jonbritton's blog
Tosh and I will be standing next to some robots we've made, who will in turn present their skills to the world, at Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences on February 23. 
Expect some underwater research vessels, and autonomous battle-bot-protester with realtime crowd-analysis and targetting, and something that'll react to precisely how drunk you don't know you are.
Come have a drink and enjoy lively debate with some new robot friends.
This week, November 5th, I'll be working with Tosh Chiang to lead two workshops at the California Academy of Sciences' Educator's Extravaganza, 
highlighting interesting ways educators can employ electronics, engineering and applied science to engage students in their classrooms and lecture halls. This full-day event is free to teachers, and has received a tremendous response already. Please RSVP, and expect to be sent home with some interesting toys!
As part of the Bay Area Science Festival, Bart Bernhardt of Nerd Nite fame will be hosting Nerd Speed Dating on November 4th, during the science pub crawl. I'll be giving a very short talk on the electronics and mechanical history of vibrators, from steam and wind-up to high-voltage, and doing my best to make it not-creepy while you people meet cute nerds of varying genders.
On November 3rd, I'll be taking part in a series of IGNITE talks, presenting, "Human-Computer Interactivity and Engineering the Cyberpunk Future. The synopsis: Poking keyboards and wiggling mice was fine for its time, but the future of Human-Computer Interaction will enhance lives invisibly and tangibly. Highlighting a variety of sensors already in Academy exhibits, and previews of some that will control next year’s, Jon Britton will examine the weird and frequently unnatural relationships between people and data. "
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I'll be presenting my Microsoft Kinect powered interface to World Wide Telescope at Nightlife on September 29th at the California Academy of Sciences. The theme of the night is Microsoft Research and uses of its products at the Academy. There will be live tours of the Earth, satellite and rover data, DJ's, booze, and you can fly through the known Universe using Minority Report style gestures, throw a planet, and possibly control an animatronic mimic-bot.
Warning: commanding the Universe after a few cocktails can induce being awesome. And vomitting. Win a date with me if you can find the easter-egg in our solar system.
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The Academy of Sciences is opening the "Summer of Slither: Snakes and Lizards" exhibit to the public for the rest of the summer. In addition to having live animals and other artifacts on display, I've designed an interactive, thermographic IR camera display helping visitors understand some snakes' "heat sensing" vision. More features and interactivity will be added later.
I'll be talking about life, the Universe and everything at San Francisco Nerd Nite on Wednesday, March 16th. Be sure to RSVP here, (though it isn't mandatory.) Nerd Nite had this to say:
The Coolest A/V Club in the Universe: Science Visualization at the California Academy of Sciences
What happens when A/V geeks grow up? The Morrison Planetarium. Boasting the largest all-digital dome in the world, state-of-the-art projection and software, and the finest scientific minds—and best data—at its disposal, the California Academy of Sciences has some pretty awesome ways of educating the public. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the new Academy’s immersive theaters, digital exhibits, and production pipeline, as we take a whirlwind tour of the known universe.
Jon Britton is Senior Systems Engineer and Production Engineering Manager of Electronics Engineering and Science Visualization at the California Academy of Sciences, and still actively trying to figure out what, exactly, that means.
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I'm presenting alongside Chris Woodfield, Sr Network Engineer at Yahoo, and Alex Handy, director of the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment.
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We'll be presenting the Science of Sound at the Nightlife event at the California Academy of Sciences, in Africa Hall. I'll be explaining, playing, and letting you rock out on my theremins, and possibly demoing sound visualization software based off the line out of the instruments. We'll also have oscilloscopes, an optical theremin, a function generator and a laundry list of things to play with and talk about -- it's about as hands-on as one can get with a theremin. 
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We're in the final stages of production for Life: A Cosmic Story, a new full-dome film at the Morrison Planetarium. 
Narrated by Jodie Foster (with some scientific sign-off from Jill Tarter herself,) and using a 13.1 space-mapped audio profile, Life will explore the origins of life on Earth, the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe and the human influence on our environment. The show opens the first week of November at the California Academy of Sciences.
Check the trailer here: http://video.calacademy.org/details/278
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I'll be riding in the tenth anniversary ride of AIDS/Lifecycle, a 580-something mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles raising money for both the victims of HIV and social programs to prevent its further spread. Proceeds benefit the SFAF and the LA LGBT Center/ Please donate what you can, by visiting this link.
The Morrison Planetarium is featured in Wired Magazine, here:
http://www.wired.com/video/planetarium-tech-beyond-the-infinite/1813637559.
It's an interesting video despite the introductory line, "Wired.com goes into the bowels of The California Science Academy to see how it works."
The Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences has changed its daily presentation from the (hugely successful, ahem) Fragile Planet, to a show co-produced with the Rose Center at the American Museum of Natural History, entitled, Journey to the Stars. It is adapted to contain local, San Francisco imagery and include a live presentation by an astronomer, and I'm credited as Production Engineer.
Fragile Planet will still be shown at the Academy's Nightlife program on Thursday evenings.
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I'll be presenting "The Technology of Science Visualization at the California Academy of Sciences " at the Astronomy Visualization Workshop, hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. I'll attempt to cover the Morrison fulldome planetarium, the Dolby 3D stereoscopic / 2K theater of the Hearst Forum, the renderfarm and workstation environment of science visualization, and our plans for future experimentation.
Notes and details of our infrastructure and capabilities are available upon request.
I'll be adding information, links, and development with human-computer interaction on a new page and blog, but with a slight twist from the usual blather: a more futurist standpoint, slanted toward the engineering side of data manipulation. Immersive media, stereoscopy, speech-command, crowd immersion and multiple-user input, cybernetics, rapid prototyping, VR, data visualization, etc, are all fair game. I'll likely include code and frameworks of projects I'm involved with offline.
I'm interviewed for my work on and in the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences in this month's print issue of Maximum PC Magazine. Norman Chan did an incredible job, even making it sound as though I wasn't completely out of it, despite my disheveled, overcaffeinated inarticulacy and complete lack of preparation (evidenced in the full page, "high times" photo.) No small feat -- great work!
I am currently the Senior Systems Engineer of the Morrison Planetarium and (digital) Exhibits, and credited as Production Engineer (pdf) for the Academy's inaugural presentation, Fragile Planet.
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