me take a few shots of things that intrigued me, from their set up, to some of the many crazy gadgets i'd never seen before! So take a peek on the next page ~ and if you're not sure what to do with all your games and systems, but don't want to simply sell them off to anyone... the Game Libratory is a good home for them to take their place in gaming history!

p.s.
things to look forward to? How about across game comparisons of the ways characters die? Or comparisons of the evolution of button mashing across controllers? And don't you think the future Game Libratory needs to have Toledano's Video Game Faces mixed with gorgeous screenshots framed on their walls?

TO PAGE 2 of "Game Libratory at CRCA, UCSD"! ----->

Tags: game libratory - games - history - research - technology - video game

NOTConcept 001: The Ultimate Grill - [Research] [1: Idea Sketching] [2: Concept Dev] [3: 3D Renders]
Introducing the first NOTConcept! This is the intro of a new NOTCOT Experiment where NOTCOT has teamed up with industrial design duo, Leo Corrales and Jenny Lemieux, of HERO Design Lab, to put some of the constant design/trend/inspiration curating across NOTCOT to good use... by flexing our design minds and skills and to bring readers further into the design process with us, we will be presenting 4 NOTConcepts in three parts each...

Each NOTConcept will start with a brief and some visual research (starting with a search across NOTCOT.com and NOTCOT.org, and making our way through the internet and real world) - for this premier project we look to design the ultimate portable grill/BBQ utilizing newer/future technologies.
1. The first post will show you various concept sketches, doodles, and ideas (which we'd love to have you weigh in on which direction interests you).
2. The second post will take one of the previous ideas and further research and flush out the concept.
3. The third post will consist of 3D renders of that concept.
(and all three steps will happen in under 2 weeks!)

Basically we wanted to find a fun way to put our skills together, and have some fun, like in our grad school days, and have an opportunity (or excuse?) to work on projects with minimal constraints - basically playing with those inspiring crazy ideas our clients never go for! So... to kick things off, want to see every interesting grill, bbq, induction piece i put together to inspire this first project? (GIANT collage after the jump!)

TO PAGE 2 of "The Ultimate Grill (Research) - NOTConcept 001"! ----->

Tags: bbq - HERO-Design-Lab - kitchen - NOTConcept - research