The Viridian Design Movement

From: Bruce Sterling [bruces@well.com]
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 7:29 PM

Subject: Viridian Note 00344: The Judges Speak

Key concepts
the Viridian Biofuture Robot Dog Contest
Attention Conservation Notice
It's the announcement of the winner of our latest Viridian Design Contest.

Entries in the Biofuture Robot Dog Contest:

From
Laura Sterling http://www.viridiandesign.org/contests/laura.html
From
Mark Simpkins <mark*nodalpoints.org>
http://www.nodalpoints.org/viridian/index.html
From
Paul Jimenez <pj*place.org>
http://www.place.org/~pj/ROVER.txt
From
Giles Turnbull <giles*gorjuss.com>
http://gilest.org/242
From
David Rice <david*futurefeedforward.com>
http://futurefeedforward.com/dingostroller.html
From
Duncan Stewart <stewarts*stewarts.org>
http://www.stewarts.org/viridian/gbn/watson.htm
From
David Bergman <bergman*cyberg.com>
http://cyberg.com/viridian/ddawg.htm
From
Eric Nehrlich <nehrlich*alum.mit.edu>
http://www.nehrlich.com/viridian_aromaker.html
From
Matt Jones <matt*blackbeltjones.com>
http://www.blackbeltjones.com/vonneumann
From
Dave Phelan <dphelan*pavilion.co.uk>
http://www.btinternet.com/~dphelan/viridian/futuredog.html
From
"Four Eyed Dog" <dog*ictadopac.com>
http://www.ictadopac.com
From
Clara Park <clara*futurefeedforward.com>
http://futurefeedforward.com/feedmefido.html
From
Reid Harward <mudlab*adelphia.net?>
http://www.well.com/user/reid
From
Tracey Callison <tracey*lensman.org>
http://www.funevilpeople.org/bob
From
Jonathan Blocksom <blocksom*gollygee.com>
http://www.gollygee.com/weblogs/jblocksom/viridian/robotdog/
From
Chris Snyder <chris*psydeshow.org>
http://psydeshow.org/berylium/projects/snunk/snunk.html
From
Simon Desrochers <simond1999*hotmail.com>
http://www3.sympatico.ca/monsieursimon/zdog01/
From
Adrian Cotter <acotter*nonsensical.com>
http://www.nonsensical.com/viridian/dog/
From
Christopher Schmidt et al <chris*id-eight.com>
http://www.ecopractical.com
From
Joe Gregorio <joe*bitworking.org>
http://bitworking.org/Nic-pup.html
From
Carl F. DiSalvo <cdisalvo*andrew.cmu.edu>
http://www.robotarium.org/viridiandog
From
Ed O'Connor <edoconnor*sympatico.ca>
http://www3.sympatico.ca/edoconnor/RO-VR.html
From
Dawn Danby <danby*fastmail.ca>
http://www.fauxvea.com/robodog/spod.html
From
Allen Wong <threadprinter*hotmail.com>
http://www.fieldsync.com/puffy/
From
David Nelsen Epstein <samsa*hivecolony.net>
http://www.hivecolony.net/fido/fido.html
From
mindlace <viridian*mindlace.net>
http://mindlace.net/AdventureDog

(((The judges have reached a decision, and the dog is on the way to the winner!)))

From: Christopher Coldeway and Tina Estes, GBN

"Well, Viridians, after much consideration, debate, and chocolate-covered espresso beans, we are ready to announce the winner of the GBN Biofutures future-bio-dog contest.

"But first we must say that it has been great fun clicking through all the entries and showing them off to our clients and friends at the Biofutures Learning Journey meeting, which concluded last week. For the Learning Journeys we took curious executives from various industries, packed them into two shuttle-buses, and drove them around the Bay Area visiting companies and individuals who not only play integral roles in the biotech sector, but are pushing the scope of the debate about what biotech is, can be, and should be.

"Interesting conversations were sparked and much learning was had by all, not least because of the thought- provoking contest entries framed on the walls of our meeting room like windows into the future.

"Now comes the part we're worst at – actually picking one contest entry over others. At GBN, we help businesses, NGOs, and governments think strategically about complex situations by creating scenarios of alternative future environments. In managing uncertainty and thinking through change over time, we hold many cards in our hands at once. Picking an official winner is counter to our business! However, since there is only one Aibo, we'll do it.

"Thanks to Laura Sterling for kicking the contest off with some great drawings. Honorable mentions go to David Rice's hilarious Dingo Stroller; Matt Jones' innovative Von Neumann's Best Friend; Chris Snyder's very thorough Snunk; the fantastic entries from the San Jose State Industrial Design team: Symbu, Bink, and Xorph; and Ed O'Connor and Rick Boersma's compelling near-winner RO-VR.

And now... the final choice of the GBN judges. The winning entry, ladies and gentlemen, is Dawn Danby and Paul Waggoner's SPOD! Link:
http://www.fauxvea.com/robodog/spod.html

SPOD, the digital dawg!

As an objet de technologie, SPOD exists in the currently blank area where infotech meets industrial biotech processes (meets Lassie). The most lauded aspects of SPOD over here were the public domain SPODscript routines, the organic photovoltaic Solar Poncho, the closed-loop manufacturing ideas, a grasp of the broad range of bioindustrial products and processes, and the fantastic Flash site design, including links to relevant articles and great x-ray dog pics. Congratulations Dawn and Paul! And thanks to all who entered – this was a difficult contest to judge, and I wish we had a mechanized horde of dancing robot dogs for all of you.

Signed, Tina Estes and Chris Coldewey from Global Business Network

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
IF THINGS WORK OUT AS PLANNED,
YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE
THE SPONSOR OF OUR NEXT CONTEST.
I'M NOT SURE I BELIEVE IT MYSELF
O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

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