My BA Digital Media Design Blog

Closing Statement

2008-06-12T13:02:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all doing well and realising your plans for the future. I’m currently looking for a job or freelance work, so get in touch if you know anyone who needs a website!

It’s been a great year. Some of the highlights for me included Transmediale Festival and Berlin, and the amazing array of practicing professionals which we have had in to speak to us. I’d like to thank them all for their time and let them know that they have all inspired me in some way. Thanks to Micheál for getting them all in and organising the course so well.

I feel like I have learnt so much in such a short space of time and really refined my research and design skills. The projects we have done have all been very challenging, but each one has also been incredibly rewarding.

As a person who came from a working environment back into education I would definitely encourage anyone in a similar position to go for it. However, do not expect an easy ride! I have been working pretty much non-stop throughout the year and have been constantly thinking about the briefs which we have been set. If you enjoy a challenge, and have the time to dedicate to it, then this course is for you.

Some of the books which I’ve found incredibly useful throughout the course include (in no particular order):

The Design of Everyday Things
By Donald A. Norman

The invisible computer : why good products can fail, the personal computer is so complex, and information appliances are the solution
By Donald A. Norman

Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing
By R. L. Gregory

The language of new media
By Lev Manovich

Clicking in: Hot Links to a Digital Culture
By Lynn Hershman-Leeson

Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand
By Gerry McGovern

I think that the show went really well and it was great to see everyone’s work displayed. I wish everyone the best of luck for the future and I hope that you all keep in touch. I think Colin has made a Facebook group for the course, which might be a nice way to keep in contact. I’ll leave you with the cartoon I drew for Micheál:

The End is Nigh

2008-05-31T11:32:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, I hope you all got everything in on time yesterday. This year has been very intense and it’s very odd to be almost at the end of it. If you would like to take a look at my final project you can do so at www.dreamodyssey.co.uk.

I’d really appreciate it if you could leave a comment on the site about it. Hopefully see you all on Monday to plan the show.

Dissertation Overview

2008-05-10T10:53:00.007+01:00

I handed in the dissertation yesterday. I really enjoyed researching and writing about the subject, although I found structuring it quite difficult. When I say structuring, I mean I found it difficult to take out parts which I had worked really hard on but that needed to come out because they disrupted the flow and were not totally relevant. I remember PJ Harvey saying something like “When something isn’t working, you need to take out the part which you like best.”

I think I did quite a good job and handed in a good piece of writing which I am pleased with. It’s hard to judge it properly when you get so close to it and end up being able to recite parts of it from memory!

I tried to think about how someone would read it and to make it as interesting and clear as possible. I didn’t use sub headings, instead I used questions to break up the text and help me to discuss my main points. I felt that this system worked well and provided a better flow throughout. I found it quite stressful towards the end, especially when trying to judge when I should stop going over and over it, and I think I will probably be constantly thinking about it for a while longer as it is hard to switch off.

I’m just going to briefly lay out the main points:

My title was: “Considering the constantly evolving technological landscape and the new “prosumer” attitudes towards creating web content, will all web content and related technologies ever be truly accessible to all?”

As this topic had the potential to be very broad, I decided not to look into security or privacy issues which would obviously inhibit access. I also focussed my investigation on access issues of people with disabilities and specifically those who were visually impaired.

I began by looking into the histories of technology and the Internet to discover how it had become so inaccessible. I discussed how quickly the technology is changing and how people may not be able to keep up.

I went on to explore and define Web 2.0, “prosumerism” and social media, and discussed how they might be affecting accessibility.

I defined disability and examined how disabled people are generally viewed, and how the term disability can be misconceived. I then provided statistical evidence confirming that disabled users do not have easy access to all websites and information on the Internet. I discussed how these statistics may be due to the fact that web designers, and now “prosumers” who create web content, may not be paying attention to user-centred design and accessibility guidelines.

I discussed my experiences with some of the “text to speech” software I had tested, and looked at developing technologies such as the vOICe software and how they may help create a better web experience for visually impaired users in the future.

I explored and explained some of the terms and ideas detailed by Donald Norman in his book The Design of Everyday Things, including: affordances, conceptual models, mapping, standardisation, constraints, errors, feedback and visibility.

Finally, I presented possible options for the future of technology and how it could be improved and made more accessible and user-centred for all.

I ended with a quote from Norman form The Invisible Computer:

“Today, it is the individual who must conform to the needs of the technology. It is time to make the technology conform to the needs of people.”

The Stages of Sleep

2008-04-21T12:42:00.002+01:00

On average people experience 5 stages of sleep each night. This means that they slip in and out of R.E.M. mode around 5 times and can potentially have 5 different dreams each night. Therefore, based on this information, I propose to create 5 different scenes within the piece, which correspond to the 5 stages of sleep.

Each scene will have different options for the user to explore. By selecting an option in each scene the user will have the ability to change certain areas of the narrative and eventually, will either be returned to the current scene, or passed to the next. I would like the piece to be simple and straightforward to use with no instruction needed. I will use subtle animation to move between scenes and within the options so as not to bombard the user with too much movement.

There are a few films which I have really enjoyed which deal with the subject of dreams and sleep and these might be good to refer back to, as they could potentially give me inspiration for the content of the scenes I will create within the piece.

The first is Waking Life:

And the next is The Science of Sleep which is directed by Michel Gondry, one of my favourite directors:

Exam Project

2008-04-10T10:44:00.004+01:00

For the exam project I’ve decided to look into something which I’ve been interested in for a while – interactive narrative. For the Design for Interaction project – www.interactwithme.co.uk, I created an Adobe Flash interface which attempted to explore the roles of control within interaction and tried to reverse these roles, making the interface difficult to interact with. In contrast, for this project I would like to explore the way in which narrative can be changed and randomised through interaction to create a piece which is potentially interesting and engaging.

I have been interested and researched many aspects of how the brain functions over the course of the year. For the Design Futures project (www.sensorysubstitution.co.uk) I looked into Sensory Substitution and the way in which our senses relay information to the brain and how the plasticity of the brain can allow the substitution of one sensory input for another. For the Design for Interaction (www.interactwithme.co.uk) project I investigated perception and the way we see and interpret information as well as optical illusions and how these are interpreted by the brain. Also, for the previous project, the D&AD Student Awards (www.dandad.lucyirving.com), I researched Dementia and brain injuries and a condition called Agnosia, a term coined by Freud in his book Aphasia to describe recognition and perception disorders. I would like to continue to research into brain functions, and this time I have chosen to research into the way in which the brain constructs dreams, using this as a basis for my narrative exploration and construction within my final piece.

I am considering creating a questionnaire to allow me to do some primary research into what people remember about how their dreams are constructed and the way in which a narrative is constructed within their dreams. I am however having difficulty thinking of the questions I could ask to obtain this information, so I really need to sit down and work out whether it would be possible and/or useful to create a questionnaire. Anyway, here’s a nice illustration of a brain I did a while ago to keep you amused:

First Day Back...

2008-03-31T10:53:00.002+01:00

Good discussion this morning, nice to see the book by Lawrence Zeegen brought in by Chris. I really like his style and actually accidentally came across one of the people he talks about in his book – Secrets of Digital Illustration: Simon Oxley. He presents his work in a really interesting way and his website is definitely worth a look -www.idokungfoo.com. Nice to hear something from everyone. I’ll look forward to the presentations this afternoon.

Social Media Bits

2008-03-27T09:09:00.002Z

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a good break. I’ve found out about a few interesting websites recently which I thought I might share with you. The first is twitter, take a look:

The second is muxtape.com – a simple way to create and share mixtapes.

It’s hard to keep up with all these new developments in social media websites etc. so if anyone knows of any more please let me know!

Fun fun. Also, has anyone found anywhere interesting to go on Secondlife at all?

The Power of Words

2008-03-19T16:08:00.004Z

Hi guys, thanks for all of your comments on my Constructive Criticism blog post, some very interesting opinions and points raised.

I’ve just come across some quotes in my research which I thought might be appropriate to post, on the subject of the power of words.

“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”
-Buddha

“Without the force of words it is impossible to know men.”
-Confucius

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
-Rudyard Kipling

“Give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world.”
-Benjamin Franklin

“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”
-Mark Twain

Another quote I really like and came across a while ago whilst doing research for the Design Futures project is from The Post-human Condition by Robert Pepperell. It’s a bit off topic but you might find it interesting-

“It is a deficiency of humans that they require others to tell them what they already know. It is only then that they will believe it. The Post-Human avoids excessive scholarship, preferring to spend one hour thinking rather than ten hours reading.”

Enjoy!

If anyone has any more interesting quotes please leave them in a comment :-)

D&AD Project Website

2008-03-14T18:58:00.002Z

Hello! Hope everyone got all their bits in on time. The link to the site I created for the project is www.dandad.lucyirving.com. I’d appreciate any feedback on it, if you have time.

Also, the link to the site where you can get cheap educational software and graphics tablets etc is - http://www.education-store.com/stores/news_stories_view.do?pubID=5869

Hope you all have a good Easter.

The Last Week of the D&AD Brief

2008-03-12T20:12:00.002Z

I’ve just mounted up my boards. Took me a while! Spray mount isn’t the nicest thing. I’ve done two lots of one A2 and one A3 boards. They look like this:

I’m also finishing off displaying my work on a website and writing my rationale etc. I will post the link up here when I’m done. I think the photo’s I’ve taken make a lot more sense when you read my rationale as I’ve done so much background research. I hope they make some sort of sense though!

Constructive Criticism

2008-03-08T19:24:00.001Z

Some interesting questions have been raised this week:

Is it ok to “slag someone off” in your blog? Have we yet earned the right to comment on the work of practicing professionals? Is it alright for lecturers to invite people to speak without forewarning them that the students will be posting on their blogs about these people and that these blog posts will be accessible on the internet and readily found by Google?

As we all know it’s incredibly easy to criticise, but to be able to write intelligent, constructive criticism is a sought after skill and rare to find. Perhaps taking more care and consideration over what we write and put out there for the world to see would be a good idea. People have fought and died not only for our freedom of speech, but also for our freedom not to speak and to sit back and carefully consider things before we open our mouths. What does everyone else think?

Manipulation of Photography

2008-03-03T10:36:00.002Z

I went into the local photo place down St James’ Street over the weekend and found out the prices to develop my pictures 8”*6”. They seemed quite reasonable, about £10 more than online though; but around 4 days less to get to me. Weighing up the risk I will probably get them developed at a photo place in town; the cheapest that I can find. If anyone knows of any cheap and good places in town please let me know.

I’ve still got a few more shots I want to retake and I need to manipulate a few of my images. If I have a chance when I have everything done I may try out some 3D techniques, placing 3D objects into the picture using 3D Studio Max. Michael showed me how to place an image onto a plane in Max and then place a 3D image in front of it. You can then create a camera to capture the image, but you need to be careful to keep it at a high resolution.

My aim is to create around 12 (max) interesting, original and honest (is any photograph truly honest??) images to illustrate the many facets of dementia. I need to weigh up carefully how much digital manipulation to use on these images as I don’t want to manipulate just for the sake of manipulation. The question I need to ask myself, when manipulating any of the images is: will this manipulation add to the quality and message of the image?

Reading Week and Beyond

2008-02-28T10:47:00.001Z

I’ve continued with my research into Alzheimer’s disease and the effects of dementia. I’ve been visiting the Alzheimer’s forum (Talking Point) to see if I can get any more ideas for interesting images. I’ve also been taking lots and lots of photos and created/bought the props that I needed. Working with light properly and getting the shots that I want and have sketched out is proving difficult. Photography takes a lot of patience!

I’ve been looking into getting the pictures printed professionally. I’d like to create a micro-site for this project again, if I have time, with a Flash photo-presentation application. I will post up the link when it is done. I’m looking to create a really polished end-piece with my photographs mounted up and presented as well as I can.

I changed my mind about the collage feel of the shot’s as after studying the brief again, as it suggests that they are asking for actual traditional-type photography rather than a graphical image. Through the use of my props I am creating images which are interesting and different. I’ve still got a lot of work to do and need to finish the final photographs ASAP as I need to send tem off to get printed. I’ve found quite a reasonably priced website - uk.foto.com, but if anyone knows of anywhere cheaper, with a faster processing/delivery time please let me know.

D and AD Student Awards 2008

2008-02-14T16:38:00.003Z

Our current course brief is one selected from the D and AD student award briefs. I’ve chosen to go with the Photography brief for D and AD which can be seen here:

http://www.dandad.org/studentawards08/briefs/pdf/PHOTOGRAPHY.pdf

I’ve managed to borrow a rather nice SLR camera and tripod from the college to do some experimentation with images and get used to using an SLR. I did a bit of photography on my Foundation Degree, so I’m hoping to get back into it quite quickly.

Due to the brief asking you to communicate the many facets of dementia, I’ve chosen to go with a few ideas I’ve had, and I’ve storyboarded them up. I’m not going to use and images of people in my photographs, only objects. I’m not sure how much digital manipulation will be allowed for the competition but I’ve decided to use quite a bit as it fits in with the ideas we have been looking at recently about what a digital photo actually is.

The Photoshop tutorials we have been through today with Angie Taylor will really help me with this brief and although I have to create boards with images mounted up for the competition, I would also like to create another micro-site for this project to display the images I will produce.

The brief asks you to create 4-12 images so I think I will produce more rather than less and cull them after I have captured them depending on how well they come out.

I’ve been looking through some of the forums on the Alzheimer’s Society website to try and get a feel for other people’s experiences with dementia and see if I can incorporate any of their experiences into my images. I’ve also been researching into surrealist objects as I would like to create a couple of surrealist images as part of the set of images; perhaps covering objects with packaging from an unrelated product.

I may also attempt to 3D model an object in 3D studio Max and use unrelated textures/patterns mapped onto the object, which will then be placed into a photograph.

If anyone has any ideas or experiences relating to dementia which could be communicated visually please let me know.

Beriln Photos

2008-02-09T14:58:00.000Z

I’ve uploaded my photos from Berlin to Flickr if anyone is interested. They aren’t the best as I was using the camera on my phone but should give you an idea of what it was like.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23624271@N07/sets

Transmediale Festival 08

2008-02-07T12:44:00.000Z

Transmediale festival 2008 was hosted in various locations all over the beautiful (and large) city of Berlin. The main base for the festival was the House of World Cultures, a gift to Germany from the USA in 1957 to celebration the defeat of fascism and the fight against communism. The building itself is vast and beautiful, much like the city. The shape is unusually sculpted and is reminiscent of the star ship Enterprise form Star Trek with its futuristic modernist design.

Berlin has been described by Karl Scheffler in 1910 as“a city condemned forever to becoming and never to being.", so perhaps it was a rather apt location to host a festival for art and digital culture. Digital media is constantly evolving and changing and is never easy to define or explain; like the city of Berlin, it is in constant flux. The building in which the festival was set was much the same. The rooms and spaces in which the festival took place were constantly regenerating themselves over the 5 day festival breathing new life into spaces which were initially taken for granted. Every area and space was used in some way to show work or explain ideas.

The introduction to the festival attempted to explain the theme, which this year was “conspire”. A piece by Kimsooja called Respirare was shown before the talk and consisted of the sound of someone’s breathing becoming faster and faster and more intense as the colour of the screen changed gradually throughout. During the talk itself it was explained that the act of breathing together fitted with the theme of conspire. Breathing together was the basis of many conspiracies. The book of Genesis explains how God created Man through divine breath. Now, what has been created by man is breathing. Factories, cars and machinery are expelling CO2 gasses and other toxins which are severely affecting our planet. 2007 was explained as being a historic year when we finally began to wake up and take notice of climate change and began the climate debate. The debate itself has been the subject for potential conspiracy, with some experts claiming that the climate change is the earth’s natural progression through its various stages and cycles. It was stated that this festival could be seen as being a “climatologist’s conference”, with many of the pieces displayed, seminars and lectures focussing these climate issues and conspiracies. Some pieces address our love /hate relationship with conspiracy and explore who is terrorising who, and in what context. The aim of the festival, it was stated, was to reflect our technological culture in trans-disciplinary forms.

One of the quotes used by one of the speakers was by Jules Verne- "Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real." This speaker urged us to make our own links between pieces and not necessarily follow the path which the curator wanted you to follow. This reminded me of Lev Manovich’s ideas about how we follow other people’s brain structure and thinking when we follow hyperlinks.

The Building was divided into 5 main areas. The area in which the lectures were hosted was the Auditorium. The lectures were informative and theoretical. Experts who spoke came from many different backgrounds but most appeared to have an art background. The lectures usually consisted of a panel of four or five exerts speaking on a particular subject. Each gave a totally different perspective to the other and the information provided was so vast it was difficult to capture any notes at times. The talk on Web 3.0 was especially intriguing although it seemed to skirt around the actual subject instead of tackling it directly and collectively.

The Theatersaal was host to many film programmes, usually grouped together under a loosely themed title. This room was host to some of the highlights of the festival for me. The “When You’re Strange” programme was the first to be shown in the Theatersaal. This programme consisted of four films. The first and most inspirational was “Stranger Comes to Town” by Jacqueline Goss. This film used World of Warcraft avatars to tell people’s stories about their experiences entering the U.S. The avatars provided a different perspective and an anonymity which was unlike other documentary-like short films. It also provided a humorous element which was not totally appropriate to the subject matter, but proved to be engaging and interesting. Other film programmes which I attended and enjoyed included “Inside Out” with films like “Super Smile” and “Je Suis Une Bomb”; featuring a pole-dancing woman dressed in a panda suit. “A Decade Called X” was a programme put together by Marcel Schwierin. It consisted of 1950’s commercials, short films and propaganda films. Some hilarious, others disturbing and a few which contained traces of the two.

The Lounge area was always changing. When you first enter the building there were various exhibits, mostly screen based for you to interact with. Down the stairs and towards the café area there were interactive screens which change your reflection and alter information. Other screens and exhibits took place outside the Bilderburg area, which was host to seminars about many different topics from surveillance to Google.

The Exhibition area itself was vast with the space in the centre of the room occupied by a large circular area curtained off. This piece was called “A Plaything for the Great Observer at Rest”, an installation created by Normanchi Hirakuwa, which dominated the room. Other exhibits featured clouds, spaceships and flying saucers following the theme of “conspire”. Films were shown under large tilted black boxes; an immersive environment where you could completely engage with the each piece. I had to visit the exhibition many times to explore the pieces and even then, unfortunately I did not manage to see the majority of the films.

Club Transmediale took place in venues including the MAO club which usually plays avant-garde techno music and is host to world class DJ’s. This venue was transformed into an experimental music venue with artists showcasing intense and sometimes theatrical performances. The Sonic Wargame allowed four players to improvise music together by voting for each other producing various sounds. Other venues were host to more experimental music and the planetarium hosted an art piece where 1000 peacock feathers were dissolved in acid.

On Sunday, after attending the Web 3.0 lecture in the Auditorium I felt quite sad knowing that I would have to leave the festival shortly. Having spent a portion of the previous 7 days at the House of World Cultures I still felt as though I had a lot more to see and do there. Balancing experiencing the festival and resisting the lure of the city of Berlin was a difficult task. The festival, although occasionally taking itself slightly too seriously, provided a vast forum and experimental centre for people involved in all areas of digital media to gather, learn and showcase their work. The festival was a beacon attracting artists, professionals and students fro m all over the world. I enjoyed my time at Transmediale and felt inspired and refreshed when leaving the festival; I would definitely urge anyone involved in digital media to attend.

(I will add some photo’s later.)

DJ Scotch Egg

2008-01-24T16:47:00.000Z

More to come...

Control and Probability

2008-01-10T10:53:00.000Z

'…Design boundaries can be thought of as very elaborate systems of control'.
'The users of new media are becoming the content of the form'. (P. Marshall, 2004, New Media Cultures, Arnold Press: London Pp.18)

I have decided to use symbols for the choices within the interface I am creating, instead of words. This is to increase the simplicity of the device and help the user focus on the choices to be made. Four symbols will be shown at any one time for the user to choose from. Each set of 4 symbols will be different to other sets but each set will have some sort of connection or theme.

I will make the probability of the interface selecting the correct symbol less and less as you progress through the sequence of sets of symbols. I have chosen to do this because I have tested some basic designs out on friends (people who have had no contact with project) and discovered that if the probability of the interface getting the selection correct is totally random to begin with, people seem to give up on interacting with the interface very quickly as they realise that their selections are not being registered and they have no control from the start.

This is how the selection probability will work: The first symbol selection will always be correct, the next selection will have a 1 in 2 chance of being correct, the selection after that will have a 1 in 3 chance of being correct and the final selection will have a 1 in 4 chance of being correct. This is to draw the user in and make them believe that they are in control of the selections to begin with. They will then become more and more frustrated as they progress through the sequence of selections and realise they are not in control of the interface, it is controlling them.

Interactivity Gone Wrong

2008-01-07T12:55:00.000Z

Hello, and happy new year to you all! Over the holidays I’ve been emailing Simon Morse about my project and bringing all my ideas together. He’s been a great help and given me lots of inspiration and advice.

I’ve decided to go with the “wrong interface” idea, which I thought of originally, and have developed that idea over the holidays. I’ve also continued looking into optical illusions and Op art and would like to incorporate some of these graphical elements into my final piece.

I’ve taken some inspiration from the “Fonejacker” programme “Flat for Rent” episodes, as I would like to create an interface which would be similar to an automated telephone system: no matter which button you press it keeps misinterpreting what you are saying and it selects something different. The user tends to get aggravated and frustrated in these situations on the programme, as they cannot achieve their aim and there is no option to speak to a real person. It’s technology gone wrong, instead of the user being in control and being aided by technology, the technology is working against them and is stopping them from reaching their aim. This is a theme I have researched and is a main component in the book “The Design of Everyday things” by Donald Norman, which I mentioned in one of my previous blogs. Below is a clip of the “Flat to Rent” sketch from the “Fonejacker” program:

The interface which I will create will be different to this as the user will not have an aim in mind when they interact with the interface, unless I set a task for them beforehand. I’d rather not set the user a specific aim though as I’d like the interface to be more like an experimental website rather than a game. I’d like the interface to be rational yet irrational at the same time; similar to the machines created by Simon Morse. It will also incorporate the theme of repetition which I’ve been looking into as the sequence will go round in a continual loop; certain options will be random, but others will be planned and if you reach the end it will return you to the beginning. It will also be comical and interesting to interact with as the options may not always be logical and some combinations of options will not be instantly connected in your brain; this may create new pathways and stimulate mental activity. I may also incorporate a timer into the interface so that the user can see exactly how much time they have spent interacting with it.

I am considering building an input device for this piece from one of the tutorials Rhona showed us. This will limit the user even more, so they will be interacting within strict boundaries without distraction. This may help the user to focus more on the interface and make their interaction with it more enjoyable and interesting. The tutorial for the making of this device can be seen here:
www.nastypixel.com/instantsoup/?page_id=71"Z

Let me know what you think. As always, any ideas/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. Sorry I haven’t got back to some of your comments over the holidays-I will do soon!

Brain-Computer Interaction

2007-12-13T14:40:00.000Z

We just had a visiting speaker by the name of Luciana Haill who showed us ways of measuring brainwaves using a special device which you attached to the forehead to pick up EEG waves. The software used with this device was able to produce visualisations and sounds from the data. Your brain is controlling the images and mix of sounds so the experience is very unlike those of conscious “forced” interaction loops where you need to perform an action in order to get a response or view a change.

Here’s a video of the software and hardware in action:

The fascination with this technology goes beyond just making beautiful sounds and patterns to perhaps being a step towards gaining a deeper understanding of the human brain. She has a myspace if anyone is interested - www.myspace.com/lucianabrain.

In the previous module, I looked into brain-computer interfaces and I posted a few YouTube videos I had found on the subject. Scroll down and take a look at people playing pong using the power of their minds!

Magic Eye

2007-12-11T21:00:00.000Z

After looking at the Magic Eye Tetris game linked to from Sita’s blog (www.lutanho.net/play/magiceyetetris.html) I’ve been looking into Magic Eye images and thinking about creating some sort of interface using the Magic Eye images.

As mentioned in an earlier post on this project I am interested in creating a “wrong” interface which interesting and makes us think about how much we take intuitive interfaces for granted. I’ve also, as you can see in previous posts, been looking into optical illusions and Op art and researching into how and why we see and perceive things the way we do.

I have found a site which lets you create your own magic eye images too, try it for yourself here:

www.flash-gear.com/stereo

Here’s one I made earlier:

What is it?!...Answers on a postcard please (or in a comment).

Repetitive Art

2007-12-10T15:36:00.001Z

Here are some artists who use optical illusion and repetition themes in their work:

Jim Lambie

Jim Lambie Installation view, Mental Oyster, Anton Kern Gallery New York, 2004

Mark Titchner

Mark Titchner Turner Prize installation, 2006
Photo from Turner Prize 2006 exhibition at Tate Britain. Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote

Bridget Riley

Repetition

2007-12-10T15:19:00.000Z

After looking at optical illusions and Op Art which uses repetition to confuse the brain, I’ve been discussing with a few people reasons why we repeat things. Here is a list of reasons I’ve gathered together (if you think of anything else please comment on this post):

To learn/practice

To distract

To remember

Religiously

Routinely

To affirm

A stutter/ by accident

Humour (custard pie, catchphrases)

Because of mental-health problems – echophilia, autism

There is safety in repeating things. This is often used in web-design where templates for pages are often the same throughout the site.

If you repeat something too much does it lose its original meaning and become something different?

When people don’t get a reaction from something the first time they tend to became frustrated and repeat the question, or command, or physical action until they do get a reaction. This often happens with computers and is described in “The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman.

Response to Essay by Francis Halsall –Observing Systems – Art from a Systems- Theoretical Perspective

2007-12-10T14:27:00.000Z

One of the points we spoke about when we discussed this essay this morning, was how systems theories overlap each other and how we could all define ourselves, within this course, as systems artists.

An example which was given was that of the “system of a street corner” overlapping with the “system of a gallery” to create something else. This overlapping is evident in the art of Banksy bringing art outside from the galleries and therefore combining two systems.

We also discussed the work of Simon Morse. His work is concerned with systems as a way of viewing the world and showing how they encapsulate our view of things. He has also compared systems, such as the system of a gallery to the system of a company. Comparing systems may give us a better, clearer view of the world and a way to make sense of things around us.

A piece of his work, which sprung to my mind when he was mentioned during the discussion, was his custard pie fight piece “We Do What We Do Best Best “, created in 2005. To create this piece he observed systems of interaction within an office, which he had worked at, and also considered social systems of interaction to create his impression of a mass custard pie. This fight took place within an enclosed environment which would otherwise be a calm and ordered system.

He mentioned, when he came to speak to us, that he took inspiration for this piece from a Laurel and Hardy film called “Battle of the Century”, in which a mass custard pie fight takes place when one person accidentally hits another with a custard pie which acts as a catalyst causing a chain reaction which culminates in chaos.

On this course it is very important to study different systems to help us to create interesting and intelligent work and acknowledge the wider world around us.

A quote in the essay we were discussing was by Jack Burnham describing systems-aesthetic as:

‘An attempt to bring together artistic, technological and social conditions under the rubric of systems and a concern in them shared by a variety of groups including artists, scientists and social theorists.’

This describes the sharing and overlapping of information, which is what I am doing at the moment with my project. I’m looking at various other systems and thinking about ways to combine them within this design for interactivity brief. Some of the systems I have been observing for this brief include scientific and philosophical systems.

We also discussed the focus on the process and idea being more important within Systems Art. This was as opposed to Renaissance art, where the final creation itself was of utmost importance. This important point about systems art is mentioned in a quote at the start of the brief for this unit:

'…Design boundaries can be thought of as very elaborate systems of control'.
'The users of new media are becoming the content of the form'.
(P. Marshall, 2004, New Media Cultures, Arnold Press: London Pp.18)

The other quote, shown above, mentions how systems can be used to control the individual with a set of rules. Control is an important point involved with interactivity. How much control does the user want or need? Do people enjoy adhering to rules? Evidence that they do is clear from the popularity of video games, which can only be played by conforming to these rules...

The Illusion of Interactivity

2007-12-02T21:48:00.000Z

I thought I would post some of the ideas I’m currently looking into and try to get some reactions to them to help me to decide in which direction I should progress with my research.

The first idea I had was to investigate Brain Training games (such as the ones created for the Nintendo DS) which are said to “help” people with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and concentration problems and reduce your “Brain Age”. However I have found a lot of articles which condemn this new form of gaming and dismiss any health benefits.

I’ve also looked into robotics and physical computing, following on from the lecture given by Mike Blow last Monday. I love the idea and look of this interactive robot called Petit Mal made by an artist called Simon Penny. Take a look at the video below to see the interesting way it reacts with the audience:

Another area I’m interested in is optical illusions, and the way in which we perceive, create and interact with what we see. Sarah Strickett suggested I look into semiotics and especially try to get hold of a book by John Berger called “Ways of Seeing” which I haven’t yet been able to get hold of as it’s out at every library I’ve tried. Obviously a very popular book!

I’ve been reading the book “Eye and Brain- The Psychology of Seeing” by Richard L. Gregory, which helped me with our last project. It has a chapter on illusions in which I am finding interesting. Another book I’ve managed to get is “Vision and Art-The Biology of Seeing” by Margaret Livingstone which is similar to “Eye and Brain” but may offer a different perspective.

The Stroop effect, is an interesting phenomenon when a word such as blue, green, red, etc. is printed in a colour differing from the colour expressed by the word's meaning (e.g. the word "red" printed in blue ink), a delay occurs in the processing of the word's colour, leading to slower test reaction times and an increase in mistakes. Try to say the below words as fast as you can and you will see what I mean:

Simon Morse’s (the artist and quiz- master who came to speak to my class a few months ago) interfaces have also inspired me to consider a “wrong” interface. If something we do not expect to happen happens when we press a button it may create a similar confusion in the brain to the one we experience from the Stroop effect. This could show us how much we take intuitive interfaces for granted. Here is one of Simon Morse’s interfaces:

Sarah Strickett also suggested perhaps playing with the idea that something completely unique, created for that individual could happen when a button is pressed on an interface.

Obviously, before you begin to bend the rules you need to know them, so I’ve got hold of a copy of “The design of Every Day things” by Donald A. Norman and found a few papers on guidelines for interface design.

That’s a flavour of my current research. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. It’s always great to hear ideas and opinions so don’t be shy!

Idea-Generating Exercises

2007-12-02T20:34:00.000Z

These are my answers to the “Idea-Generating Exercises” from Chapter 1- “Interactive Storytelling: A Brief History” by Carolyn Handler Miller

What traditional ritual have you participated in, or are aware of, that reminds you in some way of an interactive narrative? What is it about this ritual that you think is like a computerised interactive experience?

I’ve attended the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge where every year a number of Druids
gather to perform ancient rituals. These rituals are rules based and involve the wearing of ceremonial robes and costumes. People often join in with the parades and dance to the drum beats. Everyone is playing a part and feel as though they are sharing an experience together similar to Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Many religious rituals and ceremonies could be compared to this type of interactive experience.

What game or sport have you played that you think could be adapted to a work of interactive entertainment? What would remain the same and what would have to be changed, and in what way?

The human joystick example in my previous blog below shows how the game of tennis has been adapted into an interactive entertainment with the whole crowd participating. In this example the rules have been simplified from the original game and the images shown on the screen are easy and quick to interpret. This allows people to learn the rules quickly with little work being done by the player. A lot of games and sports have been adapted into computer games including chess, football, cricket, golf etc.

The Wii console allows users to feel even more as though they are actually playing these games, with players being required to make real physical movements, which are detected using a special remote. It makes me wonder why people don’t want to go out and actually play these sports in “real life”. It may perhaps be the convenience of having many sports within easy reach available to be played at any time with no need to buy special equipment, travel or find someone to play these sports/games with.

What work of traditional storytelling (a novel, a play, a movie, or even a comic book) have you read or seen that contains a narrative technique that could be applied to a work of digital entertainment? What is this technique, and how could it be used?

The films Irreversible and Memento are both shown in reverse order with clues leading to a twist being revealed at the end which is actually the “beginning”. This technique could be used in a computer game. Playing the game in reverse and gaining more clues to the answer revealed at the end which would actually be the “beginning”.

Can you think of any work of traditional entertainment (poem, short story, novel, play, movie, TV show, etc.) that breaks the “fourth wall”? Describe how the fourth wall is broken in this work. Could the fourth wall be broken in a similar way in an interactive work? Why or why not?

In the film “Ferris Beulers Day Off”, Ferris, the main character, often addresses the audience directly informing them of extra background information on characters in the film, giving us greater insight into the story.

This way of breaking the fourth wall is already very common in computer games due to the fact that the players play an active role within the games.

A Glorious End and a New Beginning

2007-11-24T12:25:00.000Z

A lot has happened since my last post. I think the all of the presentations last Monday went really well. Everyone was nervous but I think we all pulled it off! It was great to see people’s ideas presented and it’s a fantastic skill to develop.

I presented the website and demos I created for the project - www.sensorysubstitution.co.uk. Please have a look and feel free to give me feedback. I’ve already had some feedback from a user of the vOICe software who emailed me. It’s always great to get any feedback on a site you’ve created, be it good or bad.

We’ve had the new brief this week; it’s called “Design for Interaction”. I’m still at the research stage of this brief, looking into many different ideas.

Experimenting with input and output devices for computers seems to be the main theme which most people are currently looking into. Pressure pads, buttons and sensors are all very interesting ways of interacting with something but I think I need to focus on what they will be interacting with for this project. There is a lot to consider and Flash seems to be the most obvious software option for interactive design (maybe a bit too obvious?). I hope that next week I will get a chance to speak with some of the tutors and discuss some of the initial ideas I have.

Anyway, enough jibber-jabber, here are some videos I’ve found which are helping me formulate initial ideas:

Human-Joysticks

Drumming Robot

Emotional Robot Head

Deadline

2007-11-15T11:52:00.000Z

Well this will be my last blog entry before the deadline for the Design Futures project. I’ve been working hard trying to pull everything together. I have however, managed to catch a cold, which has made things harder!

I’m currently finishing off my presentation and organising all my work so that it’s easy to look through. I have really enjoyed this project, especially the freedom to research and experiment with ideas.

I wish everyone luck with finishing their work and their presentations on Monday. I’ll see you all then.

Wikinomics and Testing

2007-11-04T21:40:00.001Z

After our discussion last week on Wikinomics I’ve been thinking of ways to integrate some sort of community/collaborative elements into my project. I think that allowing users of Sensory Substitution software and hardware to join a community to share their experiences and offer each other information and tips may increase “qualia” (emotional attachment to images). This, in turn, may contribute to the success and widespread use of Sensory Substitution and related technologies within the blind community.

I’ve also been doing some testing of the vOICe software to try and understand how long it would take a user to learn how to interpret the sounds as images. I’ve found this research very useful. Testing the software has shown me that interpreting these sounds within the brain is like learning a new language so can take some time to fully get to grips with.

vOICe software interface

Emailing

2007-10-28T20:04:00.000Z

I decided to contact a couple of the people who I have researched so far, to gain more insight into their findings and ask a few questions about paths I might take with this project. I emailed Kevin Warwick (professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading), whose work implanting microchips into his arm for experimentation I had found very interesting.

I asked him if he had ever looked into sensory substitution and he replied promptly sending me a paper he had written on experimentation he had done entitled “An Attempt to Extend Human Sensory Capabilities by Means of Implant Technology”. I found this section of the paper very interesting:

“As a result, in a witnessed experiment, the recipient, whilst wearing a blindfold, was able to move around successfully within a cluttered laboratory environment, albeit at a slower than normal walking pace. The sensory input was “felt” as a new form of sensory input (not as touch or movement) in the sense that the brain made a direct link between the signals being witnessed and the fact that these corresponded in a linear fashion to a nearby object. The extent of this perception was also such that when an object was rapidly brought into the recipient’s line of (ultrasonic) sight, this had the effect of frightening the recipient."

I also decided it would be a good idea to do some primary research testing the free downloadable vOICe software from www.seeingwithsound.com. This software turns images from a webcam into sound waves which, after a while, can be interpreted by the brain.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get the software to function with my webcam so I emailed the creator of the software, Dr. Peter B.L. Meijer, asking if he could help me with the software problems I was having, and also asking a couple of questions about my project. He replied, and ended up editing the software itself so it would work with my webcam drivers! He also sent me detailed responses to all of my questions.

I haven’t done any major testing of the software yet but I think it’s fantastic you can download it free from his website. You can also download a Java version of the software to use on some camera phones, also for free. He has been such a great help and I intend to keep him posted on the progress of my project.

Development

2007-10-18T10:20:00.000+01:00

Over the past week I’ve been developing my ideas and looking into wireless networks as well as sensory substitution and also cognitive maps for the blind. I would like to focus my ideas on helping disabled people.

I’ve been going through my research, sketching and collating everything. I also went to the library and got out a couple more books, one of which has been very helpful and may also be helpful to others as it covers subject from Virtual Reality to Brain Downloads, check it out:

Cyborg: The Man-Machine
by Marie O'Mahony

Sensory Substitution Videos

2007-10-10T10:53:00.000+01:00

Here are some videos I've found on sensory substitution:

Sensory Substitution

2007-10-10T10:38:00.000+01:00

After speaking to Mike Blow on Monday he suggested I look into sensory substitution; continuing with the idea of augmenting and improving the human body.

I am also interested in the idea of using new technology to help the disabled so this subject seemed to be an appropriate progression of my research.

“Sensory substitution means replacement of one sensory input (vision, hearing, touch, taste or smell) by another, while preserving some of the key functions of the original sense.”

From - http://www.seeingwithsound.com/sensub.htm

This means, for example, using a camera to map your environment and then transferring this image to a set of vibrating pins or sensors to map the image onto your skin. After a while, this sensation will be able to be read buy your brain as an image. The same can be done with images transformed into sound waves.

I also found a term paper written by Mike on this subject, which you can read here

Top Ten Cybernetic Upgrades Everyone Will Want

2007-10-06T18:21:00.000+01:00

From www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/

"Ever wanted to send someone a message with nothing but your mind, or have a neural implant that gives your brain direct access to Google? Hundreds of corporate and academic labs across the world are working on projects that generate progress in this area. Check out the Berlin Brain-Computer Interface, which lets you move the cursor around on a screen with only your EEG waves and 20 minutes of training. Miniature fMRI will allow us to continue increasing the bandwidth between brain and computer, eventually allowing for a “mental typewriter” that converts thoughts into text. A tiny transmitter could send this to a bone-conduction device on the receiving person, letting them hear the message without sound. NASA is also working on a device to transcribe silent, ’subvocal’ speech. Like many transhumanist upgrades, these will probably start as efforts to help people who are handicapped, then evolve into powerful tools that can be used by anyone bold enough to adopt them."

Some Futuristic Blogs

2007-10-06T17:58:00.000+01:00

www.pinktentacle.com

alfin2100.blogspot.com

www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog

Amazing Brain/Computer Interface

2007-10-06T17:36:00.001+01:00

I've found a couple of videos on Youtube showing technologies I would like to research further for this project. Take a look:

My Rough Working Structure For This Project

2007-10-06T11:42:00.000+01:00

I believe research to be a large/important component of this project.

Therefore I have decided to:

Research many different avenues
-other people’s visions of the future, emerging futuristic technologies; and furthermore, elements of these ideas which I am particularly interested in
Perform a detailed analysis of this research
Brainstorm and generate ideas
Perform a process of elimination upon these initial ideas and begin to focus the project on what I would like to present
Decide upon and research my chosen audience/user-group
Develop my final ideas(s) and perform further research if necessary
Create my final pitch /presentation
Fine-tune this presentation and generate extra resources for my presentation/pitch

I would like to create a concept website, involving HTML/CSS/Flash for my final presentation.

I may try to use 3D elements within that which may involve me having to use 3D Studio MAX.

Initial Thoughts On This Brief

2007-10-06T11:39:00.000+01:00

The task is...

The development of a concept that addresses the future

It must...

Be generated through clear consideration of existing technologies and contain an element of realism
Have a clearly defined audience/user group
Be presented through a screen based presentation- “pitch”
Consider socio/political context and impact
Be clearly communicated to the audience

The Brief - 01:Design Futures

2007-10-06T11:30:00.000+01:00

This is the brief we have been given for our first project on the BA (Hons) Digital Media Design Course:

This brief is concerned with the development of a concept that addresses the future and use of new technologies or technological services. That is to say, how technology might manifest itself in years to come and what direct impact it would have on our everyday lives. The basis of this project is to develop a ‘bluesky’ concept working on the principle of ‘what if’. The concept per-say could be derived from a product in as much as tool or for that matter a service. The concept should clearly have a defined rationale behind it and should be generated through a clear consideration of existing technologies and or related services, A clearly defined audience / user group should help to shape the conditions of the language used concerning the sonic, visual and physical elements along with the technical parameters, modes of delivery etc. Considering the time allocated for this project, students will have the opportunity to create a screen based presentation of the concept a ‘look and feel

Your concept has to include an element of reality and be informed by any emerging or current technology. It must be based on a sound and reasoned set of principles. This is an extremely good opportunity to network your ideas and research into a single concept whilst thinking ‘outside the box’ and to create an imaginative, dynamic and above all original concept. There are no barriers to any considerations given. The concept might refer but no be exclusive to mobile technology, 3D TV, on-line commerce, gaming, interactive clothing, product design etc.

Your concept should be delivered through a screen / interactive / motion graphics based presentation. This mechanism of delivery should be seen as part of a presentation technique developed to ‘pitch’ the concept to a company such as a venture capital organisation who would front the research and development process. Your method of explanation concerning the concept, its user, the socio/political context and the impact of the concept should be clear in its communication using a variety of means by which to successfully accomplish this.

The time constraints of this project are limited and subsequently will require students to think conceptually, think on their feet and above all work in a focused and directed manner.

Your workbook in addition should be able to clearly show the sources / influences that have informed both the direction of your thinking and the outcomes derived from the research.