29 September 2010

Science Like You’ve Never Seen It Before...

Fine International Conference on GigaPixel Imaging for Science

Join us in Pittsburgh November 11-13 for an inspiring new conference regarding the future of imaging for science communication, discovery and documentation. Whether you’re a middle school science teacher, an environmental photojournalist or a Ph.D. physicist, learn how gigapixel imaging is redefining visualization and public participation in science inquiry. Speakers include National Geographic, NASA and Google.
Sponsored by IEEE and AAAS
Details: http://gigapixelscience.org

28 September 2010

We're super excited for this panel at the Gigapixel Conference

On November 12th, we're going to have a super cool panel on micro/macro&nano Gigapixel images.

This panel explores how the application of gigapixel imaging technology can meet these research needs and allow for new discoveries in the microscopic realm. Participants will discuss the design and implementation of a few different instrumental adaptations that enable automatic mosaic capture of images through optical microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, and macro photography. This includes a discussion of motion control, focus stacking, and image stitching techniques currently used in our prototype Micro GigaPan devices.

The panel will be composed of:
  • Gene Cooper, President, Four Chambers Studio
  • Rich Gibson / Thinker / Carnegie Mellon University
  • Jay Longson / Researcher / UC Santa Cruz /
  • Richard Palmer
  • John Rawlins / Curator / Carnegie Museum of Natural History
  • Randy Sargent / Carnegie Mellon University

Gigapixel images @ the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Eight giant images have been selected by a jury for the Fine International Conference on Gigapixel Imaging and will be unveiled at a gallery opening on Friday, November 11th. The prints will be up to four feet high and 17 feet wide, encompassing nearly 4 billion pixels (enough to cover 10 billboards at standard resolution). These dramatic works of art and science will be on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History through the end of the year. Congratulations to our winners!


There is still time to register and join us for this amazing conference: www.gigapixelscience.org


27 September 2010

GigaPan: Democratizing information and bolstering bioliteracy


Fine Fellow Alex Smith wrote a fantastic article about his experience with gigapan for the quarterly newsletter of the International Barcode for Live Project.
Alex concludes, "There are many parallels between the GigaPan and DNA barcoding as complementary forces for democratizing information and bolstering bioliteracy. Both are publicly accessible, both will be annotated through time by a community of experts and non-experts alike and both exist as a synthetic connection from the digital to the natural world.
One key to our capacity to understand the changes caused by the increasing pressures of the urbanization and degradation of natural environments will be ongoing monitoring through time. If such monitoring is democratized and publically available as DNA barcodes and GigaPans, then a marginalized environment may become more valued by the human population."

 Check out the full article at http://ibol.org/gigapan/.

21 September 2010

Fine Fellow Callan Bentley @ Smithsonian.com

Forget the museum for geological history, all you need to do is join Callan Bentley, of Northern Virginia Community College, for a tour. Check out the write-up, "Finding Fossils Where you Don't Expect Them" at Smithsonian.com.

Congratulations, Callan.

xRez+workshop=just one awesome part of the Fine Gigapixel Conference

The first ever Gigapixel workshop will include some very fascinating workshops by some very amazing people. xRez Studio, headed by Eric Hansen and Greg Downing, is a creative imaging studio pioneering new methods to capture and convey natural, urban, and imagined landscapes, striving to educate, illuminate, and persuade. Eric Hansen, CEO, is also an Associate Professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Eric is a visual effects designer specializing in the creation of digital environments. Greg Downing, President, also teaches at Gnomon School for Visual Effects and has published professional training DVDs on photogrammetry and panoramic stitching. Greg specializes in image-based 3D technologies and computational photography techniques.

On Friday, November 12th, Eric and Greg will lead a hands-on workshop called On-Site Data Acquisition Technique. Participants will learn common techniques used in the feature film visual effects field to acquire information from real-life locations that will later be the basis of 3d reconstructions for visual communication or study. The focus will be on photographic techniques, such as HDRI capture, gigapixel panoramic background photography, photogrammetry for set reconstruction, and polynomial texture mapping for cultural heritage artifacts. Site survey techniques and the recording of lens information and distortion will be demonstrated as well as a brand new technique for 3d point cloud data capture based on Microsoft Photosynth software.

Sound exciting? We think so too. Sign-up to join us at the Fine International Conference on Gigapixel Imaging for Science. It is not too late to register: www.gigapixelscience.org

13 September 2010

Last day for early registration

$200 for three amazing days of Gigapixel Imaging -- you've still got time for early registration. Keynote speakers from National Geographic, Google and NASA. Don't miss this groundbreaking event. www.gigapixelscience.org

Fine Fellow Profile: Pascal Lee

MJ noticed this weekend the Dr. Pascal Lee, a Fine Fellow, planetary scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA, the Principal Investigator of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) and co-founder and chairman of the Mars Institute, posted some cool photos from the Arctic.

The Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) isn an international interdisciplinary field research project centered on the scientific study of the Haughton impact structure and surrounding terrain, Devon Island, High Artctic, viewed as a terrestrial analog for Mars.

Last October, Dr. Lee was a Fine Fellow and received training on using a GigaPan. CHeck out some of his recently posted GigaPans from the HMP:

10 September 2010

Profiled: 2009 Fine Fellow Christopher Hoadley


Christopher Hoadley, Associate Professor of Educational Technology at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development is also the Director of dolcelab, the Laboratory for Design Of Learning, Collaboration & Experience. Prior to this appointment, Chris held a joint appointment at Penn State University between the College of Education's Learning and Performance Systems department and the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

At NYU, Chris designs, builds, and studies ways for computers to enhance collaboration and learning. Currently his research focuses on collaborative technologies and computer support for cooperative learning (CSCL). He is an affiliate scholar for the National Academy of Engineering's Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education (CASEE) and was awarded a Fulbright for 2008-2009 in the South Asia Regional program to study educational technologies for sustainability and empowerment in rural Himalayan villages.

While at Penn State University, Chris, along with several other professors led The Mountain Project, a research, outreach, and educational project to help foster and study environmental education and sustainable living in the Himalayas. The Fulbright has enabled Chris to continue this work in Southeast Asia.

Using his GigaPan, Chris has captured some great shots of Kathmandu and India.

08 September 2010

A few Fine Fellows

This year, we welcome 26 new Fine Fellows to Pittsburgh. This will be the fourth class of fellows, who will receive a GigaPan, training on how to use the equipment and our special Gigapan Stitching software. This incredible program is supported by the Fine Foundation and brings scientists and researchers from all over the world together, requesting only that they use the GigaPan in their research and post their images at www.gigapan.org

This year we welcome, among others:

Dr. Laurel Bestock Assistant Professor of Egyptology and Ancient Western Studies, Brown University. Dr Bestock led the inaugural excavation season of the Brown University Abydos Project (BUAP). Abydos, located in southern Egypt, is central to scholars’ attempts to unravel the early history of Egypt.

Dr. Faysal Bibi Postdoctoral Fellow, Institut International de Paléoprimatologie, Université de Poitiers. Faysal Bibi recently completed a PhD in Geology and Geophysics at Yale University and is at the start of a two-year postdoc at the Université de Poitiers, France. His research interests focus on the evolution of mammals in the Neogene, particularly bovids. He has worked in Mongolia, Turkey, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Raymond S. Bradley University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences and Director of the Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr Bradley's interests lie in climate variability across a wide range of time scales. He is particularly interested in how present day climate differs from climates in the past, and what may have caused climates to change and has written or edited eleven books on climatic change and paleoclimatology and authored over 120 articles on these topics.


Gigapixel advanced registration - September 13 deadline

With Labor Day just behind us, we are squarely set into fall. Which means that the FIRST Fine International Gigapixel Conference is coming soon! November 11th, to be precise. So while many of you are leaving behind fond summer memories and kicking off new semesters, don't forget to take advantage of the early registration rate of $200, with the rate rising to $250 after Monday, September 13th. You can find all of the registration details here

The conference is packed with really exciting workshops, speakers, panels and an opportunity to learn from and meet with a lot of really great people. On opening night, we have a keynote from Mark Bauman of the National Geographic Society followed by a reception at the Carnegie Museum featuring selected gigapixel images.

We hope you will join us!

03 September 2010

New Fine Fellows

We can't wait to meet our new class of Fine Fellows to arrive on November 10th. With a no-strings-attached approach, participants in this program have the freedom to discover new and useful ways to use GigaPan technology that those outside their field might never consider. We will equip and train renowned leaders in a variety of fields to use the GigaPan system. These scientists will then be set loose to bring their own scientific, critical and creative eyes to bear, applying the technology to their field of specialization.

To see how some of our fellows have put their cameras to us, check out these profiles:

Christopher Davis
, a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, worked with local archaeology students in Brazil as he tries to unlock the mysteries held in ancient archaeoastronomical rock art in Brazil's Amazonian Monte Alegre hills. Chris will return this year to present his work and lead a workshop.

Matt Lamanna
, is the Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and lead dinosaur paleontologist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. He has used his GigaPan to capture a fossil excavation in the Changma Basin of northwestern Gansu Province, China.



02 September 2010

Fine Fellow Lisa McKeon, USGS NOROCK

This summer, we've been noticing a lot of awesome GigaPan images of Glacier National Park, taken by Fine Fellow Lisa McKeon. McKeon, a physical scientist at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) specializes in repeat photography, graphics, and data management. She has witnessed Glacier National Park's glaciers recede and is involved in deciphering how mountain ecosystems respond to climate change.



Recently, her work has focused on providing scientific understanding and resources to the public, directly or through the NOROCK website. Whether taking precision measurements of glacier margins or creating a useful website, it has been a pleasure to assist with efforts to increase our understanding of the effects of climate change in this beautiful corner of the world. Check out all of Lisa's GigaPan captures.

01 September 2010

Twitter

Follow-us, tweet with us, and let us retweet your tweets! It's a win-win scenario. http://twitter.com/FOFSgigapan