The Glass Engine
The Glass Engine represents a very interesting new approach
to searching and interacting with information. (Note: unfortunately it requires Microsoft Internet Explorer).
I suspect you will be as impressed as I was when you see this remarkable
technology prototype. It was developed by Mark Podlaseck at IBM's
Hawthorne, New York Research
Laboratory. The project started when Philip Glass, the composer,
asked what his catalog of music might look like online. Mark thought
the music should be an integral part of the navigation experience,
like it is when "surfing" the radio or television. He wanted to be
immersed in the sound of it, making micro-decisions about whether
he liked something or not as opposed to making arbitrary, uninformed
decisions about whether he wanted to hear chamber music or film soundtracks,
or Symphony #1, #2, #3, #4, or #5. (read more)
Mark, explains that "radio and TV arrange their content along not
very useful spectrums". What would be a meaningful spectrum for us
to use; title? date? mood? At some point, we could end up using all
the attributes we can think of as what Mark calls "interconnected
spectra". This makes the catalog extremely porous, enabling you to
insert yourself into the catalog just about anywhere and to express
and explore the many characteristics of the content.
As a result of IBM's early studies, it became evident that would-be
power users wanted to interactively refine or personalize their view
of the catalog and as a result they made the endpoints of each attribute
adjustable. This makes very complex queries possible.
The potential of this technology goes beyond music. Potential applications
and collaborations for the Glass Engine being considered include:
Using the glass engine to navigate artifacts in IBM's egyptian culture
project
Developing a prototype navigator with the CIA for their World
Factbook
Same thing with Frans Lanting,
the National Geographic photographer and about 2000 of his photographs
Here is some of the early feedback about the Glass Engine......
Some are saying that the Glass Engine is nothing short of genius.
It clearly could be the missing link in content management as currently
applied in the world today. There is a lot of good technology around
but the point at which it inevitably breaks down is se arch_and_browse.
According to David Walske, Information Architect, Glass Engine answers
this problem with simple elegance of design and function that allows
the user to interact with the content - not the UI - in a way that
is so natural to the human thought process that the se arch_browse
tool seems to disappear, gracefully acquiescing to the content itself.
Your Web site (http://www.philipglass.com/glassengine/index.htm)
was selected as a Hot Site in today's edition of USATODAY.com a free
and highly popular news service on the World Wide Web.
"This is the best site I ever saw."
"I have just visited The Glass Engine website, and I have to say it
is one of the most innovative sites I have ever seen. I hope you will
use this site to promote other artists."
"Breathtaking"
"The results are very impressive! Beautiful presentation! Awesome!"
From Yahoo! Picks...
March 15, 2002
IBM Glass Engine
Minimalist composer Philip Glass inspired the brilliant minds at IBM
to create this labor of love. The beautifully designed Glass Engine
allows users to immerse themselves in the composer's work. Use an
innovative Java application to select music by title, year, type of
work, or length. If that doesn't grab you, sort tunes based on subjective
emotions such as joy and sorrow. Lighting the way is an elegant system
of sliding bars.
Navigation can be a little tricky -- we recommend reading the instructions.
Once you've mastered the controls, a full sonic exploration awaits.
(in Music)
IBM Glass Engine (Yahoo) - enables deep navigation of the music of
Philip Glass. Personal interests, associations, and impulses guide
the listener through an expanding selection of over sixty Glass works.
(featured in Mar 2002)
"What a brilliant idea! As someone who is at a computer all day -
every day and as someone who enjoys music while working and playing,
I appreciate this site."
"Ever since the demise of Napster I've been searching for a site that
stores music, and provides it for the listening audience. I don't
care so much about downloading or "bootlegging" music as much as I
do finding something worth listening too over a long period of time.
I usually spend 10-12 hours a day at a terminal working and playing
and studying so having a site that runs independent of swapping CD's
is wonderful.
Whenever I found a song on Napster I liked I usually tracked down
the CD at my local music store so downloading isn't a big thing for
me."
"This is certainly interesting, and I'd like to see more sites with
this option. Again, thank you for making this site available. "
"The Glass Engine is a remarkable site"
"I honestly think that the Glass Engine is THE best thing on the web."