Author: Xueping

This is the picture I first chosen as inspiration since I think I can do this with “quad” sentences and lines. But later I find out it is a bit hard for me after I have done all the quad outlines.  Although I can draw all the parallel lines by “line”, that means too much mathematics work. Otherwise I need to use float and equations for parallel lines to be done (I have searched online and that is not something I can learn in class time and I also do not know how to have all parallel lines in a quad).

So I changed the image to be :

This work is easier for my level with only a bit more for me to learn and figure out in class time. 

So first for the background I use rectangle sentences and define the color one by one. I used a local color recommendation website which provides color codes to find those colors with similar hue.

Drawing arcs is a bit hard for me because I do not know how to create continuous arcs like a wave. It is hard for me to match the start point of one arc with the end point of another. I still have not figured out how to match the two points and what I did to connect the two is to change the position of the starting point bit by bit till it looks to be connected. And because of the same reason I cannot control the position of the arcs. As a result, it is currently not possible for me to create parallel arcs and that is the major difference how my work differs from the original despite of the color.

After all, I think using Processing to draw is an perfect way if a person already has a clear idea what he/she wants and the wanted work involves more geometric figures and require specified colors. There might also be some creative process within the use if you just randomly choose the start and the endpoint. However, if there is not a proper blueprint to follow but only a rough idea in your mind, it is not a good idea to use Processing to realize the idea because it accepts less free creation.

These three steps works pretty smoothly. The only problem I meet is that the arduino on the borrowed laptop does not work. So after a fellow helps me re-download it, everything works fine. I also feel like differentiating color of wines for different use helps a lot when it comes to complex circuits as it is clear when you check the circuit.

Question 1:

What kind of machines would you be interested in building?Add a reflection about the use of actuators, the digital manipulation of art, and the creative process to your blog post?

I would like to build a machine to prevent me from eating eating a lot snacks. Basically, there is a servo motor connected to the lock which controls the door of the cabinet where I store my snacks. And it can only be opened once a day controlled by micro computers such as arduino. Meanwhile, a weight sensor is added within my chair which tests my weight and whenever I am heavier than the preset weight range, it locks the cabinet and I will lose my chance to open that.

I feel like there is little digital manipulation of art in this machine. Or maybe turning this to an interactive installation I might add projectors to it. There is one screen staying in the cabinet and when those people who’s weight suggest they’re healthy or being too light sit onto the chair, the cabinet opens and shows pictures of food good for them according to their weight while the cabinet continues to be locked with food should be banned projected to the locked door when an overweight person shows up. In this way, this project to some extent turns into a digital manipulation of art.

I come up with this idea just because I find myself having too many high calorie snacks these days during the midterm and it is hard for me to resist the temptation. So I think having such kins of machine is helpful for me to keep fit.

Question 2:

Choose an art installation mentioned in the reading ART + Science NOW, Stephen Wilson (Kinetics chapter). Post your thoughts about it and make a comparison with the work you did during this recitation. How do you think that the artist selected those specific actuators for his project?

Mika Miyabara and Tatsuo Sugimoto’s MovieCards is an interesting Though I am still a bit confused about how the the machine automatically generates cards, I think it creates unique interactive experiences for users since they are the ones who move those cards around and create certain sequence or effects. This creation within certain context to some extent resembles what we did during the recitation. The drawing machine also enables us to draw anything we want through direction control of the motors. So while the process is pretty much the same, every user can get their different unique results. I am not sure what are the actuators functions in this work, but I guess there will be certain sensors involved.

Now my understanding of interaction is that it is an reciprocal action of one party to another’s act. The act may take any form while the response might be instant or not. The quality of interaction raises if it is a two-way effect and involve more objects.

One project which to some extent shift my understanding of interaction is Calla (Stavropolous). It is an online platform for community problem solving. It enables residents of that neighborhood to announce their problems (e.g. suspicious issues, crime, social issues) and create pins on the map indicating location and type of that problem. Then local organizations and groups who are responsible can come access those problems more efficiently. It also helps members to organize meetings and enables similar solution browse for similar issues. First I assume this is not a good interaction project as personally I think this is more like a platform for communication. And once a problem is announced, there’s no guarantee that any group would give an instant reply or give out a satisfactory solution. As I used to define interaction as mutual action in which one party is triggered by the act of the other party and acts as a result. I thought communication only is not enough since that time I didn’t consider communication as a way of interaction and doubt whether there would be a solid result. Compared with Calla, Raquel Kogan’s work XYZ in 2011 seems for me that time more like a typical interactive art work. Having three parameters of the human body generating your own soundtrack, one’s height becomes the timbre, pulse the rhythm and weight the pitch. So the action of standing onto the detecting area triggers all effects. Nothing would happen if someone enters the room and does nothing.

But later when I turn back to Manovich’s (29) article and realize “any form of communication requires a discrete representation”. Human language as a prototype can be “discrete on most scales” (Manovich, 29). So if we discrete communication in another way it is clear that communication is one form of interaction since one speaks and then the other person responses with other words. Since it is usually two-way and often arouse other interactive acts (e.g. call a waiter to bring the menu), communication is actually a better form of interaction. Consider what Calla does, even it is just a platform for communication about community problem solving, it still contributes to reciprocal responses on those posted problems and may lead to later solutions in reality. So Calla actually aligns better to the definition of interaction. For XYZ, it is more like a one-way causal reaction. In “Physical Computing’s Greatest Hits (and misses)”, Tigoe makes it clear that the video mirrors are not “much structured interaction” cause they’re simply “mirroring one’s act”. Though XYZ already turns the data it detects into a soundtrack, it is somehow like the mirror as it does not have any effect on the first object. So in this sense, XYZ aligns less well to the definition.

Our Watch Alpha takes in the user’s physical health status (e.g. pulse, temperature, sweating or not, cough or not) and catches his/her language while talking to the final analysis. And responses with a most fitted meal for the user considering his/her health status, needs and wants. We want the device to interact with one’s unnamed wants and needs and satisfy them with food since food for us are something has real effect on a person. For real effect, we mean that even the user does not come up with any responsive feelings or thoughts on that meal/dish, at least it still has physical effects. When a person eats something, it can arouse certain emotions, calls back memories, help strengthen the body or just simply satisfy one’s empty stomach. In all means, having cooked food as a response provides a both-side interaction. This device can also communicate with the user under specific circumstances so their needs are more clarified and valued.

Works Cited:

Heinzelmann, Fergs. “Raquel Kogan Turns User Interactions Into Human Landscapes.” Vice, 13 Dec. 2012, www.vice.com/en_us/article/kbgjx9/raquel-kogan-turns-user-interactions-into-human-landscapes.

Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. MIT Press, 2001.

Stavropolous, Steven, director. Calla: A Tool for Dialog and Action. College for Creative Studies, www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/academics/graduate-programs-mfa/interaction-design/student-work#galleryVideo123152-325.

TIGOE. “Physical Computing’s Greatest Hits (and Misses).” TIGOE, 27 July 2008, www.tigoe.com/blog/category/physicalcomputing/176/.

For this recitation, I worked with Shawn. We chose the Ultrasonic Ranger (AKA Ultrasonic Sensor OR  HC-SR04) which can be used to detect distance and created an reactive interaction like the doorbell in Family Mart.

Building the input circuit is quite easy for us since the code is provided and we only need to copy-paste that.

Then we encountered a lot problems while trying to write the code for the buzzer to perform as output. Most of our problems are undeclared variables, forgotten “;” or “}”, forgotten uploaded file for note declaration. But the worst two mistakes we make are that we used two “set” and “loop” sessions which are not comprehensive for Arduino and that we forget the “Serial.begin()”. These are the vital mistakes which caused us to redo the code a bit.

Since we only have little time left and cannot fully try a new sensor, we tried to change the coding to have different notes.

IMG_3186

Question 1:

Our circuit resembles those welcoming doorbells in convenience shops. Meanwhile since it uses if sentences, it can also be used in warning system as part of the guarding protections. Within certain distance, it will ring the alarm and the alarm can have levels. For instance, if someone’s distance to the house or exhibit is less than 50m, some sound effect happen. When it’s <30m, an alarm with higher notes will ring.

Question 2:

I do think code is like recipes or tutorials in the perspective that all three things will be followed step by step to receive certain outcome.  Especially for a  Western recipe, ingredients are clarified at the beginning just like how we need to define all variables. The amount of all ingredients or even sauces are guided to be in a certain range, like how we teach the machine to learn about some variables. and the whole step by step process is almost the same as those sentences in coding.

Question 3:

Personally I feel like computer influences humans to be more interested and used to fast-pace life and this can be observed by watching more fragmented information. This can be explained as the result of advanced automatic technologies which simplifiers many easy repetitive work and enables every individual to have access to a wide variety of varying information. This large amount of information cannot be all digested because of its size and refreshing speed, so people can only intake fragmented information and hardly dig deep into them.

Certainly it also changes people’s common language use and thoughts to be less flexible since as a device so heavily depended on in daily life, it already changes our way of working and thinking. The good thing is in many areas especially science ones, breaking down problems into smaller units and think thoroughly provides better outcome. But on the contrary, it might also interfere people’s inspiration and innovation.

This week, I worked with Kris to build the three circuits in this recitation using our own Arduino Kit.

The first two circuits are quite easy and we did not come across any trouble while doing it. 

Though we did the second one without much difficulty, it takes me a while to understand the code. But it turns out clear when we run the codes and seen how the speaker works.

The third one is at first a bit hard for us cause there are two many wires used in the diagram and when we build it in practice, those wires interfere our sight. So when we first played the game, it runs well except that both Leds don’t work. Later we found out that we had accidentally miss the input wires for Leds.

Question 1:

Interaction is something we encounter everyday from daily communication to the use of any electronic devices. Every electric appliances which need us to turn on and especially those which provides further reaction like our phones or laptops involves much more sensor and outputs to help function those interactions. Like what we did in the third and fourth circuit, pressing the button is the input, with counting the quantity and speed as processing, the led signals the winner as an output with the sound indicating the end of the game. So interaction is basically the process in which a party reacts to the other party’s action.

Question 2:

 Push button itself does not have any resistance or only have little resistance so if we don’t use resistor or if the resistance is not enough, the circuit might have burnt.

Question 3:

I’d like to use them combined with sensors to make an installation to remind and warn people the harm of light pollution. Most leds will be settled in the model of a city indicating artificial lights while some will perform as stars and moon. If the detected light is very bright, then the model of the city will turn to be very bright as reaction while the night sky fades and vice versa.