FreeNerd

For some time I’ve been wanting to reorganize my room to somehow balance out the height differences between my pieces of furniture - I have a pretty tall work desk whereas the rest of the furniture is very low - so I decided to lower my work desk a bit but didn’t actually do anything about it for a number of weeks.

So today I decided I should try out alternative sitting postures by the computer that would work well with my lowered desktop, standing around a forearm’s length from the ground. After some googling on alternative sitting postures by the computer I found that people don’t seem to experiment much with alternative sitting postures since I found nothing of value. At one point when I had moved to a new apartment I had sat with my computer and screen on the floor with my legs crossed(tailor style, agura), but quickly found that it put a lot of strain on the back and made more challenging computer use (such as playing games) difficult. I concluded I needed to experiment with different postures, and that is what this entry is about. I will keep updating it when(and if) I make new discoveries.

Some specifics on my desk: It is a wooden panel about 3cm thick with a working area of about 100 cm x 150 cm. It is currently supported by two computer cases both measuring 42,5cm in height. Computer cases were simply what I had lying around with roughly correct height and enough surface (and sturdyness) to keep the desk stable. I keep my 22″ widescreen monitor about 50cm from the front edge of my desk, my keyboard being very close to the edge.

Experiment #1 - seiza

My first idea was to employ a posture I had become familiar with through pranayama-yoga; the vajrasana or “diamond” posture, very similar to the Japanese seiza. Having built a small kneeling chair around a around a year ago, I was eager to try out the posture in computer use. I quickly learned I needed something softer than the hard floor beneath me, so I put a cloth underneath to add comfort.

Pros

• It prevents you from slouching forward (the usual keyboard posture)
• You might be able to concentrate on the task at hand due to good posture
• Eating is comfortable in this position as long as the table is of proper height
• Your upper body is somewhat free to move around

Cons

• Unless you are accustomed to the posture (like the Japanese), you will experience
  • Poor blood circulation in the legs
  • The accompanied pain and numbness
  • Problems getting up and possible danger to joints due to standing on numb limbs
  • Takes time to get used to
• The feet are hard to get into a comfortable position
• Isn’t easily upheld for long periods without practice

Experiment #2 - agura

My second idea which developed quite quickly after sitting in position #1 for about an hour or so, was to sit on the kneeling chair in a tailor (Japanese agura) position. This is pretty comfortable to me and I can imagine varying between the agura and seiza positions. The chair might help those who have problems sitting in the tailor position on the floor. If necessary, the legs can be stretched out to assist circulation.

Pros

• Easily attained, familiar to most
• Comfortable even for longer periods
• Upper body is somewhat free to move around, but not as much as in seiza due to different balance

Cons

• Easily turns into slouching
• Might contribute to back pain, just like sitting in an office chair

Update:

After sitting in these positions for an evening, I no longer even think about that I’m practically sitting on the floor. I’m amazed by how quickly I’ve gotten used to this.

Experiment #3 - on my back

I’ve wanted to experiment with using a computer while lying on my back for some time, so this was a natural next step, albeit a bit radical compared to the previous ones. Since I had no possibility (,material, or time) to construct a proper framework to somehow elevate a monitor above me while I lie beneath it, I took one of my laptop computers and opened it into a regular working angle, around 100 degrees and slid it (the keyboard vertically) into a box of some weight (to prevent the thing from tipping over, onto my head) which I placed on my desk under which I laid myself with some pillows producing a “futon” of sort.

So now I have the possibility of trying out what it’s like, although the construction is very unpolished and much could be made better. Some discoveries I made:

• Looking at a computer display while lying down is pretty different from sitting at a desk because you can’t move or turn your head around much. This in turn implies that you will have to move your eyes much more to look at the different parts of the screen.
• You will focus much more on a certain part of the screen, for eg. the center, which means you will either have to have a smaller screen (size relative to your effective FOV) to minimize the need to move around your eyes all the time, or use a user interface designed from a centric perspective, ie. one that you are able to use without really moving your eyes much. I realized this is the same issue you face when you design user interfaces to be used with video goggles, in which the point is missed if you have to move your eyes away from the natural direction to look, straight ahead.
• If you lie on a futon of sorts like I now do, you will want it to be sloped in a very small angle so that you will be looking very close to straight up into the roof. If you slope it in a larger angle, like you usually do with lounge chairs, your neck will become tense and tired, and will be drawn to slouch downward, causing discomfort.
• It is important to be able to adjust the angle, position and distance of the screen to suit the individuals needs. This calls for some sort of adjustable rack for the monitor, fastened on a wall or in the roof.
• The positioning of the keyboard is challenging. I held my keyboard in my lap which worked pretty well, but some sort of adjustable platform would be better. One way would be to have the keyboard roughly vertical above your groin, which would allow sufficient hand movement without too much strain.
• A regular mouse is pretty much out of question. A touchpad large enough for proper desktop use should suffice, meaning somewhat larger than the usual laptop sizes. A touch screen could be a nice extra but can’t be used exclusively.
• Using a computer in this position is quite comfortable given that you address the above issues. I might imagine falling asleep by mistake simply due to the comfort.

Tänä vuonna päätin vuoden tai parin tauon jälkeen taas käydä ropeconissa ja yllätyin puheohjelmien ja työpajojen mielenkiintoisuudesta - itse kun en ole mikään pöytäroolipelien, figujen tai larppauksen hc-harrastaja. Päätinpä sitten ottaa puheohjelmista kaiken irti mikä irtosi.

Ropeconinvierailuni aloitin perjantaina tilaisuudella “Pelisunnittelijaksi kahdessa tunnissa” - esitelmä joka kävi läpi yleisen pelisuunnittelun teorian alkeita. Näin pelinsuunnittelua hieman tyhjää enemmän pohtineena olisin kenties halunnut syvällisempää analyysiä siitä, miten pelistä saadaan mielenkiintoinen ja miten eri valintatapahtumia voisi varioida niin, että kokonaisuudesta tulee koukuttava. Arvelen että esitelmä kuitenkin oli hyödyllinen niille, joille pelisuunnittelu on uusi asia. Perjantainen vierailuni rajoittui tähän esitelmään johtuen kiireisyydestä illemmalla.

Lauantaina eksyin Bilekuosi-pelin tekijöiden esitelmään. Sopivan pieni yleisö (josta varmaan merkittävä osa oli pelin tekijöiden lähipiiriä) loi saliin mukavan vapaan ilmapiirin ja seuraavat kaksi tuntia olivatkin runsaalla huumorilla höystettyjä. Ensin vilkaistiin korttipelien suunnittelu- ja toteutusprosesseja ja toisena tuntina syvennyimme itse Bilekuosi-pelin historiaan ja saloihin.

Olin kauan harkinnut osallistumista johonkin yläsävellaulutyöpajaan mutta ei vain ollut tullut tehtyä. Teinpä siis sääntöön poikkeuksen ja hyppäsin mukaan ropeconissa järjestettävään kun kerran tilaisuus tarjoutui eikä ollut muutakaan tekemistä. Hieman tuvalaista kurkkulaulua omatoimisesti harjoitelleena tilaisuus ei sinällään tuonut minulle mitään uutta, mutta oli hyvä saada livenä joltain asiaa enemmän harrastaneelta verifikaatio perustekniikoista. Oli myös ilo huomata miten moni ensikertalainen onnistui saamaan jonkuntasoisia yläsäveliä ja välillä meillä oli oikein hieno harmonia salissa johon kaikki omalla tavallaan osallistuivat. Työpaja jätti hyvän mielen ja uuden innon kokeilla asioita.

Laulutyöpajan jälkeen ryntäsin ystäväni Kaj Sotalan pitämään esitelmään nanoteknologiasta. Onnekseni istahdin saliin jo noin varttia vaille, sillä pieni Klondyke-sali täytti pian ääriään myöten eivätkä kaikki halukkaat mahtuneet mukaan. Esitelmä alkoi nopealla nanoteknologiakäsitteen historiikilla, minkä jälkeen tutustuttiin tarkemmin eri nanoteknologian alojen saavutuksista ja ongelmista. Kvasitieteellisen intron jälkeen päädyttiinkin esitelmän huippukohtaan eli implikaatioista spekulointiin, jossa Sotalan ja yleisön huumori yhdessä loi saliin hyvän tunnelman ja lopuksi Kaj sai valtaisat aplodit.

Puoli kahdeksalta alkava Gaala kuului varmaan monen kävijän must:eihin joten päätin käydä katsomassa. Aluksi saimme nauttia kolmen LARPin pukunäytöksistä, minkä jälkeen saimme lyhyen muotinäytöksen spekulatiivisesta tulevaisuusmuodista. Tulevaisuuspuvut olivat näyttäviä mutta valitettavan tyypillisiä hieman riisuttuja cybergoth-asusteita. Yllätykseni saimme lopuksi nähdä larppauksesta kertovan musikaalin joka keräsi suuret aplodit yleisöltä sekä näyttelijöiden esitystaidoilla että huumorilla.

Tässä vaiheessa minulla ei enää ollut selkeätä suunnitelmaa mihin osallistuisin, mutta jostain aivoihini päätyi tieto climatepunk-työpajasta salissa 25. Tulin paikalle kymmenisen minuuttia myöhässä mutta salissa ei ollutkaan muuta kuin yleisö. Hetken odoteltuamme järjestäjää eräs aloittelijas yleisön jäsen päätti lähteä vetämään hommaa ja hetken kuluttua olimme muodostaneet piirin huoneen nurkkaan jossa puimme eri abstraktiotasojen ideointia climatepunkista. Noin kaksi tuntia kestänyt keskustelu oli mielenkiintoista ja eri henkilöt toivat asiaan eri näkökulmia joilla saimme taas uusia ideoita. Mitään järjestäjää ei koskaan saapunut paikalle, mutta työpajasta tuli kuitenkin menestys ja se taisi olla minulle lauantain kohokohta.

Lauantain päätteeksi livahdin puolessavälissä olevaan “Planeettojen suunnittelu, best of“-esitelmään jossa tehtiin varsin mielenkiintoista läpikäyntiä m.m. kulttuurien synnystä ja tuhosta. Esitelmöijien asiantuntevuus ja intertekstuaalisuudella leikkiminen teki esitelmästä varsin hauskan ja kevyenoloisen, vaikka olin odottanut enemmän kalseita graafeja planeettasuunnittelusta.

July 16th - Italy to require fingerprints of all citizens

Apparently presented as a countermeasure against immigrants skipping school, the parliamentary council proposes that by 2010 compulsory fingerprinting of all citizens would begin.

July 16th - European Commission extends copyright term from 50 to 95 years

It was argued that this would benefit performing artists whose copyrights would expire in their late age. How many artists making music in their 20’s are expected to live for 115-125 years? Come on. The only reason for extension of copyright terms past a few tens of years is for right holders separate from the artists to be able to collect revenues from vintage pieces of culture that by all principles of encouraging creativity should be put in the public domain.

July 9th - Finnish Police wants to store all citizens’ fingerprints in database

Finland’s new police commissioner Mikko Paateri told paper he wants all passport fingerprints stored in a central database for use in ‘pre-emptive prevention of crime’.

July 9th - European Parliament Conservatives and Socialists make forming new political groups more difficult

This amendment to the criteria for forming new political groups faced wide opposition, and was in effect opposed by all the other groups. Instead of 20 MEPs from 5 countries, forming of new political groups now requires 25 MEPs from 7 countries.

July 4th - European Union rushes amendments to allow governments to criminalize all but ‘allowed’ software

Copyright lobby groups get criticized for pushing ‘Soviet Internet’ propositions.

July 1st - US Homeland Security interested in deploying “taser” bracelets on humans

US Department of Homeland Security has expressed great interest in a so-called ’safety’ bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. Plans are to initially deploy them on airline passengers and prisoners. What is it about this statement that makes me draw a parallel between passengers and prisoners?…

June 24th - MPAA wants piracy suspects charged without evidence of crime

Motion Picture Association of America lawyer Marie van Uitert states finding evidence of copyright infringement is hard, and that no evidence therefore be needed. From a legal perspective, this means that the MPAA wants to entirely skip the Corpus delicti, essentially being granted a legal position above that of any justice system.

June 18th - Sweden adopts law allowing warrantless wiretapping of all telecommunication

The law faced extreme opposition from the public, essentially revealing the gap in opinion between the ruling parties and the people. The government argued the law was required to secure Swedish soldiers in Afghanistan - only to admit a few days after the law was passed that the motive is to spy on Russia, probably for the US with which Sweden recently agreed on to share critical information.