Feb 3, 2010 0
Berlin: The Transmediale 2010 opening was an eerie disconcerting spectacle featuring:
What is Futurity Now?
(insert blog post here!)
Below are links to un-edited wiki notes on various sessions:
Wed 3rd Feb 2009
Jan 15, 2010 0
As outlined in previous posts I have developed a Mk 1 hardware element of a ’simple twisting interface’ based on the intuitive and inventive action familiar to anyone who has ever experienced, what is technically known as, a cassette tape fuck-up.
I presented a working prototype for my internal assessment at Culture Lab on the 9th of December 2009, where I used the device in conjunction with an arduino board which was relaying the analog information to MAXmsp in order to trigger and control sample audio files.
Thoughts on interface:
Aspects of the Mk 1 hardware are not ideal. The prototype device is not using a truly ‘continuous’ potentiometer (if such a thing were to exist) – it is using a standard potentiometer which has been butchered and hacked to go all of the way round. The problem is that this leaves a gap in the turn (the resistive element inside is ‘c’ shaped rather than a continuous ‘o’) and as a result of trying to work with this, the principles of code for the current Max patch are heavily compromised.
The demo MAX patch is very buggy and only worked intermittently during the presentation – it is clear that it needs much more rigorous development.
Thoughts on concept:
During the presentation I was asked ‘why exactly THIS twist?’ and ‘why THIS outcome?’
The action of twisting a pen or pencil in the reel of a cassette tape is something that the majority of the adult population will at some time have done – regardless of technological confidence. The ‘twisting action’ is the result of some kind of inate human inventiveness which arises in an attempt to fix the tape.
I had begun working with this simple twist because the action is very satisfying, and I wanted to see what kinds of things could be done with the resulting data output that might have some kind of ‘intuitive’ relevance to the cultural associations of the object and so, conceptually speaking ‘feedback’ or echo…
This approach relates to aspects of our recent theoretical study where we considered J. J. Gibson’s ‘Theory of Affordances’ (1977. pp 67-82) in the context of designing for interaction. Early in the article Gibson, talking about the origin of his theory quotes from ‘Principles of Gestalt Psychology’ (1935, Koffka.)
Each thing says what it is…
…the handle “wants to be grasped” and things “tell us what to do with them
Later though, in a footnote, Gibson warns about making naive assumptions about the simple consequences of our interaction:
THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE WHAT THEY ARE
If the affordances of a thing are perceived correctly, we say that it looks like what it is. But we must, of course, learn to see what things really are – for example, that the innocent-looking leaf is really a nettle or that the helpful-sounding politician is really a demagogue. And this can be very difficult.
Strategy:
It is very interesting to work simply from this one ‘action’ and to try and see how much ‘resolution’ there is within it. In order to make a successful Mk 2 ’simple twisting interface’ I will take the following steps:
Finally
What might be interesting outcomes if this were to be a kind of instrument for triggering music tracks, for instance, rather than a mere demonstration of principle? (and art object?)
It might be interesting if:
Jan 13, 2010 0
Legal boundaries are often determined in respect of private ownership of land and property and are typically ascribed by the simultaneous use of physical boundaries – walls, fences, gates etc.
What happens if the physical boundary is removed or disappears or deteriorates?
The answer it would seem, is that the legal boundary, lacking its physical scaffold, is prone to demise, and the previously ‘private’ property risks falling into public domain. A simple strategy for combating this undesired collapse of law is to give notification of the established legal boundary whilst also making a symbolic gesture towards the previous physical boundary through the use of small markers.
In this way spaces can give the visible and physical impression of being ‘public’ whilst, at the same time, remaining psychologically, legally, economically and physically ‘private’.
The simple brass studs in the video above allude to the outline of a previous structure which, whilst no longer present, is still able to retain territorial supremacy by invoking law – in this case The Highways ACT 1959.
Regarding the Highways Act 1959 – the Office of Public Sector Information has no record of such an act in their 1959 archive. Further investigation reveals that the act was superseded and repealed with the introduction of the Highways Act 1980.
The situation above presents us with an imaginary building and a sign pointing to a vanished law.
Jan 13, 2010 0
In November 2009, television news reports from the day of the fall of the Berlin Wall returned to our screens, 20 years on, like retinal after images. The Berlin Wall had not been a mere boundary marker but a globally visible, physical, manifestation of a global scale political impasse. The transgression and fall of the wall are now seen as emblematic of the groundswell political changes sweeping Eastern Bloc countries at that time.
In advance of our trip to Berlin for Transmediale, I want to consider some contemporary boundaries and how they manifest.
What (if anything) might contemporary boundaries be symbolic manifestations of?
A couple of months ago I saved a link to a ‘Virtual Berlin Wall’ project but now that I return to the link it directs me to the ‘Google’ web search home page – this anomaly takes this blog post off at a tangent…
Virtual Berlin wall launched to commemorate walls http://tinyurl.com/ydl2oqp 3:47 AM Nov 9th from web
There are three possible reasons for this unexpected outcome:
1. – it is simply a dead link and ‘Google’ is the ‘in browser’ default
2. – this is a smartass conceptual art joke
3. – the ‘error’ is some kind of freudigital slip
I choose to believe all three of the above reasons to be correct.
Google is a kind of global digital interfacing membrane, which applies top secret filtration algorithms in order to control, administer and record the exchange of information on the internet.
Today’s withdrawal of Google from the Chinese ‘market’ on grounds of ongoing state censorship is seen by political commentators as a gesture towards a western democratic moral and political highground.
Despite Google’s seeming omnipotence, the vast majority of internet users seem to perceive Google, less as an oppressive ‘wall’ rather, as a benevolent ‘gateway’. For many, Google is a symbol of free, easy access to information and, as such, Google is more analogous in popular consciousness to the Brandenburg Gate than the Berlin Wall.
Brandenburg Gate image used under licence from Wikimedia Commons.
Links:
Google and China: a cynical ploy or a principled stand? – Charlie Beckett, Director POLIS
Google and China: What’s the real story, and where does it go from here? – Mac Slocum. O’Reilly Radar
Jan 4, 2010 1
Later this month I will be submitting my final project proposal and, having identified my research area – “Law as Art” I need to outline the territory I am going to explore and suggest a path through. What are my aims? What specifically am I intending to do?
It is as a citizen first that I find this area of research immediately arresting – in the U.K., we are all subject to the rule of law, but what do we actually know about how laws are made?
Gulf between Citizen and Law
Every week, central government introduces new legislation regulating all aspects of our lives and we, as citizens, are in effect the end-users: consumers of law – What understanding do we have about the process from which law emerges?
Even the most commonplace of legal documentation, such as a Tenancy Agreement, is totally impenetrable for a majority of people – littered with seemingly contradictory technical terminology. Legal documentation actually seems like an irrelevence – ‘non-working documents’ – which are completely unneeded until exactly when it is too late – when we come into contact with the law through abuse, accident and tragedy. In a confused ‘car crash’ scenario we employ specialists to perform an autopsy on our paperwork.
2694 Humorists tell us there is no act of our lives which can be performed without breaking through some one of the many meshes of the law by which our rights are so carefully guarded; and those learned in the law, when they give advice without the usual fee, and in the confidence of friendship, generally say, ‘Pay, pay anything rather than go to law;’
Chapter on Legal Memoranda: Mrs Beeton’s Household Management, first published 1861.
There seems to be an insurmountable gulf between citizens and the specialised processes of law making and our legal architecture – the framework of rules which fences and underpins our culture.
I would like to investigate and suggest new ways for citizens to become engaged with law and ultimately to be involved in the formulation and enactment of law, in a real and creative sense.
Dec 9, 2009 0
Prototype intuitive interface / proof of concept / instrument – successful?
Original drawing identified basic principle:
Although I considered different configurations (eg. geering) the simplest approach for this test was to directly engage the modified ‘continuous’ potentiometer with the pen lid through the cassette reel.
AND this just felt really ‘RIGHT’!
When building the MAX patch I attempted to identify 3 ‘triggers’ that I wanted to isolate from the user input data:
I basically attempted to identify these 3 triggers using the METRO object to periodically (every 1 sec and every 200 milliseconds) read data coming into MAXmsp and then, using conditional statements eg. pictured, compare the previous two values to identify the rate of change.
I am aware that this is in no way the most sophisticated way of using MAX to interpret this rate-of-change / acceleration data but, this was the fastest way for me to prototype this and get a result with my fledgling knowledge of MAX.
Working on this piece has totally re-affirmed this statement:
simpler interface = more complex interaction
It is fascinating how much data is contained within such a simple single twisting action and there are really huge ramifications for my future ‘user interface’ work if I can develop my skills at using code and software to interpret and translate this data.
Download my ‘Echoes’ MAX patch here.
- PLEASE COMMENT! -
Dec 9, 2009 0
Cheap potentiometer only does part of a turn – need ‘continuous’ turn to realise piece.
Went shopping for continuous potentiometer – consumer approach – but was informed that such components don’t tend to be stocked – insufficient demand.
Assumption – scarcity means that ‘continuous potentiometer’ requires ’special’ technical facility.
Jamie – probably just something in there stopping it going all the way round…
Take apart – discovery – OBVIOUS! – ‘afraid to look under the hood’
Now – Arduino needs to communicate with MAX over SERIAL port – Short answer – NOT WORKING!
Joey provides workaround in shape ov OpenFrameworks application (have the feeling I’ll be using O.F. a lot more…)
Dec 9, 2009 1
During our DOING session 001 we did an initial experiment inputting analogue data into MAX using Arduino + Potentiometer.
Question – why? what is the relationship between ‘turning’ and ’sound’? What is interesting about this?
Sound and Turning
where else? – reels, wheels, disks (cassette –> music, cars –> noise
This hand gesture is familiar, a kind of latent physical memory.
Dec 8, 2009 0
…absence of a higher level interfacing tool creates a barrier to participation… (previous post)
The basic corkscrew twists into a cork and (with a bit of umph!) the cork is pulled out of the bottle, releasing wine. The Wing Corkscrew (above) does exactly the same thing, but assisted by two levers either side, (mechanical advantage) our cork is removed with a little less umph!
Does my glass of wine taste different – better or worse – as a result of the bottle being opened with mechanical assistance?
Tools:
Interfaces:
Instruments:
BUT, let’s remain focused on the wine (and how to get at it) not the corkscrew, crowbar, cannon or wateva…
Dec 7, 2009 0
During 2002/03 I collected magnetic tape from streets and trees – eventually amassing an archive 50+ individual pieces. I began painstakingly re-assembling these – putting the old magnetic tape into new cassettes. These were never shown / performed or shared since I could not think of a satisfactory way to play these again….
Simply putting the tapes into a tape player risks potential damage.
and yet…
A digital ‘press-button’ archive is boring and unsuitable – and the sanitisied digital files seperation the end user from the original concept and labour involved in re-assembling tapes.
At the time I had the feeling that what was needed was:
Re-Dock
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