When I first visited Japan, I bought an electronic dictionary. This saved me from looking up kanji (the complex characters borrowed from Chinese) by counting strokes and identifying radicals (the root component of a kanji character) to index into the enormous tome that I had been using. The dictionary was much lighter, and had a stylus that could be used to draw kanji. Using this sort of input method, the order that you draw the strokes still matters, but it’s much faster than flipping pages. I used this dictionary for getting around Japan, studying, reading manga, and playing video games. Years later, after the Nintendo DS came out, I upgraded using a cartridge called Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten. It uses the same stylus input method, but the results are marked up in color and it has a nicer interface, including a history of recently looked-up words, which is extremely useful. One of the other tools that I was using at the time (and still use today) is a plugin for Firefox called Rikai-chan. When enabled, this plugin allows you to hover the mouse over a word and see the definition in a pop-up.

Rikai-chan also has dictionaries for German, French, and Russian, and similar tools may exist for other languages too, so make sure to look for this kind of plugin for the language that you study if you like to read online material in the original language.

My favorite dictionary now is Japanese for the iPhone. You can look up words by typing roman characters with the default Qwerty keyboard, or by enabling the Japanese and Simplified Chinese Handwriting keyboards in the iPhone settings you can enter a word using the Japanese input method (which presents you with possible kanji as you type phonetically), or by drawing kanji. It includes expressions, proverbs, conjunctions, and interjections, and has an impressive catalog of example sentences. As if this isn’t enough, it also has a vocabulary list feature. I like to create a list of new words for each novel, manga, or video game that I’m into, and then study them using the flashcard feature wherever I am when I have a spare minute. The flashcard feature uses an algorithm based on a series of steps.

When you identify a word correctly, it advances to the next step, and eventually into a “Known” category. Usually there are about twenty or so items between the “Unknown” and “Known” categories that you’re working on, but occasionally you see some items that are in the “Known” category as well. I’d highly recommend an app for your language of interest that has this sort of system for reviewing vocabulary.

In fact, I recently discovered Smart.fm, an online tool/community that’s based on a similar system. There’s a video on the home page that describes how their system automatically determines which material you need to be presented with at a given time to have the best chance of remembering it. I actually recall reading an article a while back about a man who was living his life according to this sort of algorithm. One of the other interesting things about Smart.fm is that in addition to the Goals (sets of material to study) curated by Smart.fm, the user community can create their own. So you can find Goals for varying grades of vocabulary for Japanese, Spanish, and other languages, as well as Goals consisting of the capitals of the world or the names of stars and galaxies. For Japanese, the system does a good job quizzing you on the phonetic reading of a word, the meaning of the word, and the kanji. Some of the goals include sentences, which serve as examples and are also presented to quiz your knowledge. From what I’ve read, images can also be incorporated into the material for a Goal, so the system has the capability to support many areas of study. Unfortunately, their main quiz interface is a Flash app and they dropped the iPhone app that they had developed, but I suspect that they’re working on a new HTML5 solution that will work both on their site and on multiple mobile platforms.

On their own, the tools I’ve mentioned really only help review and expand vocabulary. Without a solid foundation in grammar, even Rikai-chan can only help so much. I have a few books and dictionaries for grammar reference, but I haven’t come across any nice apps or plugins to help in this area of language study. My best suggestion here is to take classes to build your foundation, keep your books, and seek out interesting material at your level to practice with. I’m currently trying to figure out if there’s a good way to get manga in Japanese on the iPad. If you can build some friendships with native speakers, that’s another good way to explore new grammar, and maybe even learn a regional dialect.

And of course the ultimate boost for your language skills, once you have a good start, is to immerse yourself by living abroad. You’ll learn more about the culture, customs and lifestyle, which will reinforce your understanding of language and vice-versa. You might even gain some new perspective and learn more about yourself. And you’ll always have an urge to go back someday.

To coincide with the opening of 100 Acres, we are releasing a greatly enhanced mobile version of our site, with more content accessible from mobile phones. Anyone with a modern phone using Webkit (iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, etc.) can explore the IMA online by visiting http://www.imamuseum.org right from their device.

The cool thing is, our website automatically detects if you are on a mobile phone,  and you will be sent to the mobile version of the site. You’ll have quick access to upcoming events and general visitor information (hours, directions). You can also check out our twitter, facebook, flickr, and videos.

We’re excited to also release a rich experience in the 100 Acres section of the mobile site. In order to provide trail maps we turned to OpenStreetMap, which we like to describe as the “Wikipedia of maps”. Anyone can contribute and edit map data. You can draw new features directly on maps or upload GPS trails from a device. On our site you can toggle between trail maps provided by OpenStreetMaps or satellite imagery provided by Google. The map is also aware of your geolocation, and will place a blue dot exactly where you are in the park.

OpenStreetMap: The "Wikipedia of maps".

We are going to provide a rich mix of art and nature tour stops to give visitors access to videos, photos and text for specific locations in the park. We plan on updating nature stops to highlight when certain plants are in bloom and to show you where we see some of our furry friends.

100 Acres mobile landing page.

Toggle between satellite and trail maps.

Interactive tour stops for works of art and nature.

In the series of screen shots below you can see how to bookmark the IMA mobile web site on an iPhone to make it look and feel like a native application.

Press the "+" to add the site to your home screen.

Select "Add to Home Screen"

The site now acts like an app.

Mobile view of http://www.imamuseum.org

Don’t forget to take some time to look up from your phones when in 100 Acres!

This photo was snapped just this morning down in 100 Acres by Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Lisa Freiman and promptly tweeted by CEO Max Anderson:

Steel workers gather for a photo opp. on top of Free Basket by Los Carpinteros

Take for instance how social media has reshaped the world of journalism. “Citizen journalism” is the concept of members of the public “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” Examples of this can be seen through blogs, twitter, and camera phone images.

As a museum, we can employ this same idea. Staff, artists and visitors can capture events as they happen with their iPhone or a Flip Video. The following images were captured on artist duo Type A’s cell phones and then uploaded to Facebook:

The top ring of "Team Building (Align)" casts a shadow

Astronomer Brian Murphy of Butler U. and Andrew of Type A work out some calculations to place the second ring for "Team Building (Align)"

So, budding art journalists, here are some tips from caffienatedtraveller.com to get you started:

• Acknowledge the artwork and museum in the photo credits. It is time for bloggers to step up and put on a professional face.
• Post great images and not the family snap shots on your blog. Why discredit a good art exhibit.
• Flash photography? Don’t go there unless you have explicit permission from the museum. Not even when you think you’re alone.
• Leave the fanatical blogger psyche at the entry door. Spend some zen time in the moment, with the art and the space and then shoot.

In the meantime, I’ll be looking for your tweets, status updates and image uploads. And let’s continue to blur the lines together, shall we?

This week I wanted to talk about the iPhone app “Is This Art?“.

Made with love in the STEEL City, this app is collaborative endeavor produced by the Pittsburgh-based artists and developers at Deeplocal and the Mattress Factory. Extra-special assistance was lent by C-Monster and WNYC in New York. This project was inspired by a tweet from Nina K. Simon.

First, I think this is a great collaboration of local Pittsburgh artists and organizations to make something for the whole art community. And the best part is that it’s free of course! If you have an iphone, simply fire up the app and take a photo of an object you want to check out to see if it is art… or not art.

Clearly this is an epic question that is nearly impossible to answer, but I love the humor the collaborators have injected into the app. From what I’ve seen, the results are actually pretty accurate! Also, it’s nice to have the content users are submitting added to the website on the fly if the app user chooses to do so. I’m a big fan of the super simple app interface. A job well done indeed to all those involved!

More Info: http://isthisart.org/

(via curiousexpeditions)

Of course the search function we would be most interested in is for the artworks.  With this application museum visitors could use their phone to quickly look up extended information on a work of art without having to type the sometimes long title/artist combination into the phone.  From what I can tell this is returning content from Google’s index and therefore could show information about the work provided by the museum itself.

One area that could see a significant benefit from this is outdoors where signage is typically limited.  As we add more outdoor works of art in 100 Acres, it would be great for a visitor to take a quick photo of a work and find out detailed information on that piece.

This technology is still fairly new and Google admits they have more work to do.  However this is a great step in making information more easily accessible while on the go.  I have added few videos below and here is a link to the Google Goggles site.

So now who has an Android phone so we can test this out??

Here is a video from Google explaining the functionality of the application.

Here is another video showing a demo of the application.  They show how it recognizes an artwork and a book.

So to better describe what my words can’t, here is a screen shot of the Metro Paris iPhone app.  This application provides users with the locations of the nearest subway stations in their area along with nearby businesses.

Métro Paris application

Here is a video of the application in action (its in French but shows all of the apps functionality).

For museums this technology could provide a new experience for a visitor.  Not only could they see the wonderful works of art but it would allow them to view more information about each work just by pointing their cell phone camera.  Maybe an ArtBabble video is displayed or some expanded information about the creator.  Or what if it pointed the visitor in the direction of every work by a particular artist they were interested in?

A lot of people probably are thinking, ‘I’m not going to hold up my phone and walk around like that.’ but it has to be safer than texting while walking.  Just watch out for open manholes in the street.

This technology is still very new and as our mobile devices continue to get more powerful these applications should become more powerful as well.  So keep an eye out for these applications as more are getting developed every day and developers are just starting to get acquainted with the new technology.

I’m going to let the images do most the talking, but please note that none of the design or content is completely finalized below.

Battleship Island -  A former coal mining facilty owned Mitsubishi Motors that was at one time the most densely populated place on earth (13,000 people per square kilometer). Viceland, the web outlet of the Vice media conglomerate, takes us on a quick tour and offers up some really cool pictures of this “rotting metropolis.” For those of you that are into industrial lookin’ living spaces, check this out for sure.

Goofing Off Boasts Productivity – Another interesting study about how taking a break from work to check out the Internet is good for getting things done. I’d be curious to see the results of a study on those of us who “goof off” for a living and take breaks from goofing off by filing papers and organizing their inboxes.

$23/month iPhone plan – That would rule!

100 Awesome Facebook Apps – Because I know you love/hate a good/bad Facebook app as much as I do. Notable apps include Picasa (photo manipulation), Goodread (personal book tracking) and “What language should you learn” (self explanatory). There are 97 more for your enjoy/disdain ment.

Monday Music – “My Maudlin Career” by Camera Obscura. Title track off their new album.\”My Maudlin Career\” by Camera Obscura

Phil’s Pharmacy prescribes the following links to combat Monday online anemia.

Workstations of Popular Websites – Sometimes it’s fun to see where an artist creates their art. Similarly, sometimes it’s fun to see the spaces where web-content creators create their web content.

Aptera 2e Electric Car – Pixar fans ghost-ride the whip. Can anyone else see see Wall-e and Eva getting out of this ride? Three wheels? Less friction I guess and therefore more efficient. Now, if only Google would partner with a California based company on hoverboards.

Kern – If you’ve got an iPhone and love typography, check out this cool game. “The iPhone’s first design-nerd game.” – Boing Boing Offworld.

Wordle.net – Word clouds are floating in from everywhere and with this fun site you can form your own. Here’s one I made. Enjoy!

European Design Facebook Contest – The week three winner has been selected. Up is the new picture.

My first idea was to do simply what I described above. I searched around a bit for a Flickr app, but I haven’t found one written by the Flickr team and I don’t really want to give my information to yet another third party. It seems, however, that Flickr has a really nice mobile web interface. Paired with the ability to email photos to Flickr from the phone, I think I have all I need to take that route. However, in the meantime I found that uploading photos with the Facebook app is really easy. This, along with the fact that the iPhone camera can’t compete for image quality with my digital camera, has led me to decide that the iPhone will fit the bill for the sort of in-group photojournalism that my close friends would appreciate, as I capture photos of my pets (and theirs) and other humorous things while I’m out and about. Some might argue that this is a waste of digital resources, but hey… what’s life without a little whimsy?

My discovery of the Google Earth app’s integration with Wikipedia and Panoramio, however, rekindled my interest in contributing high quality geotagged content. Contributing content to these resources is something that could have been done before, but the iPhone (and other devices that utilize both GPS and wireless networks) provides a new level of exposure. Rather than needing to research a travel destination beforehand, it is now possible to whip out a device like this and find interesting features nearby, or learn more about your current surroundings.

I decided that it would be quickest to try out Panoramio. After signing up for an account, I uploaded a couple of my photographs (one of them taken here at the 100 Acres) and found the process to be very easy. I could really see myself getting addicted to uploading new images and waiting in great anticipation to see if they are deemed Google Earth worthy, at which point they should show up on my phone. There are also thematic contests that are very easy to enter, so I couldn’t resist adding my photos to those as well. We’ll see if people think they’re any good.

I might also try out Wikipedia. After signing up and reading the newbie documentation, I’m a little concerned about finding what they would call “notable” subjects (among other qualifications, things of more than just local interest). According to the guidelines, I can’t write about the IMA, so I’ll have to find other local gems… seems like a good challenge.

I believe that these new devices could open up an era of increased engagement with our surroundings. It will be interesting to see how these tools handle the increasing amount of geotagged information as more people contribute content. Hopefully the result will be high quality resources that educate and inspire the people who use them.