Personas is a fun project created by Aaron Zinman (along with the Social Media Group at MIT) that allows you to see how the internet views your particular name/alias (in this case, I entered “Doobybrain” and “Herman Yung” separately). Personas scours the internet for information about your name — regardless of whether or not it’s you or somebody else with the same name — and attempts to use computer algorithms to figure out the difference. The results for me were mixed each time I did it, but I think it’s still a worthy project to make note of. If anything, watching the computer figure you out is fascinating because the page turns into a plethora of rainbows.
The plates are then pedal-driven by a rider sitting on a modified bicycle with chains going from the crank to the side of the barrel. Although the prototype was not a perfect success — there was water leakage on the barrel — the students think that a modified version can be made relatively quickly for the next round of testing.
As for the name ‘Bicilavadora’, it’s a combination of the Spanish word for bicycle and washing machine.
