Ken Y. Goldberg: The modern all-around guy

Ken Goldberg is currently the Director of the University of California Berkeley Center for New Media, along with several other appointments: Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, a joint appointment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a few others. Goldberg graduated suma cum laude from University of Pennsylvania in 1984 with degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Economics and got his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1990 (Wikipedia). The man is not only a genius, he is a very busy genius.

He may look like your average guy (and he may be on other planets) but he is so much more. http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html He is both inventor and artist extraordinaire. His contributions to electronics, robotics and the Internet are prolific. His donations to New Media Art are overwhelming; intrinsically linked to his electronic and engineering capabilities. A short list begins with his Ph.D. dissertation and weaves in and out of his art:

First algorithm for polygonal orientation used to orient any parts rotations.
Invented/patented kinematically yielding gripper along with 6 other patents
First robot with Web interface
Untitled (1987) an artistic composition blending math and art
Inter Caetera Divina (1992) combined history, robotics and art
Telegarden (1995-2004), online for nine years at Ars Electronica Center in Austria

Online and on-going game Ouija (2000-2009) Internet-joins up to 20 remote players
Infiltrate (2003) virtual representation of what a real fish sees.
Demonstrate Interactive Web connected to telerobics project of 2004
The Tribe (2005), a film about the Jews and Barbie.
Ballet Mori (2006) electronically commemorates the San Francisco Earthquake
using Earth seismic activity to produce music accompanied by modern dance

His interests seem to match his intellect; apparently unlimited. His many current projects run the gamut but include:

Opinion Space, an information gathering and comparing site,
CONE Welder, a NSF/Smithsonian project with robot cameras and wild birds
Steering Flexible Needles Through Soft-Tissue, Berkeley/Johns Hopkins project

Algorithmic Automation, a project to bring researchers together with manufacturers

Although all of his works are inspired and impressive the one captured my fascination, awe and respect for Goldberg's works is Demonstrate. Goldberg and Deirdre Mulligan installed Demonstrate at the Berkley campus of University of California in 2004. The interactive Web site with telerobotic video cameras celebrated 40 years of the Free Speech movement which was born through activist demonstrations on that campus in the 1960s. Anyone with a computer could observe the day or night activities of Berkeley's Sproul Plaza in a sort of ‘Big Brother’ manner (Tribe). The project was designed to provoke discussion on visual privacy (Goldberg and Mulligan). Anyone with Internet access could participate. For six weeks, the remote audience was allowed to take pictures at various distances, including close-ups, post their comments and add to others comments. Over 1100 photos were taken. Along with the commentary and commentary on the commentary, the saved data is available on line at http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/art/ along with other projects of Goldberg’s electronic portfolio.

Citations:
Goldberg, Ken, 2006 [Internet]. Available through http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/
Tribe, Mark, New Media Art Introduction [Internet] Available through https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/New+Media+Art+-+Introduction
Goldberg, Ken, 2006. Ken Goldberg: Artwork, [Internet]. http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html
Ken Goldberg and Deirdre Mulligan. Too Close For Comfort: Free Speech, Privacy, and the Demonstrate Project". Talk or presentation, 15, September, 2005 [Internet]. Available through http://www.truststc.org/pubs/6.html

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ken Goldberg [Internet]. Available through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Goldberg.