Buklod: Collaborative Morphogenesis
Towards Generative Design via Global Web Services
Ateneo
de Manila University
e-mail:
martin@decode.ateneo.edu
Abstract
Buklod is a Filipino word that means bond of union or alliance. In this
context, Buklod presents a generic framework for collaborative morphogensis
towards generative design.Buklod seeks to extend that same spirit into the
world of computational generative design by making it it possible -- and easy
-- for people engaged in generative art and design to be able to create stuff
that traditionally can only be done in high performance computing environments.
By using XML web services, signals are passed from one volunteer node to
another in order to stitch sliced-up processes into a single piece of evolving
canvas. With this, Buklod seeks to advance contemporary human living through,
and by creating, applied evolutionary design in many sectors that isn't
available as of yet.
1. Introduction
Buklod (
)
is a Filipino word that means
bond of union or alliance. In this context, Buklod presents a generic framework
for collaborative morphogensis towards generative design. Buklod borrows the
concept of the bayanihan, "an old tradition in the Philippines wherein
neighbors of a relocating family would help the family move by gathering under
their house and carrying it to its new location. Although bayanihan practiced
in this form has become rare in today’s modern times, the word bayanihan itself
has come to mean any manifestation of the powerful spirit of communal unity
that can make seemingly impossible feats possible through the cooperation of
many people working towards a common goal." [1]
As that spirit and bond that unites people, Buklod seeks to extend that
same spirit into the world of computational generative design by making it it
possible -- and easy -- for people engaged in generative art and design to be
able to create stuff that traditionally can only be done in high performance
computing environments. By using XML web services, signals are passed from one
volunteer node to another in order to stitch sliced-up processes into a single
piece of evolving canvas.
The Buklod framework is depoloyable on top of both Java and the .NET framework. With this, Buklod will work across platforms where Java is supported. We also see this as an advantage since most of the environments designed for learning computational design are written in Java. These include Padpaper [2], Design By Numbers [3] and Processing [4]. As the author is also engaged in these projects, integrating Buklod would be easier.
2. Architecture
Let A = any client computer on
the Internet
B = any server on the
Internet
C = ever evolving
canvas
Let all A’s be connected to B’s. Each B is interconnected to a list of other B’s via a central list, updated and refreshed regularly. B’s pass signals to A’s in the goal of generating C. C is the sum of all activities of A’s and B’s.
3. Automato
A support project called Automato has also
been developed to demonstrate the idea of integrating generative art, web
services and volunteer computing into a single interface. An applet that
demonstrates this concept can be accessed at
http://decode.ateneo.edu/martin/automato.
Integrated are ideas from Auto-Illustrator and the MIT Treehouse Studio.
The author basically asks the following questions:
l
Can a
computer paint?
l
What if the
computer takes control?
l
What if the
computer overrides / takes control away from the user?
l
What if the
computer overrides the user's creative act?
l
Can the
computer in-turn create art? By itself?
l
More
importantly, if these systems are "intelligent" enough, can they
advance the human condition?
l
How can
generative systems be coupled with distributed media such as web-based
infrastructures?
l
Can we
integrate generative systems and web-services?
l In the most basic sense, what barebones interface would be best to present this?
4. Applications
Buklod may be applied to several contemporary design
problems in urban planning and design, architecture, computational biology
including genomics and bioinformatics, and even cartography.
In view of all these, Buklod enables everyone to be
able to harness the computational power of several machines working together as
one on a global scale in order to create generative design towards solving
contempoary problems in areas like the ones mentioned above.
5. References
[1]Sarmenta, L.F.G.S. Volunteer Computing. Ph.D.
thesis. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, March 2001.
[2] Padpaper. http://www.padpaper.net/
[3] Design By Numbers. http://dbn.media.mit.edu/
[4] Processing. http://www.processing.org/