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Tuesday, February 10, 2004

RELATED PROJECTS:

Golan Levin has a great page with SMS and mobile phone art http://www.flong.com/telesymphony/related/index.html
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LI/LAAC byCo-lab - http://www.co-lab.ch/seiten/a1_projects.html

LIC/LAAC (Light Information Cube/ Local Annonymous Asynchronus
Communication)

The project LIC/LAAC focuses on combining public space with current forms of urban communication. It concentrates on dealing with problems that have arisen from 20th century city development, primarily non-spaces.

These non-spaces have been created by increasing amounts of street-traffic which in turn affects the pedestrian flow. Such places have become undesirable, with people preferring to pass by quickly.

The Heuwaag underpass in Basel, Switzerland, is such a place. We are using this underpass as an example of how lighting methods coupled with communication technologies can provoke social communication processes and simultaneoulsy revalue the space. The LIC/LAAC will be on display here in March 2002.

The cube operates in three ways; pedestrians are able to contribute comments via SMS, pre-selected messages will be displayed at certain times of the day or night plus the colour of the cube changes depending on both the time of the day and its surroundings.

The project LIC LAAC is a collaboration between co-Lab, Hyperwerk, Christian Schoch and Moritz Schmid.
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THREE QUESTIONNAIRES from pilot on 06.02.2004

arianna, julian, marije, stefan, michael, valentia
6 people
3 men
3 women
========
1 irish
1 american
1 swiss
1 dutch
2 italian


arianna: wants to know about the system, the target user, wonders about the keywords and what might be able to trigger the system better. wonders if there is other material depending on the place within the city - how the city might affect the imagery shown. depends on timing - if there are hundreds of users you wouldn't know when your message would be displayed. response time is crucial. the content could change - the concert could be story of the band or information about the band - be more informative. would like to put pictures i took -

cati: multi-media aspect video and sound - change media type -

julian: writing

marije: the system is used for more commments in dublin people tend to comment more on frustrations and systems - loesje: - is the name -

sven: public portal anybody can interact with it. encouragement to interact with it.


general observations:
========================
system does not respond quickly enough, nor does it change significantly enough to provide a visual tempo - the timing creates a sense of anxiety as we do not know when our image will appear - the images are too small it is hard to see the images

---------------------------------------------------
survey01
---------------------
**what do you think about the subject?**
I'm not sure how the pictures connect to what is written - it seems to be a loose connection it might be better with just text alone, and each message on a seperate line.

**where would you see this project used?**
in a staduium on a big screen in a long line waiting to get into a club... or a movie theatre. inside a movie theater before the movie starts. anyplace people wait around for along time. in an airport waiting room. in a restaurant in a public square.

**why?**
it woud be a fun way to have conversations with unknown strangers

**what themes ould you like to deal with using this system?**
maybe the system could introduce a topic or a picture of a celebrity or something and say "What do you think about it?" so the stuff coming in isn't so free form.

**what kind of interactivity would engage the users?**
- cellphone screen: works only if you have a lot of time to spend.
- keyboard screen: would be faster to type the messages.
- other: MMS pictures? (but might be pornographic things>)

**are there any other comments you would like to add**
put the phone number on the screen.
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survey 02
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**what do you think about the project?**
interesting idea - but needs more compelling "raison d'etre" - the theme being discussed makes or breaks the system and "postcards of dublin" isn't enough.

**where would you see this project used?**
use OC exposure - so a large public installation - a clever algorithm to limit abuse would be valuable to stop "young fellas" hijacking it.

**why?**
another metric for capturing public opinion

**what themes would you like to deal with using this system?**
local politics, bin taxes, etc.

**what kind of interactivity would engage the users?**
- cell phone screen: yes
- keyboard screen: no

**are there any other comments you would like to add?**
would be interested in seeing:
/more charged theme
/multiple users, multiple views, displayed simulataneously
/visualizations of stats of input to date

-----------------------------------------
survey 03
-------------------------------------
**What do you think about the project?**
I like the interaction with phones, but should be more interaction that makes sense. Doesn't see a narrative, just slogans, thoughts, very much like Mike's Project. What's added value? If I send SMS and another person soon after, only see my comment very short maybe, just white and black? pictures can be inspirational but also distractive

**Where would you see this project used?**
In dublin (The more [places in dublin] the better interesting to compare what happens in different places even all over the world. you could show narrative which took place anywhere in the other place.)

**why?**
sounds very unoriginal, but was thinking a while ago and dublin would have something like 'public opinion' platform just for large interactive which enables users to be more critical about their town and inspires them to make it more beautiful.

**what themes would you like to deal with using this system?**
politics, buses, health care, taxis, but in a more minial ,nice, original way

**what kind of interactivity would engage the users?**
- cell phone screen: yes
- anything else?: other tangible interfaces like just a pen connected to a computer which is basically the same as writing with sms

**are there any other comments you would like to add?**
www.loesjie.nl (i'll send american link)
editing mode and moderating mode, uncensored mode, or a beautiful, best shot of mode.
prevent something happening like what you see under music channels: "I like peter", "greetings to sila", "ucd sucks", etc. not really interesting.

maybe have a story (narrative) playing all over dubline , on different screens, and iwth phone you can commment on a main character, etc. influence story, phone conversations on screen, have to thinks more about framework of course.
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Friday, February 06, 2004

One questionnaire filled:

- What do you think about the project ?

Cool stuff !
I can see a lot of possibilities based on the same principle.
ok , the free text / free image thing is the first idea : graffiti / public
expression space.
But depending on the set of images and constraining the set of words, you
can radically change the meaning of the installation.
I would go for a much more authorial / editorial view, based on a very
specific theme : carefully chosen, strong images and provocative
theme/question apparent on screen to trigger and contextualize audience
input. I would even go as far as filtering user input.
I would structure images in a much more collage / clashing way. Not simply 5
horizontally aligned tiles, but image elements of any form, size, location.
I would structure the experience in time much more. Not clog all the
sentences one after the other, or each sentence replacing the previous one.
I would suggest a theme - can be just a word - a the top of the screen. Or
simply by one big striking image.
Some random ideas :
- There is the image of the body of a person, composed of hundreds of
different pictures of heads, torsoes, legs, hairs, penises, livers, wigs,
etc. You decide to ask people how they feel about the body, you will get
messages about diseases, aids, fitness, anorexia. Then you only retrieve
images based keywords on that specific thesaurus.
- We have an imaginary city that gets composed by people's dreams. Utopia.
As people text sentences about urban life, the city becomes built.
- You have random images of people talking : personalities, cartoons, film
scenes, with empty speech bubbles. When you send a text, it appears in the
bubble for a while. You could imagine that the text cycles through,
disappears for a while and comes back.
- MadLibs. There is the image of a woman dreaming at the window and a legend
with parts of the sentence written, parts empty. You can fill in the gaps.
An engine could filter words based on their type (noun/adjective/verb, etc.)
- public poetry - encourage people to write poetry, or what they are
thinking when they are in the bus, and their sentence becomes part of a
giant poem arranged in space like a tree.
- anonymous confessions - ask people to confess personal things
- You have some dramatic movie clips of Indian movies from the 50s and
people can send their own subtitles.

Another one is to image more cooperation between people, where there are
different phone numbers, or different numbers to be entered before the
message, etc. so that when you text, it appears in a different place, with a
different function, e.g. there is a round-table discussion between four
ministers / drug dealers and you can send a legend for each of them (what
they're thinking).

- Where would you see this project used ?
A lot of places - true that its use will depend totally on where it is
placed.
General as it is, it can be used as a public forum anywhere : in a club, in
a company, in the street, in a museum/theatre, where you ask for audience
feedback. You can imagine that it is moderated, or that there is a junk
filter. There are applications where you do not send your message for it to
be displayed immediately, but thoughtful comments that you want to stay for
a week.
Probably best in these public "waiting" spaces where you have nothing to do
and you're embarrassed - it would give you a reason to talk to strangers :
bus/subway stations, ATM lines (especially in dublin).
Or more political - but it on an embassy, a building about to be torn down,
etc. So that people can say what they feel about it.
Do you know the project http://www.helloworldproject.com ?

You could imagine a screen with two sides. A guy on a side, a girl on the
other.
You encourage couples to have conversations about things that they don't
like to talk about.

- What kind of interactivity

If it is a small space, it would be good to detect presence, so that the
system can adapt its behaviour to new people coming, resetting when they're
leaving, etc.

- Other comments

keep me posted about new developments !


http://www.helloworldproject.com

Huge scale projection text project

Thursday, February 05, 2004

----------- We also plan to apply for this ------------
: We are looking for an artist with specialist
: knowledge of new media to work with a group of young people to create an
: art piece

:
: The general theme of the piece is EU Enlargement - how this is explored or
: interpreted will be decided by participants. 25 young people - 1 from each
: European member state, including new states who will join the EU in May -
: will meet in Dublin at the end of April for one week, with the work being
: launched on Enlargement day, May 1st.
:
: Part of the process of creating this work will involve internet-based
: communication between these 25 young people and a lead artist, beginning in
: February. This internet 'forum' will allow the group to discuss the theme,
: what it means to them, decide what focus the piece of art work will take,
: and to upload ideas and raw material in the form of photographs, text,
: drawings and sound material. When they arrive in Dublin in April, much of
: the creative work will already be done. However, one week in real time will
: be spent together forming the final coherent statement or 'product' which
: will be exhibited to the public.
:

: I don't
: know if you or anyone else at Medialab would be available to give some time
: to this project in the next 3 months, but if you are I'd certainly welcome
: the opportunity to talk to you about it. Hope to hear from you soon.
:
: Regards,
:
: Margo Kenny
: National Youth Arts Programme
: National Youth Council of Ireland
: 3 Montague Street
: Dublin 2
: +353.1.4784122
: +353.1.4783974 (fax)
: arts@nyci.ie
: http://www.youtharts.ie
:
: ****************************************************************

Number to send sms to: **0871334929**

- java console works as an intermediate between max and flash, and receives from max from port 1250 (by default) and sends on port 3000, so flash should always set the port on 3000, and otudp should always write on 1250.
Trnity sends on port 8000 that needs to be opened by Martin....
in mac check port settings in network utilities, and port scan.

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Meeting Sven and Cati 3rd of February

Success: The software is now on one machine (Cati's big mac), flash and max talking, with the flosc java console runing behind. Important link: http://www.benchun.net/flosc/

1- run the java app flosc
2- Open the flash file
3- Open Max, and clic on the text field to test (SMS simulation)

- To do -
  • meeting tomorrow 6pm Sven and Cati to connect to the sms server

  • Sven ask Ken to get the files to rebuild the sms server onto a mle machine, or to continue on the trinity one

  • look at another image processing than flash : jitter, processing (http://processing.org)


  • - Ideas -
    For the workshop, we could ask the different themes people would like to play around and deal with

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