I´m born into a house with no computer

Starting to use Servo Motors. I decided to mix the previous lab with this one: having a FSR (force sensor resistor) as analog in that controls the anlog output to a LED and a servo motor.

This time I decided to do the same exercise and improve the garden with a better movements of the flowers and with same interaction - the flowers. (not finished)
see here

This week we worked in groups. The assignment was to create a network and in our first meeting we talk about the concept of network and the idea around it. We start thinking in making a network with sounds and thinking about the idea of a bad, disturb network -- is it still considered a network ?
We decided to move based in this idea and thinking about how to build a networks of sounds in the class. Computers? Laptops? The idea of having something more physical and analog pushed us further and we decided to advanced with the idea of people plugging in and out sound cables to connect/ disconnect from the network.

As a final idea, we build a network of sounds where each participant act as a node of the network. Each node as a particular role :
- Pod: node with music as input. Also can receive another input from another pod. Have one output. It can be connected to another pod, to the mixer or to the speaker;
- Mixer: node with control of decision - can mix two inputs and can connect to the speaker;
- Speaker: acts as the output of the network and can control the volume of the sound

The network is open to all kinds of connections btw the different nodes and is up to the participants to engage in this network, understand the rules through the process and collaborate to create a sound network. They way the connections are made, change the output of the sound, since sounds are been mixed according to that connections

We created 8 boxes made of clear plastic that the participants can put somewhere in their bodies with an elastic strap ( we like to use them around the head). We decided to have 5 pod's ( to create a variation in sounds), 1 mixer and two speakers. The sounds were made by Ithai ( great work)

some photos of the process:

testing:

some photos of the experience in class:

photos of the group:

Kate, Petra, Alex, Ithai, Thomas

It was a very good experience working with this group of people. We were connected from the beginning and very open to the ideas of everyone.
Thanks, guys for this pleasant experience!

We started with the idea of exploring expressive interfaces. How can interfaces express better the action that they support? Why we use some many buttons in our everyday life and all of them allow us to make completely different actions? Cell phones, keyboard, microwaves, " drinks booth", fans, watches, and elevators? Why do we press a button in an elevator if what the metal box will take us up or down? Why don't we have a vertical " slide" that express the up/ down movement?

We started with questions. Started thinking about the current interfaces we deal in our everyday life and we end up in the elevator. This doesn’t mean that we are going to redesign the elevator but it put us thinking about the expressiveness of interfaces.
What i more efficient? an expressive interface that is more related to the action we pretend to happen or a simple button that executes that action faster ? Also another issue that we talked about is the question of usability/ acessibility of this kind of expressive interface ( in the case of the elevator)

Based on the comments during class last wednesday, we decided to change a little bit our way to approach the problem of the elevator.
First, we were really concern in finding a problem in our everyday life and try to solve it. We liked the idea that came out in the class about trying to think about doing something for the time we spend waiting for the elevator and one of the first ideas that came to my mind was people doing something useful ( creating energy, for example) during that short period of time. But sometimes when we are waiting for something to came, in this case, the elevator in the school, maybe doing something that is entertaining people could be solution.

We started thinking about waiting spaces and what we could do to turn that experience in something more enjoyable. We though about waiting in the subway, waiting in a cue in the supermarket or in a concert and waiting as an unpleasant experience.

Based in this arguments, we decided to place waiting as an unpleasant experience as the problem to solve and create an interactive system/ installation for the waiting area near the elevator on the ITP floor that allows people to play with images using the feet as an interface, while waiting for the elevator.

What is energy?

Maybe is a vague concept, maybe the concept differs from area to area, from person to person.
I like the idea of thinking of energy of something that is constantly being transformed, mutable and that has different physical manifestations. I like the fact that we can see it, we can touch it and feeling it but at the same time it is such an abstract concept.

For me energy is something that somehow has to related to light and water.
Light because of the sun. The amount of light in our everyday life completely influences my energy, my mood, and my relation to the world around. Water because of my relation with sea and the necessity of being close to it. I need to feel water around me to be somehow connected to the world and maybe because I grow up near the sea and in a very warm city in the south of Portugal, I have this special connection and when I am on a beach I feel completely renovate and full of energy. My first dip (dive) every new year is for me a kind of ritual, when I see by body and myself renovate, ready for a new year. For me is like the first day of the year, so completely changes my notion of time, days and years.
Also, I see energy very related to the way I am connected to people and friends. I feel the necessity to be around people, to share my energy with them, to give and to receive energy. I think that is very important in my life and that changes a lot my energies. ( just some personal ideas to what is energy to me)

Despina mentioned that last year, in this assignment, a student created a necklace that used lemon and cooper to build a battery.
My curiosity was so big that when I arrived home, i decide to search online about it and I discovered that is also possible to create a battery not only with lemon but also with vinegar, with a potato and with the human body.

My first idea was to try to create an object/ light that needed multiple people to light up
I was interested in working with light and also with people. After searching how to create a human battery, I had the idea of creating an object that changes behavior according to the number of people that are connected to it ( every person act as a battery). Maybe doing a lamp with a table, I don't know... but the idea of having this kind of experience to see how many people need to be connected to light up a bulb, attracted me.

I tested a little bit with a multimeter to see how many volts one person and two person can create alone and together. It was just a little, around 0,03 or 0.06 volts. Maybe I'll do this experience later but because now I'm having so many assignments for this week, that I don't have time to develop this idea.

We went to observe the dynamics around the elevator both in the main floor and in the 4th floor. Here are some videos and observations:

3 people waiting: they almost don't speak with each other and they don't move around so much, only small movements with the feet.

She waited around half a second. Moving around, always very close to the door of the elevator and looking up very often.

Typical movement when waiting: press button to call elevator, step back for a while, step forward again, press button again, step back. It's almost like a dance in slow motion. And another thing that we observe is that people normally stand and wait in front of the buttons, not in front of the doors.

People like to press the button more that once

Some people prefer to move more around the space near the elevator, while they are waiting.

ITP students are very healthy and energetic. Most of the students, we can say, 90% use the stairs. They don't want to wait for the slow elevator. Why we are doing this?? c'mon guys, we are doing this for u!!

Even when they seem that they are going to use it. At least is a good example to see the what happens when a big group of people is around the elevator.

How people use space when they are arriving by elevator

People arriving and leaving the floor

We start making the footprints with cardboard. We want to test different sensors, so we decided to use force sensors and photocells for our analog in.

For output, William worked and developed a program for Motion Tracking and background removal from a web cam. We are still thinking about the kind of visual environment we want to produce.

Today we went to the actual space and tested how we can use a image projection in this space. We also thought about using a screen because we maybe have problems with the projection because the space as outside light but we were happy with the results of the tests and decided that project on the floor is the best option and result is very interesting. Some pictures:

Movement Study

Movement Study in Space

Since I started this class that I wanted to explore electronics with jewelry/accessories.
I had order some solar cells. They arrived this week and I decided to explore them, learn how to use them to create energy to build a necklace with light ( using led's)
From the previous description of what energy is for me, I decided to explore the concept of light and put the other two on the side ( water and people).
On the other hand, I thought that doing something for me and starting to use electronics ( breaking the fear) was a way to give me energy ( and i need lot) by learning and exploring new things.

The experience was great! I learned that isn't in one day that we learn how to work with delicate things, such solar cells. I have to say that I though that was much easier and even if I didn't manage to finish the necklace, I did the circuit working on the breadboard and I did a prototype of the necklace at least to people see the effect that I wanted to produce.

And I was happy! Happy because in one day I was able to understand how solar cells work ( thanks Alice for the schematic and information in your blog), built the circuit and built the necklace re-using material that I had at home ( i did some jewelry before).

I will post photos here but I left the camera in my locker, at school.

Isn't easy to keep track of all of what we waste during a week and also is terrifying to be conscious of that. Good assignment!
Here is some things that I tracked:

- Lot's of yogurt cups ( 10)
- Water bottles (6)
- Tissues: i was so sick the last weekend ( lost how may)
- Cigarrets butts: yes...even sick i was still smoking a lot
- Food: I waste a lot, it's true
- Paper: tickets, receipts, drafts, printer...( 12) ( recycle)
- Tea Bags: i have some teas that are just the leaves but other have bags
- Home Coffee grounds : maybe using it for a facial or body mask ( i think it's good)
- Plastic cups and plastic food container when at school (6) (3)
- Paper brown bags ( 4)

I'm not the perfect person in terms of sustainability and waste. I do recycle at home. We have 3 different containers but the NY system of recycling, at least near my home, is very strange. I only can put the garbage twice a week and only Monday is the recycle day. In Lisbon, I has living in a historic neighbor and there they gave garbage bags and different color strips to put in different plastic bags to everyone. It was a very good plan and I have to agree that helped a lot.
Even at ITP, where the term sustainability is so common, I see people not worry at all with the kind of trash they produce and also even, in putting it into the right place.

I think we have to change a lot and change our costumes. This week I tried to close the water in the bath. This is a very bad habit I have that I have to change. I'll try to start using my own water bottle ( i don't no the name) and my mug. In relation with the food I waste, that is a big problem I have, I'll try first stop doing that (not eating everything - well, i have to say that i don't eat anything at all, so I waste a lot) and see to who I can give the food ( like what Eugene did with the homeless).

The idea and concept I've been exploring and developing in this class and through the different assignments, is the idea of creating objects which behavior changes, according to the number of people that are connected to them and that encourages social interaction.

*Even if this didn't happen in the last assignment, it was the present in first idea that I had for it.

This is my first applet using Strings and Parsing Text from a website.

For this week I try to do a serial communication btw Arduino and Processing. Put them in love, somehow.
I'm using 2 potentiometers as an input to change the size and color of ellipses in Processing.

The idea was to create something more abstract and I like the effect on this last experience, where I was playing with alpha values and the random size of the balls.

How started
Final Version
Applet version - something similar, ehehe

For this week I try to do a serial communication btw Arduino and Processing. Put them in love, somehow.
I'm using 2 potentiometers as an input to change the size and color of ellipses in Processing.

The idea was to create something more abstract and I like the effect on this last experience, where I was playing with alpha values and the random size of the balls.

How started
Final Version

My Idea for the Midterm Project for Computational Media is to make a visualization of Spam.
Data Visualization and Mapping Information are one of the research areas I've been working for a while. In recent years these areaa have grown exponentially and today we see, more than ever, all kind of data being exposed to this trend. Not that I’m not happy with this, I think it is extremely important to explore news ways to visualize information and create systems that improve the readability and understanding of it. But, at the same time, it has become more a trend than a necessity and we end up mapping useless information, in my opinion.
So, I decided to map and explore ways to visualize information that we consider irrelevant and annoying, without meaning (it can be arguable) or importance. Like spam.

Where does the term spam come from ?
eeheheheheheeeh!!!!

see it on YouTube

Projects using spam and making visualitions about it or using it:

Cry for help

A book that illustrates the scam-mail from Africa. Like the author says," The African scam-mails differ from other fraudulent e-mails in their creativity, audacity and their ludicrous claims. They are fancifully written and thrilling to read".

SpamTrap

Interactive installation piece that prints, shreds and blacklists spam email. The artist created a specific email account to receive spam email and expose that email account to several websites, hoping to be tracked by bots and spammers. Spam Traps are usually used to catch spam.

MakeLove Not Spam

screensaver that endlessly request data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam emails, with the aim of increasing server load on those sites to the point their operation became unprofitable ( project finished)

Email Spam Plants

The attributes of the plants are defined by spam emails. Subject lines, headers & footers are parsed: it detected relations btw data: IP addresses form sender are used to change color, from 0 to 255; the time defines if the plant is smaller(morning) or larger (evening); the size of the msg influences how bushy the plant is; certain keywords might trigger more branches ( viagra is not used to make it taller)

SpamGraffiti

Online Visualizations created from spam messages received by # emails accounts.
Spam appears as layers and time is used to overlap each one ( the newest is one the top)Each email accounts appears visually different, in order to compare them.

Email Erosion

"A physical data visualization system that models a bio-degradable, starch-based block of foam using spam & email as stimuli. Based on the content of an email, the system rotates the block & lowers or raises the sprayer, to erode parts of the foam with sprays of water." (scr= information aesthetics)

Email Spam Paint

Put more info!!

The aim of my mid term project is to Visualize Spam. Please read this to know more about the concept. Since this is going to be my proposal for the final project in this class, I decided to start by implement just a simple part of this complex project:

1. Load (into processing) three local text files of different kind of spam email(ads, money, privacy);

2.Extract the date, subject and length of each one

3. Use that data to display 3 circles : the circles are position on the screen according with the date ( older email goes near the upper left corner ) ; the size of the email depends on the length of the email; each circle is identify by it's subject

I consider this study just a starting point and the result become exactly the opposite that I wanted to create in the beginning. I wanted the result to be visually annoying and noisy, like spam but to simplify I decided to represent each email as a circle that was displayed according the data of it's related spam email.
It was very good to learn how to extract data from files and translate that data visually. I figure out that I was harder that I was expect and I learned a lot.

Continuing to discuss and think about the project, we decided to go back in some decisions and think more about our project, trying to give more context to the concept and problem.
In the brainstorming, Will came with the idea of blocking the image of the projector and this way we could project the image on the door of the elevator. This was a turning point in our project that allowed us to think to redefine our project.

Having the video projection placed on the elevator door itself in real-time, we decided to create a pre visualization of how crowded the elevator could potentially be. We also decided to create a hand crank that invites the viewer to move the graphical presentation of their future scenario up and down accordingly, creating a visual representation of the action of the elevator itself.

First we started by creating a cardboard prototype of the blocker. Sunghun created a system using a proximity sensor that senses when the door of the elevator opens and then, using a servo motor, makes the blocker moves down in order to block the light of the projector

I worked in the prototype of the crank. We made a small/scale model and decided to use a multi-turn potentiometer to make the crank move physically and also to make the image moves up and down. Will was working in the programming of the image analysis and also getting the data from the potentiometer.

Here some images of the first set up of the installation:

We had a lot of implementation issues that had to be resolved and in the first attempt to set up the installation we observe that:

It's was important the localization of the projector and that it had to be set up vertical. Also the video image had to be clipped because the projection area is bigger that the elevator door

Another question was where to put the crank because we didn't wanted to be in front of the image that is projected on the door of the elevator.

Setting up the installation for the first time, made us be aware of some of the problems that we were facing and also we found out that it takes time to set up everything even if in this test we didn't hang the projector in the ceiling and used a web camera .

The next step was starting to build the crank and putting the system working together and of course setting the final installation. Here is some pictures of the final set up that took us almost two days to finish:

For more information about this project and the final result please click here:

This week I worked with Allister ( we talked about working together for some times). I approach him with an idea/concept that was inspired by an amazing movie I saw some years ago called "Yi-Yi" ( in english - " A one and a two") from Edward Yang.

In the Movie, Yang Yang * the young boy that is discovering feelings - love and sexuality, takes pictures of the back of people’s heads to show them what they cannot see. As we can only view what is in front of us, we really only see 50% of the truth. This represents, in my opinion, the movie's philosophy, that there is a second side of every story and that having the perception of that other side reveals new things and it was what remained in my memory in relation with the movie.

So for this week assignment I wanted to explore this and try to create an object that allows people to see their back as a way to create a reflection ( this word fits perfectly here since the movie is all about reflection) about their own perspective in life.

My first idea was to create a necklace made with mirrors that brings the image for our back to the front. When I started working with Allister, we started discussing about this idea and we thought about using cameras instead of mirrors and ended up choosing to create a back harness that could be attached to the body like an accessorie that someone could use in a special occasion. This accessorie consist in a back harness and in a necklace mirror that allow us to see our back neck. What is reflected in the mirror is what is projected in the back harness - we are using a reflecting plastic sheet ( even if this paper creates distortion, it allows to create the desired effect)

We started by doing some sketches and to create a model in paper to adjust and to get the desire effect and dimension

Testing:

The final result:
We asked Yan Yan to model for us for the final Photos ( thanks, Yan Yan ).

Edward Yang died this last summer. In this homage to him, u can take a look in one of the moments of the film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPxfbbGzI-E

How to control a DC motor’s direction using an H-bridge ?

Set-Up
The potentiometer controls the speed of the motor and the switch controls the direction of the motor.

Working

Problem:
I didn't understand why the motor stopped after a while and when I reduced the speed of the motor with the pot - I had to turn the dc power off and on to put it working again