Technology

Make It So: Procedural Jogging

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The exercise treadmills at my apartment complex are pretty neat – beyond a variety of options (including a game of Solitaire), they have an option to show a video that simulates walking at a location. Basically it gives you something to look at beside your heart rate, has interesting historical notes, and provides an interesting experience. Running indoors can be a might boring, and it’s an appreciated addition I take advantage of because, hey, when am I going to get to jog through scenic parts of Germany.

But it’s the same few tracks. So one day while using the treadmills I began thinking about how it could be more interesting. This conflated with my love of procedurally generated environments, including “walking simulator” Proteus and the amazing environments of the upcoming “No Man’s Sky.”

Then I asked why can’t someone create a Procedural Environment generator for these Treadmills?

Imagine this. You can select from some common setups, or tweak them from the start, and then have the display screen walk you through a generated environment. Maybe you want a desert or a forest, a sci-fi landscape or a fantasy land – set it up and explore as you exercise.

There you go. Every Treadmill trip is a new experience. One day you may walk across a ruin-filled desert, the other up a green mountain path. Maybe you’ll take a run through the Dwarf Kingdom or across an unknown world. Every time it’s different even if you choose the same basic settings.  It’d add a lot to the experience.

Now imagine taking this farther.

Perhaps you could have generated narratives, notes, or events. A bit of history-that-never was pops up here and there. A little note about the properties of an imaginary plant appears. A starship streaks across the sky and crashes nearby. The trip can feel like you’re in a real, living place.

On top of this, perhaps add a bit of gamification. Every now and then you may find an option to climb a stairway or open a door or turn left or right. The trip becomes even more engaging as you have power to affect what you see next – and you never know when the next option will pop up.

Finally, perhaps you can save your experience to share with others, even if it’s just writing down a code. Other people can see the same sites you did – and if there’s options, you can re-explore an old new world differently.

Go on people, Make It So.

  • Steve

Activities For The Civic Geek: Technology Refurb And Access

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Technology is critical to people’s lives these days.  Not everyone has access to computers and computer knowledge.  Technical geeks can make sure people have access to technology – and teach people along the way.

If you don’t have internet and computer access, you’re at a disadvantage in the modern world.  A lot of people have trouble getting computers.

Ironically, a lot of people are also throwing equipment away.

These are two causes that can come together – refurbishing computers and getting them to people that need them.  After all, why throw it away when you can fix it, update it, maybe teach a few lessons – and then get them to people who need them.

There’s a few ways to do this:

  • First, you have to collect equipment and get it to people that can fix it. Just the collecting alone can keep you busy – as long as there’s someone to fix it up.
  • Then there’s fixing up and refurbing the equipment.  Any kind of technical geek can probably rally people to do this – or find people that do.
  • Finally, get it to people who need it.  If you can combine this with the fixing, it becomes extra educational.

You can do one or all of these parts of the process to help people out.  But there’s also many ways to do this:

  • Your local club/group/con can do one or all of the parts above.
  • Your can ally with other groups like hackerspaces and schools to do the work.  It might build great alliances.
  • You could combine this with other events – what if you have a fix-it workshop at a convention?  With a hackerspace fix-it session?
  • You could combine this with other educational activities in computer literacy or fix-it skills?  People could make their own computer from old parts.

People need technology.  You can make sure they get it – while learning and make electronics recycling easier.

Resources:

  • Close The Gap – Takes computer donations from european countries and refurbishes them for emerging nations. Also works to recycle unusable equipment safely.
  • Computers With Causes – Takes donated computers and either gets them to charitable programs, or sells them for funds used to go to programs.
  • Free Geek (Portland) – A Portland nonprofit that recycles used computers and parts to provide computers and job training to those in need.
  • Free Geek Chicago – A Chicago nonprofit that recycles used computers and parts to provide computers and job training to those in need.
  • Little Geeks – A Canadian charity that refurbishes donated computers, and gets them to children in need.
  • Motor City Free Geek – A Detroit nonprofit that repairs and recycles computers, teaches and educates, and works on Open Source.
  • PCS For Schools – Refurbishes and upgrades donated computer equipment and uses it to bridge the technology gap in schools
  • World Computer Exchange – A US and Canadian non-profit that reduces the digital divide with education, donated computers, and more.

Activities For the Civic Geek: Fix-It-Ups

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Rally your geeky friends and cohorts to help others out by applying your technical, creative, and constructive skills for repair.

It’s easy to take for granted how we can buy stuff to replace broken stuff – though it’s a bit wasteful to just throw things away (and some like electronics are a bit hard to recycle).

It’s also easy to take for granted the skills that let us repair things so we don’t have to throw stuff out.  I imagine you’ve got a few friends or even a whole club very good at making and fixing things, from cosplay to computers.

So, hold a Fix-It-Up Event.

Maybe at a convention or a hackerspace or a church or what have you, go and hold an event where you repair things for people.  You don’t just help them save and reuse things, you might teach people valuable skills:

  • Cosplayer?  Do clothes repair for people or charities.
  • Technical?  Computer repair and reuse or repurposing might be your bag.  If nothing else dead systems can yield parts for others.
  • Handy?  Repair appliances, furniture, and more.
  • Gamer?  Help people repair or clean their treasured old systems.

There’s also many ways you can combine this.  A clothing repair shop can reuse cosplay scraps.  Handy geeks who help out with basic repair can also use their skills to do convention setup.  Combine electronic repair with good recycling practices and education.

Plus, when you team up, you can combine tools, though you’ll probably get very territorial about who owns what.

So go ahead and try and do some fix-ups.