Jonathan Harris wants to make sense of the emotional world of the Web. With deep compassion for the human condition, his projects troll the Internet to find out what we’re all feeling and looking for.

This is truly amazing project. The ways in which he wields technology to help us better understand, and thus appreciate, our fellow man are, quite simply, brilliant. I wasn’t able to see his recent “I Want You To Want Me” done with Sep Kamvar but judging from this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZUaXDm4qik), it turned out beautifully. The documentation of their process is also worth a peek: http://www.iwantyoutowantme.org/process.html

Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3-D extreme, transforming file navigation into a freewheeling playground of crumpled documents and clipping-covered “walls.”

Although visually stimulating and striking, this is an example of a metaphor taken to the extreme at its own peril. I do feel it is moving in the right direction, but there is not enough substance to sustain a user for an extended period of time.

Interesting idea. It could certainly be implemented as an application for the Mac (particularly with Leopard), and I presume Windows. Does it really get us anywhere. I have maybe 20,000 files on my hard drive, not counting the OS stuff.
A multi-touch aproach with more real 3D effects sems to me to be a lot better.

Even better, let’s get speech recognition to really work.

Interface designer, software developer, inventor, and nerdcore hip-hopper Anand Agarawala brings a welcome sense of expressiveness to the dusty desktop interface. His BumpTop software applies a 3D metaphor and rough-and-tumble interactivity that delights anyone who sees it in action.

In addition to its raw play-with-me fun , BumpTop is also an inspiring example of unconventional thinking. The BumpTop world is a physical space, where traditional point-and-click movement is replaced with a more literal “push and pull” approach, and the icons each possess a weight that reflects their relative importance. Meanwhile, commands are executed via a novel set of pen/stylus shortcuts that go well beyond the limited click-and-drag way of doing things.

Even if you’re not quite ready to trade your olde tyme desktop for the BumpTop experience, the interface’s unexpected approach to problem-solving is sure to bump-start your thinking in new and unusual directions.