Amazingly, after nearly half a century, the lighting community is still using color-rendering index (CRI) as a measure of how accurately colors appear under a light source. CRI usage continues despite broadly recognized flaws. Moreover, there are clearly better alternatives such as the color-quality scale (CQS) developed within the US-based National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Unfortunately, the use of CRI appears certain to continue for the near future as the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) technical committee (TC) 1-69 has failed to endorse CQS, or an alternative, preferring to disagree rather than deliver a tool that would be truly valuable to the broadest segment of the lighting industry.
The TC 1-69 committee had apparently come close to endorsing a dual standard last summer, according to chairperson Wendy Davis. The committee couldn't agree on a single metric, with some preferring the relative simplicity of the math that underlies CQS, and others wanting a far more precise measure of color rendering.
The committee had tentatively agreed to recommend two different metrics: CQS, and a more complex metric called nCRI that was under development at the University of Leeds, UK. Presumably, the broad lighting segment would have used CQS, while nCRI would have served in more specialized applications. Davis said nCRI would "very accurately quantify how different objects appear under the test lamp relative to a reference illuminant."
Unfortunately, according to Davis, the CIE had adopted a new Code of Procedure that required unanimous agreement within a committee before it could publish a technical report. And when the dual-metric recommendation was circulated to the full committee, a dissenting minority stopped the process.
Apparently the politics in the committee have worsened. Davis doesn't expect movement in the short term. She said the final version of the nCRI spec has just been distributed to the committee this past December.
Davis has since moved on from NIST to take a professorship at the University of Sydney, but that hasn't impacted her work on color standards. Last year at Strategies in Light, Davis said that if the CIE committee didn't agree on a new metric, then she would pursue a CQS standard elsewhere.
Davis said recently, "If the CIE fails, I still plan to pursue standardization of the CQS in another organization, most likely in the US." She also said that an Illumination Engineering Society (IES) color committee was contemplating the issue, although she doesn't expect swift movement, in part because the committee is relatively new.
Now in terms of full disclosure, I'm not a color expert nor did I sit in on the TC 1-69 meetings. But I do have broad experience watching standards bodies debate while an industry anxiously awaits their work. I know Davis has a vested interest in CQS given that she helped develop it. But I haven't heard anyone argue that CQS would not be a significant upgrade from CRI. The committee members should have voted with the best interests of the industry in mind rather than their special interests.
2012年2月1日星期三
The Dream Share Project: Your Dream Can Come True
When it comes to following your dreams, where should you start? Recent college graduates Alexis Irvin and Chip Hiden aimed to answer that question when they traveled cross-country to film "The Dream Share Project."
The Dream Share Project in its entirety, which was sponsored by the Academic & Career Advising Center and Lancer Productions on Jan. 30, is a documentary and accompanying workshop targeted towards college students who hope to take a different path to finding their dreams. Irvin and Hiden stopped by Longwood during their extensive university tour to share their creation with students.
Both Irvin and Hiden began working unsatisfactory office jobs after they graduated from college and soon realized they were miserable. After a year of saving up enough money to travel around the United States, the dreamers quit their jobs and set off to film a documentary about Americans who pursued their dreams to find inspiration.
"You can only sit in traffic and look at fluorescent lights for so long before you're like, ‘There's got to be something else worth exploring in this world,'" said Hiden. He and Irvin interviewed everyone from a past Project Runway contestant to a filmmaker to a female NASCAR driver about how their passion led to their dreams becoming reality. They even talked to career counselors and life coaches to gain practical advice and insightful wisdom.
But, like many people who chase after their dreams, Irvin and Hiden were discouraged at times. "There were moments of doubt along the way," admitted Hiden. They resorted to camping out in tents to save money, ran low on cash despite their saving efforts and were unsure if their film would be viewable due to the simplicity of their video camera. But they completed their film, worked enjoyable part-time jobs to pay for their film editing and now share their findings with college students across the country.
Hiden said the entire process has completely changed his life. "I feel much more comfortable with taking risks now, which is great," he said. "It's so rewarding when you can put yourself out there, do something rewarding you're unsure about or are not sure if it's totally safe." Irvin added, "I definitely [have] a belief in myself now that I could do most things I set my mind to."
Filming "The Dream Share Project" helped Irvin and Hiden get closer to their own dreams as well. Irvin aspires to be not only a writer, but became interested in filmmaking after directing the film. Hiden hopes to become an entrepreneur and his entrepreneurial work with the project has helped him achieve some of his goals.
After Irvin and Hiden screened "The Dream Share Project" to a group of eager students, they conducted a workshop in which the attendees expressed their interests and possible dreams through different exercises. The workshop was designed to help students explore their passions and venture out of their comfort zone by working with the other attending students.
Freshman Katie Vaughn said the documentary and workshop inspired her to begin the search for her own dream. She said, " I really felt that I wasn't the only person who doesn't know what they want to do with their life, and maybe if I try a little harder, I'll know … and find people who can help me discover what I'm good at and what I'm passionate about."
Freshman Megan Mills, whose dream is to do missions work, said the presentation "helped convince me that even though my dream is a little bit crazy, nothing's going to stop me from doing it. I can do whatever I want."
The Dream Share Project in its entirety, which was sponsored by the Academic & Career Advising Center and Lancer Productions on Jan. 30, is a documentary and accompanying workshop targeted towards college students who hope to take a different path to finding their dreams. Irvin and Hiden stopped by Longwood during their extensive university tour to share their creation with students.
Both Irvin and Hiden began working unsatisfactory office jobs after they graduated from college and soon realized they were miserable. After a year of saving up enough money to travel around the United States, the dreamers quit their jobs and set off to film a documentary about Americans who pursued their dreams to find inspiration.
"You can only sit in traffic and look at fluorescent lights for so long before you're like, ‘There's got to be something else worth exploring in this world,'" said Hiden. He and Irvin interviewed everyone from a past Project Runway contestant to a filmmaker to a female NASCAR driver about how their passion led to their dreams becoming reality. They even talked to career counselors and life coaches to gain practical advice and insightful wisdom.
But, like many people who chase after their dreams, Irvin and Hiden were discouraged at times. "There were moments of doubt along the way," admitted Hiden. They resorted to camping out in tents to save money, ran low on cash despite their saving efforts and were unsure if their film would be viewable due to the simplicity of their video camera. But they completed their film, worked enjoyable part-time jobs to pay for their film editing and now share their findings with college students across the country.
Hiden said the entire process has completely changed his life. "I feel much more comfortable with taking risks now, which is great," he said. "It's so rewarding when you can put yourself out there, do something rewarding you're unsure about or are not sure if it's totally safe." Irvin added, "I definitely [have] a belief in myself now that I could do most things I set my mind to."
Filming "The Dream Share Project" helped Irvin and Hiden get closer to their own dreams as well. Irvin aspires to be not only a writer, but became interested in filmmaking after directing the film. Hiden hopes to become an entrepreneur and his entrepreneurial work with the project has helped him achieve some of his goals.
After Irvin and Hiden screened "The Dream Share Project" to a group of eager students, they conducted a workshop in which the attendees expressed their interests and possible dreams through different exercises. The workshop was designed to help students explore their passions and venture out of their comfort zone by working with the other attending students.
Freshman Katie Vaughn said the documentary and workshop inspired her to begin the search for her own dream. She said, " I really felt that I wasn't the only person who doesn't know what they want to do with their life, and maybe if I try a little harder, I'll know … and find people who can help me discover what I'm good at and what I'm passionate about."
Freshman Megan Mills, whose dream is to do missions work, said the presentation "helped convince me that even though my dream is a little bit crazy, nothing's going to stop me from doing it. I can do whatever I want."
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