Skinner's Project Pigeon

Fourth In the Merrie Montage series and talks about BF Skinner’s bizarre plan to use pigeons to guide missiles during WW2 and provides a good opportunity to explore his shaping technique.

About the Merrie Montage series:

Merrie Montages are short animations that use primary sources and sometimes silly images to tell a story visually, using motion collage and stop-motion animation techniques. I use Davinci Resolve and Fusion, as well as top-lit work from a camera stand using DragonFrame’s great stop-motion software.

The magical number 7, plus or minus 2
   • The magical number 7, plus or minus 2  
This one explains cognitive load starting with the phone company in the 1950s. George Miller and other psychologists explored the limits of our memory.

Boxing Cats: Edison and the movies
   • Boxing Cats: Edison and the Movies  
This movie explores Thomas Edison’s journey to invent and popularize the moving pictures as a complete ecosystem.

The Broad Street Map
   • The Broad Street Map  
This one looks at the fascinating story behind John Snow's 1854 London map, an early use of visualization persuasion.

Muybridge, murder, and the movies
   • Muybridge, murder, and the movies  
Tells the story of Edward Muybridge and Leland Stanford's horse experiment in 1872 that paved the way towards the motion picture.

Mad men: Timothy Leary and Marshall McLuhan
   • Mad men: Timothy Leary and Marshall M...  
The story of Timothy Leary and Marshall McLuhan working to create his slogan: "Turn on. Tune in, Dropout."