Yesterday I presented for the second review of my project and in conclusion I think it was really useful. Unfortnately I designed the presentation to be too long (too much research) and missed out both the photographs taken at the National Railway Museum and the audio file that I had sourced of a steam train arriving and departing, these I will have to show in the future maybe at the end of year presentation. Overall though I think it went quite well and really helped me to visualise my idea and narrow down the theory in which I am investigating into. For next time I need to simplfy the slogan and think about what the users will be doing while they wait for their data to arrive, this could be a addressed by having to listen out for tannoy style system that calls them back to the 'Datamotives' art space once their 'Datamotive' train as arrived.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Final Year Studio - Development - Motor and Servo Control - Robo Duck
Above is further development in the area of motor and servo control. The idea was to, using a prefabbed 'Robo Duck' model, control its forward, backward, left and right movement using a DC motor and servo motor. The first video is an experiment to see if the duck could be controlled from the computer using mouse position to control its forward and backwards movement. The second video is then of the duck with a steering arm on it to steer it left and right. This was all controlled by the direction arrows located on the laptop's keyboard. It was a very enjoyable project and really cemented the code for using and controling various motors in to my head. The next job is to get multiple servos controlled and working to create a analogue style arrival screen for my project.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Map Styles - London Underground Map 1909
Above is on of the first maps issued to represent the London Underground system of railway lines that at that time were owned by various different companies. Although it simply shows what Harry Beck's later design showed, it is massively complicated by the geographical layout and change in orientation of text. From a distance it is simply indistinguishable but we do see the use of line specific colours, a key deciphering tool if you knew the system and didn't need the added text labels.
Final Year Studio - Research - Mechanical Data Visualisation - Livewire
Above is another project by Lisa Jevbratt called 'Livewire.' This mechanical data visualisation mechanism uses a dangling wire that moves depending on the number of 'packets' on the network. For example the higher the frequency of data on the network the more the wire 'wiggles.' I include this on my blog because it reminds me of the various ways in which the virtual can be visualised, a key influence to the creation of my analogue style screen that will use servos to emphasise the idea of having to wait for something to arrive.
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Mapping the Web Infome
The above screen shot is from a much larger project of mapping the Internet by Lisa Jevbratt, called Mapping the Web Infome. It enables the creation of 'web crawlers,' programs that automatically access web sites and collect data from them. Above is the most interesting manifestation relating to my project as it uses the URL's IP Address to affect what graphics are been shown on screen.
Above the initial page visited by the web crawler is a simple pixel in the centre of the window. The lines that then radiate from this centre are links from that initial page. Each of the circles contain lines that are simply links from the previous page, this allows the user by clicking on the screen to navigate perspectively through the data or hoops. Interestingly the colours of the lines are determined by the link's IP Address' actual values, for example with the IP Address 200.2.10.34, Red is 200, green is 2 and blue is 10. This idea of actually using the data value itself to determine the aesthetics of the piece could be really useful in my idea, especially in showing the difference between the commonly plotted areas and the rarely plotted areas.
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Trip Map
Above Michael Chang of the Yahoo Design Innovation Team has visualised all the trips planned by the users of Yahoo! Travel. It can be perceived as an expression of the travel of knowledge that is present in the real world. Interestingly as you watch the trips increase a map of the world slowly emerges.
Again though like the geographical data mapping piece below there is a massive difference visually between developed and poorer countries. It makes you wonder if citizens from developed countries only travel and communicate with each other, how will the rest of the world progress and catch up.
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Query Bursts
Created by Aaron Koblin of the Yahoo Design Innovation Team, Query Bursts uses Jasmine Novak's data analysis of identifying the most populate search terms and geographically visualises it. It was done by creating a virtual globe then having the program do a reverse IP Address look up. These individual IP Addresses were then plotted on the globe using animated vertical particle systems.
Although I am not interested in geographically mapping data on to an actual map of the world, I found this project aesthetically interesting. The video itself first shows the gulf in Internet usage between countries of the world, for example developed countries glow yellow with activity, while poorer countries are hidden in the shadow. This is a general idea in which I am investigating, the idea that traditional lines of transportation still influence the development of the new lines of communication. Another thing that is highlighted in the piece is the way in which real world goings on, for example 'Hurricane Felix' influence the digital world by suddenly showing bursts of individuals searching within a specific geographical area.
Click here for link
Friday, November 30, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Railway Film Depiction
Videos courtesy of BBC Motion Gallery
Above are various angles of depiction used in the industry of film to convey the power and speed of the railway. The top video has been taken using a long angled shot, the next one down a medium angled shot, and the one after that a low angled shot. The bottom video is that of a modern underground railway and depicts the speed and volume of people that use it to move around the city. These videos just help me to understand the strong association the railway has had with the development of aesthetic technology and the feelings it stimulates within the viewer.
Final Year Studio - Research - Bandwidth - Mechanical Scanning
Installation courtesy of the National Media Musuem, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
In my Datamotives idea I use a digital medium to affect a analogue medium, above is the same but the other away around. Mechanical scanning allows simple images created on screen. A 'Nipkow disk' which houses a spiral of holes punched through it, each containing a single line of the image. The disc then spins and each hole is read, creating an overall image on the screen. It doesn't have the most widest of bandwidths but it a very good example of a physical object effecting a virtual object.
Final Year Studio - Research - Bandwidth
Installation courtesy of the National Media Musuem, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
On my visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford I came across a simple installation that explained the idea of 'bandwidth' in relation to television signals. In the case of television the term bandwidth refers to how much space is available to send information using a signal. Obviously early television pioneers had very little bandwidth, but as it developed more and more became available, for example today they have enough bandwidth to reproduce high definition images. The above two images show visually the difference between high and low bandwidth. The top image as high bandwidth and in turn is very sharp. While the bottom image has a very low bandwidth, resulting in a blurry image.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Final Year Studio - Development - Servo Motor Control
Above is a single servo experiment that allows the computer to control the speed of rotation of its arm and its start and reset position. Although on a small scale this experiment is key to the development of my project, the next step will be to set up multiple servos and then using ASCII references from the keyboard, get their arms to rotate to specified positions. This will be the core motion and coding for my analogue style screen for displaying the arrival of a website into the 'station.' This will hopefully then emphasise the massive data and associative bandwidth differences associated with digital and analogue mediums as well as adding to aspect of something 'arriving.'
Final Year Studio - Development - DC Motor Control
Since my idea will involve using both digital and analogue mediums I have been experimenting with motors in Spencer's class. Above is a setup that powers a DC Motor and controls the direction in which it rotates, using the mouse's 'y' position on screen. This experiment was undertaken to give me a greater understanding of how to both power the motor from the breadboard and use variables to send out data to the Arduino board to control it. I need to take that knowledge now and apply it to Servo motors, a key piece of technology that will allow me to create an analogue style screen system.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Site Manager
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Above is an actual commercial data mapping application used for mappring Internet traffic for a large corporation. As you can see it uses simple lines and tag titles in conjunction with a sphere to create a simple virtual world.
Click here for wesbite
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Webtracer
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Above is another application that maps the Internet in a three dimensional world, allowing the user to then navigate this world of hyperlinks and highlight various nodes to interact with.
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - TouchGraph
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
TouchGraph is an actual fully functional navigation system for searching through data visually on the Internet. TouchGraph believe that to most efficiently navigate through the vast amount of data on the Internet it is better to see the 'big picture' and how each website is connected, rather than linearly scrolling down a webpage. This shows the user how the information relates to each other, easing the use of the Internet. Using the search engine Google, the Java applet animates and grows website nodes, connecting each one up to its originator along the way. Since this is a fully functional program it is very easy to use as you originally just type into a search box to start the search. The results are hard to decipher at first due to the continuess conditioning of such linear search engines as Google itself has had on us the digital users. Once you understand it though its becomes a good alternative to usual search engines, and thanks to visual connections it seems to let you decipher the data quicker as it works very simlar to how your actual brain works.
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Web Forager/WebBook
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
In my sketchbook I talked about an idea that involved digitising a book and lower down I also mentioned about creating a book of website to investigate the simlarities and differences in navigating through the physical and digital world. This is a similar idea, but digital, where each webpage is book and each whole website is an whole book shelf of various books. The main aim is to give the user a digital space not unlike the one he or she is used to in the physical world. The results in a three dimensional virtual world with a desk so the user can select and flip through various books (websites). It uses the 'framing' and 'associate bandwidth' we associate with our real world activities for navigating through information, giving the interactivity of the piece an almost 'pick up and play' feel.
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - City of News
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
A very different way of looking at the Internet was created by MIT's Media Lab. City of News is a three dimensional browsing system for navigating a digital network as you would a physical cityscape. It works very much like the VisitorVille application but has an 'iPod advert' feel to it. This piece interests me because like the real world, as you can see from the image above, you cannot see the whole structure, the three dimensional buildings obstruct the viewing of various other websites (buildings). This is a kind of real world restriction very much like the time restriction in my idea, it makes you think about how you use the Internet. For example unlike the real world when you view a website (object) thanks to the Internet Browser, the 'framing' or 'associate bandwidth' is always the same, the amount of light or time of day doesn't effect the virtual world.
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - GeoURL
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
GeoURL is very simple in theory. It is a tool created by Bjorn Hanson that uses your IP address where which your website is stored at to visualise the Internet on an actual world map. This then allows you to navigate the Internet not by subject appropriatness but physical location. It allows you to find URLs in proximity to a given location, directly linking the digital world with the physcial. It almost treats data as a unique object by giving it an 'home.' It is an idea closely linked to mine, but instead of the geographical aspect of where data is stored I am interested in the time in which data can be accessed in the virtual world compared to navigation of the physical, by combining the two.
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Mapping Visualisation - Cybergeography
Image courtesy of http://www.cybergeography.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Above, inspired by subway transport maps, is just one of various posted on the Cybergeography website, a research site dedicated to the mapping and graphic visualisation of new electronic environments, including the Internet. 'Cybermaps' are visual representations of data traffic and help both large corporations and individuals understand 'new digital landscapes beyond [their] computer screen.' The main aim of them is the same as maps of our realworld, to help us navigate efficiently around an environment. Producers of these tools are called 'Cyber-explorers.' They create maps that follow both geographical conventions and abstract ideals. Above are just some that I find useful to inspire both the visualisation of my idea and its development as an investigation.
Final Year Studio - Development - Etcha-Sketch
Above was my latest experiment inspired from my Physcial Computing sessions. To gain a greater understand of using multiple sensors, I created a digital Etcha-Sketch. Using Processing and Arduino a circuit was created where which the user could turn one of two 3 pin resistors to make a dot move up or down in the display window. The background was then not refreshed to leave the previous drawn dots on screen. As you can see it looks abit 'dotty' but practically it works!
Final Year Studio - Research - Initial Logo Inspiration
Now I seem to have a solid foundation of ideas and theory that I am investigating into, I need to start creating initial visuals for my piece. Above are just a few logos selected for their connection connotations for inspiration. The top logo depicts a company that works in the area of molecular research, and to show this uses a traditional font creating a sense of educational heritage. This along with the molecular connected red symbol using the 'i's' dot as a starting point emphasises connectivity. The second logo down creates a sense of global connectivity by simply using a sphere with the globe and its lateral lines mapped on it. This in conjunction with the distortion of the text creates a sense of purpose and harmony. The third logo really interests me as it gives a sense of physicallity by simply using three dimensional blocks, it looks almost like you could actual pick up the individual graphics. The registration grid lines then emphasise this notion and replicate an 'array' like structure, the idea of having a seperate draw for each piece of data. The bottom logo I feel shows a great aesthetic sense of motion and movement, by simply bluring an image behind the title text.
Final Year Studio - Research - Railway Romantacism - Spotting Trains Article
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - Internet Physicality - New Medium
One of the ideas behind my "Datamotive' idea is that of making a website unique and give it all the attributes of being a physical object. One piece of work that has done this is Nick Crowe's 'New Medium' produced in 1999. Above Crowe selected 15 websites, took screen shots, then engraved them on to 600mm x 450mm, 6mm thick glass. Here Crowe has explored all the avenues of an object being physical. Being physical, he could make it as big as he wanted, just like we can when observing an object. Also with the material being glass, it eradicates the sense of fear and untrustworthy, that sometimes a website on a monitor can portray, for example not knowing a website is totally secure when buying something. Unlike physcial actions our senses cannot be used to sense danger or risk in the virtual world. But with physicality comes restrictions in the form of the website being static, it cannot be refreshed or even navigated as it so often relies on the user moving it around a 4:3 ratio space digitally using a mouse and scollbars.
In relation to my idea, to really push the physicality idea I could create an appllication that just doesn't let you view the website straight away but actually prints the website out and posts it to you instead to use. Another simpler experiment would be that of transfering a website into a book, investigating first hand the differences in which we navigate the physical and the digital.
Final Year Studio - Research - Railway Romantacism - London & Birmingham Railway Engine House
Image courtesy of http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/railways, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Painted in 1836 by Joseph Cooke Bourne the above painting is just one of many lithographic railway work produced as bookplates for the London and Birmingham Railway, and the Great Western Railway. Unlike Turner, Bourne painted realistic style scenes not just for aesthetic value but also for research and recording. Bourne at the time was seen as a bit of a rebel as most artists, social commentators and writers such as John Ruskin and Charles Dickens were very critical of railway development. Bourne's work was seen to show "subjects of professional study, as scenes and compositions replete with picturesque effect and artistic character." Unlike Turner's work Bourne's studies best replicate the 'mass mechanical production' feeling of the Industrial Revolution, as he often depicts the people as well as the machines buildng the railways.
Final Year Studio - Research - Railway Romantacism - Rain, Steam andSpeed - The Great Western Railway
Image courtesy of http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/railways, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Painted by Joseph Mallord William Turner, in 1844, the above painting is seen as one of his most famous. Depicting the Great Western Railway operating in terrible weather in his 'impressionistic' approach creates a great sense of speed and purpose. A notion that even nature cannot stop man's most brilliant triumph. Being the fastest mode of transport in the 19th Century meant the train was seen as the Concorde of its age, taking people and goods places faster and more efficient than ever before. As with most technology it was used commercially first but as the century progressed, businesses became aware that there may be an industry in transporting people, and so tourist industry was born. It seems hard to invision the impact the introduction of the train had a on a world dominated by horse and cart, people must have seen them as the 'ships of the land.'
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Janek Schaefer - Extended Play
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to visit the Huddersfield Contemprary Music Festival's exhibition art pieces. One that stud out to me was Schaefer's 'Extended Play,' a tribute to the children who have had to endure times of war. A trio of retro record players, playing previously recorded instruments, play a coded score broadcasted by the BBC World Service to Polish Underground Movement in the second world war. There are three groups of three record players, each trio playing the instruments at a specific speed, thus creating a symphony and 'optimistic mass of sound.'
I was initially taken back by this artwork as it showed me the power of 'Associate Bandwidth' and the environment in which a piece is framed. For example the 'red' vibrant lighting of the gallery space really gives sense of war and times of trouble. Also even the aspect of laying out the record players in islands creates a great notion of overall collaboration between individual communities to create a greater good. My piece I feel will rely very much on the presentation and 'framing' of itself, it will be the use of both digital and analog media that will hopefully enhance the overall experience.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - The Lumieres - Arrival of the Train La Ciotat
Video courtesy of http://uk.youtube.com/
Throughout the past one hundred years the medium of film has a had a close bond with the depiction of trains and railway transport and communication tehcnology. This affair started with a film in 1895 when the Lumieres, two brothers of photographic development fame , second only to Kodak, started making movie cameras. The idea originated from their father seeing a Kinetoscope in Paris and telling his sons 'You can do better." Over the years they trialed and developed machines that evetually and successfully started caputring movement, their first movie being that of workers leaving the Lumiere camera factory. With this the idea came the notion that thanks to film, memory itself was no longer elusive, changing our relationship with memories forever. For example watching an old film you may realise that today all the cast have passed on, but to you at that moment in time they are very much live, singing and dancing.
The real effect of the moving image wasn't felt until 1895 when the Lumiere's, 'Arrival of the Train La Ciotat' was shown to an unexpecting audience. Above is this short film which seems very mundane by today's standards but back then it provoked a feeling of fright as the audience jumped back out of their seats as if they were going to be run over by the train. One factor for this was the point that unlike traditional art mediums that still distanced the viewer from interacting with the piece, the moving image actually 'simulated the visual experience of mental states - images of memory, dream and fantasy.' After the introduction of the moving image our mind had to change and is still changing as with the implementaton the computer, it has to learn new ways in which to interact with aesthetic information.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Screen Media - LCD Display
Image courtesy of http://www.airport-technology.com/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
The LCD or liquid crystal display screen is now the most common choice for new transport stations when wanting to display information fast and effectively. As these displays increasingly occupy our public spaces though we arrive at a dilemma. These screens thanks to new developments can be as large as they need to be and as mentioned below can display a vast amount of indormation in various formats. The problem though is the same in which I find with computer screens. They simply occupy a space in the environment and only manipulate the inner surface of the flat screen.
In today's world of Nintendo Wii style interaction this seems, as Mau states a cold, alien like medium for communicating information. Unlike its electro-mechaincal ancestors the data doesn't move or change the air both around and in the screen unit itself. You cannot hear the screen animating or physically pick up the data, it doesn't seem to have the same warmth and reliable feel of a Split-flap display screen. It is this factor of data interaction that worries me as the Internet takes over more of our environment, are we going to see a decrease of interaction when deciphering data and will our physcial world become like our digital, restricted to a 4:3 ratio rectangle.
Final Year Studio - Research - Screen Media - Associative Bandwidth Comparisant
Above is an image of both a ultra modern RGB LED screen (left) and a Split-flap display screen (right). Information and aesthetically wise it is obvious that the LED display is most effective when portraying cognitive data. It can simply display more information a second than the Split-flap display could ever dream of, but when applying Mau's 'associative bandwidth' theory to the equation we start to to see a shift in effect.
First of all due to the Split-flap display's physical animation quality you are naturally more drawn to that when navigating through the vast information on offer, thanks to its 'flip-flap' sound. Its warm 'associative bandwidth' and low data 'bandwdith' transfer actually adds to this appeal. Due to our traditionally linear methods of reading information we automatically decipher this kind of data portrail by reading it as we would a book. This is where the Split-flap display is still relevant today, and due to its extra 'associative bandwidth' it gives you the sense that you can touch, smell and hear the invdividually unique blocks of data manipulating and rising to the surface of the screen. This is simply not the case with LED screen as you are often left feeling cold, as the display seems to lack the environmental presence of its ancestor.
Final Year Studio - Research - Screen Media - LED Display
After the changable screen introduction of the Flip-dot display system the next natural step was to evolve this on and off mechanical thinking into the digital relm, the LED or light-emitting diode display allowed this. Now the most commonly used display technology on buses, trains and in transport stations, its changable but easy to to read factors has made it a highly common communication medium. Also relatively cheap compared to LCD display screens, it works simply by aluminating specific LEDs that occupy a grid around the screen, creating a series of characters and symbols.
Although this display lacks in actual mechanical animation, its 'associative bandwidth' is still increased due to the other implications we associate with it. LED screens remind us of old calculators and stadium score boards, mediums that can only cope a with a miniscule of data each second. It is this attribute that is very interesting, because when hooked up to a network this type of display can be probably one of the most effective at communicating any kind of literal information quickly and effieciently. The only 'bandwidth' restriction occurs when this medium is used to display images and animation, due to the size of LEDs a 'pixelated' style effect occurs where the image is compressed and restricted in its asethetic qualities.
Final Year Studio - Research - Screen Media - Rollsign Display
Image courtesy of www.hanoverdisplays.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
The traditional Rollsign display is seen as the father of the Split-flap and Flip-dot display systems. Using the simple motor movement of rotation, a long sheet of material is rolled and attached to a top and bottom roller. The mechanism then simply turns, by either a manual or motorised mechanism, changing the graphic shown in the window or screen.
Used on early buses and tube trains this kind of display has a nostalgic, metropolis feel. This is due to the fact that to change what the screen displays you have to physically change the graphic meaning its 'bandwidth' for communicating varied information is very low. It still though has a physical animation, not I don't think has a effective or as striking as the previous two displays but still high on 'associative bandwidth,' and adding to the interactive experience.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Screen Media - Flip-dot Display
Image courtesy of www.hanoverdisplays.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Probably the most common display used by the older transport sector which occupies both bus roofs and rural train stations. Also known as a Flip-disc display, they consist of a grid of small metal discs that are black on one side and yellow on the other. A microcontoller is used to flip the dots and inturn form characters and symbols. It is often compared to the similar 'core memory' process where both x and y axis wires are charged with a current, creating a magenetic field where they cross, which interacts with a small magnet on the discs edge. The desired discs are then flipped by using just a enough force to flip each one. This will take a couple of seconds to do the whole screen but it is said that the sound of the flip which occurs is 'quite distinctive.'
This type of display may be of use to me, as due to the analogue flipping nature of the screen refresh, it still makes a natural sound. This I think will still create higher 'associative bandwidth' than a simple LCD monitor. Hopefully this LED looking electro-mechanical medium will have the desired effect on the audience by portraying the high bandwidth procedure of navigating the Internet through a linear action low data bandwidth medium. It is this restriction to the instant visual access of the Internet that I am interested in controlling making the user aware of.
Final Year Studio - Research - Screen Media - Split-flap Display
Image courtesy of The Terminal and www.hanoverdisplays.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
The Split-flap display screen would be the preferred analogue output media for my idea, but as I am finding it is really hard to get hold of one, never mind a small portable version. But as I have said below it may be that I will have to make my own, and to do this it would be beneficial to look at the various electro-mechanical display media on offer today.
As the diagram above shows each charactor position has a collection of flaps, which are printed with various letters and symbols. Often found in airports and train stations they are sometimes known as 'Solari boards.' The advantage of this medium is that it is highly legible from any distance or angle, but has a narrow 'bandwidth' in the amount of information it can display due the restriction of having to have every charactor or word, that will be ever used, there in a position on the board.
It is this narrowing of the 'assocaitve' and information 'bandwidth' the display portrays in comparisant to todays high definition LCD screens that interests me. The 'flap' sound of the characters rotating, as shown in the title sequence of the film 'The Terminal,' creates a great sense of pattern and action. It feels a more reliable and warmer medium than a high information 'bandwidth' LCD display screen, due to its 'physicallity.'
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Split Flap Display Email
Above are some screen grabs of emails sent to the Research Department at the National Railway Museum in York. I asked whether they would know where I could aquire a 'Split Flap' Display Screen often used in train stations. Unfortunately they were unsure but told me to Goolge 'railwayana'. This gave me some interesting results of auction websites for railway station signs and memoribelia. I still couldn't find what I wanted, so it is looking as though I am going to have to make my own analogue textual display, which will also be useful as my idea progresses and I will be able to customize the mediums effect. A good thing to do will be to visit the National Media Museum in Bradford to understand the differences and similarities associated with analogue and digital display media.
Click here for NRM website
Final Year Studio - Development - Review #1
Yesterday I was asked to present a presentation that summerised both the research and ideas that I have done during the past couple of weeks of my investigation. Subjects I highlighted were 'Associaitve Bandwidth' theory, Initial Research, Initial Ideas, Research and Development. I explained my idea for the 'Datamotives' project and gained valuable feedback.
One interesting feedback idea was to investigate into other means in which I can show the travel and arrival of something. This doesn't just have to be by visual means but also maybe audio. This could take the form of a train sound increasing in volume until you hear it pull up outside the room. It could also be instead of visually mapping transportation of a website, I could use a tanoy system. Not unlike the ones in real train stations that recite when each train (website) is arriving. This could be really effective if done in away that replicates the broken up language used by public space information systems.
Another point brought up was the expect of making the visual mapping of each route, more interesting and 'life like.' To do this I could use various IP Addresses that the data travels through to show websites traveling through busy intersection points in the network. Another idea could be to use more than one computer and have websites travel around a small 'model intranet.' Doing this would emphasise my idea of having just one version of each website that can only be viewed on one computer at a time, almost treating the digital data as a physcially unique object.
Finally a more traditional area to look in to will be the simlarities and differences associated with our perception of what William J. Mitchell calls today's 'informatization' period and the pasts 'industrialisation' era. This idea could be influencial for how my idea will visually communicate itself and it may be worth researching deeper into the branding of old railway organisations and the art/romance surrounding traditional traveling means.
Final Year Studio - Research - Yonge St. Willowdale #4
The above image was initial inspiration to me, that partnered the theory of a media's 'Associative Bandwidth.' It is just one of a series of images taken by the photographer Robin Collyer. Here he takes a photograph of a visually busy high street and retouches the image to take out all the logos and text, just leaving the naked medium behind. It is really effective at revealing the various layers in which our world is visually made up and makes he viewer understand and identify the various media styles that make up the 'Global Image Economy' that surrounds them.
Click here for website
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
Final Year Studio - Development - Associative Bandwith
'Describe print-based media in the terminology of new media and what becomes apparent is the extent to which “bandwidth” is carried by the non-text-based qualities of an object. The tactility, colour, material, smell, history, image and portability of an object produce what we call associative bandwidth or subliminal signal. All of these qualities inflect the meaning of an object. They make it speak of intelligence, consideration, contemporaneity, criticality, accessibility, or generosity. Although we may not focus ina cognitive sense on these qualities, the channel remains open. The real effect and power of the work emerge in the tension between our cognitive and associative engagement. Perhaps tthe most challenging constraint facing online design application, and the reason so much of it seems anemic or imporverished, is simpl the extremely narow bandwidth - effectivly stripped of all that subliminal signal.'
It is this idea of the difference between analog and digital interaction that I wish to investigate and in turn create a project that challanges the attributes that we normal associate with physical and digital interaction. Inter-twinning them to gain a greater understand of hwo we perceive the different styles of data interaction in our world today and the effect these have on how we store and access information biologically.
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Crank the Web
As my idea involves the idea of 'bandwidth' digitally, physically and metaphorically, I need to look at work that has challanged the transfer speed and in turn restriction of information. One such project is 'Crank the Web' created by Coin Operated. It allows the user to browse the Internet but makes them physically 'crank' the bandwidth and data speed at which the webpage is received. As shown above users type in a URL on the screen, hit the 'Enter' key and the Internet window opens. The wepage they require then travels through a buffer before displaying on the screen, byte by byte. The user turns the crank to increase the data speed and bandwidth which is also displayed on the screen, making text, images and sounds appear at various rates depending on the speed of the crank.
This project directly attacks the role of the user and the Internets promise of instant information. It combines the mechanical 'romanticism' of analog interaction with todays common 'click' digital telecommunication technology. This in a sense widens the 'Associative Bandwidth' of the medium as the user gets to touch, feel and control the information itself, much like a sculptor does. It is a very 'witty' project and potrays a 'real world' feel which I hope to replicate in my final peice.
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Friday, November 02, 2007
Final Year Studio - Development - Sensor Interaction
As my idea is in its early development stage, I am thinking of using different means of data input and output. One alternative way to input data into the computer is to use sensors. There are two types of sensors, 3 pin resistors that the user can turn to widen the gap between the wire and thus narrow the current. The second are 2 pin sensors, such as light resistors (shown on the circuit above) and 'whisker resistors.' Both widen and narrow the current passing through them depending on a physical variable. All sensors work by sending data in the form of intergers to the Arduino board that is then processed using a previously installed program to send strings of numbers to a application such as Processing. Processing can use this data to then control onscreen and offscreen activities.
These alternative input methods will hopefully enhance my final dea and open up the 'associative bandwidth' of the medium being used, allowing the user to interact with my work through sensitivity rather than 'cold' buttons.
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Matchboxes
The above project is enitiled Matcheboxes but I cannot seem to gain any more information on the project. I have included it because of the way the program is animated. The blocks rotate and move around the text locations very naturally, but they have to travel along designated straight routes when entering and exiting the screen. This creates a great sense of the shapes being restricted from wondering, very much like a train is to the traintrack.
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Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Rhizone Navigation
Image courtesy of http://www.metaportaldermedienpolemik.net/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
This project is programmed in Processing and is a develpoment project for building data and visualising real-time realated information. In this case it is visualising a massive family tree in three dimension. It starts with director Bjarnason at the bottom and navigates upwards through various generations of his family. It features more than 3300 people and displays the relationships between each individual.
I have included this project as unlike the previous peices of art, the visualisation of data looks very analog and doesn't look cold and computer like. This helps to widen the effect on the viewer and in turn the 'associative bandwidth' of the medium. I also like the choice of colour, the red on the black in conjunction with the white gives a real sense of space and time, but also a grave feeling of natural death.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Valance
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Above is a snap shot taken from the simplfied web version of Valance created by Ben Fry in Processing. The original was done using C++, Perl and OpenGL code. All the versions are investigations into the structure and relationships located with very large sets of information. The information can come from any medium as long as the text is digitally available and allows the user to navigate around it in a 3D space. As the program progresses words link and partner each other as the overall shape morphs and twists.
This project is very intriguing as it directly targets how we read, communicate and use vast amounts of text. An idea that is not too far away from my own. Also interstingly as the digital program conitinues to grow in the 3D space it almost starts to become creature and organic like in animation.
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Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Brownian Motion 2D
Above again is a Processing application that doesn't map data but I just like the aesthetic style. Created by Stephen Williams the program simply plots random scribbly lines that blur over time. It is very simple but by scribbling and bluring, makes the cold crisp digital pixels almost look natural. You can imagine the lines being abstract visualisations of rivers, valleys and mountain tops.
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Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Deconstruct 2D 3D
Above is a snap shot image from a little Processing application that investigates into the idea of two and three dimensional space. First of all as you randomly click the 2D image the initial plotting points change, but still radiate from the centre. Then as you press the direction keys the graphic starts spinning on various axis and the nodes start carving the now 3D space up using lines.
It doesn't actually map any kind of data, but I just thought it was a beautiful way of plotting points in 3D space. As it spins it almost takes on a planet like character and the nodes spinning around the centre create an orbital sense of being.
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Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - VisitorVille
Animation courtesy of www.visitorville.com
VisitorVille allows the user to view their internet traffic in physical enivronments such as buildings and even entire cities. It opens up the 'associative bandwidth' in regards to perceiving internet activities, a good example is the animation above. Here users of the internet using various search engines are being visualised, not by an abstract styled graph showing how many people clicked 'Search' and how many clicked 'Back' to the results page, but an actually 'hub' of communication transfer for the physical world, a bus station. This program uses the 'subliminal signals' of real life situations and environments to display information to the user, in this case the users definition of when an area is 'busy' or 'crowded.' This way of displaying information has a universal, un-lingual attribute, the only problem is that it requires the users past experiences of enivronments to decipher the information correctly. This could be a problem as an individual living in a rural area will have a different perception of an environment being 'busy' than, say, a city dweller.
This specific work is a key influence to my project as it directly attacks the 'associative bandwidth' of the Internet and how we perceive the medium. It is important to note that the above animation is from the 2D version of the program and there is also a true to life 3D edition, widening the 'associative bandwidth' even more. I hope now to look at more conceptual styled data visualisation, hopefully 3D as well as 2D to develop me idea further.
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Sunday, October 28, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Art Deco - Cassandre
Inspired by Cubism and Surrealism, Cassandre was a graphic designer that actually designed adverts for a cabinetmaker displaying at the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes and through the period of Art Deco became one of the most influectial graphic designers of the 20th Century.
By setting up his own advertising agency in the 1930's called Alliance Graphique he set standards for designing adverts that could be seen from fast moving vehicles as well as adverts for fast moving vehicles. Using forced perspective, gradients and custom designed fonts in his train, plane and ship posters he and his agency created memorable images that have influenced how design is both taught and implicated today.
Above is just one of his most famous posters 'Nord Express' and this along with other similar works will help me in, invisioning how to 'romantisize' digital information communication. This will hopefully allow me to give warmth to the medium of screen interaction and widen the 'Associative Bandwidth' associated with it. It will also be beneficial to look at the connections between analog to digital, and visa versa, information interaction.
Final Year Studio - Research - Art Deco
Although this specific art movement happened in the 1920's and 30's it wasn't until 1966 that the term 'Art Deco' was coined. It took most of its initial influence from the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. An exhibition that unlike ones before it let the decorative arts in such areas as architecture, interior design and industry take centre stage. It emphaisised the modern and in some cases excluded types of art that depicted previous art movements.
It involved such art movements as Avant-Guarde, Cubism and Bauhaus but wasn't part of the Modernist movement as it was purely created for decorative and aesthetic reasons, a key factor maybe why it was so influencial to commmercial design for new mechanical and material industries. Its effect was so strong that even the Amercians who were not represented at the exhibition developed their own style, known as 'Streamlining.' This was design using clean lines and strong curves, and is most notibile in the production of mass produced items such as cars, architecture and furniture.
This movement is going to be a key graphical influence to my project as it was the first time that aesthetics were thought about as manipulation tools for depicting and easying the understanding of visual information. Even the American notion of 'Streamlining' attaches itself to the idea that strong lines and shapes can effect how we perceive coplex information, widening the 'Associative Bandwidth' of a medium.
Final Year Studio - Research - London Underground Posters
Images courtesy of http://www.ltmcollection.org/, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
Interested in the concept of depicting and in the sense of 'branding' information I decided to have a look at early 20th Century posters designed to advertise the tube transport system. Art Deco and Avant Guarde in style they clearly define the notion of 'conncections' and 'romantasize' the idea of communication and transportation. They do this by using powerful shapes and perspective in conjunction with the 'roundel' logo to depict a modern safe way of travelling around the capital.
This 'romantisizing' concept interests me as the designers and marketing people of the time were trying to give humanity and warmth to a very cold industrial subject. This is not too far in comparisent to the problem Bruce Mau calls the 'Associative Bandwidth' of the Internet and the notion of it being a cold detached medium for communciation and information transfer. This is a core theory to my project and I hope to develop a digital interactive system that combats this 'coldness' but brings to light the sacrafice we have to make for it.
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Final Year Studio - Research - Travel Time Tube Map
Image courtesy of http://www.tom-carden.co.uk/
An interesting new take on the London Undeground map is Tom Carden's processing application that allows the user to interact with the map and select a station. As he or she does this the map animates, expands and contracts depending on how long it takes to get to each from station to station. To emphasise this Carden displays the tube map in a geographical layout and uses shaded zones to depict every ten minutes of travel. This results in a very effective way of displaying time using shapes and animation.
This to me is intruiging as it like Harry Becks original uses the most up to date technology to depict visually the different journey times and works much more effectivily than simply showing a table of destinations and times. It will be important as I progress through the project that I keep looking for new ways for depicting previously static text based information effectivily in the digital medium, to influence my own ideas.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - London Underground Map
Images courtesy of http://www.ltm.gov.uk and http://homepage.ntlworld.com, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).
One of the most influential peices of information mapping graphic design of the Art Deco movement was draughtsman Harry Beck's 1933 design for the London Underground system. After over a quarter of a century of trying to map an ever expanding tube system around the city of London, the amount of information needed to be shown had simply got too much for the orginal maps (bottom image) geographically proportioned layout. Becks solution was to disregard the geographical scaling in favour of a technique more associated with electrical wiring diagrams. He did this by opening up the centre of the map where most stations were situated and closed up the outer dispersed stations. This in conjunction with straight simple lines created a map that was easy to use (middle image) and over time instantly recognisable (top image).
The map over the years has been deveoloped in various states but still is added to, using Becks rules and guidelines, although he went out of favour with London Transport and was made redundent from the project early on. In generel the London Underground is seen as one fo the first 'corporate identities' and created the Art Deco style font, Gill Sans, for easy and quick reading.
With the maps fusion of Cubism, science and colour it is more like a circuit diagram than a map and even though it was designed without any interest in aesthetic beauty it is now seen as a design classic and hangs in the New York Art Gallery. Using 'ticks' for stations and 'blobs' for intersecting points, transport systems all over the world now use a similar style of design for displaying their networks.
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Final Year Studio - Initial Idea - Datamotives
So to develop my idea further I intend to look into various examples of how artists have visualised the aspect of searching for data as well as looking into traditional maps that have revolutionised how we perceive information. I am also interested in looking into the Art Deco movement and it's romantic take on the age of mechanical communciation mediums such as the train and plane, in the early 20th Century.
Final Year Studio - Initial Idea - Datamotives Installation Environment
This idea will have two parts, the first being an interface like below, the second being an environment that emphasises the idea of waiting for information and communication. For the greatest effect I will try and model the interface's surrounding on a train station waiting room, hopefully connecting some kind of analog display such as a 'Split Flap' screen to show the arrival times of each website (Datamotive). It will be these kind of attentions to detail that will add to the overall 'Associative Bandwidth' of the piece and hopefully make it more successful at challenging the audiences notion of information interaction and bandwidth.
Final Year Studio - Initial Idea - Datamotives Browser Screen
Finally as the website (Datamotive) enters the station it opens the page in a browser, but only allows the user to surf it for a limited time only. Again emphasising the traditional attributes and problems of accessing information traditionally. There will be a departure counter in the bottom right of the window and once the website and departed the user must wait for it then to arrive again after all the other results have passed by.
