The Awesome Foundation

AF-NYC's Second Award - The Anywhere Organ

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:53:00 -0500

Congratulations to Matthew Borgatti and his Anywhere Organ! AF-NYC loved his idea as much as bagels, coffee and bialys (and more). We kept our second award choice a surprise until last night’s second AF-NYC party at Zeitzeff in the LES, which was packed full of NYC’s most super, Awesome people.

M@ and his AF Award (picture @magnify)

Here’s M@’s original application:

Pipe organs are incredible, awesome instruments. One incredible aspect that contributes to their awesomeness is their ability to play a space. Each space an organ resides in reacts differently, creating different tones, and essentially allowing room for an infinite variety of instruments. Unfortunately nearly every pipe organ in existence is bolted irrevocably into a wall staring longingly at fornications all day. This is why I’m creating the Anywhere Organ.

I’ve designed a system where each note, each pipe of a pipe organ is attached to a central air supply through a hose. The air to each organ pipe is controlled by a solenoid valve articulated through Arduino. I’m writing modules to take MIDI keyboard information and translate it to the valves. Each hose is independent making for an octopus like instrument where each separate pipe can be installed with care and consideration relative to the space. This means the instrument can be installed anywhere; a park, a fire escape, an abandoned warehouse, a secret underwater cave. The pipes can be distributed to take advantage each location’s specific character and personality. It also means that anyone can participate in the project and take a turn. I’d like to get people playing with the Anywhere Organ so they can see the effect space has on music and sound, so they have a public venue to fool around with music, and to have an opportunity to collaborate with other musical artists to create new sounds with it.

Churches are switching over to digital music. This means they’re saving the expense of cleaning, tuning, and clearing dead pigeons out of organ pipes. It’s sad to see such a cool instrument phased out for the sake of cost and convenience but it’s inevitable. This also means that there are entire registers of pipes for sale on Ebay for a song. I’m slowly buying these up. I’m also reaching out to the awesome music and hacking scene in Brooklyn to begin finding collaborators who want to help create new music with the system and help me find amazing venues to install the project in. Here is a picture picture showing my conception of the system installed in a park: http://sinbox.org/whereverorgan.jpg

Thank your for your time. I hope the idea of this project makes you as excited as it makes me.

-M@

M@ talking with AF-NYC’s Lee-Sean Huang, Jesse Chan-Norris and Douglas Repetto (picture @magnify)

Listen to M@’s acceptance speech here and more pictures of last night’s event here.

Providence Chapter Brings Cash (and Chutzpah) to Downtown Drive

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:35:12 -0500

The Providence Chapter of the Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences has selected Steph Burbridge to receive its January award. Burbridge will use the Awesome Foundation Grant to create a mobile “trivia for cash” game in downtown Providence, an idea that borrows inspiration from a popular television show airing on the Discovery channel.

Burbridge’s plan is a playful marriage of daft fun and viral marketing aimed at showcasing Providence’s curious past, present and future through a rapid-fire trivia game that contestants will play while being driven around the city. Contestants, who accept a ride in Burbrigde’s “cash cart,” will be subjected to a barrage of Providence-based trivia. Players will win cash for each question they answer correctly. Miss three questions, and contestants get kicked to the curb.

Segments, expected to be filmed over a three-day period later this spring, will be taped, edited and turned into a short production that celebrates city resident’s knowledge about their kooky capital city. Burbridge—and funders at the Awesome Foundation—believe that game and the creation and broad release of the web video will be a great way to bring visibility to parts of the Providence experience not regularly featured in traditional tourism campaigns.

“I’ve always wanted to be a game show host. And I love my city. With this idea, I get to combine both into one super fun project,” says Burbridge, who works as a hair stylist at Seiren Salon on Wickenden Street. “One of the best things about the Awesome Foundation is that they fund really unique ideas that traditional programs would never consider. I think this project will be an easy and hilarious way to remind people about all the things that make our city awesome.”

“Steph’s idea is a great continuation of what we started when we launched the Providence Chapter of the Awesome Foundation a few months ago. Steph’s project will bring some much needed levity to the downtown scene and I am sure she’ll give all of us a lot to talk about,” says Melissa Withers, a trustee of the Foundation. “More importantly, if you look at the two projects we have now funded, you can get a good sense of the scope and diversity of ideas we hope to encourage. I hope this will inspire everyone to get off their asses and apply.”

Awesome NYC Launch Party

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:26:03 -0500

Awesome NY have made their first selection! It was tough NY - you completely blew us away with amazing incredibly brilliant ideas.

We are awarding January’s $1000 grant to Ben Dubin-Thaler’s Cell Motion BioBus.

Come celebrate with us at the First AF-NY Award Ceremony on Monday February 8 at 8 pm, at the Apple Bar, 17 Waverly at Greene (no cover, cash bar). Join us for a beer and meet the NY Micro Trustees.

Join our event on Facebook.

New York Makes First Award: A BIG LASER!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:44:00 -0500

Awesome NY have made their first selection! It was tough NY - you completely blew us away with amazing incredibly brilliant ideas.

But - this month, for our inaugural grant, we’ve picked a LASER TWEEZER that makes amoebas eat bacteria.

Awesomeness to the MAX.

No - really, its a laser tractor beam that prods amoebas. We’ve awarded January’s $1000 grant to Ben Dubin-Thaler’s Cell Motion BioBus.

We’ll be celebrating with Ben at the First AF-NY Award Ceremony on Monday February 8 at 8 pm, at the Apple Bar, Waverly at Greene. Come and join us for a beer, meet the NY Micro Trustees - and we’re working on getting the BioBus there too. Beyond Awesome.

New York is GO! Last night the NY micro-trustees got together -...

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:08:00 -0500

New York is GO!

Last night the NY micro-trustees got together - and here we are….

We’re completely excited to introduce our newest trustees:

Brandon Kessler
Dawn Barber
Steve Rosenbaum

The deadline for this month’s submissions is 11:59 PM Eastern on the 14th (tonight!)

Apply at http://awesomefoundation.org/

December Fellow Talk (Boston): "Tools for Improved Social Interacting"

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:19:36 -0500

Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences and dorkbot-boston Present:

Lauren McCarthy: Tools for Improved Social Interacting

http://lauren-mccarthy.com/socialinteracting/

Talk and Reception
FREE EVENT
Fri, Jan 15, 7-9PM
sprout - 339R Summer St, Somerville

Directions:

Talk at sprout’s offices which are at 339R Summer Street just outside of Davis Square in Somerville, MA. It’s set back from the street, down the driveway to the right of 339 Summer Street; the “R” means “Rear.”
Map: http://thesprouts.org/contact

Reception to follow at The Spirit Bar (2046 Mass Ave, Cambridge) — Mass Ave and Creighton near Porter Square, just across the street from the Hess station.
http://thespiritbars.com

Lauren McCarthy will present her latest work of wearable devices at the next dorkbot-boston on January 15, 7PM at the offices of sprout at 339R Summer St, Somerville.

Funded in part by The Awesome Foundation, her Tools for Improved Social Interacting are items of clothing that use sensors and electronics to train the wearer to better adapt to expected social behaviors.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own projects to participate in OpenDork after her talk, a show-and-tell of people doing strange things with electricity - art and technology projects at all stages (sketchbook to polished) and of all levels of complexity are welcomed.

A reception will follow The Spirit Bar (2046 Mass Ave, Cambridge) where guests can try out Lauren’s devices.

Lauren McCarthy’s Tools for Improved Social Interacting are a “Series of wearable devices that use sensors to condition the behavior of the wearer to better adapt to expected social behaviors.”

The Happiness Hat http://lauren-mccarthy.com/happinesshat/ trains the wearer to smile more. An enclosed bend sensor attaches to the cheek and measures smile size, a servo motor moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. The smile size data is logged on a microSD memory card for download at the end of each use period.
The Anti-Daydreaming Scarf contains a heat radiation sensor that detects if the wearer is engaged in conversation with another person. While he is, the scarf vibrates periodically to remind the wearer to pay attention and stop daydreaming.
The Body Contact Training Suit requires the wearer to maintain frequent body contact with another person in order to hear normally. If the wearer stops touching someone for too long, static noise begins to play through headphones sewn into hood. A capacitance sensing circuit measures skin to skin body contact via a metal bracelet sewn into the sleeve.

Lauren McCarthy is a designer, artist, and programmer, and currently an MFA student in the UCLA Design | Media Arts program. She received a BS in Computer Science ad a BS in Art and Design from MIT. Her work explores the structures and systems of social interactions, identity, and self-representation. She is interested in the slightly uncomfortable moments when patterns are shifted, expectations are broken, and participants become aware of the system. Her work takes any form necessary: video, performance, software, internet art, interactive objects and environments, and media installations.

Lauren was most recently working at Small Design Firm on projects for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also worked at Continuum and the MIT Media Lab.

Founded in June 2009, The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences awards $1,000 grants monthly to projects that advance the interest of Awesomeness in our universe. There are no requirements for applying, no definite criteria for deciding the winner, and no limitations beyond the necessity for being awesome. Winners receive the money in cash, check, or gold doubloons, no strings attached. To learn more or apply, get on over to http://awesomefoundation.org
dorkbot-boston is a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), designers, engineers, students, scientists, and other interested parties from the boston area who are involved in the creative use of electricity. dorkbot meetings are free and open to the public. http://dorkbotboston.com
sprout is a group of learners and teachers working to inspire the practice of everyday experimentalism by running science programs that are embedded in the community—drawing inspiration and resources from the people, places, and things that surround us everyday! http://thesprouts.org

Providence Chapter Makes Music With Inaugural Award

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:54:12 -0500

The Providence Chapter of the Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences is psyched to announce that Otto D’Ambrosio of D’Ambrosio Guitars has received the chapter’s first award.

D’Ambrosio will take his $1,000 and complete a functional, four-foot replica of the renowned hollow body guitars the Rhode Island-based craftsman builds for musicians across the U.S. This time, the rare wood and antique finish D’Ambrosio uses on his one-of-a-kind instruments will be replaced with durable fiberglass, kid-inspired colors and simple electronics to create a giant, playable guitar for music-hungry kids across Providence.

D’Ambrosio will begin work to complete the guitar in January, with an eye towards debuting an initial installation of the mobile unit in early spring.

D’Ambrosio’s proposal was selected from more than two dozen applicants, many of who have been encouraged to re-apply in the coming months (the Providence chapter of the Awesome Foundation makes one $1,000 award each month).

“I’ve had the framework for the guitar kicking around my shop for more than a year—the mock up was initially used in a magazine shoot,” says D’Ambrosio. “The frame, an oversized replica of a guitar I built for a customer, was too bizarre to throw away after the shoot. I’ve had several ideas for how to put it to use in a way, but it never happened,” says D’Ambrosio.

The Awesome Foundation offered just the “kick in the pants” D’Ambrosio needed to dust off the frame and refine his vision for the giant guitar.

“The discovery of music can be a life-changing experience—an experience that many kids never know,” says D’Ambrosio. “Performing music helps kids build confidence and patience. I think music is a natural and familiar way to introduce these important skills to kids. My idea is to bring some fun into what a child thinks musical performance is. I hope that the finished guitar, as it moves around the city, will give kids a chance to fall in love with music and musical performance.”

Construction of the guitar will be durable but simple, made and decorated to inspire creative musical play. The structure will be wood and fiberglass and fitted with a battery to amplify both the guitar sound and a microphone built to encourage kids to speak or sing. D’Ambrosio will incorporate a digital sampling device that will also make repeating rhythms from kids recorded music and vocals.

For D’Ambrosio, this work is a departure from the typical work in the studio, which often demands painstaking attention to small details and nerve racking work with rare—and outrageously expensive—materials. D’Ambrosio, who’s been on his own since 1997, has created guitars played by musicians like Prince, John Mayer and The Edge. Why would a craftsman who has studied with some of the best in the world—D’Ambrosio was only 13 when he took his first gig at the acclaimed Mandolin Brothers studio in New York City—take time out to build a giant guitar for kids? Because he believes in the power of awesome.

“My experience making guitars tells me that this idea will work. But it’s my experience as a father that makes me positive that the kids will really love it. When my kids perform, I can literally see them growing as people. Many kids are naturally drawn to music and performing. If we encourage it, even just a little, we can help them develop some pretty important life skills,” says D’Ambrosio.

“I build guitars every day. I know that I am a lucky bastard. Being able to share a small piece of my work with the community would be, well, awesome.”

Hello, New York!

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:00:00 -0500

Happy New Year! The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is thrilled today to kick off 2010 by announcing that we are officially launching a new chapter of the Foundation in New York City.

Additionally, we’re honored and seriously pumped to be welcoming a simply stellar cast of micro-trustees steering this project and forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe, including:

* And, AF-NYC’s Dean of Awesome, the Honorable Lee-Sean Huang

Since it’s January 1st, this means that applications are open once again on the main grant submission page. And if you’re in New York City, this means that it’s officially open season to grab a chance to become the city’s very first Fellow! Grants close once again promptly on January 15th, so it’s worth not delaying and submitting your project ideas as soon as you can.

You might notice that we’re short a few of our micro-trustees (the usual board is ten, to create our $1,000 grant). We’re still sorting out the details with the remaining slots, and we’ll be announcing them as they confirm in January! Stay tuned, dear readers.

Boston Fans: A Dean of Awesome Is Needed!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:30:37 -0500

Based in Boston and want to be involved the Awesome Foundation?

Want to participate as a micro-trustee to the Awesome Foundation but don’t have the money?

Want to serve the interest of promoting and protecting Awesomeness in the universe?

Well, now you can! I’m glad to announce today that the Boston Awesome Foundation is seeking a Dean of Awesome to team up with our existing Boston board of 10 micro-trustees.

The Dean will participate with the rest of the trustees in reading/voting/choosing a winner each month (and will undertake the same Oath of Service), but will be completely freed from the usual obligations of being a micro-trustee in contributing $100 a month to our monthly fellowship award.

Instead, the Dean will take on the responsibility of managing and creatively expanding our monthly award event logistics, the chapter’s online presence (blog/twitter/etc), community building with our past fellows, and other scheduling for Awesome Foundation Boston.

If you’re interested in participating as the Dean, please drop a message describing your interest and what awesome things you’re involved in to tim@awesomefoundation.org by January 8th. We’ll be doing interviews then. Let us know if you have any questions!

Boston December Awesome Fellow: Lauren McCarthy

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:52:00 -0500

I’m happy to announce that Awesome Foundation Boston has chosen its December Fellow! This month’s grant goes to Lauren McCarthy, who specializes in the development of Tools for Improved Social Interacting.

What does that imply? Lauren writes, she’s working on a series of “various wearable devices that use simple technologies to condition the behavior of the wearer to fit better with expected social behaviors” These include:

A Happiness Hat (built) - which drives a metal spike into the head at a pressure inversely proportional to how much you’re smiling (seeing it in action is out of control - check out the video)

An Anti-Daydreaming Device (to be built) - a scarf that contains a heat radiation sensor that detects if the wearer is engaged in conversation with another person. While the wearer is engaged in conversation, the scarf will vibrate periodically to remind the wearer to pay attention and stop daydreaming.

And A Body Contact Training Suit (to be built) - a suit that requires the wearer to maintain frequent body contact with another person in order to hear the world around her. If the wearer stops touching someone for too long, all the surrounding sound will fade to static.

We’re glad to announce that she’ll be coming from L.A. out to Boston in January to debut her work and run a workshop/interactive event on social interaction technology. Stay tuned for details!

In the meanwhile, Lauren will be documenting and logging her progress online here. There’s also more details on how this stuff will work technically and more sketches available there as well.

Updates on the Eco Pod Armada!

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:54:00 -0500

Happy Thanksgiving!

Excited (and thankful for the emerging awesomeness): The Boston Awesome Foundation has just got word from Lee Altman, our November Fellow, that she’s made an initial experimental pilot launch of the pollution-cleaning phytoremediation pod in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

As with most experiments, still some details to be worked out, but things are coming along. The tentative date (they’re still waiting on approval from the city parks dept) for the next prototype launch, if you’re interested in attending and meeting Lee, will be on Sunday, December 6th. For updates and details on this Sunday, Lee’s set up a Facebook invite so you can keep posted on what’s going on. If you’re in town, definitely drop by!

You can follow the continuing updates on the Eco-Pod Armada project (and check out more images as the project comes together) on the handy dandy website that Lee has set up here.

Boston November Awesome Fellowship: Cleaning The East River with Eco Pod Armada

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Sorry for the delay, this month’s granting process ended up taking slightly longer than originally expected, but, for reasons that will become obvious in a few weeks, we’ve been swamped, cooking up some upcoming things that will hopefully do well by forwarding the interest of Awesome in the universe. It’s gonna be great. Stay tuned.

Today, Awesome Foundation Boston is tremendously excited today to announce that they are awarding their November Awesome Fellowship to Lee Altman, an architect and urban designer working out of New York City.

With a team of scientists, Lee has plans to assemble a complete armada of remote-controlled pods, and set them loose with a series of pilots into the notoriously polluted East River of New York City. The pods will carry a net of plants to trail behind them in the water, specially selected to perform phytoremediation — naturally filtering water through the root mass and the absorbing the toxins from the water. Her hope is to build these launches into a regular community event with plans available online that will allow anyone to build one themselves (the designs are great and lightweight: initial calculation suggests that each ship can be made for $110) Our funding will go to making the initial fleet, of eight ships, possible. We’re thrilled to have her on board as a fellow — congratulations to Lee!

Friends in Providence will be announcing their grant award this month pretty soon as well. And, as per usual, we’ve got our awards ceremony coming up next week. Watch this space as the details come on out.

Lee’s complete grant and description, after the jump:

Dear Awesome Foundation,

I would like your help in constructing a fleet of aquatic phytoremediation interactive mobile pods that will be launched onto the East River. Each pod will be built of a remote-controlled speed boat, wooden rods, a fishing net, hydroponic plants and some duct tape.

The pod operators will use the remote to navigate the pod along the water’s edge, as they travels south with the currents. The boat will perform as the pod’s motor, carrying around the hydroponic plants supported by the wood-net-duct tape structure.

The plants will be specifically selected to perform phytoremediation in the river waters. Plants such as Arabidopsis halleri and Arabidopsis thaliana are naturally equipped with extreme metal tolerance. In fact, the feed on heavy metals found in the ground or water that they grow in. What they do is also called Rhizofiltration, when water is filtered through the root mass and the roots absorb the toxins from the water.

Rhizofiltration is a long process, but the little fleet of pods can be launched repeatedly (preferably on the weekends) until it cleans the water, or better yet, gets the message across. Launching and operating the pods will become a recreational public activity, anyone can build a DIY pod, and launch it in the nearest body of water. Pods will become a household item.

A recent article in the New York Times discussed the changes that some coal-fired power plants have introduced, attempting to reduce toxic air emissions. The technology they use sprays water and chemicals through the plant’s chimneys, “scrubbing” the pollutants out of the air before releasing it to the atmosphere. This process produces large amounts of waste water that is then released into rivers and lakes, and leaks into groundwater. Power plants are the nation’s biggest producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic and paint manufacturing and chemical plants (according to a New York Times analysis of EPA data). The EPA’s tough air pollution laws are not met with comparable regulation in the Clean Water Act. In fact, the Act does not cover the most dangerous chemicals in power plant waste, like arsenic and lead.

The pod fleet has no intention of taking on coal-fired power plants, the EPA or Wall Street. It is interested in establishing an unhindered relationship between people and their waters. NYC is historically designed to face inwards, pushing industry and highways to the water’s edge. Recently, the city has started to realize that it’s actually an archipelago. The pod fleet would like to help establish this new relationship between residents and their waters, including the responsibilities we all share.

The pod fleet captain (me) is an architect and urban designer based in NYC. I was born and raised in Israel, and received my B.Arch from the Technion IIT and my MSc from Columbia University. The fleet pod was born out of a conversation with two of my former colleagues at Columbia, and is based on studio projects we designed together in NYC and in Bangkok.

Welcome, Awesome Foundation Providence!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:33:33 -0400

The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences has been talking for some time now about expanding and opening up chapters in different locales and specialized in different arenas. Many of you have gotten in touch, and we’ve been thrilled by all the people volunteering — but we’ve to date held off, getting the formula right, and figuring out how to start building outwards.

Today, I’m thrilled to announce today that we take the first, critical step in changing that by announcing the official formation of Awesome Foundation Providence!

Headed up by Owen Johnson and TJ Sondermann, they’ll be joining our Boston branch in forwarding the interest of Awesome in the universe. AF-Providence will be involved in administering its own $1,000 grant each month to projects, which means two grants coming out every month, and generally more excellent schemes going down.

They’re also currently in the process of assembling their group of micro-trustees, so, if you’re interested taking a serious oath of office and funding projects, be sure to drop them a line at owen AT existence.com, and tsondermann AT betaspring.com.

Fantastically enough, they’ll also be participating in the November grant cycle! So, if you’re interested, be sure to drop your idea on our grant site by midnight at AwesomeFoundation.org.

October Fellowship Awards Party

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:05:02 -0400

Hey there! As per usual, we’re having an awards ceremony/party this coming weekend. Won’t you join us?

Thx,

Mgmt.

——————————

***NOTE: THIS EVENT IS IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION THAN IT USUALLY IS***

The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences and The Information Superhighway Cordially Invite You To…

COTTON CANDY CANNON: THE WEAPON OF THE FUTURE
An Awards Ceremony & Party for the Awesome Foundation
September 17th, 2009, 7:00 PM - 12:00
Betahouse, 13 Magazine Street, Cambridge MA (Central Square)

A venerable institution founded in June 2009, The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences gives monthly $1,000 fellowships to projects that advance the interest of Awesomeness in our universe. There are no requirements for applying, no definite criteria for deciding the winner, and no limitations beyond the necessity for being awesome. The winners receive the money in cash, check, or gold doubloons.

This month, we are extremely proud to award our October Awesome Fellowship to Josh Gordonson (http://www.instructables.com/member/T3h_Muffinator/), whose plan is to construct a handheld cotton candy cannon that can “coat a rotating human in a cotton candy cocoon in one-three minutes.” Need we say more?

You can read more about the proposal here: http://j.mp/5KKow

Come celebrate with us, meet the fellow and our micro-trustees, and hear about the plans to set the scheme into motion. We’ll talk and answer any questions about how you can apply for the next round of Awesome grants coming out in October. And we’ll also be giving the latest update on our previously funded Awesome Fellowships.

NOTE: the price for this event is free. You can expect beverages, food, ideas, cool people, and a big ceremonial check.

To submit to be the Awesome Fellow for October, please drop us a line by the 15th at: http://awesomefoundation.org.

For all you completionists, we’re also cross-posted on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149371407606, as well as Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/4572513/

October Awesome Fellowship: The Cotton Candy Cannon

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:49:00 -0400

This mean-looking badboy is the brainchild of Josh Gordonson, close to a decade in the making. It is, indeed, the first working prototype of a rugged cannon that deploys an entirely new kind of ammunition. One that is likely to change the face of battlefields and fairgrounds forever.

Specifically, it shoots cotton candy.

This is huge, people. Absolutely huge.

The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is proud to announce today that Josh is the winner of this month’s Fellowship. Specifically, we’re funding the production of a handheld blaster that will be able to, quote, “coat a rotating human in a cotton candy cocoon in one-three minutes” (that’s verbatim, from the grant) and will feature “Three buttons [that] will dispense food coloring into the sugar just before it’s extruded. Color mixing should be possible, giving the artist machine-gunner a full palate of tooth-decaying paint.”

And best of all, the plans will be made available, online, at Instructables. We’re also planning a public debut of this project, once it’s all ready to start shooting.

SET PHASERS TO AWESOME!

We’ll have more details about the awards ceremony, coming up ASAP. Stay tuned, kids.

——————-

More about Josh (from the man himself):

Josh Gordonson is a homegrown maker from the suburbs of New York. As a child, his parental units introduced him to the world of DIY by raising him directly above a subterranean PHS (personal hacker space) and growing the highly inquisitive mammal (HIM) on an incredibly widespread informational growth medium. Once of age, Josh pursued his interests in making things via the shop below him, with the help of his equally interested cousin Ari and motivation from nearly all of those that surrounded him. Josh has since interned at Instructables and has been deeply immersed in the incredible DIY community. He’s the first to document a functional high-output homemade cotton candy machine on the internet, a goal sevenish years in the making, and is now pursuing… well… bigger things. Nowadays Josh spends his hours learning the inner secrets of analogue electronics at the Massachvsetts Institivte of Technology, but still scrounges for time to make everything he dreams up in his sleep.

The September Awesome Grant: Forty Days of Dataviz

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:38:00 -0400

This month’s Awesome Fellowship goes to Greg Kapfhammer, whose project is to hold a forty day data visualization contest, what he calls the Forty Day Visual Feast Project. Prizes to include a good deal of cold hard cash as well as quality large-scale reproductions of the winner’s visualizations.

So get to reading Flowing Data again, get your Processing dusted off, and your volumes of Tufte all ready to go. Plans are still coming together and details for the competition will be announced on this blog. If you’re interested in keeping posted about this, join the project mailing list or drop an e-mail to tim AT timhwang DOT org. More details about the project available here.

Greg describes:

Have you ever seen a visualization of a data set, process, or phenomenon that took your breath away because it effectively explained a difficult to understand concept? The Forty Day Visual Feast Project (FDVFP) will support the creation of forty exciting visualizations that are designed to inspire and educate both scientists and artists. Upon its completion, the FDVFP will showcase forty images, a description of the steps that you can take to construct them for yourself, and a commentary on their strengths and weaknesses. The FDVFP site will include an informative page for each visualization and a beautiful wall-sized poster highlighting each of the designs. Of course, the FDVFP needs your help in order to complete these final deliverables! You can learn more by visiting http://www.cs.allegheny.edu/visualfeast/.

Inaugural Grant Winner: The Big Hammock

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:58:00 -0400

The Awesome Foundation is extremely proud to award its first ever grant to Hansy Better Barraza, professor at Rhode Island School of Design and all around architect extraordinaire. Based on her interest in “bringing people together through design of public art and objects”, Hansy plans to design and build a huge hammock in Boston Common.

The Awesome Foundation and Information Superhighway are co-hosting an award ceremony and party on Friday, August 7th in Cambridge, MA. Details are posted on Upcoming and Facebook.

Welcome to the Awesome Foundation

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:41:37 -0400

Founded in June 2009, The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences awards $1,000 grants monthly to projects that advance the interest of Awesomeness in our universe. There are no requirements for applying, no definite criteria for deciding the winner, and no limitations beyond the necessity for being awesome. Winners receive the money in cash, check, or gold doubloons, no strings attached.

To learn more or apply, get on over to http://awesomefoundation.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.