I’ve been busy. First of all, I’ve forcing my way through a good bit of S&T public policy material. I may now know more than I want to. Second, I’ve been analyzing notes and preparing some papers about the PDW’s workshop at Atlanta’s Youth Arts Connection:

In July of 2009, we conducted a 2-week robot design workshop in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta, Youth Arts Connection. The Youth Arts Connection is a specialized program within the Boys and Girls Club for high-school students who are interested in the arts, that allows them to work with designers, artists, and arts educators.

Most youth robotics programs emphasize technical content; they are designed to teach the definitions and capabilities of components, such as sensors and actuators, and programming in the context of developing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) knowledge. As an alternative, we are developing youth robotics programs with a different perspective and agenda. Through design and art, our goal is to work with youth to explore the novel views of the urban environment that robotics provide, and reveal and question possible future relations between people, technology, and the city. As such, our youth robotics programs emphasize creative, critical, and above all, speculative approaches to understanding and engaging with robotics.

Third, I co-wrote a book chapter: “Non-Anthropocentrism and the Non-Human In Design,” for the book From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen. Fourth, I did way too much (but still not enough) research into the ‘ecosystem’ and ‘engineering’ conceptions of resilience in environmental and ecosystem management literature, searching for new ways of looking at the resilience of critical infrastructures. More on that later.

Meanwhile, I repainted most of the inside of my house and assembled baby furniture, while the world decided to imitate Ballard’s “The Secret History of World War III.”