So far, we’ve cut, stump-treated (Garlon4), brush-piled and burned about 3 acres of a solid invasive buckthorn / honeysuckle thicket directly north of the house.  A monumental PITA, but good exercise (except when the mosquitoes almost carried me away, and the bees nearly killed me..).  After clearing these areas, they need to be monitored for a year or two in order to be sure the really obnoxious stuff is under control.  This fall, about an acre of it was ready for seeding, along with about 1/2 acre of lawn sod that I killed off a few months ago.

After cutting the invasive stuff out, I could just leave it alone and wait to see if any of the original natives come back from dormant seeds remaining in the soil.  In fact, a few small areas did rebound successfully.  I found aerials photos of our parcel from 1938, 1968, 1976, and 2009, and I can see that it hasn’t been more than 40 years since the brush really got the upper hand.  Yet, the majority of space I cleared rapidly reverted to all manner of non-natives and aggressive natives, so I decided to be a little more proactive.

This fall, we purchased a big batch of seeds from Agrecol, and were also given a generous bunch from Goose Pond Audubon Sanctuary for helping out with their seed collecting activities this fall.  We focused exclusively on seeding local genotypes, or known native ‘indicator species’ for our local area and site characteristics (based on various works published by Curtis, Pruka and Bader), then divided the seeds up based on size of plot, soil type and canopy opening percentage, and seeded the areas that were ready.

The seed batches were mixed with sawdust to help with even distribution, and we spread the seeds on snow during the second week of December.  The idea is that the winter’s freeze/thaw cycle pulls the seeds down into the soil just enough to encourage germination.

Next summer, I’ll keep all of the seeded areas trimmed to 6″ or less (probably 3 or 4 trimmings), since the ‘good’ seedlings I want to encourage will be putting all of their energy into their root system during the first year.  Anything taller than 6″ is probably a weed (or can survive getting trimmed), and keeping it mowed should help prevent it from going to seed, which gives the native sprouts a head start.  The following year, I’ll mow it to the ground in spring, then might end up keeping it mowed below 12″ depending on how it’s looking.  Thereafter, I’ll let it grow, and start ‘editing’ as required until the natives can hold their own.  The next spring, I’ll mow it to the ground again, and in following years, I’ll cut the areas with a rented walk-behind brush hog every 2 or 3 years to keep the trees and brush out.  I am all but certain that I will never be able to do any prescribed burning here, since the site is so inaccessible, and neighbors are close by – but I might rake the thatch occasionally.  I’ll cross that bridge if/when I get there.

That’s the plan anyway…  we’re definitely making lots of mistakes along the way, but we’re also learning a LOT and having lots of fun.

This should all look *really* sharp in a decade or two!

Here are a few of my most frequently visited sources of information and inspiration:

Tom’s Blog (Pleasant Valley Conservancy) – an absolutely invaluable resource:  http://pvcblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/nice-photo-set-from-pleasant-valley.html

Helping collect seed at Goose Pond Sanctuary (Aububon Society) has been a great experience, and I have already learned so much from these guys: http://madisonaudubon.org/audubon/directions/goosepond.htm

Woodland Dunes Nature Center – check out their new prairie!

Digging in the Driftless: http://digginginthedriftless.wordpress.com/

The Prairie Enthusiasts: http://www.theprairieenthusiasts.org/

UW Arboretum: http://uwarboretum.org/

A Prairie Haven: http://www.aprairiehaven.com/

Native Plants of Wisconsin: http://www.amazon.com/Landscaping-Native-Plants-Wisconsin-Steiner/dp/0760329699

Vegetation of Wisconsin: http://amzn.to/emBjbA

Prairie Nursery: http://www.prairienursery.com/store/

Prairie Moon Nursery (I ordered quite a few seeds from here):  http://www.prairiemoon.com/

Agrecol: http://www.agrecol.com/

One Straw (who presents a very compelling argument for turning invasives into energy via hot-water middens – harnessing the heat of composting –  instead of burning brush piles.  If his experiment works this year, I might just build my own next year)   http://onestraw.wordpress.com/

I love Madison, but there are those moments when very vivid, brief and fleeting memories of our time in Berkeley come to mind, and I would give anything to be there again – if only for a brief visit.

I think its the architectural character of the Berkeley hills that I miss the most – being able to walk through those amazing neighborhoods was definitely a highlight of the Berkeley experience.  Though Madison may sometimes be referred to as the ‘Berkeley of the midwest,’ the residential character of Madison is a far cry from the seemingly endless, meandering, and often breath-taking quality of the Berkeley hills.  Maybe its age, maybe its fiscal, maybe its the climate, or maybe the grass is always greener – but whatever the case, the residential fabric of Berkeley is something to aspire to.

To be fair, there are certainly bits and pieces of Madison’s near-west and near-east sides that share some neighborhood quality in common with Berkeley, yet the biggest difference is not just the old Berkeley, but moreso in the way that newer modern architecture is folded into and around the city.  We certainly have our share of contemporary residences in Madison, but they’re usually an anomaly and tend to stand out like a sore thumb (which is often the goal – consciously or otherwise).  What I respected most about the ‘nouveau Berkeley’ homes was their ability to seamlessly fit in with the fabric of the older homes, even though the architectural style may be radically different from the neighboring context.

I also enjoyed the walkability of  the Berkeley hills – and the fact that you could get lost there – wandering up some steep, curvy side street that opened into a tiny neighborhood park.  Wandering through the park, you notice a tiny staircase leading to another tier of the park with dappled light from a tree-lined boulevard featuring a series of gorgeous houses perched overlooking a deep valley with glimpses of the bay between the trees…. on and on it goes.

While the residential character of Berkeley wins big versus Madison, imho, I personally like Madison’s downtown experience quite a bit more.  I won’t compare Telegraph to State, but I never experienced a sense of urban ‘center’ in Berkeley the way I do in and around Madison’s capitol square.  There were smaller enclaves or sub-centers in Berkeley (Madison has those as well), but no singular, identifiable zone you could point to and say ‘this is Berkeley’ – the way you can in downtown Madison.  I’m not doing a very good job articulating this with words – and it might simply be that I didn’t visit the right places, but I find Madison’s downtown much more pleasant and identifiable – more of a sense of singular ‘place’ than I ever discovered in Berkeley.

I let my rambling thoughts turn what should have been a simple post into this meandering comparison – but all I meant to say was – even though it may be unseasonably warm (75 and sunny!) here in Madison, a Lanesplitter pizza, a tall glass of Jupiter IPA and a walk through the Berkeley hills would sure hit the spot right about now.

This really is an almost laughably simple experiment, but it was surprisingly effective.  I’ve always wanted to build some kind of ‘Outside-In’ technology (I wrote about it once before) to help bring some of the outdoors into my office when I can’t be outside, since I’m sure that regular doses of the outdoors helps improve my attention and cognition – and there appears to be ample scientific evidence to suggest that I’m not alone.  With so much attention paid by architects to visually bridge indoor and outdoor spaces, why not bridge them audibly as well?

Of course, nothing beats actually being outside whenever possible, but when I’m working, and its too cold to have the window open, its better than nothing.

The contraption I built this morning does a remarkably good job of bringing some of the flavor of the soundscape of my backyard into my office – even if only for background effect, and I’m really looking forward to listening in on the wilderness while I’m pushing prims in virtual reality.

The setup took about 45 seconds to build – and I was soon hearing a gentle breeze and about a dozen different bird species in my backyard singing through my computer speakers.  The experience left a strong impression of sitting outside in the backyard, and by using Cornell Lab of Ornithology‘s ‘Raven‘ software, I was even able to see a realtime sonogram of everything I heard.

Here is a pretty lame experiment with saving a sonogram, and its corresponding sound bite:

In subsequent phases of this experiment, I’m hoping to implement a more sensitive Pro4 PIP parabolic microphone, or a Sennheiser MKE 300 Microphone. However, my original goal has more to do with remote sensory (1k+ feet away)- and my concern is that these might be too expensive, require too much energy, or have too much wind interference.

The step after that would be to incorporate a realtime feed of both audio and sonogram into a virtual world like opensim or Second Life – mapped into a virtual replication of the real woodland site.

It would be interesting to see if a sonogram can be mapped into 3D somehow. It would also be interesting to find some others who might be willing to test audio equipment in another geographic region and compare the differences and similarities in bird song. Further still, it would be really fascinating to start mapping migration routes in the virtual space – toward a better visualization (with potential educational applications) of bird behavior and migration. Maybe even incorporate realtime NEXRAD feeds of migration arrivals and departures into the virtual model somehow. Here’s a quick study exploring what that might look like:

The possibilities are endless, but it all started with a $5 mic and a cooler we found in The Lake.

During President Obama’s historic speech at Cairo University in Egypt last June, he describe a vision to, “invest in online learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a young person in Kansas can communicate instantly with a young person in Cairo.”

If you’ve spent any time in a virtual world at all, you know that the ‘online network’ Obama described doesn’t need to be created, it already exists.  Students don’t merely use it to ‘communicate,’ as they would in a phone call or web conference, they are able to discover new cultures, make new friends, learn, and collaborate on a very deep level inside of an immersive environment where geography is completely irrelevant.

Visionaries like Dr. Amr Attia from Cairo’s Ain Shams University and California-based architect David Denton, have volunteered countless hours to organize this project, with modest support pledged from the United States Department of State to realize Obama’s ‘Kansas to Cairo’ vision – a project they first discussed at a panel hosted by the State Department last June (read more about this architectural panel held in Second Life on america.govor watch video coverage here).

Using Second Life, architecture students in Egypt and the U.S. are working together side by side, collaborating on design concepts inside the realtime, 3D, virtual world – even though they are physically located on opposite sides of the planet.  In the screenshot below, I am interviewing some of the students from Cairo, who proudly opened a variety of 3D models they had been working on, one after another, right before my eyes.  As we walked together through their design ideas, I realized that this moment was Saturday for me, Sunday for them, and we were 6,200 miles apart – yet sharing the same space, at the same time.  I felt sure that I was witnessing a phenomenon with world changing potential, and the students certainly agree.

One of the Egyptian architecture students, Mohammed Ahmed Alfiky, had this to say about it:

“This Second Life project is helping me make direct contact with other students of a different culture, a different architectural school and different way of thinking.  It will inspire me to make more effective designs, and critique my work from a different point of view.”

The U.S. Department of State has offered funding to bring several of the Egyptian students to the U.S. – a prospect that obviously has the students very excited.

During several visits to their space in Second Life, I have had the good fortune of talking with some incredibly bright and enthusiastic students from both Egypt and the U.S.   It is difficult to describe just how excited they are about this project – so I’ll borrow quotes directly from them so they can say it in their own words:

“Imagine all of this put together …. collaboration and group work on an international scale, dealing with a whole different culture , language and view of life.  Over and above getting to master the use of the virtual world as a tool to make your fantasies become a reality… I think this is what the Kansas to Cairo project offers us new ideas, new tools, and a better percetion of life and of future work in architecure and urban planning.” – Hebatullah Aly Ghali

“After working with 3DS Max for 5yrs , I found Second Life to be an easy new tool for architecture visualization, where I can represent myself, my work, my culture and my country.  In education, it helps anybody learn –  anytime, anywhere.  In general, Second Life is drawing a new future for exchanging, learning, collaborating, working and connecting people of all ages.”   – Sayed Abdul Mohsen

“I think Second Life is a great public participation tool as it is easy that anyone can use it .” -Amr Mohamed Abdelaal

“I think that Second Life is a platform for collaboration that breaks down cultural barriers and designing in it is a constructive path to narrow the division between eastern and western societies.” – Salma Muhammad.

Where other architectural educators await a safety net of case studies before they begin exploring virtual worlds in architectural education, here we can see pioneers at work in this space – demonstrating that there really is nothing to wait for.

As we witness a project that has achieved President Obama’s vision verbatim, it seems clear to me that this project deserves every bit of the same support and attention given to the multitude of other million-dollar programs described in similar speeches – yet the support has been relatively minimal thus far, amounting to travel stipends for a few students.  When I interviewed architect David Denton about the project, he expressed similar concerns.

“I’m enormously appreciative of the support that has been pledged, but I feel very strongly that this is a program that is of tremendous benefit, and that more resources should be made available to create an expanded ongoing program that would include many universities, in both the United States and in other countries around the world.”

I agree, and I can’t imagine why a project with so much potential wouldn’t be able to secure greater support.  David adds,

“I’m hoping to drum up support to get that funding increased.  Surely the Obama administration can find a way to be more supportive financially with the project that was announced in a major international speech in Cairo by the President.”

With no other visible projects on the table to carry Obama’s promise forward, I’m hopeful that they will be able to find the support they need to successfully complete this project, and send a message that this wasn’t an empty promise.  Even though this project has only just begun, it is easy to tell that it is already changing the lives and opening doors for many of the students involved with the project.  Virtual worlds offer a tremendous opportunity for cross-cultural, international collaboration between schools of architecture, and this program is definitely worth far greater support than it has achieved so far.

Obama concluded his famous Cairo speech with this thought that I think is particularly relevant here.

“I want to particularly say, to young people of every faith and every country: YOU of all people have the ability to re-imagine the world; to remake this world”.

Visit their virtual studio in Second Life sometime, and see a group of passionate students doing just that.

Please check out the new site for this blog (finally hosted at our own domain!):http://www.crescendodesign.com

Let us know what you think!

It is kind of disappointing that almost none of my virtual world work is local, though perhaps it doesn’t matter.  For example, I have tried every possible direction to engage University of Wisconsin-Madison in their virtual world work, but I can’t find a way in!  They’re right in my backyard, yet they’re outsourcing their work while I contract all over the world with other organizations who need the same kind of work.   I realized yesterday that by day’s end, I had spoken with people in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Amsterdam, India, Australia, Canada, and Egypt.  Skype, ftw!

Here’s what’s on the boards:

• Remedy: Metanomics event space – almost done!  Season kick-off will be with Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab, May 6th at 1:00 p.m. SLT (PST).  Here’s how it turned out.  Remedy was truly a dream team to work with!
• OpenSim education-related project, under NDA.  First draft conceptual design approved, next round presented first week of May.
• OpenSim training-related, not under NDA but private.  Tweaking layout, revising 1 of the buildings, polishing and completing the rest – first weeks of May.
• Studio Wikitecture:  getting closer to the Joint Development Agreement with i3D, looking at the earliest proof-of-concepts for version 2.0 of the 3D-Wiki tool (the Wiki-Tree).  Preparing a big pitch to deliver late May.  Looking for programmers to help us support the first version Wiki-tree – JIC we get a new project to use it on.
• The ARCH Network : new site (finally!) completed, adding land rentals and training as a core offering.  starting to market the new site.
• Virtual Project Spaces: land rentals for architects and AEC-industry professionals.  the spaces in Second Life are booked, so I’m thinking of adding a new simulator.  Adding new sims powered by Visibuild on the new Architecture grid, and starting to rent parcels out to firms and educators who want an early start in a great new technology (import 3D models, finally!)
• University of Alabama: ongoing consulting/retainer – importing campus icons from SketchUp into the architecture grid.  Added chimes sound and a new sign for Denny Chimes (click to play the chimes).  Took some new screenshots yesterday.  Signing up for a new summer retainer, and seeking grants for summer work.
• Responding to 3 inquiries from architecture schools re: teaching in virtual worlds.  1 is on board, 1 is getting closer, 1 is getting farther.
• Building a hub for the architecture groups in both Second Life and the architecture grid.  Hope to be having a meeting 2nd week of May.
• New addition project to a Victorian home near downtown Madison starting construction June 1st!  These were some of the coolest clients I’ve ever worked with.
• New home design west of Madison (hopefully) starting construction early June.  Another great client – turning from clients into friends.
• Thinking about having a booth at MREA this year, but not sure it is worth it in this economy.

Lucy:  Are you kidding?  I’ll stick to Second Life thanks.

Bob: Heck yeah, this new thing they can do in First Life called ‘shaking hands’ is going to be a real game changer.

Jim: But I’ve seen what they do in these First Life meetings.  They all sit there drinking coffee, staring at their laptop screens.  What’s the point?  It can’t be productive…

Lucy:  *slaps forehead*  What is this world coming to?  I suppose they spend ‘real’ money on these so-called ‘real’ buildings for these meetings in First Life too?

Bob: They sure do, and they’re expensive!  But, totally worth it.. this is the FUTURE!  Stop being so old school.  They can pick whatever color brick they want on the exterior.  This is the FUTURE guys…wake up!

Lucy: You mean they pay more than the $300 a month we pay for our virtual office?

Jim: pfft, they pay that just for electricity!  The buildings cost hundreds of thousands – heck, millions of dollars!  How can they be profitable?

Bob: You guys don’t get it… you can shake hands  in First Life, and look someone right in the eyes!   This is going to have tremendous and far reaching potential.

Lucy: Ok fine, let me play the devil’s advocate here.  What if I live in a suburb 30 minutes from my office?  How do I work with other employees in these ‘First Life’ places?

Bob: Its totally easy, you get into a car and drive there!

Lucy: They can’t teleport to any kind of environment or worplace they can imagine?

Bob:  Bahahah.  You’re thinking like such a dinosaur.

Jim: Drive to an office and back, every single day?  1 hour in a car each day?  That’s a lot of hours a year…  I’d rather spend that time with my family and friends.

Bob: You can call them on your cell phone while you drive!  That’s the price of innovation guys.  Get with it.

Lucy: How do they visualize 3D information?  Can they create anything imaginable with the click of a button like we can here?

Bob:  Who needs all those confusing extra dimensions?  They take all that tricky information and make it 2-dimensional.

Jim: 2D?!?

Bob: Yeah, then they turn off all the lights in the room and project these images and words – mostly words, actually – onto a screen.  They call it ‘Power Point.’

Lucy: omfg

Jim: Wow, these *First Life* places must be absolutely spectacular in order to warrant such great time and expense

Bob: Well, they’re mostly gray and white.  The meeting rooms are these big empty spaces with a table and a projector.  But sometimes they have groovy pictures on the wall, with a flower in a vase in the middle of the table… well, not always, but sometimes!  Plus, everyone gets their own cubicle!

Lucy: and people actually get real work done in these places?

Bob: You betcha.

Jim: What do they do at their cubicles?

Bob: They sit at computers.

Jim: All day?

Bob: Yeah, most of the day.

Jim: So, how is that different from accessing Second Life?

Bob: We can shake hands, Jim.  And here’s where it gets really interesting..  if I fidget with my hands, you can ‘read’ that signal and make business decisions based on that body movement!

Lucy: How many fingers am I holding up, Bob?

Bob: Very funny.

Jim:  So, when they attend conferences or larger meetings, how do they do any networking if they don’t have profiles to click on?

Bob: They shake hands!   Duh.  That’s where the real magic is.  Then, they give each other what they call a ‘business card’.  They then take those cards back to their cubicles and look each other up on the web, and send each other emails.  Priceless.

Jim:  We can communicate much more efficiently here, it seems.  They can’t just send each other messages, or share references, or have a group chat with a few like-minded people during the conference?

Lucy: No way.  I’ve seen these so-called *First Life* conferences.  Most of them sit at their laptops, or texting on their iphones or Blackberries the whole time anyway.  You should see them clamoring around these wireless stations sitting on bean-bag chairs.  What’s the point?

Bob:  I’m just saying, First Life is the way of the future for business collaboration.  You can get started now, or be left in the dust.  You decide.

Jim: I’ll stick with my Second Life, thanks

Bob: Fine Jim, you dinosaur, but if you were in First Life today, you would have noticed that I wore a different color tie today.  I can be so expressive in First Life!  That’s the kind of magic I’m talking about.

Lucy:  You must be kidding?

Bob:  This tie is BLUE, Lucy… you can learn a lot about me when you think about why I wore a blue tie today…

Lucy: Right.

Jim: I rest my case.

http://charterforcompassion.com/

“By recognizing that the Golden Rule is fundamental to all world religions, the Charter for Compassion can inspire people to think differently about religion. This Charter is being created in a collaborative project by people from all over the world. It will be completed in 2009. Use this site to offer language you’d like to see included. Or inspire others by sharing your own story of compassion.”

“Over the next four weeks, everyone is invited to help write the Charter for Compassion. Please choose the active phase below, read the description, be inspired by the sample text, and share your own words or suggestions for that section of the Charter.”

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