1 00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:02,470 The following content is provided under a Creative 2 00:00:02,470 --> 00:00:04,000 Commons license. 3 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,320 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare 4 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:10,690 continue to offer high quality educational resources for free. 5 00:00:10,690 --> 00:00:13,300 To make a donation or view additional materials 6 00:00:13,300 --> 00:00:17,025 from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 7 00:00:17,025 --> 00:00:17,650 at ocw.mit.edu. 8 00:00:20,922 --> 00:00:22,380 [FELICE FRANKEL] Christine Daniloff 9 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:26,180 is the art director of the MIT homepage. 10 00:00:26,180 --> 00:00:28,970 She's the person responsible for getting up 11 00:00:28,970 --> 00:00:33,890 these amazing images of what's going on on the campus. 12 00:00:33,890 --> 00:00:36,629 And do quite a turnaround time, by the way. 13 00:00:36,629 --> 00:00:38,240 It's amazing how she does it. 14 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,020 We're going to pick up in the middle of a conversation 15 00:00:41,020 --> 00:00:42,700 that I had with her. 16 00:00:42,700 --> 00:00:46,130 I value her opinion on so many things, 17 00:00:46,130 --> 00:00:48,390 and I also value her friendship. 18 00:00:48,390 --> 00:00:49,800 Here we go. 19 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,509 [FF] So they send you stuff that they 20 00:00:52,509 --> 00:00:54,970 think would work as an image for the homepage. 21 00:00:54,970 --> 00:00:57,450 [CHRISTINE DANILOFF] Yes, they do, though - 22 00:00:57,450 --> 00:01:00,560 [FF] I'm laughing because I already know what you get! 23 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,029 [laughing] 24 00:01:02,029 --> 00:01:02,570 [CD] They do. 25 00:01:02,570 --> 00:01:05,950 They often like images from the research. 26 00:01:05,950 --> 00:01:07,670 And one example I'm thinking about 27 00:01:07,670 --> 00:01:10,770 was in one of the labs at MIT, they 28 00:01:10,770 --> 00:01:14,210 work on technology for photographs-- imaging 29 00:01:14,210 --> 00:01:15,460 technology. 30 00:01:15,460 --> 00:01:18,200 And so it was this very cool thing 31 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,260 where basically if you took a photo, say, 32 00:01:21,260 --> 00:01:23,590 with your smartphone and it was blurry 33 00:01:23,590 --> 00:01:29,620 and it was askew and all this, the chip they were working on 34 00:01:29,620 --> 00:01:31,270 actually corrected all of that. 35 00:01:31,270 --> 00:01:33,440 All the information had been gathered in the photo, 36 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,310 but it would automatically correct this photo so that it 37 00:01:36,310 --> 00:01:39,170 was almost like frame quality. 38 00:01:39,170 --> 00:01:41,710 You could get this really great photo. 39 00:01:41,710 --> 00:01:44,110 [FF] So the algorithm-- they've created an algorithm that 40 00:01:44,110 --> 00:01:44,990 corrects for that. 41 00:01:44,990 --> 00:01:45,740 [CD] Exactly. 42 00:01:45,740 --> 00:01:48,020 So when I asked, are there any images, 43 00:01:48,020 --> 00:01:51,729 what they sent me was an image of the chip. 44 00:01:51,729 --> 00:01:55,530 OK, cool, and I think that's valuable with the story. 45 00:01:55,530 --> 00:01:58,140 Like here's the chip. 46 00:01:58,140 --> 00:02:02,610 But the image I put together was-- I started to think, OK, 47 00:02:02,610 --> 00:02:06,480 we're MIT, and I know that the local audience, 48 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:12,805 and I think the broad audience too, loves "the dome" 49 00:02:12,805 --> 00:02:13,430 and all this... 50 00:02:13,430 --> 00:02:15,080 But I thought, really what people 51 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,540 are going to get from this, is that if you 52 00:02:18,540 --> 00:02:21,000 have this image on a cell phone and it's blurry 53 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,040 and it's not really crisp, and then 54 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:27,970 you see this image-- the same image-- clear, crisp, 55 00:02:27,970 --> 00:02:29,559 framed on the wall. 56 00:02:29,559 --> 00:02:30,100 [FF] Perfect. 57 00:02:30,100 --> 00:02:33,484 [CD] That sort of gets the, this is what it means to-- 58 00:02:33,484 --> 00:02:34,650 [FF] You're telling a story. 59 00:02:34,650 --> 00:02:36,050 [CD] This is what it means to my life. 60 00:02:36,050 --> 00:02:38,216 When somebody looks at this and is sort of like, OK, 61 00:02:38,216 --> 00:02:40,670 technology, but why does this matter to me? 62 00:02:40,670 --> 00:02:43,350 Well, this is why it matters to you. 63 00:02:43,350 --> 00:02:46,990 And so that, I guess, is one of the key questions I always 64 00:02:46,990 --> 00:02:49,530 think about answering in the image 65 00:02:49,530 --> 00:02:53,590 is why it matters in our lives. 66 00:02:53,590 --> 00:02:55,280 It's important work that's being done, 67 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,260 but it's sometimes so theoretical and so out there, 68 00:02:58,260 --> 00:03:03,260 you don't even understand that this algorithm will someday 69 00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:05,640 might make it possible for me to have 70 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:08,300 a robot that does my laundry. 71 00:03:08,300 --> 00:03:11,847 That, people can get behind. 72 00:03:11,847 --> 00:03:13,430 [FF] That's actually very interesting. 73 00:03:13,430 --> 00:03:15,420 So it's, "who is the audience?" 74 00:03:15,420 --> 00:03:17,980 And that's something that we talk about in the course 75 00:03:17,980 --> 00:03:18,579 as well. 76 00:03:18,579 --> 00:03:20,140 That says it. 77 00:03:20,140 --> 00:03:21,200 [CD] I agree. 78 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,880 [FF] So let me just ask you some technical things. 79 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,300 Let's say a researcher does have an image that 80 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:34,210 is relevant to the science and it is compelling enough. 81 00:03:34,210 --> 00:03:37,290 Does it have to be a certain file size, for example? 82 00:03:37,290 --> 00:03:37,950 [CD] It does. 83 00:03:37,950 --> 00:03:41,300 A high resolution is important because low res images 84 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:43,340 are small images. 85 00:03:43,340 --> 00:03:46,350 Even though I primarily am designing 86 00:03:46,350 --> 00:03:50,340 for digital display, which is low resolution, to work 87 00:03:50,340 --> 00:03:54,420 the image in high res just creates a crisper, 88 00:03:54,420 --> 00:03:55,670 sharper, more-beautiful image. 89 00:03:55,670 --> 00:03:59,390 Plus, we're also able to use that image on the new site 90 00:03:59,390 --> 00:04:02,990 and offer it to press where, when press picks up this stuff, 91 00:04:02,990 --> 00:04:04,550 sometimes it's print. 92 00:04:04,550 --> 00:04:07,900 It's often the Times or Financial Times 93 00:04:07,900 --> 00:04:10,900 or it's a magazine and they want images 94 00:04:10,900 --> 00:04:13,470 and they have to have high res for print. 95 00:04:13,470 --> 00:04:15,670 So high res is always best. 96 00:04:15,670 --> 00:04:19,130 Keep your image as large as you can when you send it out. 97 00:04:19,130 --> 00:04:21,870 [FF] And you, as the art director, 98 00:04:21,870 --> 00:04:24,000 can zoom in and create your own framing. 99 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:24,930 [CD] Absolutely. 100 00:04:24,930 --> 00:04:27,730 You can crop things a certain way to make something. 101 00:04:27,730 --> 00:04:31,170 [FF] So does it matter if it's JPEG or TIF or do you care? 102 00:04:31,170 --> 00:04:32,130 [CD] It doesn't. 103 00:04:32,130 --> 00:04:35,390 High res JPEGs are just fine. 104 00:04:35,390 --> 00:04:36,124 [FF] I think so. 105 00:04:36,124 --> 00:04:37,290 [CD] And I guess it depends. 106 00:04:37,290 --> 00:04:40,120 Sometimes in my own work or something, 107 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:42,980 a TIF is a high res file. 108 00:04:42,980 --> 00:04:46,610 High res JPEGs-- if it's just a flat image, 109 00:04:46,610 --> 00:04:48,510 you're not working with layers or anything 110 00:04:48,510 --> 00:04:51,420 like that, a high res JPEG is just fine. 111 00:04:51,420 --> 00:04:55,130 [FF] So do you have some examples of some images 112 00:04:55,130 --> 00:04:58,080 that you've got that didn't quite cut it? 113 00:04:58,080 --> 00:04:59,120 [CD] Yes, I do. 114 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,220 [FF] I bet you do. 115 00:05:01,220 --> 00:05:05,950 [CD] We get images-- I think that overall my take is 116 00:05:05,950 --> 00:05:07,870 that the scientists and researchers, 117 00:05:07,870 --> 00:05:11,580 they really want great images for their stuff. 118 00:05:11,580 --> 00:05:14,460 And I've had discussions with many of them where we laugh. 119 00:05:14,460 --> 00:05:18,170 It's like they're the scientists and we're the image people, 120 00:05:18,170 --> 00:05:20,180 and I want to make sure that whatever 121 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:21,870 I do for them is accurate. 122 00:05:21,870 --> 00:05:25,920 But we've had jokes sometimes, well, you stick to the science, 123 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:27,795 I'll stick to the images. 124 00:05:27,795 --> 00:05:31,600 [FF] Our hope with the course, as I know you know, 125 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:35,170 is to raise the standards of the researchers work 126 00:05:35,170 --> 00:05:38,390 and to get them to pay more attention to how 127 00:05:38,390 --> 00:05:41,060 they create their photographs-- if it's photograph-able, 128 00:05:41,060 --> 00:05:41,560 of course. 129 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,120 We're talking about material that's photograph-able. 130 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:45,180 [CD] Absolutely. 131 00:05:45,180 --> 00:05:48,040 Here is one example. 132 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,240 These were images about carbon nanotubes 133 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,510 that can catch cancer cells. 134 00:05:53,510 --> 00:05:56,530 So the images that we got were sort 135 00:05:56,530 --> 00:06:02,130 of the SEM of the nanotubes and the proportions of the device. 136 00:06:02,130 --> 00:06:04,980 But these are great with the story 137 00:06:04,980 --> 00:06:08,476 so people have a greater understanding of what 138 00:06:08,476 --> 00:06:09,600 they were doing in the lab. 139 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:11,030 But for something that's supposed 140 00:06:11,030 --> 00:06:13,630 to grab people's attention and make 141 00:06:13,630 --> 00:06:19,770 them understand what this will do, it doesn't really work. 142 00:06:19,770 --> 00:06:22,100 So I basically did just that, and I 143 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:26,410 used photographs that came from Center for Disease Control 144 00:06:26,410 --> 00:06:30,900 images that were available and able to be used. 145 00:06:30,900 --> 00:06:34,040 But trying to think about how do you get this across, and make 146 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:37,610 it visually compelling so that people want to click 147 00:06:37,610 --> 00:06:40,360 in and read about this? 148 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,810 [FF] So did you make this nanotube as an illustration? 149 00:06:43,810 --> 00:06:44,690 [CD] This, yes. 150 00:06:44,690 --> 00:06:46,430 The nanotube is actually an illustration 151 00:06:46,430 --> 00:06:47,850 of a carbon nanotube. 152 00:06:47,850 --> 00:06:52,200 And it's basically just carbon structure in a tube form. 153 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,770 And sometimes, it's an interpretation 154 00:06:54,770 --> 00:06:57,130 of what's going on in this research. 155 00:06:57,130 --> 00:07:02,140 It's not promising anything that they're not working toward, 156 00:07:02,140 --> 00:07:05,620 but we make it clear that this is a photo illustration. 157 00:07:05,620 --> 00:07:09,350 This is not something that came-- 158 00:07:09,350 --> 00:07:11,070 [FF] It's not a documentary image. 159 00:07:11,070 --> 00:07:13,180 [CD] No, it's a photo illustration 160 00:07:13,180 --> 00:07:16,560 of just what this research is talking about. 161 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:18,900 [FF] So there is an issue about scale 162 00:07:18,900 --> 00:07:22,620 here-- that the nanotubes are much, much smaller 163 00:07:22,620 --> 00:07:24,160 than the red blood cells. 164 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,570 Are they red blood cells or cancer cells? 165 00:07:26,570 --> 00:07:30,510 [CD] No, the nanotube is around a cancer cell, 166 00:07:30,510 --> 00:07:34,110 and then there are red blood cells because the whole idea is 167 00:07:34,110 --> 00:07:36,690 that these nanotubes, I believe, are catching these cells 168 00:07:36,690 --> 00:07:38,220 in the bloodstream. 169 00:07:38,220 --> 00:07:43,250 [FF] OK, so the relative size of those things 170 00:07:43,250 --> 00:07:46,760 in your illustration is actually not correct, 171 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,010 and we've talked about this before -- 172 00:07:49,010 --> 00:07:55,580 about how far can we go when we make a depiction of something. 173 00:07:55,580 --> 00:07:57,180 But for example, many years ago-- you 174 00:07:57,180 --> 00:07:59,120 might be too young for this-- but they 175 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,350 used to show atoms and molecular configurations, 176 00:08:03,350 --> 00:08:07,530 and the atoms would show the reflection of a window 177 00:08:07,530 --> 00:08:10,370 to suggest some sort of three-dimensionality. 178 00:08:10,370 --> 00:08:14,260 Now, there's no way in the world that an atom 179 00:08:14,260 --> 00:08:18,560 can reflect a window because an atom is a little bit smaller 180 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,750 than a window. [laughing] Yeah, that's the way they 181 00:08:20,750 --> 00:08:22,060 used to show that stuff. 182 00:08:22,060 --> 00:08:27,330 So that's just a depiction, but in a way, 183 00:08:27,330 --> 00:08:31,150 there is an issue here of showing something 184 00:08:31,150 --> 00:08:34,130 that's actually not possible. 185 00:08:34,130 --> 00:08:37,159 But you feel that that's really OK? 186 00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:40,169 [CD] Well, I think that you need to make sure 187 00:08:40,169 --> 00:08:42,570 that you're clear that this is a photo illustration 188 00:08:42,570 --> 00:08:45,760 or an illustration-- that it's not actual imagery 189 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:47,450 from the research. 190 00:08:47,450 --> 00:08:50,410 Like this wasn't captured in the body. 191 00:08:50,410 --> 00:08:52,190 And I guess part of what I think about 192 00:08:52,190 --> 00:08:56,340 is when you say that-- I'm thinking in my head, well, 193 00:08:56,340 --> 00:08:58,599 I guess I could've made those blood cells huge, 194 00:08:58,599 --> 00:09:00,640 where you wouldn't even see the whole blood cell. 195 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,600 Just an arc of the red cell. 196 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,280 But the other thing is that people 197 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:10,480 have to be able to see it on the homepage. 198 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,010 So everything has to be blown up so they can actually 199 00:09:14,010 --> 00:09:16,700 see, what is this showing? 200 00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:19,350 Sometimes you think if you made everything, 201 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:21,210 it wouldn't read at all at that size. 202 00:09:21,210 --> 00:09:24,744 [FF] So the researchers did not raise this issue? 203 00:09:24,744 --> 00:09:25,660 [CD] No, and I think - 204 00:09:25,660 --> 00:09:27,201 [FF] So it didn't bother them at all. 205 00:09:27,201 --> 00:09:30,020 [CD] Because it was clear that it was an illustration. 206 00:09:30,020 --> 00:09:35,140 And that's oftentimes what we're tasked with -- 207 00:09:35,140 --> 00:09:41,490 is illustrating something that we're trying to show 208 00:09:41,490 --> 00:09:43,640 the components at work here. 209 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,690 But we don't have anything in front of us to go by. 210 00:09:46,690 --> 00:09:50,790 It's just sort of showing that it's just 211 00:09:50,790 --> 00:09:54,500 our interpretation of what is going 212 00:09:54,500 --> 00:09:58,530 to happen when these carbon nanotubes can capture cancer 213 00:09:58,530 --> 00:10:00,190 cells. 214 00:10:00,190 --> 00:10:05,350 [FF] So for example, when I color an SEM, 215 00:10:05,350 --> 00:10:11,200 I always indicate somewhere that I've colored the SEM. 216 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:18,190 Do you think that we as journalists of science-- 217 00:10:18,190 --> 00:10:20,750 whatever we're going to call ourselves today-- 218 00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:24,940 do you think that we have a responsibility 219 00:10:24,940 --> 00:10:32,670 to indicate, for example-- would you have indicated this is not 220 00:10:32,670 --> 00:10:34,390 scale or something like that? 221 00:10:34,390 --> 00:10:36,370 Do you feel an obligation? 222 00:10:36,370 --> 00:10:40,200 [CD] I think that science illustration, absolutely. 223 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,430 But when I think about what I do, 224 00:10:42,430 --> 00:10:46,440 sometimes I think it's heavier on the illustration side. 225 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,520 I wouldn't tell anyone that this is 226 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,340 part of a scientific document. 227 00:10:51,340 --> 00:10:55,150 Like I sometimes think it's like art work to go with your story. 228 00:10:55,150 --> 00:11:02,140 And I think that we do have to be not falsely, 229 00:11:02,140 --> 00:11:05,480 or give the suggestion-- knowingly give the suggestion-- 230 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:11,700 this image is an accurate image or a realistic depiction 231 00:11:11,700 --> 00:11:13,220 of what's going on. 232 00:11:13,220 --> 00:11:16,450 I think that is our responsibility not to falsely 233 00:11:16,450 --> 00:11:20,020 represent these images as something that they're not. 234 00:11:20,020 --> 00:11:25,100 But for a lot of these, I look at them more as art 235 00:11:25,100 --> 00:11:27,550 to accompany a story. 236 00:11:27,550 --> 00:11:30,330 And I say "art" because it's sort 237 00:11:30,330 --> 00:11:33,620 of just my interpretation of what's happening, 238 00:11:33,620 --> 00:11:36,140 not accurate depictions. 239 00:11:36,140 --> 00:11:37,307 [FF] It's not a documentary. 240 00:11:37,307 --> 00:11:37,806 [CD] No. 241 00:11:37,806 --> 00:11:39,320 And the other thing about that, I 242 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:41,960 think to do things accurately, as you said, 243 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:43,280 I have to crank these out. 244 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,820 I think sometimes about the research I would have to do. 245 00:11:45,820 --> 00:11:47,590 Like if someone said to me can you 246 00:11:47,590 --> 00:11:51,560 do a medical illustration for me or a scientific illustration 247 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:55,090 accurately, that takes much longer. 248 00:11:55,090 --> 00:11:59,440 I think accuracy, at that point, becomes critical 249 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:01,880 because this is supposed to be an accurate 250 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:05,790 representation of exactly what happens in a person's body when 251 00:12:05,790 --> 00:12:10,140 this is happening or in this chamber when my experiment is 252 00:12:10,140 --> 00:12:11,250 going on. 253 00:12:11,250 --> 00:12:14,740 That's a whole other thing. 254 00:12:14,740 --> 00:12:19,540 I think if I were doing that, I think I'd need more time. 255 00:12:19,540 --> 00:12:21,960 [FF] Absolutely. 256 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,760 It's an ongoing conversation that we have on campus. 257 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:35,140 How much are we permitted to editorialize the depiction, 258 00:12:35,140 --> 00:12:36,060 in a way. 259 00:12:36,060 --> 00:12:36,790 [CD] No, I agree. 260 00:12:36,790 --> 00:12:38,527 I think being honest about what it is. 261 00:12:38,527 --> 00:12:39,610 That's what I always feel. 262 00:12:39,610 --> 00:12:42,120 I always try to be honest about what it is 263 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,868 and then it gives you a little bit of freedom to editorialize. 264 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,120 I think you really depict the science 265 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,040 in a lot of these devices. 266 00:12:53,040 --> 00:13:00,070 And I sort of am illustrating what they could do 267 00:13:00,070 --> 00:13:03,168 or how they might work. 268 00:13:03,168 --> 00:13:04,080 [FF] Yes. 269 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,465 I'd love to see another example of how something was-- 270 00:13:07,465 --> 00:13:10,450 [CD] Another example is turning on a key enzyme 271 00:13:10,450 --> 00:13:11,775 that blocks tumor formation. 272 00:13:11,775 --> 00:13:17,210 And so I asked for an image, and they sent me 273 00:13:17,210 --> 00:13:19,700 a rendering of the enzyme. 274 00:13:19,700 --> 00:13:23,160 And again, I know what will work on the home page, what's 275 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,220 going to be compelling in that format. 276 00:13:25,220 --> 00:13:28,850 MIT home page has elements on it, 277 00:13:28,850 --> 00:13:30,560 and you have to work with an image 278 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,200 that there's a central image area 279 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,980 and there's navigation areas that sit on top of the images. 280 00:13:36,980 --> 00:13:38,700 So you're sort of working with images 281 00:13:38,700 --> 00:13:42,500 that will allow for all of that to happen around it, but still 282 00:13:42,500 --> 00:13:43,300 come through. 283 00:13:43,300 --> 00:13:48,680 The image still pops from all of this. 284 00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:56,870 And so, I sort of know looking at a rendering of an enzyme, 285 00:13:56,870 --> 00:13:59,150 it doesn't grab you on the homepage. 286 00:13:59,150 --> 00:13:59,860 It just doesn't. 287 00:14:02,620 --> 00:14:05,220 So this was about blocking tumor formation. 288 00:14:05,220 --> 00:14:10,510 And so for the homepage, it's an image of tumor cells 289 00:14:10,510 --> 00:14:13,530 that was absolutely beautiful. 290 00:14:13,530 --> 00:14:14,815 You just want to look at that. 291 00:14:14,815 --> 00:14:17,700 The detail is stunning and that sort of thing. 292 00:14:17,700 --> 00:14:20,300 [FF] So this is a scanning electron micrograph 293 00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:21,230 that's been colored? 294 00:14:21,230 --> 00:14:22,470 [CD] Yes. 295 00:14:22,470 --> 00:14:25,920 So we use micro-graphs a lot from research. 296 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:27,750 Sometimes they're absolutely gorgeous. 297 00:14:27,750 --> 00:14:28,650 They are gorgeous. 298 00:14:28,650 --> 00:14:29,300 I love them. 299 00:14:29,300 --> 00:14:31,820 But if we have them straight from the research, 300 00:14:31,820 --> 00:14:34,760 if we color them or add color to them, 301 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:39,460 we always try to state that just so people are 302 00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:41,440 aware of what's going on there. 303 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:46,020 And I think on the MIT homepage and covers of these things, 304 00:14:46,020 --> 00:14:49,910 your cover image has to be visually-- 305 00:14:49,910 --> 00:14:52,980 it has to really pack a punch. 306 00:14:52,980 --> 00:14:55,150 So sometimes the color, things like that, 307 00:14:55,150 --> 00:14:57,990 can really make a difference, I've found. 308 00:14:57,990 --> 00:15:02,710 [FF] So when a decision is made, who else is 309 00:15:02,710 --> 00:15:07,770 involved with deciding whether it gets on the homepage or not? 310 00:15:07,770 --> 00:15:09,860 [CD] Typically what will happen is myself 311 00:15:09,860 --> 00:15:11,770 and the director of news sit down 312 00:15:11,770 --> 00:15:13,760 and we go over the stories, which 313 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:15,570 he's read all the stories. 314 00:15:15,570 --> 00:15:19,370 He knows what is-- several things come into play. 315 00:15:19,370 --> 00:15:21,750 Variety-- we try to have stories from across 316 00:15:21,750 --> 00:15:23,440 the different schools at MIT. 317 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,370 So they're not all biology or they're not 318 00:15:25,370 --> 00:15:26,930 all computer science. 319 00:15:26,930 --> 00:15:30,850 We try to keep a good mix of stories coming out that are 320 00:15:30,850 --> 00:15:32,530 going to be on the homepage. 321 00:15:32,530 --> 00:15:35,775 If a story is really incredible research 322 00:15:35,775 --> 00:15:38,370 or for some reason very important-- oftentimes, 323 00:15:38,370 --> 00:15:40,710 the big journals, that kind of helps you. 324 00:15:40,710 --> 00:15:43,910 Like, well, if it's in Science or Nature or some 325 00:15:43,910 --> 00:15:45,570 of these really big journals, you 326 00:15:45,570 --> 00:15:47,950 know it's a significant story. 327 00:15:47,950 --> 00:15:49,840 And the artwork. 328 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:50,850 Those two. 329 00:15:50,850 --> 00:15:53,750 It's the artwork and the significance of the research. 330 00:15:53,750 --> 00:16:01,310 Because if we can't illustrate it well or photograph, 331 00:16:01,310 --> 00:16:04,150 it's not going to work on the homepage. 332 00:16:04,150 --> 00:16:07,170 On the home page-- you know, I know-- 333 00:16:07,170 --> 00:16:10,200 there's very little text about the image. 334 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,800 It has to really-- there's a short head, and a subhead, 335 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:16,330 and an image. 336 00:16:16,330 --> 00:16:21,717 And if you can't make that image really grab people's attention 337 00:16:21,717 --> 00:16:24,770 and be something to look at, then it 338 00:16:24,770 --> 00:16:26,270 doesn't get on the homepage. 339 00:16:26,270 --> 00:16:27,210 [FF] Simple as that. 340 00:16:27,210 --> 00:16:29,085 [CD] It's as simple as that because it really 341 00:16:29,085 --> 00:16:29,950 is a visual page. 342 00:16:29,950 --> 00:16:31,575 [FF] You have enough lead time? 343 00:16:31,575 --> 00:16:33,950 Let's say you know an article-- an important article-- is 344 00:16:33,950 --> 00:16:36,510 coming out and you also know that they don't 345 00:16:36,510 --> 00:16:38,610 have a visual to go with it. 346 00:16:38,610 --> 00:16:41,620 Do you have enough lead time to come up with something? 347 00:16:41,620 --> 00:16:42,330 [CD] I do. 348 00:16:42,330 --> 00:16:44,850 I've become comfortable in the schedule that we have, 349 00:16:44,850 --> 00:16:47,870 and the schedule in our office with the news 350 00:16:47,870 --> 00:16:51,180 director and myself, we work well together. 351 00:16:51,180 --> 00:16:53,960 I think he understands that I need time. 352 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,800 And I will often say, sometimes as a visual person you just 353 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:03,620 need-- and some of this stuff is so, like I said, theoretical. 354 00:17:03,620 --> 00:17:07,250 I will read whatever I have about the research. 355 00:17:07,250 --> 00:17:12,420 Sometimes it's just the writer's paragraph pitch for the story. 356 00:17:12,420 --> 00:17:15,240 And then I think about it. 357 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,440 I've got a week to work on this. 358 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,500 I know it's not coming up till next week. 359 00:17:19,500 --> 00:17:20,869 Sometimes it's just a day. 360 00:17:20,869 --> 00:17:22,739 But these big ones-- 361 00:17:22,739 --> 00:17:23,530 [FF] You have time. 362 00:17:23,530 --> 00:17:27,240 [CD] Yeah, it's like I need some time-- like some hours-- 363 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:33,180 to just think about massive entanglement-- something 364 00:17:33,180 --> 00:17:37,250 like that that you don't really have a lot of visuals to go on. 365 00:17:37,250 --> 00:17:39,036 This is something that is-- 366 00:17:39,036 --> 00:17:40,160 [FF] It's all mathematical. 367 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:41,319 [CD] It is. 368 00:17:41,319 --> 00:17:44,810 And so how do you show this in a way that's 369 00:17:44,810 --> 00:17:47,170 beautiful and accurate? 370 00:17:47,170 --> 00:17:51,840 And how do you make this an important enough image 371 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:53,060 to put on the homepage? 372 00:17:53,060 --> 00:17:56,080 [FF] I think this is something that we're 373 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:00,680 trying to encourage our students to think about, 374 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:04,570 to not only talk to your colleagues or the experts 375 00:18:04,570 --> 00:18:09,440 in your field, but to think about ways to communicate 376 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,370 to the public. 377 00:18:11,370 --> 00:18:16,100 And we're not training our researchers to do that, 378 00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:18,560 and I think that that's one of the things 379 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,820 that we are discussing in this course. 380 00:18:21,820 --> 00:18:26,550 How do you come up with a compelling image of your work 381 00:18:26,550 --> 00:18:30,780 that is not only very much about information, 382 00:18:30,780 --> 00:18:35,100 but it's about wanting to pay attention to the picture. 383 00:18:35,100 --> 00:18:36,670 It's actually not easy. 384 00:18:36,670 --> 00:18:40,120 [CD] No, I think it's a really particular way of thinking. 385 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:42,430 And I think the researchers are great. 386 00:18:42,430 --> 00:18:45,350 They always, as I said, will supply images, 387 00:18:45,350 --> 00:18:49,630 and they always are excited about-- some 388 00:18:49,630 --> 00:18:51,260 of them very much want to talk to you 389 00:18:51,260 --> 00:18:54,500 about their ideas for this and some of them 390 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:55,780 are very excited about it. 391 00:18:55,780 --> 00:18:58,730 But some of them, you can see they're scientists. 392 00:18:58,730 --> 00:19:00,630 They do this incredible work in the labs, 393 00:19:00,630 --> 00:19:04,040 and they think about communicating to their peers. 394 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,310 And the thing is, people that can read the papers-- 395 00:19:08,310 --> 00:19:12,370 like the papers that are submitted-- 396 00:19:12,370 --> 00:19:15,240 I often feel like it's such a small percentage in a way 397 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,530 because some of this stuff, I look at it and I'm just like, 398 00:19:18,530 --> 00:19:19,854 wow - I don't -- 399 00:19:19,854 --> 00:19:21,770 [FF] I have no idea what in the world this is. 400 00:19:21,770 --> 00:19:23,603 [CD] Yes, I don't know what's going on here, 401 00:19:23,603 --> 00:19:25,820 and I know these equations are really significant. 402 00:19:25,820 --> 00:19:29,440 And I know in talking about their work 403 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,010 and in proving what they've discovered here 404 00:19:33,010 --> 00:19:36,330 or the advances they've made, that's absolutely necessary. 405 00:19:36,330 --> 00:19:38,230 But to someone who has a real interest, 406 00:19:38,230 --> 00:19:42,010 say, in material science but they're not a material 407 00:19:42,010 --> 00:19:46,380 scientist, it's going to be very hard to break that down 408 00:19:46,380 --> 00:19:47,190 on their own. 409 00:19:47,190 --> 00:19:49,430 So that's what we try to do. 410 00:19:49,430 --> 00:19:54,210 I think the writers in our office are great at that. 411 00:19:54,210 --> 00:19:55,880 And you sometimes grab people that 412 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:57,400 have no real-- like I wouldn't say 413 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,850 that I'm particularly interested in materials science, 414 00:19:59,850 --> 00:20:04,690 but that was such an interesting image. 415 00:20:04,690 --> 00:20:06,320 And safe bridges. 416 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,120 Whatever. 417 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:10,424 I read that story and, wow, isn't that great. 418 00:20:10,424 --> 00:20:11,840 [FF] It somehow was related to me. 419 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:13,060 Somehow. 420 00:20:13,060 --> 00:20:15,290 [CD] Right, and image caught my attention. 421 00:20:15,290 --> 00:20:19,730 [FF] Yeah, I think this whole notion 422 00:20:19,730 --> 00:20:23,870 of training the next generation of researchers 423 00:20:23,870 --> 00:20:29,420 to start talking to the public is not incidental any longer. 424 00:20:29,420 --> 00:20:32,050 And frankly, we have the obligation 425 00:20:32,050 --> 00:20:33,690 to talk to the public. 426 00:20:33,690 --> 00:20:37,752 And as you and I talk about all the time, it's through images. 427 00:20:37,752 --> 00:20:38,460 [CD] Right, true. 428 00:20:38,460 --> 00:20:40,350 [FF] That's one very exciting way 429 00:20:40,350 --> 00:20:44,900 to get somebody to at least ask questions about your research. 430 00:20:44,900 --> 00:20:47,440 So this is not tangential anymore. 431 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,920 This should be part of the research, 432 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,030 I think, from the very beginning, 433 00:20:52,030 --> 00:20:54,880 and you're doing an amazing job doing this. 434 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,000 It still blows my mind thinking about how 435 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:02,570 you can crank out these stunning, stunning homepages. 436 00:21:02,570 --> 00:21:04,840 It's just very exciting. 437 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,640 Do you have other people that you work with? 438 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:13,290 Do you hire photographers or video people sometimes? 439 00:21:13,290 --> 00:21:13,810 [CD] We do. 440 00:21:13,810 --> 00:21:14,600 I do hire. 441 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,710 Photographers are mostly what I hire to get photographs 442 00:21:18,710 --> 00:21:21,450 sometimes of the researchers, sometimes 443 00:21:21,450 --> 00:21:25,680 if there's a compelling set up in the lab, which there are. 444 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,570 Or devices-- tiny devices-- or something 445 00:21:28,570 --> 00:21:34,650 that really you need a quality photograph of to better 446 00:21:34,650 --> 00:21:35,380 understand. 447 00:21:35,380 --> 00:21:37,960 We absolutely hire photographers all the time. 448 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,300 [FF] So there is a place for photography in this world. 449 00:21:42,300 --> 00:21:46,390 And what I've also noticed very recently-- maybe 450 00:21:46,390 --> 00:21:50,010 over the past few months-- is that you 451 00:21:50,010 --> 00:21:55,040 try to make moving images-- some sort of animation 452 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:56,910 piece to the still. 453 00:21:56,910 --> 00:21:58,050 Am I right about that? 454 00:21:58,050 --> 00:21:58,550 [CD] Yes. 455 00:21:58,550 --> 00:22:02,210 [FF] So how do you go about doing that? 456 00:22:02,210 --> 00:22:03,470 [CD] I can think of a couple. 457 00:22:03,470 --> 00:22:06,580 For example, when I mentioned the massive entanglement, 458 00:22:06,580 --> 00:22:12,500 that was totally illustrative, but as the researcher explained 459 00:22:12,500 --> 00:22:16,560 how the photon moved through this mass of atoms that 460 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,390 were all entangled and he described 461 00:22:20,390 --> 00:22:24,040 the trajectory of the photon and how it actually moved through. 462 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:29,500 So I replicated that in this illustration 463 00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:33,830 of what this sort of looks like or what it could look like. 464 00:22:33,830 --> 00:22:38,170 So he knew how the photon actually went through this. 465 00:22:38,170 --> 00:22:41,270 So I had that to work with and I illustrated that. 466 00:22:41,270 --> 00:22:43,365 And then in animating, what I try to do 467 00:22:43,365 --> 00:22:47,030 is sometimes I will use various programs to animate. 468 00:22:47,030 --> 00:22:50,450 And lately, my favorite thing is working 469 00:22:50,450 --> 00:22:53,250 in Photoshop making GIFs in their video timeline 470 00:22:53,250 --> 00:22:55,410 because they show on every device. 471 00:22:55,410 --> 00:22:56,930 So people can see them on phones, 472 00:22:56,930 --> 00:23:01,220 people can see them or things like Flash-- you know, 473 00:23:01,220 --> 00:23:03,320 if you're on an iOS device, you're 474 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:08,660 looking at the still image that I put behind it for you. 475 00:23:08,660 --> 00:23:13,250 Or sometimes-- someone sent me a beautiful micrograph 476 00:23:13,250 --> 00:23:16,910 of a microfluidic device, and cells 477 00:23:16,910 --> 00:23:19,950 moved through this device. 478 00:23:19,950 --> 00:23:25,160 So I had this beautiful scan of this device 479 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:33,200 and the channel was very clear how the cell moved through this 480 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,040 in the research-- what they were able to do. 481 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,810 And so I just animated. 482 00:23:36,810 --> 00:23:40,630 And basically it was just a small sphere 483 00:23:40,630 --> 00:23:43,900 but representing the cell, and this 484 00:23:43,900 --> 00:23:46,134 is how the cells are moving through this device. 485 00:23:46,134 --> 00:23:47,550 [FF] So you overlay the animation? 486 00:23:47,550 --> 00:23:49,192 [CD] Yes. 487 00:23:49,192 --> 00:23:51,510 I overlay the animation right on the image. 488 00:23:51,510 --> 00:23:55,820 [FF] And do you think in terms of how much time 489 00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:58,071 the animation can last? 490 00:23:58,071 --> 00:23:58,570 [CD] I do. 491 00:24:02,310 --> 00:24:04,440 First, I think several things. 492 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,290 Sometimes I've had looping animations on the homepage, 493 00:24:07,290 --> 00:24:13,370 and I've found that it's more of a local audience here at MIT, 494 00:24:13,370 --> 00:24:15,660 but people leave the homepage up all day 495 00:24:15,660 --> 00:24:20,890 long because they will say could there be an option 496 00:24:20,890 --> 00:24:22,170 to stop the animation. 497 00:24:22,170 --> 00:24:25,455 I have this up all day and it keeps sort of-- I 498 00:24:25,455 --> 00:24:28,150 keep thinking something's happening over 499 00:24:28,150 --> 00:24:31,070 here because I'm catching the movement. [laughing] 500 00:24:31,070 --> 00:24:34,940 So I've taken that into account. 501 00:24:34,940 --> 00:24:38,550 If you're animating something, I sort of feel 502 00:24:38,550 --> 00:24:43,160 like if it's a subtle animation-- I remember one 503 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,180 I did with a series of photographs 504 00:24:45,180 --> 00:24:48,450 actually for the Collier Memorial. 505 00:24:48,450 --> 00:24:54,070 And I could have done it various ways in Photoshop, 506 00:24:54,070 --> 00:24:57,050 but I did it with a series of images and smooth fades 507 00:24:57,050 --> 00:24:58,550 to make the candle flicker. 508 00:24:58,550 --> 00:25:01,400 [FF] I remember that. 509 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:02,895 [CD] And I let that go all day. 510 00:25:02,895 --> 00:25:05,340 [FF] Oh, it was so right. 511 00:25:05,340 --> 00:25:06,760 It was just right. 512 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,470 [CD] Right, it just brings that little bit of life 513 00:25:10,470 --> 00:25:14,130 and thoughtful point of focus. 514 00:25:14,130 --> 00:25:15,470 So things like that. 515 00:25:15,470 --> 00:25:18,460 And that was all done with photographs. 516 00:25:18,460 --> 00:25:20,460 So the length of the animation. 517 00:25:20,460 --> 00:25:24,440 If they're subtle, I am more likely to just let them run-- 518 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,157 loop them-- because I don't think that they're distracting 519 00:25:27,157 --> 00:25:27,990 in a way that some - 520 00:25:27,990 --> 00:25:28,590 I get it. 521 00:25:28,590 --> 00:25:33,340 If you're shooting particles through a tube all day long, 522 00:25:33,340 --> 00:25:35,260 I can get how somebody sitting at their desk 523 00:25:35,260 --> 00:25:38,010 could just be like, enough. 524 00:25:38,010 --> 00:25:42,880 So I keep that in mind and try to make it realistic enough 525 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,680 or make it a good viewing experience, first-- 526 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,750 so the timing is right and it's sort of lending 527 00:25:49,750 --> 00:25:51,200 something to the image. 528 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,000 Sometimes it's really showing you 529 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,560 exactly how this device works. 530 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,470 Sometimes it's just like with the photon 531 00:25:57,470 --> 00:26:01,865 how this thing would have moved through this mass of atoms. 532 00:26:01,865 --> 00:26:06,510 So make sure it's offering something more than a still 533 00:26:06,510 --> 00:26:08,300 image maybe couldn't. 534 00:26:08,300 --> 00:26:15,430 And then also, I think about the length of it. 535 00:26:15,430 --> 00:26:18,634 I want it to start fast enough that somebody doesn't click 536 00:26:18,634 --> 00:26:20,800 right off not realizing that there's movement that's 537 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,030 going to happen. 538 00:26:22,030 --> 00:26:24,960 But also, give them just whether it's 539 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,030 a second, or a half a second, or two seconds 540 00:26:28,030 --> 00:26:33,770 to sort of catch it when it starts, 541 00:26:33,770 --> 00:26:35,270 but not have it last too long. 542 00:26:35,270 --> 00:26:37,790 Because that's the other thing. 543 00:26:37,790 --> 00:26:41,490 [FF] So it might be interesting for us to hear if you could 544 00:26:41,490 --> 00:26:43,210 take us through... 545 00:26:43,210 --> 00:26:46,360 A starting point, and then where do 546 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:49,410 you go from there to the next, to the next step, 547 00:26:49,410 --> 00:26:52,977 and what the final animation or image becomes. 548 00:26:52,977 --> 00:26:54,435 Can you take us through an example? 549 00:26:54,435 --> 00:26:54,935 [CD] Sure. 550 00:26:54,935 --> 00:26:57,320 And I'll go back, again, to this entanglement, 551 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,110 probably because I just finished this one, actually. 552 00:27:00,110 --> 00:27:04,600 So every step of it is very fresh in my mind. 553 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,570 So as I mentioned, a big story coming out 554 00:27:07,570 --> 00:27:09,900 about the largest number of atoms 555 00:27:09,900 --> 00:27:14,010 that have ever been entangled at one time with a single photon. 556 00:27:14,010 --> 00:27:16,080 So that was the story. 557 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,760 And I knew we were going to spotlight it because I 558 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,040 believe it's in Science. 559 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:22,196 It's coming out in Science. 560 00:27:22,196 --> 00:27:24,460 It's a major thing. 561 00:27:24,460 --> 00:27:26,830 So entanglement, you know? 562 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:31,540 So I went over to the right. 563 00:27:31,540 --> 00:27:33,660 I said, this is sort of what I'm thinking. 564 00:27:33,660 --> 00:27:35,940 I said, I get entanglement. 565 00:27:35,940 --> 00:27:41,540 It's two particles, not joined together. 566 00:27:41,540 --> 00:27:44,370 I'm thinking separated. 567 00:27:44,370 --> 00:27:47,740 I'm thinking the spotlight image area. 568 00:27:47,740 --> 00:27:50,319 Particles representing atoms on one side, 569 00:27:50,319 --> 00:27:52,610 particles representing the other atoms on another side. 570 00:27:52,610 --> 00:27:56,490 And I had first thought about multi-colored particles. 571 00:27:56,490 --> 00:27:58,860 And blue will connect with blue, and green, 572 00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:01,610 and I'll animate a ghostly line that 573 00:28:01,610 --> 00:28:03,720 maybe shoots back and forth between these just 574 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,720 showing that they're connected. 575 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,336 How does that sound? 576 00:28:07,336 --> 00:28:10,930 And she said that it wasn't really that. 577 00:28:10,930 --> 00:28:15,350 It was like pairs of particles entangled like that all 578 00:28:15,350 --> 00:28:20,250 together, but that it was a large bunch of atoms all 579 00:28:20,250 --> 00:28:21,920 entangled together. 580 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:22,970 So it wasn't pairs. 581 00:28:22,970 --> 00:28:27,819 It was maybe-- and to me, there wasn't a particular number 582 00:28:27,819 --> 00:28:28,610 I had to represent. 583 00:28:28,610 --> 00:28:30,980 Just a large group of atoms, and they 584 00:28:30,980 --> 00:28:33,430 were all entangled together. 585 00:28:33,430 --> 00:28:37,170 So those two rows or two separate areas 586 00:28:37,170 --> 00:28:41,170 of particles in my mind came together as one big mass. 587 00:28:41,170 --> 00:28:42,100 Great. 588 00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:43,730 So I started drawing that. 589 00:28:43,730 --> 00:28:46,430 I put a background in. 590 00:28:46,430 --> 00:28:50,620 And I do look online to see how are other people representing 591 00:28:50,620 --> 00:28:51,310 entanglement? 592 00:28:51,310 --> 00:28:53,610 What exists out there for this? 593 00:28:53,610 --> 00:28:56,490 What do people see when they think entanglement? 594 00:28:56,490 --> 00:29:01,440 And you go on Google Images, and it's all over the map. 595 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:05,410 So I thought, well, I think all of these particles 596 00:29:05,410 --> 00:29:10,750 together with some sort of lines just representing 597 00:29:10,750 --> 00:29:12,260 that they are connected somehow-- 598 00:29:12,260 --> 00:29:15,660 a line that connects them all together-- was not a bad way 599 00:29:15,660 --> 00:29:17,240 to go here. 600 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:24,030 And so I have a graphics person that works with me, 601 00:29:24,030 --> 00:29:27,340 and I told him what I think we should do here. 602 00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:31,720 And I said, if you want to think about that 603 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,760 and start working on something like that. 604 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:41,320 So he did an image and he had an oscillating wave of a photon 605 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:42,217 come in and shoot up. 606 00:29:42,217 --> 00:29:44,300 Because that was another big part of this research 607 00:29:44,300 --> 00:29:46,640 is that they're entangled with a single photon. 608 00:29:49,890 --> 00:29:53,984 He showed me the image, and he had spoken with the writer. 609 00:29:53,984 --> 00:29:55,525 And he sent it off to the researcher, 610 00:29:55,525 --> 00:29:58,130 and the researcher came back and said, you know, 611 00:29:58,130 --> 00:30:01,450 I think that the emphasis should be more on the atoms. 612 00:30:01,450 --> 00:30:04,850 The photon is quite large in here, 613 00:30:04,850 --> 00:30:06,800 and it's really the focus of the image. 614 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:10,530 And so he thought that the atoms should really 615 00:30:10,530 --> 00:30:12,290 be more the focus of the image. 616 00:30:12,290 --> 00:30:15,782 So he talked to me about this, and I said, well, look. 617 00:30:15,782 --> 00:30:17,490 Let me show you what I've been working on 618 00:30:17,490 --> 00:30:19,406 for this because it's going to be a spotlight, 619 00:30:19,406 --> 00:30:24,871 and I do the homepages most of the time-- probably 99% 620 00:30:24,871 --> 00:30:25,370 of the time. 621 00:30:25,370 --> 00:30:30,450 And I said, let me show you what I'm thinking for the homepage. 622 00:30:30,450 --> 00:30:33,810 And I showed him what I'd drawn so far, 623 00:30:33,810 --> 00:30:36,100 and I was thinking of this line-- 624 00:30:36,100 --> 00:30:38,950 just this crazy, jumbled line in the background, 625 00:30:38,950 --> 00:30:40,410 but ghosted out. 626 00:30:40,410 --> 00:30:43,260 It's sort of the suggestion of connection 627 00:30:43,260 --> 00:30:44,760 with these particles. 628 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:49,140 And so he asked if he could have my Photoshop file to work with, 629 00:30:49,140 --> 00:30:50,110 and I said, sure. 630 00:30:50,110 --> 00:30:51,670 Why don't you work with this and let 631 00:30:51,670 --> 00:30:53,460 me see what you come up with. 632 00:30:53,460 --> 00:30:56,880 So he basically did that-- took these particles 633 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,861 and did the line and all this-- and showed it to me 634 00:30:59,861 --> 00:31:00,860 and it was looking good. 635 00:31:00,860 --> 00:31:02,460 And he sent it to the researcher and the researcher 636 00:31:02,460 --> 00:31:04,293 said he thought it was probability that best 637 00:31:04,293 --> 00:31:07,070 rendering of massive entanglement he'd ever seen, 638 00:31:07,070 --> 00:31:09,730 which is awesome. 639 00:31:09,730 --> 00:31:14,680 If an MIT researcher-- like "wooo!" 640 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,780 So I had really thought about animation for this one 641 00:31:17,780 --> 00:31:21,520 because an image that just has a lot of spheres 642 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,410 with a ghosted line, it's cool looking, 643 00:31:23,410 --> 00:31:26,270 but movement could mean a lot. 644 00:31:26,270 --> 00:31:29,930 And so he said, do you think-- and I 645 00:31:29,930 --> 00:31:31,824 think at some point animation was 646 00:31:31,824 --> 00:31:32,990 mentioned to the researcher. 647 00:31:32,990 --> 00:31:39,810 And he talked about showing this photon come in and then go off 648 00:31:39,810 --> 00:31:41,180 at a right angle. 649 00:31:41,180 --> 00:31:43,140 The line that it came in on is the way 650 00:31:43,140 --> 00:31:46,320 that it moved in this research. 651 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,260 And so I thought, well, great. 652 00:31:48,260 --> 00:31:50,490 That will be the animation part about this. 653 00:31:50,490 --> 00:31:55,950 Rather than me making this ghosted line 654 00:31:55,950 --> 00:31:59,920 like a bright thing shoot around in these lines, 655 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:03,550 but to actually trace the path that the photon took. 656 00:32:03,550 --> 00:32:07,320 And so that's what it ended up being was an animation. 657 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,060 I brought some of the atoms up closer so 658 00:32:10,060 --> 00:32:12,730 that there was different scale and a different focus 659 00:32:12,730 --> 00:32:16,544 in the atoms or a focal point-- like this atom is 660 00:32:16,544 --> 00:32:18,710 bigger than the other and blurry in the background-- 661 00:32:18,710 --> 00:32:24,550 and then put the photon through the mass of atoms. 662 00:32:24,550 --> 00:32:25,780 [FF] And you used Photoshop? 663 00:32:25,780 --> 00:32:27,660 [CD] I used Photoshop for the entire thing. 664 00:32:27,660 --> 00:32:28,570 [FF] Not Illustrator? 665 00:32:28,570 --> 00:32:30,035 [CD] No, not Illustrator. 666 00:32:32,820 --> 00:32:35,190 It was a simple enough illustration 667 00:32:35,190 --> 00:32:36,810 where you're basically just working 668 00:32:36,810 --> 00:32:41,780 with textures and spheres with gradients. 669 00:32:41,780 --> 00:32:44,000 And it was Photoshop. 670 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,350 And honestly, Photoshop I work in more than Illustrator. 671 00:32:47,350 --> 00:32:50,040 I do so much in Photoshop. 672 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,320 [FF] My experience is that when I 673 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:57,870 have to make an image in order to explain the science, 674 00:32:57,870 --> 00:33:03,380 the process of making the image clarifies the science for me. 675 00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:04,500 [CD] Definitely. 676 00:33:04,500 --> 00:33:07,670 Somebody said to me once, when they asked what I did, 677 00:33:07,670 --> 00:33:09,750 and I said I illustrate the MIT homepage, 678 00:33:09,750 --> 00:33:12,440 they said, you must be a mile wide and an inch deep. 679 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:17,900 And it's sort of like you start to learn 680 00:33:17,900 --> 00:33:21,252 what the best batteries are being made of these days. 681 00:33:21,252 --> 00:33:22,990 [FF] A little bit about tons of stuff. 682 00:33:22,990 --> 00:33:24,040 [CD] A lot of stuff. 683 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,105 But I agree with you, it really does help me 684 00:33:27,105 --> 00:33:29,136 to understand the science more. 685 00:33:29,136 --> 00:33:29,802 [FF] Absolutely. 686 00:33:29,802 --> 00:33:35,320 And that's why we are hopefully encouraging researchers 687 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,630 to think about presenting your science. 688 00:33:39,630 --> 00:33:44,270 Because the very nature of thinking about the presentation 689 00:33:44,270 --> 00:33:48,090 clarifies what you are trying to communicate. 690 00:33:48,090 --> 00:33:51,792 It's a very, very important part of their education. 691 00:33:51,792 --> 00:33:53,500 [CD] And people will say-- sometimes I do 692 00:33:53,500 --> 00:33:54,520 have people that come up and say, 693 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,186 I remember that story because I remember 694 00:33:56,186 --> 00:33:58,430 there was an image that showed. 695 00:33:58,430 --> 00:34:03,710 And so I feel that gets it across. 696 00:34:03,710 --> 00:34:06,740 People will remember a story because of the image 697 00:34:06,740 --> 00:34:07,530 that ran with it. 698 00:34:07,530 --> 00:34:10,550 And they'll remember the words, but they remember it 699 00:34:10,550 --> 00:34:14,610 because the image sparks the memory. 700 00:34:14,610 --> 00:34:16,590 And that's pretty cool. 701 00:34:16,590 --> 00:34:18,929 [FF] Thank you, Christine. 702 00:34:18,929 --> 00:34:22,020 This is what this course is all about. 703 00:34:22,020 --> 00:34:23,360 It's been just great. 704 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,389 Thank you. 705 00:34:25,389 --> 00:34:25,889 What a joy. 706 00:34:25,889 --> 00:34:28,960 I'm so lucky to have a pal on campus who 707 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,840 feels the same way as I do and who, by the way, 708 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,938 does pretty unbelievable work. 709 00:34:33,938 --> 00:34:34,730 [CD] Oh, thank you. 710 00:34:34,730 --> 00:34:35,688 [FF] Thanks for coming. 711 00:34:35,688 --> 00:34:36,918 [CD] Thank you.