In the first week, open source programs such as Processing, Max/Msp, Pure data, and Eyesweb were identified as available sources that could be used with ready support both online and in Grove house. vvvv also emerged as a programming toolkit for real time video synthesis. It is designed to facilitate the handling of large media environments with physical interfaces, real-time motion graphics, audio and video that can interact with many users simultaneously.
On programming and the wig concept
Two pieces of work have captured my imagination on how to best present the appearnce/idenity concept. I admit that its all in the air and as I go through the possibilities of what is feasable some desions will be made on my behalf and that is all part of the process.
The first piece; Similar Diversity is a project by Philipp Steinweber and Andreas Koller, realised with VVVV and Processing. It is an information graphic which opens up a new perspective on topics of religion and faith by visualizing the Holy Books of five world religions. Communalities and differences of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism are shown up in this datavisualization.
The visual’s basis is an objective text analysis of the Holy Scriptures, and works without any interpretations from the creators’ side. Despite – or even because of this abstraction, the artworks are not only working on an informal but also on an emotional level. The viewers should be inspired to think about their own prejudices and current religious conflicts. http://www.similardiversity.net/ I like the graphic presentation of data visually and when I think of the wig and diversity of wig colours, gender and ethnicity, I fill that there is something to be explored in a playful way. Data on why apperances matter, types of wigs, styles, colours, durability, quality, what causes hair loss and the use of wigs either for fun or for cosmetic purposes can be explored.
The second piece is sirens by Ray Lee. In the workshop we saw a video of this installation. metal tripods with what appeared to be sound generators or oscillators attached to rotating arms powered by motors, spin around picking up speed thus creating an amazing whailing sound enviroment. What I like about this piece is the performance element of it. I have certainly never seen anything like it and its a very different experience of viewing art because it takes up the sorrounding enviroment, its playful and fun. siren video clip trThe above two piecs set me thinking and on my way home, I walked into Boarders bookshop on Charing Cros road, to see what else could inspire me. I cam accross Banks violette piece Hate them
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/banks_violette_hate_them_usa.htm
This is a sculpture that holds alot of meaning. My first impressions was that it looked like an abstract drum kit and further research expanded my view on this. I like this peice because it opens up my concept, I can incorporate more, for instance things a wig wearing person would not do for example ride a bicycle on a windy day or play a set of african drums.
Reflections from week 2
Reflection on Physical Computing.
http://www.tigoe.net/intro.shtml
I found Tom Igoe site full of good information, it was a very informative especially the physical computing section. Below is a summary.
What is physical computing?
It’s an approach to learning how humans communicate through computers that starts by considering how humans express themselves physically.
Physical computing applications tend to depend more on people for input, and amplify that input into another form, like an animation, a sound, or motion. Robotics tends towards duplicating what humans can do, replacing the human brain with a computer brain; physical computing tends to extend what they can do, leaving the human brain and body at the centre of it all.
Factors to consider when choosing a micro controller.
Programming Environment.
What type of machine with what kind of ports do you need to program it, in what language e.g. Basic, Assembly, Java, C. Are their multiple pieces of hardware? Do you need programming hardware? How much does it cost?
Price of the Chip, of the initial development chip and the feasibility of reproducing the design a million times.
Digital I/0 –number of lines of digital input and output
Analogue In –number of lines of Analogue to Digital converters, speed and resolution of the measurement. The Basic stamp has no analogue inputs but you can fake it for some analogue sensors.
Analogue Out –ability to provide analogue outputs. Are there dedicated analogue outputs that maintain the output while the microcontroller does other things?
Speed of Execution — Is it interpreted (slow) or compiled (fast).
Amount of Memory –how big can your program be, how many variable you can use, how much data can you store.
Supporting Knowledge Base — are their books, news groups, web pages, friends to help you figure things out.
Compatible Product Line.
Can you add on boards to do things like controlling stepper motors or telephone lines? Often these boards are expensive but they just snap into place without you making any special circuitry. If your time is worth anything then these boards are a good buy.
Physical Size — how tiny is it.
Power –can they run on batteries and for how long?
EPROM — ability to keep a program in memory after power has been removed </UL>
I first came across High Level micro controllers whilst researching for the maverick machines module.
I agree with Dan O’Sullivan’s observation that high level micro controllers allow an artist to concentrate more on his concept hence saving time on wiring and finding the appropriate codes.
The Teleo System was a series of modules developed by San Francisco-based MakingThings.com. There were different types of Teleo Modules for controlling different types of motors, for collecting sensor data, and for a combination of collecting sensor data and triggering electronic devices like lights or motors. The modules could have been purchased separately as needed and strung together to communicate with each other through a network. The Teleo then communicates with the Max program through a direct USB connection. Unfortunately makingthings.com no longer sell Teleo micro controllers but all the documentation, downloads, and support materials can still be found on their website.
However makingthings.com do stock a new micro controller, (more expensive than previous ones from Teleo or harvester) from the description propaganda it seems impressive.
http://www.makingthings.com/products/KIT-MAKE-CTRL/
The Make Controller Kit is a fully programmable,open source hardware platform for projects requiring high performance control/feedback, connectivity, and ease of use. It can also be used as an interface to a variety of desktop environments like Max/MSP, Flash, and Processing, Java, Python, Ruby – anything that supports OSC.
http://www.netmedia.com/
NetMedia Inc. is a leading manufacturer in Video Distribution and Camera equipment, embedded micro-control products, and embedded Ethernet web products.
