I´m born into a house with no computer

After getting several days frustrated with the Eclipse and also with Java Language, I finally gave my first steps in working with Strings in Java.

For this assignment, I did something very simple. Using one of the txt.files that were on the CVS ( bible.txt -- but it's working with any txt.file), I started to extract from the txt file the word I and the following word. In the middle of this 2 words I put the word don't just for fun.

String[] words = content.split("\\b");
// create a new string buffer ( that will store the words I + don't + nextword )
StringBuffer findI = new StringBuffer();
for ( int i=0; i< words.length;i++){
String find = "I";
if(words[i].equals(find)){
findI.append(words[i]+ " don't " + words[i+2] + " " + "\n");
}
}
String output1 = findI.toString();

The result was the String output1 that contains this (excerpt) :

I don't have
I don't have
I don't will
I don't heard
I don't was
I don't was
I don't hid
I don't commanded
I don't did
I don't did
I don't will
I don't will
I don't commanded
I don't have
I don't know
I don't my

I saw that some phrases were repeating, so the next step was to avoid that the same phrase appeared several times or more that once. I started by splitting that String (output1) into an Array phrase and then, using two for loops, comparing each elements of that Array with the rest of the elements. If the element of the Array ( that was been compare to the rest) was different , it was appended to the String Buffer finali

The trick that I use for this, was to create an empty String finali2 that allowed me to see if that element was already in the String Buffer finali. If it was, it wasn't appended, since it was already there.

String [] phrases = output1.split("\n");
// Create new String Buffer ( to each the unique phrases will be appended)
StringBuffer finali = new StringBuffer();
// temp String to compare content ( use contains -- cannot use any method for String Buffer?)
String finali2= "";
for ( int b=0; b String Temp = phrases[b];
for(int c = b+1; c if ( !phrases[c].equals(Temp) && !finali2.contains(Temp) ){
finali.append(Temp + "\n");
finali2 = finali.toString();
}
}
}

String output = finali2;

See the result txt file here and to see all the code, click here

Having the experience with the last exercise, I decided to go back to my initial idea and work with a txt file that contains all the posts from my blog.

In this exercise, I count how many times I used the word "I" in my student blog to see how this blog is self/centered in my activities and also to see to what I which action I was referring to. Using the same logic of the first exercise I got to this result:

I wrote 245 times the word I in my blog
Take a look of the some of the phrases where I use the word I

I wish I
I had only
I still have
I Code Therefore
I Am STATUS
I WANT 255
I m interested
I STATUS Publish
I start with
I was missing
I was trying
I came out
I can develop
I went back
I thought in
I think it
I though on
I have to
I spend yesterday
I can build
I was thinking
I decided to
I went to
I had to
I bought plastic
I shaped them
I thought in
I decided to
I hope I
...../////

see code // see final txt.file

For this week assignment we had to an ACTION, an OBJECT and a RESPONSE choosen from a list. I choose:
- Tap
- Cup
- Sound

My idea was to create a sound instrument, since I never worked with sound in Processing. To trigger the sound when u tap into the Cup I use photocells with a lower threshold. I am still in the process of finishing it. I already worked on the Arduino Code and have something responding in processing but I still miss the construction of the prototype --- putting the 5 inputs ( photocells) inside of the cup.
It's going to be a mess!!

Still working with the txt.file that I exported from my itp blog, I started by replacing all characters and non characters on the file with one single character, in this case /.
I wanted to visualize the patterns that a txt file can created.

The important and simple code I had to write:

String regex = ".";
Pattern p = Pattern.compile(regex);
Matcher m = p.matcher(content);
String output = m.replaceAll("/");

see the code // see the final txt file

In class, Tom show us an example of how visualization live data is arriving to the physical world -- see here

We talked in class about it and most of us thought that it was a bit dumb but I think that it can have better applications. The Source, a work by GreyWorld, is a kinetic sculpture that became the new symbol for the London Stock Exchange. It 's a bit different from the previous example but in my oppinion a beautiful example physical representation of data flows.
It's form and motion is based on live data streams from the Internet. It works like a living organism that is a reflection of market forces.

see video here:

Have a Seat - Reclaiming Public Space
by Caroline Woolard

Sidewalk Series
by Antenna Design

Public Domestications
by Huong Ngo and Colin McMullan

Video:

"Best known for the politically charged images he has projected onto buildings and monuments from New York to Warsaw--images of rockets projected onto triumphal arches, the image of handcuffed wrists projected onto a courthouse facade, images of homeless people in bandages and wheelchairs projected onto statues in a park from which they had been evicted. In projects such as the "Homeless Vehicle," which he designed through discussions with homeless people, Wodiczko has helped to make public space a place where marginalized people can speak, establish their presence, and assert their rights."

Wodiczko give participants the opportunity to speak about their traumatic experiences, creating spaces for individual therapy and public reflection. I saw I saw the documentation of the Tijuana Projection that was part of the Open City exhibition at Eyebeam. The aim of this project was to give voice and visibility to the women who work in Tijuana's "maquiladora" industry. The women's testimonies focused on a variety of issues including work-related abuse, sexual abuse, family disintegration, alcoholism and domestic violence. A headset with a camera and a microphone was connected to two projectors and loudspeakers that transmitted the testimonies live, on two consecutive nights, to an audience of more than 1500.
I remember that when I saw it last year it was a bit strange because the way the image and personal histories were recorded created a very intimate space but they were exposed in a huge projection.

I think that is very interesting the work he is been developing by creating several "psychocultural prosthetic equipments". Take a look of some of his work at the Interrogative Design Work at MIT

Besides his public art installations, Wodiczko also developed a series of vehicles for homeless and immigrants that " function, not without a touch of irony, as implements for survival, communication, empowerment, and healing." They provide this social group with a ‹street tool› that responds to basic necessities of survival economy such as living, sleeping and washing, as well as collecting and reselling cans and bottles.

Here is a link to an interview with him

Please do disturb is a social experiment, a community based project that aims to encourage social interaction in the context of a building. How many neighbors do you know in the building where you live ? do you interact with them ?
The idea is to design a communication system that encourages interaction inside a building.
The idea of this project came from the "Please don't disturb sign" that normally we see hostels that informs that certain room/ person doesn't want to be disturb. So the idea was to subvert it and create a visual system that invite people to disturb. I thought that the perfect place for this to occur is a building. Shared by so many people that don't know each other or if do, don't say more than a "Hi!" or " Bye!" .
Instead of using the signs posted in the door of each apartment, the idea is that each person when wanted to be disturb, should post a sign in the mailboxes. The mailboxes acts as a "shortcut" for the door, since it is visible to all the persons that lived and that entered in the building.
The system is composed of different signs, showing different availabilities:
- Throwing a party - you are welcome!!
- I did extra food!
- Want to watch a movie?
- I'm available to chat a little while
- Let's go for a walk
- I need someone to take care of my cat, please!!!

link to presentation
(please click to focus and then use the arrow right and left (keyboard) to go to next and previous slide

Idea:
Create a program that generate a random Exquisite Corpse, crawling personal (maybe other theme) blogs in the web.

The program will allow users to selected the first word of the Exquisite Corpse and based on that word the program will crawl blogs that contain that word and extract the following 12 words.

The last word that was extracted will be save as the following word to crawl in the next blog in the queue of blogs to visited ( need to define how this list will be created - for now it will be just a list of selected blogs).

This way the program will try to re-create the logic behind the Exquisite Corpse, where several persons create collectively a text where the next person playing have to start to write a phrase with the last word written by the previous person.

Work Plan:

1. Find and create a list of blogs ( not using the crawl for now)
It's was funny and stupid at the same time trying to find "personal blogs" or more personal content in the web. When I noticed I was goggling " My life is a mess" and
"she broke up with me". I also try to goggle " I can't believe she blogged that" that someone wrote in the Draw Installation at Eyebeam on Saturday and that I loved but the results weren't valid. This is the list I'll be using:
1. http://shomernegiah.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
2. http://mylife27.wordpress.com/feed/
3. http://tiffanireilly.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
4. http://beingelim.blogspot.com/
5. http://www.swerdloff.com/personal/index.xml
6. http://dreamsofazaro.com/?feed=rss

2. Create a " fake process" to see how the program could result. Shiffman asked me to do this process in order to help me understand better how can the program could be "design" and the steps I'll need to implement.
I made this scheme -- take a look or download the pdf ( better resolution)

3. Analise the results of the previous step

4. Write the program !!