Manasi

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Week 1

7th july, 2009

Introduction to Enviro Sence.

- Different kinds of pollutants, Air,Water,Soil

- Different kinds of sensors

- Introduction to audruino.

- Programing the LED to blink on a micro controller.

- Composers- David dunn

- Discussion on the role of an artist v\s a scientist, and how each intervene into the next.

- Introduction to the process of collecting data.

Reading

- David Dunn- Music, Language and Environment.

- Beetle bark theory.

Research

- Composers- Pauline Oliveros, Murray Schaffer.

- Chamskey.

- Land art.

Processing

-Basic lines, shapes, colour, size

Reflections

On the first day I was pretty lost as this whole course was really new to me but was very interested in the subject of science and design. The reason why i took this course was because it had an application and actually designing and interface.We got introduced to the concept and the working of adruino. We did a bit of very basic programing which was new to me too but i got the hang of it pretty quickly. Public interventions have always interested and am inspired by Andy Goldsworth's work. Am really interested to see how the data we collect is going to be accessible to the masses and the follow up with this data.

8th July,2009

Reflections

Today we got a little bit more familiar with processing, syntax and application. We engaged with the adruino board and understand the input and output. It was not easy and am really interested in how the data will be collated and the syntax for it will be given. At this point am still struggling with processing and the major challenges I face is proper syntax, nested loops and precise co-ordinates. I still dont know how we are going to apply this to the data collected.

Exercise

LED blinking, If, else, for, nested loops, repetition of boxes in one colour and the making them different coloured, key presses,blinking LED by pressing one key.

Reading

- Research on the different kind of pollutants

- Music,Language and Environment.

9th July,2009

Reflections

Understanding processing and adruino a little better and getting the hang of possibilities and the usage of correct syntax. Introduction the a Bread Board and multiple blinking LED's. The construction of the whole circuit with the resistors and understanding the relationship between the syntax (input) and blinking LED's(output). We had to loop the LED's for it to blink after different intervals. The challenges I faced was first to understand what exactly i was doing and ho it works. Then one of my LED's was not working int the middle and thus there was a flaw in the circuit , so anode at the cathode had to be placed properly in order fr it to work.

Exercise

- Using the bread board to loop the LED's for them to blink.

- Using the moreover condition to make things move on the screen.

- Using keypress.

Week 2

13th July,2009

Reflections

Looking at the In the Air project by Victor gave me a clear idea on what we are doing and a little more understanding on data visualization.We also looked at the different ways we can process are data which we will collect and make it accessible in an interesting way to the masses. We had discussions on the Air Quality levels in Bangalore and researched on it.

Reading

- Gobar times, Pollution levels and air quality standards in delhi and the methods to control it.

- Situated advocacy (Benjamin Bratton and Natalie Jeremijenko)

- Cse India

- In the Air

Exercise

- Using PFont and PImage, Uploading and image and a font with processing

14th July,2009

Reflections

We continued working with processing and experimenting with the different commands that we had learned and by this time I have become a little more through wit processing and adruino.We experimented with PFont and PImage and was now making things move and values change :). We also experimented with sensors like the ipod touch sensor, the LDR, and the flex sensor. We started reading the data we got from these sensors from an anolouge output. So we have moved a little forward and it was fun!!

Exercise

- Using PFont and PImage and Keypress or mouse over to make values change at three points in a map

- Experimenting with sensor readings.

15th July,2009/16th July,2009

Reflections

We had an introduction to concepts like resistance, current and voltage. The reading in class we did were the PDF's Victor gave us on how to use the arduino which were extreamlyy helpfull. We the had to come up with ways of how to disguise the arduino and sensor. This helped us apply what we learnt and read to an actual product. Our concept was to hide the sensor in a book, such that when you draw on it, the speakers play some notes, and the LED blinks in synchronization. In addition to it, the screen shows a dot moving around with the variation in the resistance as the pen moves on the paper. Initially, it was quite problematic to get the code right, but after a lot of struggling, we managed to get it to work.

Week 3

Reflections

Week 4

We had to come up with a design of a pollution detector and how it shall work using different sensors and to collect data which will be available to the masses.The products could be both public or personal products.

Concept:

Disco street lights

As the pollution will rise the lights will change colour and make a noise with the fluctuation of the pollution levels, or every time a light changes you hear a noise as an indication that the levels are changing

Week 5

Reflections

Our group chose to work on Chimera, and this week we were to ideate on the mechanism and the interface and the building. We started by discussing the original idea of the the chimera.

This idea went to a number of changes. We faced a lot of challenges with the horizontal position of the chime with the bars coming down. We considered wind as a big factor in our mechanism. So, we came up with a concept of a normal circular chime wind a wind wane on top to make it move. In this chime we decided to keep the concept of the bars moving up and down corresponding to the pollution levels in bangalore. Another very important part of our mechanism were the pendulums which would hit the chime in order for it to make sound. These pendulums were place at a level of the bangalore air quality standard.

The challenges we faced in this mechanism was the dependency of the wind and the control over tone and note was still limited. This process was very interesting and helpful for me because i was finally putting my research and my learning of this course in a project where i had to build, program and market the usability of the product for the consumers to use it. I wasn't very interested in the programing part but the building and ideating and visualizing data and marketing the product.

Week 6

Reflections

PROTOTYPE 1

We started building the first prototype in the previous week itself and by the middle of this week we decided we needed to come up with a different strategy without the dependency of wind and make the sound of the chime a little more definite. Half way through the chime we decided we cannot leave most of our mechanisms to variables which are not tangible. so we decided to have a motor movement of the chime and to control the sound. We then came up with our second prototype.

One very important thing i learnt was it all works in theory but in practice things always don't turn out the way you want and it is always very important to try things, only the we shall fail and rise. :)

Week 7

Reflections

PROTOTYPE 2

In this prototype we decided to use bells instead of the bars. Our mechanism over here was very different from the first one, here with the movement of the motor the bells which are going to be attached to the single main rod in the middle would come in and go out, synonymous to the breathing mechanism to a lung. So visually you would see it coming in and going out. With this chime we tried to bring in a lot of aspects of it being a personal household product having individual interaction and experience, its not only visual but also sonic, witht he change in pollution levels and with the coming in and gong out movement the sound of the chime would change.