The device translates the ‘turning over’ action associated with the traditional egg-timer into the revealed words ‘tick and ‘tock’ – archetypal (and now redundant) by-products of clock mechanisms.

Basically, an Arduino micro-controller has been pre-programmed to send alternate bursts of full and zero power to a DC motor from a 9v battery ONLY when the device is turned over (because the action of turning over is detected by a mercury tilt sensor).

See TiltTickTock in action below:

Full power is supplied for 3.4 seconds (a time established by trial and error) and this rotates the single aperture in the yellow acrylic ‘face’ around to the approximate position of the written words – ‘tick’ and ‘tock’.

It should be pointed out that a servo motor would give far better ‘accuracy’ in designating the exact position of the ‘face’ if that were desired.  The challenge here was to make something interesting with these quite blunt and clumsy components and actually, the inevitable inaccuracy of the DC motor solution (due to friction, difference of power, loss of power etc.) works well here as an interesting analogue to the the problems faced by the early manufacturers of the mechanical clocks in keeping to time (prior to the design of various escapement, containing and regulating the mechanism.)  If you observe carefully you will be able to see that the TiltTickTock runs slightly ‘fast.’

Another aspect of the device which is aesthetically interesting is the way in which the circular aperture of the yellow ‘face’ appears to eclipse the white ‘tick’ and ‘tock’ elements – indirectly invoking movements of the earth, sun and moon (by which we measure the passage of time).

Images of parts/process, various schematics (thanks to Fritzing) and arduino code below:

components/tools identified:

• Arduino microcontroller
• breadboard
• DC Motor
• mercury tilt sensor
• TIP120 transistor
• 10Kohm resistor
• 9 v batteries (for both arduino and motor)
• wires
• various circular lids etc. to test rotation
• clear plastic sweetie box is excellent for containing projects!

…add ‘tick’ and ‘tock’ circles (authentic typed and re-scanned from my typewriter) – ‘face’ simple vector cut out using laser-cutter:

//TiltTickTock by John O’Shea
//Monday 10th May 2010
//MRes. Digital Media DOING Module – Jamie Allen
//Newcastle University Culture Lab

// Arduino code allowing tilt sensor to trigger motor via transistor

// micro-project translating ‘egg-timer’ metaphor to ‘escapement’ metaphor
//via electronics and code

// constants won’t change. They’re used here to
// set pin numbers:

const int tiltPin = 7;     // the number of the tilt sensor pin
const int transistorPin = 9;      // the number of the transistor pin

// variables will change:
int tiltState = 0;         // variable for reading the tilt sensor status

void setup() {
// initialize the transistor pin as an output:
pinMode(transistorPin, OUTPUT);
// initialize the tilt pin as an input:
pinMode(tiltPin, INPUT);
}

void loop(){
// read the state of the tilt sensor value:
tiltState = digitalRead(tiltPin);

// check if the tilt sensor is activated.
// if it is, the transistor is open and the clock programme runs:
if (tiltState == HIGH) {
// turn transistor on:
digitalWrite(transistorPin, HIGH);
delay(3400);
digitalWrite(transistorPin, LOW);
delay(1000);
}
else {
// close transistor (clock circuit off):
digitalWrite(transistorPin, LOW);
}
}

/*
this code is a hybrid of:
Button
2005 by DojoDave <http://www.0j0.org>
modified 17 Jun 2009
by Tom Igoe
This example code is in the public domain.

http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Button

&
High Current Loads @ ITP Physical Computing

http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Tutorials/HighCurrentLoads

with reference to Arduino site:

http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/TiltSensor

*/

• http://www.re-dock.org/#/blog/?id=81

My thoughts have returned to the unusual Prenzlauer Berg gravestone and I have decided to make a model.  The black outline will be cut from leftover acrylic plastic in the workshop and the design element (in red above) will be engraved (is engraved the right word – sounds quite grand -  anyway, it will be cut also but not all of the way through.)

Having already made an approximation of the spirograph design I have worked with Processing’s bezier() function to make an outline shape similar to that of the original stone.  It took some time to understand how to programme the curves but once the bezier principle is understood it is actually very simple.  Basically, the curve is constructed through combining both sets of co-ordinates for the construction lines (in red below).

Click for sketch and code.

PDF. here also. (any questions please add comment.)

(this instance of DIY gravestone manufacturing may or may not have been inspired by this Home Office video designed to help young people with everyday problems…)

At an extremely simplistic level, I wanted to formally begin explicitly investigating ‘law’ as a ‘medium’ within my Digital Media studies at Culture Lab.

Used my laptop to play back the images and videos in sequence as a slideshow presentation.  A kind of monotonous (and humourous) rhythm was established – pressing the spacebar and instinctively speaking words and phrases to accompany the photos – kind of spontaneous performance.

Uploaded the photos as an .MOV  file to YouTube and then added a ’subtitle track’ to reproduce/share the experience of the presentation.

Subtitling – Why would I do this?

Demonstrate a NEW, ABSOLUTE INTRINSIC reading of the signage and architecture of the city?  No.

But, street signage (for example) demonstrates very well, one of many levels of conceptual ‘encoding’ and ‘decoding’ taking place in people’s heads, unconsciously, all of the time.  And if we are in any doubt regarding how signage should be interpreted, we have a text – The Highway Code – to ensure that signage is interpreted (decoded) with consistency.  Interpretation is as important as the embedded message itself.

(Below – amusing comedy sketch on subtext…)

A fascinating aspect of Youtube (and the web2.0 phenomena as a whole) is the commenting function, which allows a kind of subjective subtitling to develop – people are enabled to share own perspective – interpretation democratised?

Subtext – add your thoughts to video

The subtitles in evidences_of_law.mov are a kind of subjective ‘sub-text‘ which, inevitably, intrudes and influences – imposing a kind of narrative on the viewer’s ‘reading’ of the images.

Whilst looking for a suitable YouTube subtitling tool I stumbled across Overstream – an application which is designed specifically so that individuals can impose their own reading over an online video.  Now, not only can we have foreign language subtitles (making a film accessible to broader audiences) and directors commentaries (sharing insight into a creative process) but also subjective commentaries and alternative readings – all within ‘mainstream media.’

I was emboldened to attempt to develop my own subtitle file following a presentation given by Pete Hindle at the Datarama event in October.  You can read all about that here.

Adding subtitles was a surprisingly technical affair – I found out that it is possible to embed a subtitle or caption track into a YouTube video by making an *.srt file.  This is basically a piece of code which is read in three components:

(1) number in the sequence
(2) timecode in/out
(3) text to be displayed

The file can be downloaded here:evidence_trial5.srt

Typing this ‘code’ by hand (even with copy and paste) was 

laborious
, tedious and 
frustrating
.  It took forever.  If I did something wrong then the *srt. file wouldn’t load to YouTube.  And if I needed to add something in then the number of all the subsequent entries had to be changed.  It was painful going back and forth lining up the times with the appropriate frames.

Through this exercise it is much clearer to me why we might use tools (software, interfaces…) to automate this kind of laborious coding task.  I would have given up if I had not been really determined to share the file.

Only a minority of individuals with a certain level of technical knowledge would put this amount of effort into subtitling a YouTube video so, the absence of a higher level interfacing tool (subtitling software) creates a barrier to participation.

Below: notes from Jamie Allen Media Theory session (4-11-2009) on MRes. research WIKI.

http://www.fromconcentrate.net/WIKI/doku.php?id=04-11-2009

(Has everyone seen John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’ (1988)?…)