Click here for video
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.
Click here for website
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Data Visualisation - Valance
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.
Click here for link
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.
Click here for link
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.
Click here for website
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.
Click here for website
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.
Click here for website
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.
Click here for website
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.
Final Year Studio - Initial Idea - Datamotives Mapping Screen
The next screen will then search for whatever the user has inserted. Routes expanding from the centre of the display (station) will grow to various points on the screen and plot a website at each one. This website will not let the user click and access themstraight away though as a normal search engine would. The user must wait for the website to travel down the route and arrive at the station. This will directly target our societies obsession with instant access to information and mobility. Instead the user will have to plan when and where they are to gain access to the specific informaiton they require.
Final Year Studio - Initial Idea - Datamotives Introduction Screen
Datamotives is an idea that attacks the present day idea of access of instant information. Using either Processing or Flash in conjunction with PHP it will act as an 'alternative search engine' application. Firstly the user will be beckoned to type in what they want to search for by the above screen.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - David Rozin - Wooden Mirror
Video courtesy of omoiden at YouTube
This specific peice of work created by artist David Rozin was first displayed in 1999. Consisting of 830 wooden squares and servo motors, control electronics, video camera, computer and wooden frame, this peice stands at a size of 67" by 80". It works by using a video camera to capture an image, which is then compressed into 830 pixels. The computer than reads the values of these pixels and rotates each peice of wood to a certain angle and because of the spot light, shade. This creates a distinct but graduated image very close in relation to a grayscale low resolution version of the video. Also being wood it explores the line between digital and physcial by using a warm organic material such as wood to mimic like cold digital pixels. Rozin also developed this mirror technique and created the Trash, Shiny Balls, Circles and Peg Mirrors in the same light.
This peice is very useful to look at in relation to the idea in my sketchbook called, 'Mixels' (Mirrored Pixels). Here mirrored squares will move and react to room activity, constructing and breaking up a projected image depending on how the audience view the peice. The aim would be to change the audiences perception of what they know of as a screen and encompass them within the pixels them selves. This would change the enivronment they populate and its 'associative bandwidth.'
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Research - Julius Popp - Bit.Fall
Video courtesy of chezzorilla at YouTube
The specific peice above was created by German artist Julius Popp and uses water droplets as a medium to then project information onto. Comprising of 128 nozzles, this curtain of conintuous water droplets uses maganetic valves controlled by a computer to display both text and graphics randomly selected from the archive of the Internet.
Although simple in execution this peice of artwork poses a very good question to our perception of objects and information. For centuries information in books wasn't perminent, the books could be damaged or just decay, paper without certain measures could not last forever. Popp with the temporal espect of the water droplets here shows us that. Words displayed by the peice are only viewable for a second, unlike our new digital mediums such as the Internet where information can occupy cyberspace, if untouched, forever, even when your computer or everybody elses has gone to scrapyard. This then poses a question of selection, just think in thousands of years time, future civilisations will not have to dig holes to see how we live but simply logon to an historical archive of past webpages.
All our triumphs and tradegies as a species can and will be criticised so that lessons will be learnt and mistakes avoided. For exmple as a western world the shear access to horrific images of the second world war as made us have the longest period in histroy where there hasn't been a war of some kind in europe.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Final Year Studio - Initial Development - 20 Images
Above are initial images that I collected to stimulate ideas for my project. In the top left the first images are artists that intrigued me and were at the Urban Screens Manchester exhibition. These are just two peices of work that target how the audience perceives the area they populate and use. The next two images first show the over stimulation our senses are having to contend with and then the second a technique of combating vast amounts of initially confusing information.
This ties very closely in with Bruce Mau's notion of 'Associative Bandwidth (subliminal signals)' and the more senses stimulated the greater the bandwidth and effect a peice of work has on an audience.
The second row and bit of the third row down simply show pictorially our senses and question you how much we use each one. I then got thinking of how different sense stimulation data travels to us, and relised that it is only sight and sounds that move in waves. The other senses such as smell, taste and touch have to physically touch the stimulant to feel its effects.
The last image of the third row represents an interpretation of this real world occurance, where physical analog signals can change into virtual digital visualisations. This then got me thinking of how in realtion to viewing media the role is reversed, digital information is trasformed into physical stimulation information.
With this in mind I went back to looking at 'Associative Bandwidth' in relation to environments and their communication systems. The bottom right two images show the simple difference in a effect that time of day has on Times Square, New York. In the day media aesthetically has to combat with cars, people and buildings, while at night, it, light is king!
The last two images attack the notion of new-media in architectural envronments, both interoir and exterior needs to break the constrains of flat screens and embrace the shapes in their surroundings. In affect bringing the audience into the screens whar William J. Mitchell calls 'hybrid reality.'
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - Jim Campbell - White Circle
Video courtesy of lianabrazil at YouTube
'White Circle' was a development version of 'Primal Graphics' created in 2001. This video shows best the roughness and awkwardness the peice is trying to portray. Created in todays world that pursuits perfection this low resolution analog looking installation encompasses the audience and shows the architecture of the environment off too. It distributes light and works with its surroundings.
Also at the moment some of Jim Campbell's work is in an exhibition at the Cornerhouse in Manchester called, 'Outside the Box.' It will be really useful to go view this exhibition as nine artists present artwork that challenges our perception of the public realm and aesthetics.
Click here for Cornerhouse project
Final Year Studio - Research - Jim Campbell - Primal Graphics
Renowned new-media artist; Jim Campbell in 2002 created this peice of artwork, entitled 'Primal Graphics.' This, his first public sculpture was shown in New York City. Consisting of a 13 ft x 10 ft screen and 192 light bulbs, a digital movie was shot and shown, compressed just enough so that the shape of man walking was still legible. To help wth legibility Campbell used a technique that was also used at SPOTS. The aspect of putting a frosted screen over the top of the bulbs to blur the gaps, thus eradicating unwanted black areas between the bulbs.
The installtion's effect is that of evoking memory loss and directly targets the audiences understanding of how information is broadcasted and transmitted to us. In a sense it is scaling up a screen, hundred fold, and because of this Campbell shows us the beauty of the individual pixels that make up a variety of screens we see every day and take for granted. It changes our preconception of how movies can be portrayed and also due to its almost analog appearence and chunkyness becomes part of the environment it inhabits.
Click here for website
Monday, October 15, 2007
Dissertation - Initial Development - Initial Middle Structure
'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 in a 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 the most challenging constraint facing online design application, and the reason so much of it seems anaemic or impoverished, is simply the extremely narrow bandwidth effectively stripped of all that subliminal signal.'
(Mau 2001 : Life Style 324)
This initially interested me as I was interested in the use of aesthetics when communicating information. This got me thinking about investigating the effect this ‘Associative Bandwidth’ has on the basic core interaction that everyone engages, learning. More importantly the effects this had on the development of interactive systems such as the Internet and how students absorb information. With this in mind I am then going to look at the learning technique, VAK (Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic) Learning and the effect it is having on the ‘Associative Bandwidth’ of interactive systems in relation to more physical and traditional mediums.
For the main research and analysis of my subject I will look into various websites, books and essays relating to the areas of interactive system implementation within educational institutions. I will also research material in regards of VAK Learning and the areas to which these interactive systems are allowing these Multiple Intelligence techniques to prosper. I will also if possible try to attain and interview a IT Co-ordinator and Teacher from a secondary school to ascertain the real world application of using interactive systems and VAK Learning, in relation to the amount of information this lets them teach in relation to sense stimulation and data absorption of the student. In a sense when it is appropriate to use physical teaching methods and when it is appropriate to use digital teaching methods.
To start the middle I will describe a history of interactive systems within learning, based mostly on the development of the Internet. Also I will give a brief description and introduction of VAK Learning within teaching and its advantages over traditional means of information interaction.
The next chapter in relation to ‘Associative Bandwidth’ will look at interactive systems such as the Internet versus traditional face-to-face and textbook teaching. This will strongly use the theory of William J. Mitchell and his ‘Economy of Presence’ idea, the notion of Synchronous and Asynchronous information transaction. It will also include technology experience theory from Caroline Pelletier and network interaction theory from Sian Bayne. The final bit of this chapter will comment on the theory of ‘place’ in both the physical and ‘virtual learning environment’ (VLE) put forward by Ray Land and its ‘Associative Bandwidth’ in relation to the transfer of information in the classroom.
The chapter after will look at the use of the now compulsory teaching style of VAK Learning, and how this area can and will shape the way interactive learning systems look and operate. It will hopefully connect some of Howard Gardner’s various learning styles to the digital medium of interactive systems and ideas gained by the chapter before. It will also comment on the changing face and procedural theory of displaying information within learning from Bruce Douglas Ingraham. Finally this chapter will look at the ‘classroom communication technologies’ (CCS) and ‘personal response systems’ (PRS) that are being developed such as ‘Quizcom’ which are making the VAK Learning style, digitally more possible to teach.
The final chapter of the middle will then document the primary research that I will hopefully be able to acquire, and compare my ‘real world’ findings to the theories of thinkers in the field. Fully incorporating the notion ‘Associative Bandwidth’ of sense stimulation in relation to the techniques used by interactive systems and learning styles to transfer knowledge from teacher to student. This will then all be used to next compile a conclusion.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS - Inner City Waltz
This piece of artwork by Holger Mader, Alexander Stublic and Heike Wiermann investigates the notion of urban impulse and is triggered by traffic and passers by movements. Interestingly it reacts and blends into its surroundings animating the curved media facade.
This piece I feel is very interesting as it targets the idea that urban media displays don't have to be vulger, chunky, glorified LED screens; they can be beautifully sculptured and incorporated fully into architecture. This is also done by animations that are 3D in perspective, again tackling the 'flatness' of current urban screens.
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS - Signs Fiction
Consisiting of seven animations, video artists Torge Moller and Momme Hinrichs displayed a combination of regular, historical and furturistic signs. The symbols that were originally drawn by hand, filmed, then inverted and shown on the facade can only be viewed correctly by seeing them in the reflection of buildings and wet streets.
I like this installation for it's pure simplicity at targeting what graphics our cities encompass. Signs are everywhere and unless we need them we do not take much notice of them, but as soon as they are blown up and mirrored our perceptions change. They in a sense become an artform as technically they are not warning or informing the viewer of anything. Instead they ask the audience to look around, interact with their surroundings and understand their environment within which the graphics are located. Due to the relections of surrounding materials the viewer becomes emersed in the screen aesthetic itself.
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS - 33 Questions per Minute
An installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer that allowed passers by to type in any question they had into a terminal in front of the media facade. The facade then showed 33 questions per minute that were stored in it's computer's database. If no questions had been typed in it created one from various sentence fragments. This created human curiosity as often mechanical meaningless strings of words were displayed.
Here the technique of how we think is targeted as the facade mimics the connections that we think through to create ideas. Also there could be the possibilty that by thinking itself it might just come up with an idea that is totally original and does make some sense. This installation I think more than any of the others directly tries to bring the audience and architecture closer together, emercing them under the umbrella of thought. It offers a listening ear for the publics thoughts and curisity, a sort of public counseller.
From a technical point of view though, you can see that the low resolution of the screen forces the text to be huge so that it is legible.
Click her for link
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS - Decision Making
'Decision Making' by Ruth Schnell transformed the media facade into a huge PC screen complete with animated mouse cursor. Imitating how a user moves the cursor around when looking for buttons on a normal screen, the giant cursor explores the facade, gets lost and starts again. The cursor then decides to click and this is shown by a bright flash of all of the lamps.
This artwork is very simple but challanges our complex interaction with computers and when we kinaesthetically albeit digitally look for information. Just like computer operating systems mimic real desktops, this mimics an operating system. This creates a sense of realness and usualness with the audience, making them understand and accept the cursors actions.
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS - Gait Studies in LowResolution
Here Jim Campbell developed a series of figurative short films for the media facade. These changed everyday and depicted various people in different situations. Here though Campbell directly targeted the low resolution of urban style screens by offering a tinted perspex screen that viewers passing by could view the media facade from. When viewed through this screen the facade pixels merged and created a slightly blurred but gapless image. Campbell himself is well known for working with high resolution images and their contrasts when converted to low resolution.
I think this is a very good attempt at tackling the low resolution displays usually associated with urban screens. Although with SPOTS the low resolution of the media facade gives it an architectural appeal, for displaying information it would render it not so good. This is because text would have to be massive to counteract the low resolution. It is an interesting area and begs the question at what resolution can architecture and information be balanced.
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS - Sensor
Created by Carsten Nicolai 'Sensor' was and installation that reflected the movement, density and frequency of its urban enivronment. Based on sensors located around the media facade Nicolai's visualization constantly regenerated and redesigned itself. Such parameters as traffic, time of day, brightness and noise level all decided what was shown on the facade. These attirbutes as well as infared signals then determined the various light gradients and modulations shown to turn the facade into a 'mirror image' of the city.
This specific installation I thinks directly targets how we move around our cities at various times of day. Very much like new archtecture, with its glass walls, reflects its predecessors, Sensor interperates its surroundings. It tries to make sense of them and in turn changes our perception of what exactly our environment is there for. Due to SPOTS media facades shape it gives the impression of touch and makes you feel like you can internally explore it, widening its 'Informaion Bandwidth.' Also using Edmund Burke's notion of 'Gradual Variation' this urban building is turned it something that is natural and beautiful in its being.
Click here for link
Final Year Studio - Research - SPOTS
Video courtesy of www.spots-berlin.de
The SPOTS installation was a light and media facade at the Pottsdammer Platz located in Berlin. Commissioned by Cafe Palermo Pubblicita this matrix of 1800 convential fluorescent lights and yards of polyprop coloured film was designed by architect and artist office Realities:United for the client HVB Immobilien AG. Running for 18 months it was a new archtectural medium that allowed various artists to show speicifically designed interactive and film pieces of work. Each artist displayed his or her work from sunrise till midnight, and this included pieces from creatives such as British director Terry Gilliam and American media artist Jim Campbell. From midhnight to sunrise everynight 'Senor' by Carsten Nicolai was shown.
Here is a very good example of screen and building working together to create a new architectuaal medium. Although low resolution like the installtions at Urban Screens Manchester, this along with the screens shape gives a natural, mechanical,
but organic feel, a thing that is sometimes lost with todays obession with 'flat' hardware.
Above is a selection of work that feel is important to research in relation to the development of my project.
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Initial Development - Screen Texture and Customization
As stated below I propose to investigate into the influence of texture and thus the sense of touch in screen design. I want to undestand whether projecting onto a specific material can add to the 'Information Bandwidth' of the experience and emerce the audience in the architecture of an area.
In a sense it is to see if digital information can become physical, and to do this I may have to look at how initailly physical information becomes digital. It will be interesting to see how the texture or material of a projection space adds to the media's aesthetic and maybe auditory perception.
Above are just some of the textures that could be projected onto, there will be many more both in outside and inside areas. At the moment my main route of investigation will be to research artists that project onto both different textures and use customized screens, as these can also emerse and infulence the viewing experience for the audience.
Final Year Studio - Research - Urban Screens Manchester - Do Billboards Dream of Electric Screens?
A parady of Philip K. Dick's 'Do Androids dream of electric sheep?' this installtion involves a series of stories being told using the large screen. Various artists have been asked to produce movie to show that billboards don't have to be static, they can be moving canvas'
This piece was really just a collection of various work and not interactive. It did though try to blend film, art and advertising with architecture but where it was shown I thought it stud out from its surroundings rather than used them to its advantage.
This blend with surroundings is an area I am very interested in and will start looking at different textures that could be projected onto to add to the visual element of both interior and exterior information interaction.
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Research - Urban Screens Manchester - 15 x15
Another performative piece I saw was 15 x 15 that was shown on the BBC Big Screen. It is based on Andy Warhol's 1968 statement that 'In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 mintues.' Warhol at the time was talking about the notion of fame and celebrity thanks to an ever evolving media worldd. Today with reality shows left, right and centre his prediction has seemed to come true. This piece then takes this a step further by offering 15 seconds of fame by using a mobile phone or computer to send pictures and videos to a database which is then accessed randomly by the screen. As well as offering a short glimpse of fame the piece attacks the old idea that art is for the rich and wealthy, it directly targets the regular public and asks them to be part of it.
The interaction of this piece I think is ingenius and simple making it easy for anyone fo any age to interact with it. My only problem with it is that although it doesn't look as much of an experiment as the installtion below it is still just a screen bolted onto wall. It again doesn't try to subtly blend in or use the architecture around it.
Click here for website
Final Year Studio - Research - Urban Screens Manchester -Circulez Y'a Rien a Voir
On the 11th October 2007 I visited Manchester for Europe's Urban Screens exhibition. One of the works on show was Circulez Y'a Rien a Voir and it was very interesting to see the insallation live.
Due to its size and noise the installation seemed to attract alot of attention from the audience. It reminded me of how an urban Graffiti area attracts young people. It was very interesting and questioned how you think you move through an urban environment, changing your perception of the area.
The only problem with it was that because the screen was specifically set up, it looked too much like an experiment. It looked too clinical and for me didn't seem to fit in with its surrounding architecture, thus diluting the urban interactive illusion.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
FInal Year Studio - Research - A Wall is a Screen
A Wall is A Screen is an installation that is performed all over the world, by a dedicated groupd of artists. They believe that at night, after a busy commercially fueled day cities become lonsum and deserted.
During and evening the group will walk around the city picking up an audience by playing movies of walls of various buidings. It is organised like a tour and many films are watched throughout the evening as viewers come and go. The advantage of this media experience is that the audience may travel to places they have never been, even within their own city. It makes the viewer look at both the building and place in another dimension. This forces the audience to remember a place by a distinction not felt before, it could be that they once saw 'Casablanca' on that wall!
A key byproduct of this very 'urban' style cinema is that such things as street nioses and building surface texture make every veiwing experience different, even if it is the same movie. In a sense the texture upon which it can be shown can give a great warmth or coolness sense to the viewer, very much like the supposed exagerated difference between film and pixel. The decision of what movies to show is taken before hand and vary in theamatic focus.
Click here for website
Monday, October 08, 2007
Dissertation - Initial Development - Initial Proposal
Interactive Systems
For this I will first read specific essays, books and websites relating to the subject. This will give me a good idea as to how education institutions develop in relation to network technologies such as the Internet. Below are some sources:
Education in Cyberspace
Edited By: Ray Land and Sian Bayne - Library Floor 2 - 371.334 EDUR
Technology immersion: new tools in the hands of well-trained staff transform teaching and learning
Author: Dennis L. Peterson
Emerging Technologies and Distributed Learning
Author: Chris Dede
William J. Mitchell Learning, Education and Creativity Transcript
VAK (Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic) Learning
For this I will research in to how the Internet is being used to teach students in the new VAK Learning styles, which the Government is applying to all subjects along with compulsory ICT implementation in each. This will be done by reading specific material such as essays, books and websites: Below are some sources:
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Author: Howard Gardner - Library Floor 2 - 153.93 GAR
Enivisoning Information
Author: Edward R. Tufte - Library Floor 2 - 302.23 TUF
Adapting On-Line Education to Different Learning Styles
Author: Diana J. Muir
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intellegence Theory and VAK Learning
Project Zero: Artful Thinking
Personal Experience
Finally by recalling my memories and attending a present day secondary school, hopefully interviewing one of the staff. I will be able to ask how they use interactive systems in conjunction with VAK Learning styles to teach their pupils. This information in conjunction with my other research will create a conclusion which will forecast the future of the classroom and distinguish the positives and negatives of networking information for teaching. Below are some additional sources:
E-topia
Author: William J. Mitchell - Library Floor 2 - 303.4833 MIT
Quizcom - Interactive Class Learning System
Senteo - Interactive Response System
Actalyst - Interactive Digital Signage
Sunday, October 07, 2007
FInal Year Studio - Research - Scribbling Waves
Above is a peice that is performed by Cécile Babiole in 3D. As music is played she draws what she hears. The gestures of her hand modulates the sound she hears and is this is then displayed on the screen. Inspired by the 'Etch-a-Sketches' of her childhood, she uses MIDI controller knobs to scribble strokes onto the screen. It is to mimic the way a dreamy child might match up both sound and image.
This peice although not as interactive to the audience as her other peices is still interesting, just for its shear aesthetics. As the sounds play the graphics on screen seem to move like a ballet dancer moving across the stage. It is both elegent and beautiful, by using what Edward Burke calls "Gradual Variation."
Click here for video
FInal Year Studio - Research - 100 Loops
This next peice of work by Cécile Babiole builds on the intense sense stimulation of the previous peice. 100 Loops is a simple interactive internet peice that allows the user to click and control when each animation and its occumpanied sound is played.
The effect of this controlable "Information Bandwidth" is very interesting as it lets the user control how much information he or she can take at a time. For example when you double click 3 of the boxes you can manage to create a visual and audio rhythm that is very much like that of peice of music. But as you double click more and more of the boxes it becomes harder to both time and listen to the peice, as both animations and sound fight each other for the deminance of what Bruce Mau calls your "Sense Channels." Once all the boxes are clicked you become overstimualted by the information and everything ends up looking and sounding like a mess, your "Sense Channels" in a sense rupture.
Click here to play
FInal Year Studio - Research - Incessamment
Above is a video capture from Cécile Babiole's Incessamment, a video and sound installation that investigates into the notions of time and space represenation.
Intrigued by the fact that our globalized urban environments have many 24 hour CCTV surveillence systems focusing on specific places, Babiole proposed shooting an whole urban landscape form a singluar view point. This is then edited together with various urban sounds of traffic and industry and then sped up to create an algorithmic elegence of visual and sound rhythms.
The installtion consists of two video projections in a single place with the audience sandwaged in the middle. Sounds from each location are then broadcasted throughout the area as the peice navigates through space and time, creating direct links of image and sound with the audience.
This peice is very interesting to me because of the way Babiole has simply intensified what the senses are taking in by simply speeding up the video and audio of the medium. It is a very good example of when images and sounds can take on, what Josef Alber calls a third meaning(1+1=3 or more). The speeding up of the video and sounds give the urban landscapes an almost robotic, 'ant farm' feel to them, which in some places can look communistic and in others simply comical.
Click here for video
FInal Year Studio - Research - Circulez Y'a Rien a Voir
Image courtesy of www.manchesterurbanscreens.org.uk
Circulez Y'a Rien a Voir is a public space insatllation by Cécile Babiole, and was first displayed at the +/- L'Epicerie in Paris, in December 2001. Designed to fit in the space of a shop window to interact with passers by, this image and sound installtion's title roughly translates into "move along now, there's nothing to see." A statement a policeman might say to scatter a crowd of people.
A simple definition of the piece is that of a survillence work where the passer by generates images and sounds by moving around in front of the projection space. Any movement is captured by a camera and converted into graphic patterns and sound modulations on the display screen.
This piece of work is a good example of something that tackles the audience perceptions of how they interact with their environment. Making an inactive space such as a manakin filled shop window physically interactive engages the audience on many more levels than a simply window decoration could. The audience is forced to understand that although they might not take any notice of the place they pass through, the place does of them.
Fortunately this specific piece will be displayed at the 'Urban Screens Manchester' exhibition, in Cathedral Gardens on the 11th October 2007, so I think I will have a trip there, see it live and blog any other thoughts I have of it.
Click here for video
Friday, October 05, 2007
FInal Year Studio - Research - Cécile Babiole
Image courtesy of www.manchesterurbanscreens.org.uk
Cécile Babiole intially worked in the area of video and 3D animation design. Recently she has delved into the area of dynamic environments and the live treatment of both sound and images using real time processing.
She combines high and low level technologies that are usually seen as simple on and off devices. She uses public spaces to create humorous and inventive art installations that investigates technology and behavioural codes.
She looks interesting to investigate for me because her work challanges what we expect and require from public spaces. It engages passers by on various levels and really emphasises the effect of successfully tieing image and sound together when creating a single experience.
Click here for her website
Final Year Studio - Research - Information Interaction Sources
Books:
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
Author: Edmund Burke - Library Floor 5 - 320.5 BUR
Beauty and the Contempory Sublime
Author: Jermey Gilbert-Rolfe - Library Floor 3- 701.17 GIL
Beautiful Evidence
Author: Edward R. Tufte - Library Floor 2 - 302.23 TUF
Enivisoning Information
Author: Edward R. Tufte - Library Floor 2 - 302.23 TUF
E-topia
Author: William J. Mitchell - Library Floor 2 - 303.4833 MIT
ME++
Author: William J. MItchell - Library Floor 2 - 303.483 MIT
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Mulitple Intelligences
Author: Howard Gardner - Library Floor 2 - 153.93 GAR
Lifestyle
Author: Bruce Mau
Websites:
Bruce Mau Design
Beauty and Sublime Theory
Colour Theory by Worqx
David Rokeby - Installtion Artist
Design and Emotion Society
Edward R. Tufte - Graphic Information Display Designer
E-topia Review
Extra Burke Theory
Urban Screen Manchester
Minority Report Film Description
Robert Collyer - Photographer
Architecture and Digital Screen Media Technology Essay
William J. Mitchell Learning, Education and Creativity Transcript
William J. Mitchell Cyborg City Interview
A Wall is a Screen - Urban Installation Artists
Annette Shafer and Trampoline UK
Cecile Babiole - Installation Artist
CUBE : Centre for the Urban Built Environment
Dan Albritton and Jury Hahn - Mobile Installation Artists
The Light Surgeons - Light Engineers
Final Year Studio - Initial Area - Information Interaction
This came apparent to me when I wondered why I liked designing for print just as much as I did for digital applications. It came down to, what I later descovered to be, the 'Information Bandwidth' of each medium. For example a printed brochure will stimulate the same and also different senses when displaying information than a digital website. Both have pros and cons, but when we try to tailor a design to fill all medium requirements the design is said to be diluted and thus doesn't play on the pros of each medium.
Above is my initial investigation to find resources around the subject of 'Information Interaction' and new technology.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Dissertation - Initial Development - Initial Personsal Experience
Dissertation - Initial Development - Initial Interactive Systems Sources
Books:
E-topia
Author: William J. Mitchell - Library Floor 2 - 303.4833 MIT
Education in Cyberspace Essays
Edited By: Ray Land and Sian Bayne - Library Floor 2 - 371.334 EDU
David Rokeby's 'The Giver of Names'
Technology immersion: new tools in the hands of well-trained staff transform teaching and learning
Author: Dennis L. Peterson
Websites:
Quizcom - Interactive Class Learning System
Senteo - Interactive Response System
Actalyst - Interactive Digital Signage
William J. Mitchell Learning, Education and Creativity Transcript
More Books:
Learning through interaction : technology and children with multiple disabilities
Authors: Nick Bozic and Heather Murdoch - Library Floor 5 - 371.91028 LEA
Learning and teaching with computers : artificial intelligence in education
Authors: Tom O'Shea and John Self - Library Floor 5 - 371.39445 OSH
Teaching with multimedia
Authors: Martin Joyce and Darby Jonathan - Library Floor 5 - 378.179445 TEA
Design and production of multimedia and simulation-based learning material
Authors: Various - Library Floor 5 - 371.39445 TEL
Exploring interface design
Author: Marc Silver - Oldham LRC - 005.437 SIL
Dissertation - Initial Development - Initial VAK Learning Sources
Books:
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Author: Howard Gardner - Library Floor 2 - 153.93 GAR
Wesbites:
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intellegence Theory and VAK Learning
Project Zero: Artful Thinking
Katherine Benziger's Brain Dominance Model
Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence
Adapting On-Line Education to Different Learning Styles
Author: Diana J. Muir
Emerging Technologies and Distributed Learning
Author: Chris Dede
Eureka: The Musuem for Children in Halifax
Dissertation - Initial Development - Initial Venn Diagram
Above is an initial Venn Diagram so that I can try and narrow down some areas to start looking into, in relation to my interests. After spending my second year starting to investigate the area of how we interact within a computer environment and having a great interest in the use of graphic design in communciation after my placement year, I decided to start looking into the below subjects.
Personal experience will draw upon my personal accounts, usages and feelings towards teaching and learning with todays new technology to display specific information. VAK learning will delve into the new ways that information is taught today, while interactive systems will be an investigation into how these learning styles are and will be put into practice to teach various age groups.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Interaction
Beautiful colours are calm pastel shades and the eye is seen as truly beautiful as it allows a glimpse into a person mind.
Where as beautiful is only seen as a positive experience the notion of 'sublime' can be sought both in the positive and negative scenarios.
Burke states the sublime is more often negative feelings that cause fear and dread, as this is a much stronger emotion that happiness.
This results in the core source of sublime being 'terror' and often it is used when describing biblical events.
Sublime is caused by something being intense, this may be light and darkness. The terror can often be raised dramatically the audience is hit with both light an dark at random times, this causes obscurities. The same can be said about sounds.
Sublime is caused when the environment the audience is in is vast but detailed just enough to over stimulate the eye retina and block other thoughts.
Sublime is how we try to rationalise events that we simply cannot explain. Before science, many religious events were described using real world adjectives to create the feeling of the sublime.
Burke states that this core terror is programmed into all of us, and because of this is classed as 'taste.'
Both the beautiful and the sublime must to take effect, stimulate the soul and senses before rational thinking can be engaged.
Beauty creates love and the sublime creates fear, this doesn't make them the same but instead of equal importance.
Beauty relaxes the viewer while the sublime shocks and over stimulates the audience into submission.
Both images and words can cause the effects of beauty as it is often the connotations of an object, the possibilities that have the greater effect.
In conclusion Burke states that the sublime stimulates the mind while the beautiful stimulates the soul.
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The London underground map goes to show that sometimes subconscious acts can some times have greater effect than conscious ones. I really asks the question where does true design come from and backs up Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.
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Thanks to 'ctrl z' accidents now really happen and this in turn stops the occurrence of 'creative accidents' or 'happy mistakes.' We should embrace the interruptions and the triumphs, to create more interesting work.
Free flowing movement is a lot harder to replicate on screen than it is in the real world. This makes 'gradual variation' in some cases twice has harder to master.
Style is charisma, it is the way something is implemented, it is new thinking. For example Pele's bicycle kick. Designers must develop this style and this is a core reason why computers cannot create something beautiful. Design is using past influences to come with something new, but all a computer may have is a 'cookies,' it can't think outside of the box, make links and reinterpret information without human interaction.
Digital or physical design must communicate meaning by the rules of human interaction or 'performativity.'
This GIE has crammed the world we live in and over stimulates all of us. He uses to describe all classes of design and states that this is the barrier that you design must wrestle with and stand out from.
Mau states that as the places we travel become more and more like each other. We are starting to only find cultural attraction in the taboo local activities.
Mau states that music creates notions of love (beauty) and images create notions of the terror (sublime).
In publishing it is better to perform what you are teaching rather than just illustrate it.
Design must partner context and content. You must show a journey of understanding through you design, take the audience on the journey you have walked.
Before post script systems, code type was used. Code systems such as 'Archie' became much cheaper when 'visual display' systems came on to the market, but needed a much higher skilled worker to use them.
Mau really believes that authors of the content must be involved in the design.
'The society of the spectacle states' states seductive advertising is evil. It is the taboo of sexual advertised products that attracts us to them.
Mau states that the audiences 'history of access' or past experiences allow them to navigate at most 4 difference styles of information layout, without becoming confused.
'Image weave' - the Libertine reader
Design must use the audience's 'cone of vision.' It must work under the radar for the greatest effect. Rationalisation and other thinking should not occur, it simply should be seen as the only way something could have been implemented.
This then begs the question that due to ease of access to graphic applications, logos will start looking like each other, due to fact that images can have more connotations than graphics, i.e. more scope.
Thanks to such websites as 'Amazon.com' that distribute products internationally at relatively low cost, you design must now compete on an international scale. One successful way to do this is of course to create a brand or 'voice.'
The GIE is crammed with 'voices' from various entities all striving for your attention and time.
Mau states that companies such as Nike, McDonalds and Coca-Cola, have 'brand equity' and in fact are very transparent to the public.
Thanks to digital development 'perfection' is truly attainable target. This then stops the process of accidents being developed and in some cases can narrow the width of the idea. This has happened most notably in photography where post capture reviewing hasn't allowed accidents to be developed and built upon in post production. It seems accidental abstract has been replaced by photo realistic reproduction and modification. This means that thanks to Photoshop the image can now lie and deceive the audience more than it ever could before.
For speed and circulation the computer is to the image what the typewriter was to text. It begs the question, that due to the ease and speed of image manipulation could images become a serious internationally language.
In design 'amplifiers' must be used to exaggerate key areas from the background noise. This can be done by scale, colour, and shape.
'Bandwidth' today plays a key role in design. A web-site more often than not has more depth and bandwidth than a note of paper. But a well produced book has more bandwidth than a web-site due to its physical 'subliminal messages.' The way digital is attaining this physical attribute is by making the digital content more interactive, for example virtual reality and art installations. It is all about engaging the senses, the more senses you stimulate the more of the viewers attention you have, and maybe even their emotions.
Great design should cause the 'third event,' let the reader compare and contrast, then conclude.
Marketing and television are the 20th Century's 'cloaking. devices. Television is marketing at light-speed. Memorable events are named after 5 years, historic after 10 years. TV as speeded up how we relate to the world, the internet can only make this quicker, information at 'hyper-speed' maybe?
Typography is seen as a 'black art,' it contains cognitive to associative meanings. Unlike cognitive, associative meaning evolves with time and fashion. Designers uses these associative meanings to open up channels between the design and viewer, increasing the bandwidth. This only grows with repetition of image and meaning.
Typography's job is to deliver content by changing our attention. Typography in a sense is closely linked to architecture as it can only develop as much as convention and legibility let.
Design is about shaping time and attention, typography and images are used to create an 'ethos.' It concerns the 'Gestalt' or the overall environmental effect. It is the ability we have to instantly recognise logos etc.
Like TV, typography can control the speed in which information travels. Both reader and viewer must be taken in consideration and 'tracks' laid down to make sure the design appeals to both. Type must be used by understanding how it normally laid out, one example of this is the 'orthogonal gird.' Here typography is closely linked to mass production trends.
The grid pattern can be disregarded as avant-garde, 'Free-Form Typographic Poets' did. The text performed its content rather than just displayed it. Here there is two ways of displaying information, the first offers it on a plate and because of this, is the quickest. The second makes the viewer put together the information in their own head, causing the act of thinking.
It is ok to strive for 'perfection' but once it is achieved and reproduced it loses its uniqueness and in turn its character.
One attack on the extra bandwidth interaction has in relation to the book, was the 'Book Machine.' Here a 'feedback loop' was created so that the book could grow, develop, decay, die and be reborn.
In relation to controlled bandwidth to information it is maybe interesting to look at some communist states rules on marketing and advertising.
'Boredom' is the brains attempt at keeping the status quo. Another model to Burkes 'taste' theory is Ira Greenburgs, 'common visual algorithmic literacy.' This usually occurs when the right and left part of the brain integrate.
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William J. Mitchell states the city as an interactive environment cannot exist as it it has for centuries. The digital telecommunications revolution will introduce networked living and change this.
Just like 'piped water' made the village redundant as a public meeting space. Cyberspace will allow us to interact with each other much more abstractly rather than linear. Cities will stop having centres and start becoming modular, we will make virtual places to meet, as we did with cafes etc.
As the bandwidth of information we are exposed to becomes grater our physical interactions will become less and less. For example before TV, the fireplace was where the family socialise. This then changed to the tv and social interactions decreased, you could argue that now with the internet and ability to view information anywhere in the house that the family relationship has hit rock bottom?
'Informatization' is now following 'electrification' and allowing us to access information from anywhere at anytime, much to the demise of the small library.
Information is de-centralised, even images and text move through cyberspace at light speed without being bound to paper.
More information though doesn't automatically result in a greater understanding though, as garbage data is still garbage what ever medium it is in.
Silicon is the new steel, and the internet the new roman road.
The more 'bits' you can push through a cable, the more complex the interaction can be. Once the internet could only manage typing and clicking, now it can display video and audio,
Mitchell states that the network will become the computer, as POPs of points of presence become more available.
Online meeting places are such websites as San Francisco Bay area's 'Well' and New York city's 'echo.'
In some cases such as 'Fidonet' simple access to text information is enough. Small communities could then get access to education and medical resources.
TV screens are based on Giovanni Battista Aleotti's theatre design in the Baroque period. Here audiences were entombed in a room that had 3 normal walls and one rectangular 'virtual wall' where the play was performed. This then means the performing space can run parallel to us but we cannot enter it.
'Dynamic architecture' is the next step in networking with the living world around us. We are already seeing it with urban screens being built, the next step is for the building themselves to contribute information to the environment. It seems the new 'point and click' culture will involve even our physical space. This will be done by 'Anti-Proscenium,' smart walls will not just display information to viewers but immerse them in it, creating a very large bandwidth for the senses to react to. MIT's, Joe Jackson's 'smart paper' is a technology developing this media.
Unlike before then, peripheral vision will be a factor and this will be an indicator on how the audience perceive the information as it is very important to naturally understanding you surroundings.
This 'opening' up of the screen will allow 'smart places' to engage our senses at multiple levels. It will be like going from a 56kb modem to a 10GB one.
This kind of virtual reality is a modern interpretation of he Renaissance's obsession with architectural space and perspective.
Due to the notion that to be comfortable in our surroundings and not be totally submersed in VR, a much realistic idea is 'Hybrid architecture.' Here graphical overlaying of our actual architecture will be used to allow you peripheral vision to stay comfortable in its environment will also engaging all of you senses.
This overlaying of information may give birth to a day when we can stop cluttering up our urban areas with all the GIE and target viewers key desires.
Architecture of the future will no longer play with masses in light but digital in space.
For us to use these digital spaces though just like the PC 'desktop' before it, the spaces must be based on real world rules and attributes. This allows the flow of information to be much quicker if we are already used the 'performatavity' of the medium.
With RFID, GPS, MIR, cameras and sensors our buildings will become 'artificial ecosystems' and in turn giving digital 'interfaces.' The buildings will become huge computers allowing information to be sent to individuals when and where they need it. For example Mark Weiser's Ubiquitous Computing Project.
This universal connectivity to everything will be thanks to WiFi and OOP (Object Orientated Programming). OOP will allow complex code to be integrated into various hardware easily and quickly.
Function will no longer follow form, but code.
'Body net' systems will allow users to carry vast amounts of information bout themselves where ever they go, on mall mobile hardware. The bandwidth may start to become a two way interaction rather than one.
New smart technology will then react to the signals we send back and start to anticipate our actions, we shouldn't have to program VCRS!!! HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems should automatically control themselves and in turn use our scarce natural resources more efficiently.
Old abandoned cities that never had the room or resources for the industrial revolution can thrive and prosper in the light of the anti-location digital revolution.
If we say that it is when we physically interact with information that the 'bandwidth' of that medium is seen has high, should we in relation to online meeting places make them more like physical ones such as cafes etc. Should they adhere to material objects rules, gravity or weather?
Will they be private, public or commercially controlled?
It is important to note that chat rooms, due to anonymous 'handles' are more like Mardi Gras, and really should be seen as an addition to the physical meeting place not a replacement.
Thanks to such technologies as SMS and Email, we can now prearrange meetings with people. This means that we get a kind of 'tunnel vision' that blinkers us to the other possibilities of meeting other people will might benefit from meeting. This is in a way catered for by subject specific chat rooms where all the inhabitants have a shared interest. These are known as 'Civitas' or families with shared common beliefs and interests.
Electronic monitoring systems such as CCTV, result in 'quaternary social relationships.' Those that exist between the observed and the observer. We could imprison ourselves in vast electronic 'Panotilon.'
With commission free websites, it is now the extra bandwidth of information they offer that come into play, the quality.
In a twist of bandwidth, Ken Goldma ad Joseph Santarommano's 'Telegarden' allows uses to input basic interactions via keyboard and mouse to control real actions of robots at the other side of the world. This allows the user to simply interact with a artificial being to plant seeds and create natural life that you would be able to to touch. smell, see and taste.
May organisations operate 'electronic fronts' and 'architectural backs' For example both digital and physical shops show a automated controlled point of sale, but still need human interaction to process the orders.
When choosing how to interact 'the economy of presence' or EOP, comes into play. This is the availability of being able to compare and weigh up various styles of medium when communicating with various people. You can decide the size of the bandwidth needed for the interaction, do you need to just talk to them, or see them as well.
More often than not the more senses you stimulate the higher bandwidth and the more intense the interaction. 'Synchronous' communication does this by engaging both sight, smell, touch and sound in real time. 'Asynchronous' communication only usually stimulates one sense such as sight or sound, it is sometimes cheaper and less time consuming though. More often than not if it is important we will meet up with someone locally face-to-face and if it isn't we will simply send them remotely an email.
EOP is the pushing the service of the worlds companies further and further as Amazon.com give you information on what you might like to read and Waterstones contain coffee shops so that you can use it like a library and see and feel the books.
Mitchell states that in the futures 'E-topia' the worlds cities will work smarter not harder. The basic design principles will be: dematerialisation, demobilisation, mass customisation, intelligent operation and soft transformation.
It is important to finally note that the power of the physical place will always prevail when particular cultural, scenic and climatic attractions are thrived for. Simply, we will sometimes use networks to avoid places, and sometimes we will go places to network!
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David Rokeby is an installation artist that creates work that directly engages the human body or that involves artificial projection systems.
Could the our common 'tastes' come the from the fat that we all originated from the same place? For example everyone in Europe is supposed to relatives of the one of seven families. Can our genetics have an influence on what we like and don't like.
As with Mitchell's 'Asynchronous' theories on communication, Umberto Eco states, 'By means of the sign man frees himself from the here and now for abstraction.'
Symbols are instruments that convert raw intelligence into culture.
The moon landing was the first time in history that everyone on the world felt and reacted to the same thing at the same time.
Fletcher states the computer is fast becoming and extension of the brain.
Stephen Jay Gould states that '...human thought and emotion have a universality that transcends time and converts the different stages of history into theatres that provide lessons for modern players.' This emphasised in meaning with the introduction of recording history through images. Interestingly areas that have imagery of bad past events don't do them anymore, while areas that don't allow image history recording to take place still do horrible things to their inhabitants.
Milton Glaser states that 'Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.'
The Internet opens up more choices and allows more social structures to appear.
The 'QWERTY' keyboard is an example of a product that was designed with a cultures 'taste' in mind.
Fletcher asks could we be dreaming all the time, but during the day there is to much conscious static going on that we don't realise. For example Hundertwasser states that when a dream is dreamt alone it is just a dream, but when we dream together it is a new reality.
For taste and collective understanding, look at 'Brainwiring.' This is a the ability to come up with the same solution for the same problem. Another example of this is 'Visual Chinese Whispers.'
Edward O. Wilson states that 'We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.' He says it is the designer's task to able to select the correct information for the job and be self critical.
On the Minority Report extras it states, that we do not see in rectangles, we don;t see the world through a PC screen. We see the world using or focused vision and peripheral vision. Also when dreaming or seeing in memories in our heads, we don't see a recording from one specific place. Instead your brain sparks and creates the image using layers from various parts of the brain that are linked together by microscopic electrical nerves, called neural connections.
In regard to smart architecture one area to look at is 'volume carving.' Here objects can be recorded from various angles then created in 3D on the computer. It is only a matter of time before we can then output the object into a 3D space and create an hologram.
Mitchell states that thanks to computers 'creativity' can be sped up as trial and errors can be produced and disregarded quicker.
Mitchell also sates that we must use 'dynamic architecture' to create media that reacts to the weather and seasons, so that the advertising doesn't have to be so direct. He ways media should compliment the architecture it covers, not disguise it
We must be careful not to use screens in architecture to just radiate tackless, meaningless information. They must become a part of the landscape and only show themselves when needed. It poses the question 'Can the pixel replace the rivet and bolt?'
Fletcher states that the brain registers beauty and love in the modern and outer layer. The intermediate layer deals with everyday things and the ancient layer deals with fear and lust. This is a called a 'Triune' brain and may explain why 'fear' is a much more effective emotion than love and the core of 'sublime.' It is maybe where 'love' originally came from, from the fear for a 'loved ones' well being.
The visual part of the brain is 30% of the cortex and it has various cells to deal with scale, shape and colour. Also it is important to note that the left side of the brain is the 'doer' side and the right side is the 'dreamer' side. But our sense are cross linked, so left eye goes o right cortex etc.
Karl Popper states the brain has three tiers, one for see and touch, one for conscious and unconscious states and one for thoughts and ideas. It is important to remember that a computer cycles through data in a linear fashion while the mind jumps from connection to connection. Also that the more a computer knows the slower it gets, while the more the mind knows the quicker it get.
Key factors in our brains understanding data and emotions are, 'brain integration' where the two sides of the brain interact offering up different thoughts. The other is the notion that since 'sight' is our most used sense, we strive to simplify things so that we can take more visual information in at time. This is said to have originally started us thinking abstractly.
'Synaesthetes' are people who have cross sensed sensations, for example hearing a sunset and seeing music.
Fletcher states that there are two types of learning; 'Rock logic' that simply adds information upon information to acquire more knowledge. 'Water logic' where water cannot be added to water as it mixes together, thus making the idea grow and develop. Th first results in units that add up to a conclusion and the second results in images that conjure up a perception.
Robin Collyer is a photographer that produces photographs that have all the advertising and marketing rubbed out. These landscapes with the absence of graphics become very disorientating and knock you off balance. There is a real ghost town feel about his retouched photos. It seems that in today's world where we just add information upon information, the absence of it grabs your attention more than its presence. The images look very clinical and make the viewer feel lost and alienated. In a sense they create a notion of the end of the world and fear in the audience. maybe a 'sublime' style emotion.
Fletcher states that 'Imaging is visualising as language is to thinking.'
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Interaction can be narrowed down to one of the core types, learning.
VAK (Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic) Learning based on Howard Gardner's 'Theory of Multiple Intelligencies' and other psychologist models, is a modern movement in schools give a same quality of education to different learners. It is an area where technology will play a key part, both in interaction and access. It is important to note that every subject in schools in the UK must use computers at some point on the curriculum.
Visual representation of information allows un-linear learners to understand complex accumulations of results or teachings. Our brains regard 'sight' as the most sensitive sense. This means a large chunk of the brain regarding senses are reserved for what we see. This means that when reading for example, although you are reading words, the 'bandwidth' of information is very narrow as all you are interpreting is shapes. When visually represented the 'bandwidth' widens as colour, scale and perspective come into play.
VAK learning styles are specific methods of teaching that explain information in the preferred ways people chose to learn and develop.
Gardner's theory of 1983 stated the model on many aspects of teaching to various human intelligence and learning styles. VAK is used by both the education and industry sectors.
Gardner co-founded 'Project Zero' in 1967, which focused on the studies of artistic thought and creativity.
Here is Gardners model of the seven multiple intelligences at a glance:
- Linguistical - words and language
- Logical-mathmatical - logic and numbers
- Musical - music, sound and rhythm
- Bodily-kinaesthetic - body movement control
- Spatial-visual - images and space
- Interpersonal - other peoples feelings
- Intrapersonal - self-awareness
Possible additions to this list is:
- Naturalist - natural environment
- Spiritual/Existential - religion and 'ultimate issues'
- Moral - ethics, humanity and value of life
The additional intelligences haven't been added though due to their subjective. In all Gardner states that an individual learner may have one or many of the intelligences. This usually depends on the 'Bradin Dominance Model.' He says that it is more beneficial to test for learning styles rather and IQ.
Spatial and visual VAK learning is the creation of images, pictorial imagination expression, understanding of the relationships between images and meanings, and between space and time, to communicate information.
Typical users of this intelligence learning style are artists, designers, architects, ton-planners, inventors, engineers, beauty consultants etc. The jobs where this can be useful is when painting a pictures, designing a dress, creating a co-orporate logo of simply packing the boot of a car, Tetris style!!! These kind of people like to learn using pictures, shapes, images and 3D space.
Interpersonal can also influence teachers and artists. It effects anyone who likes to further themselves skill wise. This relates to any person who can look at themselves, understand what the like, dislike or what they are missing and react to this in a specifically, meaningful way. People who do this are related to the 'Emotional Intelligence Model.'
The VAK learning model is just an aid and must not become a dogma that must be strictly adhered to! It originated in the 1920's to visually represent thinking, for example brainstorms. Today though it is seen as beneficial to students when learning, for example a child who may find it difficult to recognise the letter 'B' y looking at it (visual), may find it easier to trace its outline and remember it that way (kinaesthetic).
Internet learning is seen as more adaptable than traditional classroom learning. Theorists agree that there are four stages of learning.
1. Exposure stage - initial engagement of subject
2. Guided learning stage - teaching of subject
3. Independent stage - individual learning of subject
4. Master stage - total understanding of subject
It is important to note that students learn by 30% of what they see and 90% of what they say and do. More often than not visual learners benefit from using 'Mind Maps' to link information.
Online technology allows control of delivery and presentation.
