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
