Week 8 Summary

Glossary, Reference, Weekly Summary

Things I Learned

  • Aleatoric music..is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work’s realization is left to the determination of its performer(s). (Wikipedia)
  • Sonograms are the predominate visualization of bird songs.
A Fox Sparrow's Breeding Song (Source: The Bird Guide)
A Fox Sparrow’s Breeding Song (Source: The Bird Guide)
  • Ideal 1/4” acrylic vector cut settings for the 60W laser: 8/100/5000 with two passes

References

“The UI and UX will change when the data does. I’m interested in seeing how it will change and what design will look like when it’s optimized for transparency around data and not for minimal efficiency.” –

Caroline Sinders, #tfw your side hustle becomes your main gig1

The First Mac OS Control Panel, captured by Dan Vanderkam (https://www3.nd.edu/~jvanderk/sysone/)
The First Mac OS Control Panel, captured by Dan Vanderkam (https://www3.nd.edu/~jvanderk/sysone/)

”It provides a means of recognizing the spatialities of software—not simply linking the screen, register, and algorithm with roads, rooms and runways, but showing how such things in turn transduce each other…”

  • Matthew Fuller, “Foreward” in Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2011.
jazz.computer by Yotam Mann and Sarah Rothberg (http://jazz.computer)
jazz.computer by Yotam Mann and Sarah Rothberg (http://jazz.computer)

”We usually understand and acknowledge that a documentary is a creative treatment of actuality, not a faithful transcription of it…Documentaries marshal evidence and then use it to construct their own perspective or proposal about the world. “

Guest Speakers

Tega Brain, “More Questions Than Answers”

  • When technology fails or works in an unintended way, what does it enable? How can technology be productively inefficient?
  • Being Radiotropic, 2016 questions how we are increasingly orienting ourselves to wireless infrastructures through a series of three wifi routers that “misbehave” or behave eccentrically. One is based on the phases of the moon, another is paired with the lighting and “unlighting” of a candle, and the last responds to the disposition of a house plant.
  • How the “format” of the work, such as a start-up or business, can also be a mode for critical practice (Unfit Bits and Smell Dating).

The Making of H2Do Ray Me, Part 1

Physical Computing

Using water to act as switches, Sean and I have been building a water-piano. Building on the physical motif of keys, the water-piano is composed of a series of keys. Each key has two parts: the cup of water and a paddle.

Much of our prototyping focused on the mechanism of pressing the key: finding the right fulcrum point and how the fulcrum interfaced with the key itself.

We tried a number of different cups and found that the combination of tallness and sloped sides worked well for containing the water and sitting in within the paddle.
We tried a number of different cups and found that the combination of tallness and sloped sides worked well for containing the water and sitting in within the paddle.

We looked at different ways to maintain the alignment and stability of the key when it was pressed.

Vertical elements under the key prevented moved the fulcrum off the base of the cup to the point at which the vertical element starts sloping.
Vertical elements under the key prevented moved the fulcrum off the base of the cup to the point at which the vertical element starts sloping.
A straw sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard created a hinge to rotate around.
A straw sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard created a hinge to rotate around.

By using the corrugated cardboard, we further simplified the assembly to a single layer of material by aligning the corrugations with the hinge and slipping an 1/8” dowel inbetween the ridges.

A single dowel is threaded through each of the keys and a spacer. The wiring from each cup is gathered through a larger hole on the spacer element.
A single dowel is threaded through each of the keys and a spacer. The wiring from each cup is gathered through a larger hole on the spacer element.

Week 7 Summary

Weekly Summary

Things I Learned

  • When using pulse sensors, be careful of their positioning. Once the circuit is past prototyping, ensure the connections and mounting are stable otherwise the readings will be unpredictable.
  • How to create a switch with saline solution. The movement of the salt ions allows the current to travel and closes the circuit.

References

Arduino Capacitive Sensing Library

James W. Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us

Daniel Shiffman’s Programming from A to Z: Text Analysis

Cornell eBird API

Stefani Posavec, Writing Without Words

Semiconductor Films, Earthworks

Marcus Coates, Dawn Chorus (Fabrica Talking Point)

Guest Speakers

Heather Dewey-Hagborg, “Hacking Biopolitics: Art & Intervention”

  • Art as a research and critical practice
  • Stranger Visions: the implications of (un)knowingly shedding our biological matter in public

Sketch 06: Looking at Words

Computation

Inspired by Cris’ website nutrition label sketch from last week as well as McSweeney’s Guide to Ambiguous Grammar, I used a combination of P5.js and the RiTa computational literature library to create a visual tool for identifying parts-of-speech types (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs).

The (partial) text content is pulled from today’s front-and-center article on the New York Time’s website. Knowing that next week we’d be looking at APIs, I hope to continue building on this sketch and pull the article content automatically from the New York Times and use it to look across various reporting desks. Is the the Arts & Culture desk more descriptive, using more adjectives and adverbs? Or what are the most common proper nouns used in World News?

When hovering over any of the four buttons in the corners, the corresponding words are highlighted in the text. The contrast between the faded words and selected words provide a rhythm and instant visual indictor for the most common type of word or how this changes through an article. (link to code)

Controllers for Pong, Part 2: Three Controllers

0004 Pong, Physical Computing

Force Sensors

Two force sensors control the movement of the paddle. The force sensor on the right moves the paddle up and while the other is for moving the paddle down. The degree of force is also mapped to the speed at which the paddle moves; more force = faster movement.2 If there is no force applied, the paddle stops moving. Similarly, when both sensors have the same force applied, the paddle is stationary.3

link to code

Knob

The paddle is in a constant state of motion, the direction of which is controlled by the knob. Turning the knob to the left makes it go up, to the right makes it go down. To some degree, the user can behave more passively. They can observe the motion of both the paddle and ball and then act went wanting to make a change.

link to code

Photoresistor

The paddle is in a constant state of falling and the user needs to “push it up” by adjusting the light level. Reducing the light level detected by the sensor increased the paddles “resistance,” keeping it afloat. The user can find a certain level of light to keep the paddle stationary. This controller is dependent on its environmental context as it is affected by the ambient and direct lighting conditions. With the parameters currently set into code4, can this version only be played away from a window otherwise the full level of control is not available?

link to code