Vishnu
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ENVIRO
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Art, Ecology & Technology
Week 1: July 7-9
Took a little while to kick start the course as people were made to look like they had just landed in some time machine. Acoustic ecology definitely sounded interesting. Took me back to school where we used discussed tree sounds, communication between trees etc etc. remembered how a particular kind of trees used to release a chemical/gas to attract certain insects to eat up the termites on its bark.
Processing began to rekindle the spirit of simple logical reasoning and understanding that i used to employ in my 12std math and science.Feeling a little off course though as its been a while. Waiting to get more purposeful outputs from the Arduino boards. Hoping to catch up and make better use of new tools at my disposal.
^Some of the minor fascinations explored on processing examples.Pretty simple actually.Need to brush up on how a bunch of old algorithms work.
^Basic exercises on processing, placement
Map Exercise>
Point mapping an image:
Creating continuous co-ordinate indicator for mouse. Loading color,value and image on mouseover and click.>>>>>
Readings, research & Outlooks:
David Dunn: Acoustic ecology
Bark beetle: Forest fire theory
Reading:Music, Language and Environment (1999)
Land art:landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked.
Sculptures are not placed in the landscape; rather the landscape is the very means of their creation.
Interesting land artists:
Andy Goldsworthy: Site specific sculpture: Stone,leaf arrangement on water
Geoglyphs: Bunjil-Andrew Rogers
Roden crater: James turell
Composers: -Pauline oliveros -post-war electronic art music.
Murray schaffer -Composer/renaissance rooted.
Notes: Need to revisit N.Chomsky.
Week 2: July 13-16
Monday mornings don't quite seem to bring focus on a payload of text, although they should be. Benjamin Bratton and Natalie Jeremijenko looked fuzzy. Exploring some of their work on the web and looking at specific projects like the pigeon blog, Feral robots ,One tree simulations threw more light on the readings.
Victor was eventually able to build some sort of a wire frame giving more concrete & lucid examples
and showing some key processes. Refer: http://intheair.es/index.html
The beginnings of IDation.Is it high time?Or should one be patient and concentrate
on the 'rigors' of understanding the functionality and possibilities of the media.
Trying to balance. Like the evolving modern day designer: All over the place?
Or is there more value to this than just knowing the possibilities of evolving media?
Felt bringing previous learning and understanding of processing to create a simple map was essential check on how well i had understood programming and ease with syntax. Sensor experimentation's (that of Victors and some bizarre one on you tube)gave me a better idea of how much more was possible with simple sensors and an Arduino board.Revisited some of the projects Anders had showed us during the Toy Makers project.
Hands on work with sensors begins:
Some of the readings were helpful, felt i needed to read more!
The hotpot rotary potentiometer was not producing accurate results even after scaling
its output down by four. Came to know that some sensors require a lot more calibration
to produce more accurate results.
Observations were leading to unusual conclusions such as male and female giving different outputs.
The 50mm membrane potentiometer was able to produce better results at least at the extremes. we were then able to link the sensor to an LED output and then later create different visualizations. Learnt a very useful smoothening control.
x = x + (y-x)*z Where x is the value drawn, y is the input and z can be a any factor(0.1,0.001 depending on the smoothing )
try it out.
We had many ideas for the form of our application of the sensors. Ranging from MJ's moonwalk shoes, to see saws, to doors, windows and spectacles. We are still trying to load an aiff sound file for an output for the MJ shoes.
Week 3: July 20-23
Introduction to Basic electronics was great fun although it might have made more sense to do this before we started on the Arduinos. The Synth box was probably the most fun home made electronic gadget ive come across. Coudnt take may hands of it. Learning to create a server was not happening due to windows glitches. Pachube: Great resource
Using some basic knowledge and skills in electronics we set out to create a simple input/output sensor device using a LDR(Light dependent resistor)as an input and piezo speakers as an output. The device was eventually embedded in a box called the Prophecy tube. The first task was to send output values from he device through the arduino and processing to an online data sharing/monitoring portal called Pachube.
When a person comes up to the box and lifts its lid, the piezo speakers will play a tune.If he or she goes to close to the opening to see what is inside, the speakers will shut. The hidden Prophet will disappear.
Doing this brought more clarity to the structure of the project in terms of understanding the technical aspects required to take the project to a functional level.Now know that i can manipulate different elements in the structure to get interesting outputs.
The way this project started, one may have to forgive me for using the word Clarity. The meeting with the scientists did just that. It was now clear that they were looking for ideas more than anything else, in terms of Installations,Visualization and in all key aspects of the project. Technology i felt although paramount was a minor portion of all this.
Week 4: July 27-30
Ideas and directions for pollution indicating devices
Chilpo:
Lemon and chillies strung together are commonly used as a talisman in India for many centuries. Hung on entrances of houses, in cars to keep the the evil eye away.
This form has been incorporated into a pollution indicating device, where each chilli will indicate a particular pollutant & will rotate at a prescribed rpm to indicate its level.
The lemon varying its luminosity/glow could be an overall indicator of pollution levels.
Week 5: August 3-6
Rustam Vania manifests: Air pollution. SIMILAR SCENARIO: ...
Discussions:
Chalking out different products in terms of audience and strategy. Class discussions helped refine ideas and question the purpose of every element or strategy being used.
Product development begins group wise.
Product 1:
Performance based : Garlanding consequential figures.
A garland that grows red when the pollution level is above a certain level, and green when it is below that level. We started off with connecting 2 sets of LEDs in series, and then programming the arduino board. There were some complications with the programming the multicoloured LED initially.
Basic functioning: A garland that glows red when the pollution is above is certain threshold and green when below.
Product 2:
Installation : Helium balloon shapes changing altitude levels and glow to indicate pollution.
This device will be made out of a helium balloon, and attached by a string to a motor. The motor will be programmed to run clockwise and anticlockwise according to the level of pollution, thus causing the balloon to up and down accordingly.The form of the balloon is yet to be decided, but we are considering using a bird or a face (demon mask). This device will be put in a public place, probably on top of a building, and will be a large balloon structure, so that it can be seen clearly from a distance. For prototyping, we are working with programming the motor that rotates 180 degrees. Eventually we will use the motor which rotates completely.
Basic functioning: Helium balloons in the shapes of contextual figures fixed in key locations change altitude levels according to pollution levels.
Basic Logistics and Construction of product 1 & 2
Week 6: August 10-13
Construction of Final prototype:
Product 1: Garland :
Requirements:
1)Arduino board
2)General Air Quality gas sensor
3)RGB LED strip
4)Transistors
5)Bread board, wires, switches,resistors
Product 2: Character Balloon: Requirements:
Circuit and programming:
1)Servo motor- 180 degrees rotation, using this mechanism to show comparitive values
Stepper motor-360 degrees rotation, using a pulley to increase and decrease height of balloon
2)Helium balloon character: to be made at balloon factory
3)Helium
4)Thread with specific tensile strength
5)Wooden rotor part over which the thread winds itself.(To be made in workshop)
Form of the balloon:
• Bird, human figure, abstract form
• One form vs. collection
• Demon head- local culture, symbol of protection against evil, placement on roof tops
Week 7: August 17-20
Final prototype:
Presentation to scientists.
Week 8: August 24-27
VISUALIZATION:
Creating a data visualization for the information to be sent to Pachube.
Key elements:
-Interactivity
-Comparisons between pollutants in different places
-Time
-Location
-Colour coding
Iteration 1: This model showed the pollutant levels in individual places by the darkening of the globe with the rise of pollution. It also showed individual pollutants by changing the shade of that respective colour in the globe. The date, month and time could be changed by choosing the required one. The problem with this model is that comparison between pollutants at different locations was not possible.
Iteration 2: This model showed the individual pollutant levels, at a certain time, with just clicking on the location. Therefore, with just one click, the viewer gets all his information. There was an argument about whether the interactive element was lacking, and the viewer did not get to 'discover' information as he goes along. Also, we still had to consider how to work out the comparison between pollution at different locations.
FINAL VISUALIZATION: This model took all the key points into consideration. We took the working elements of each iteration and created this model, which was interactive, as well gave the viewer an option to compare. On clicking a location on the map, a circular chart for that location pops up, which allows the user to interact with it to get the required information. Also, these individual charts for each location can be moved around the screen, zoomed into, copied, as per the users convenience and requirements.
Week 9: September 14-15
Garland: Refining the product and documentation
