MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2013 Activities by Category - Multi-Media

= Add activity session to your calendar (exports in iCalendar format)
Expand All | Collapse All


A Hands-on Introduction to Gesture Recognition & Machine Learning

Nick Gillian, Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Media Lab

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/07
Limited to 14 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Basic knowledge of c++ (or Java)

This three-day workshop presents a very hands-on introduction to gesture recognition and machine learning, with an emphasis on providing the participants of the workshop the opportunity to experience for themselves the power and flexibility of a number of machine-learning algorithms using free open-source software (www.nickgillian.com/software/grt).  Participants will get numerous opportunities throughout the workshop to build their own gesture-recognition based systems, using their own computers, sensors, and gestures.

Participants for this workshop do not require any prior knowledge of machine learning or gesture recognition, as the fundamentals of these topics will be reviewed in the opening section of the workshop.  Participants should have very basic experience in programming in c++ (or Java).  Experience in creating software using OpenFrameworks is a bonus, but not required.  Participants are encouraged to bring along their own sensor/input devices (i.e. Kinects, Wii-motes, custom-made hardware) and laptops.

Participants should only apply to this workshop if they can attend all three days.

Contact: Nicholas Gillian, E14-574B, 508 310-3672, NGILLIAN@MEDIA.MIT.EDU


Gesture Recognition - Day 1

Jan/08 Tue 10:00AM-04:00PM E14-240, Bring your laptop (running OSX or Windows)

Day 1 of the workshop will introduce participants to the fundamentals of machine learning and gesture recognition and introduce the gesture-recognition toolkit that will be used throughout the workshop.  Participants will then get the opportunity to use the toolkit to build their own basic gesture-recognition system (using a Kinect as the input to the toolkit).

Nick Gillian - Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Media Lab


Gesture Recognition - Day 2

Jan/09 Wed 10:00AM-04:00PM E14-240, Bring your own laptop (running OSX or Windows)

Day 2 of the workshop will focus on more advanced gesture-recognition techniques, such as developing custom feature-extraction algorithms.  The participants will get the opportunity to write their own custom feature-extraction algorithm and use this to build a system that can recognize more complex gestures.

Nick Gillian - Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Media Lab


Gesture Recognition - Day 3

Jan/10 Thu 09:00AM-05:00PM E14-240, Bring your own laptop (running OSX or Windows)

Day 3 of the workshop will give the participants an opportunity to create a much larger-scale interactive system that is controlled exclusively using gestures.  Participants will work in small teams (of 2-3 people) to create their own, gesturally controlled, interactive system.  Each team will then get an opportunity to present their system to a public audience at the end of the session.

Nick Gillian - Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Media Lab


Arts and Culture Multimedia in the MIT Libraries

Mark Szarko

Jan/10 Thu 03:00PM-04:00PM 14N-132

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/09
Limited to 30 participants

Want to find out how to access over one million tracks of streaming audio ranging from classical to jazz, popular, and contemporary world music? How about over 150,000 online music scores? Streaming video of foreign films, contemporary dance, experimental theatre, and documentaries in multiple disciplines? Images of paintings so sharp you can see the brush strokes? Or panoramic views of architectural sites from around the world? Come to this session to learn how to bring these and other cultural treasures right to your desktop through the MIT Libraries.

Please register for this class.

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Mark Szarko, 14S-144, 617 258-8022, SZARKO@MIT.EDU


Create a Web Series!

Sarah Coe

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Are you interesting in storytelling or filmmaking? Are you a fan of creative web series such as Dr. Horrible, The Guild, or The Lizzie Bennet Diaries? Would you like to work with other energetic story-lovers? Then you’re invited to get in on the ground floor of developing an MIT-themed web series for debut in 2014! Comedy or drama, sci-fi or mystery, wacky or serious—your creative vision will help shape the show. Together, we’ll acheive our nefarious master plan: to create something so interesting, so entertaining, and so well-made that it will ensnare every procrastinator on campus!

From Jan 7th-13th, we'll be having our very first department meeting to lay the groundwork for the upcoming weeks. Feel free to stop by at meetings for the area(s) you are interested in! Also, if you are interested in helping out but not sure how yet, be sure to attend the General Meeting on Saturday the 12th, where we'll be coming together to share our progress and make plans.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies
Contact: Sarah Coe, coesa@mit.edu


Create a Web Series!

Jan/07 Mon 07:00PM-08:00PM 5-233, Editing/Special Effects
Jan/07 Mon 08:00PM-09:00PM 5-233, Publicity/Graphics
Jan/08 Tue 07:00PM-08:00PM 5-233, Directing
Jan/09 Wed 07:00PM-08:00PM 5-233, Acting
Jan/10 Thu 07:00PM-08:00PM 5-233, Screenwriting
Jan/11 Fri 07:00AM-08:00AM 5-233, Music/Sound
Jan/12 Sat 07:00PM-08:00PM 5-233, General Body Meeting
Jan/12 Sat 08:00PM-09:00PM 5-233, Filming/Shooting/Cinematography
Jan/13 Sun 07:00PM-08:00PM 5-233, Visual Prep (locations, costumes, props)

DUET Seminar - Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab

Jan/29 Tue 04:00PM-05:00PM 4-231

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab

In today's rapidly-changing society, people must continually come up with creative solutions to unexpected problems. More than ever before, success is based not on what you know, but on your ability to think and act creatively. In short, we are living in the Creative Society. But there is a problem. Most activities in children's lives, whether it's lessons in the classroom or games in the living room, are not designed to help children develop as creative thinkers.

In this presentation, Professor Resnick will discuss new technologies and activities designed specifically to help children learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively, so that they are prepared for life in the Creative Society. I will focus particularly on Scratch, a programming language and online community that enables young people (ages 8 and up) to create their own interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations -- and share their creations with one another online (http://scratch.mit.edu). In the process, children develop skills and ways of thinking that are essential for becoming active participants in the Creative Society.

 

 

Sponsor(s): Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Leann Dobranski, 5-122, 617 253-3371, LEANN@MIT.EDU


Fierce Forever Drag 101 Workshops

Abigail Francis, Director of LBGT Services

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Get PUMPED for Fierce Forever by learning some basics at our Fierce Forever School of Drag, offered during IAP! If you are interested in attending the workshops, please try to bring: 1) A pair of shoes, 2) a song you are thinking of performing (it can just be the name and artist--we will have a laptop there to look up songs on Youtube if necessary), and 3) a costume you are thinking about wearing for Fierce! We will have some costumes, props, materials, and shoes available for those of you who cannot bring anything. Drag queens and kings (and all those in between!) are welcome to attend!  The first workshop will be on Hair and Makeup while the second is all about Dance and Style. You are of course encouraged to attend both but come as you can. They are free and open to the entire MIT community! If you are interested and want to let us know you're coming, or have any questions, feel free to contact us. ff10-exec@mit.edu

 

Contact: Abigail Francis, 50-005, 617 253-0684, AFRAN@MIT.EDU


Fierce Forever Drag 101 Workshop

Jan/21 Mon 05:30PM-07:00PM Du Pont Multipurpose

Abigail Francis - Director of LBGT Services


Fierce Forever Drag 101 Workshops

Jan/26 Sat 05:30PM-07:00PM Du Pont Multipurpose

Abigail Francis - Director of LBGT Services


Tagging and Finding Your Files

Kari R. Smith, Digital Archivist, Institute Archivist & Spec. Collections

Jan/28 Mon 10:00AM-11:00AM 14N-132

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 20 participants
Prereq: none

Did you know that you can add information into your digital files so that information travels with them when you copy, send, or save them?  This information (metadata) can be used to assit with finding, sorting, and describing your files when they are on your computer or within a server / cloud storage folder. Embedding information directly into your files means that you can note data such as creator, subjects, copyright, and other tags without needing to alter your file content. If you have large collections of image files or documents that you re-use often and could use some help finding or organizing them, this session may be for you.  Come to learn about why this works and how you can do this for your own files. 

 Presenters:  Mikki Macdonald, Metadata Archivist; Kari R. Smith, Digital Archivist

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Kari Smith, 14N-118, 617 258-5568, SMITHKR@MIT.EDU


Using Images in your work: A look at fair use, open licensing, copyright, and identifying and citing images

Ellen Finnie Duranceau, Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing, Jolene de Verges, Images specialist and Digital Project & Metadata Manager

Jan/11 Fri 12:00PM-01:00PM 14N-132

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/10
Prereq: none

This session will provide information about how to assess whether use of a particular image requires permission or is “fair use,” how to find images already flagged for reuse, and good practices for identifying and citing images.  Directed at authors of theses, journal articles, blogs, and other scholarly writing.

 Presented by Ellen Finnie Duranceau, copyright contact and Program Manager for Scholarly Publishing & Licensing in the MIT Libraries, and  Jolene de Verges, images specialist and Digital Project & Metadata Manager in the MIT Libraries

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Ellen Duranceau, 14S-216, 617 253-8483, EFINNIE@MIT.EDU