The goal of this performance was to take on the role of a historian presenting the historical importance that was the prohibition of keyboards as a result of a culture heavily invested in the benefits of copy and paste as a method for creation. The presentation is given after prohibition has been lifted. However, much like the prohibition of alcohol, once the ban was lifted, regulatory measures were put in place to maintain a level of control.
This project was designed to enhance people’s understanding of food. To do this, we developed a context-aware system that would allow people to interact with each other through a system that exists primarily on mobile and portable devices and passes relevant information when and where it is the most relevant. The system is not real time and, instead of being location based, it functions in spaces and times that are most relevant to the information being thrown around between users.
This project was designed and built in collaboration with Daniel Lara.
This set of studies explores the relationship that we as user have with digital devices. Currently, we are forced to be quite delicate with digital devices for a variety of reasons. Mostly, this is due to the fact that the devices are fragile and expensive. But I’m interested in wondering what would happen if this wasn’t the case. What if you could interact with things in an emotional way? What if the physical manifestation of an emotional outburst caused a meaningful response from a device or system? I’ve explored this elimination of the preciousness associated with a device within the 3 studies in the video above and listed below.
1: Punching: Signal from the Noise.
A nostalgic exploration referencing a time when you could punch a television or radio in order to improve reception.
2: Throwing: Force as Instrument
An experiential exploration that looks at the force of throwing as musical instrument.
3: Shaking: Directional Nudge
The most specific of the scenarios, the shaking interface uses a mobile phone to look at ways in which provocative messages could be sent directly (and anonymously) from one device to another through the use of proximity and a sharp, scolding directional gesture.
The project that we have defined for ourselves is to develop a system that helps people learn about food. In the process, I have been learning a great deal about food myself. In order to research the value of knowing where food comes from, I joined a Community Supported Agriculture coop. The pictures below are of the first box received through the system. The box is ordered online and a drop-off location is selected at the time of purchase. Each drop-off location has a different day/time specific to that location. You do not get to choose what is in the box. Each box is (essentially) the same for that week.
What was interesting about this endeavor is how much produce the box contained that I would have never bought on my own. Once I had the box, it was very exciting to look up each new food item and find ways in which these new vegetables and greens could be used in cooking.
This lead us to start thinking about ways in which we could interrupt people’s normal progression with new ideas of things for them to cook with and eat.
This idea of the distance a food has traveled is good but we’ve quickly realized that knowing this once you are in the kitchen is not very valuable since you’ve already bought it and brought it home. It needs to happen earlier in the process, before a purchase has been made.
Farm Coop with Dynamic Recipe Options
The idea here is that initial pink block knows what is in your bag from the farm coop. Once placed on the counter, recipes would be displayed and filtered based on what items from the bag are selected by placing them near the block.
We liked this idea of a system in which recipes are presented based on what you have available. However, as evidenced by my small apartment counter top, counter space is incredibly valuable during cooking. Updated displays need to exist as a different model that remains flexible and reactive to the cooking process.
This project is an exploration of digital text and how it can be utilized in the creation of a new way of reading. The text that the project explores is Labyrinth, a collection of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges.
A quick note about “references,” as defined for this project:
A reference, as I will refer to it within this project write-up, is a word or phrase that, when understood in more detail, exposes a more rich narrative within the writing of Borges. The references have been curated subjectively and by hand as the result of several close readings of the original text.
The stories of Labyrinths are dense with these references. What is most compelling about these references is that some of them are factual, some are completely fictional, and at times they are untrue yet rooted in fact or history. Throughout a collection of his short stories, the use of these references weaves together the narrative fabric that is his own universe.
The reading system developed explores the relationship between the reader, the Borges universe, the outside world and where he blurs the line between the two.
The first story from Labyrinths that has been built out into a specifically relevant reading environment is Three Versions of Judas. [continued ...]
Created in collaboration with Daniel Lara and Scott Liao, our SmashBot video is an investigation into a possible dynamic that could develop between us and the devices we use. The exploration looks at how a model of course correction could be used to manipulate the function and behavior of the objects we use. Imagine instead of fixing source code or updating firmware, you simply nudge, punch or smash a device in order to let it know that it is either doing something that it shouldn’t be doing or isn’t doing something it should be. Within this scenario, the relationship between us and our devices shifts dramatically form our current model of delicate use and precious protection.
This 1 week project came directly out of the combination of our 3 midterm projects. Scott Liao’s project is about multiplicity, Daniel Lara’s was about control and mine explored force as a model for interactions.
This is a series of gesture and networking possibilities that we are exploring with some object forms that we discovered on a research trip. We were engaged by these 12 identical pieces and curious as to what inspiration we could draw from their form. What opportunities are presented when holding, stacking, resting or combining many objects with this form?
As the text is displayed, each segment is analyzed character by character (in real time) and handed over for use in the creation of the sound for the space based on the same timing as is defined in the Time Text XML file. This is an example of the sound created based on the first several segments of Three Versions of Judas
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The continuation, in physical + interactive form, of these earlier material explorations [01][02][03]
This is an exploration of interactions rooted in the results of the physical manifestations of emotional outburst initially inspired by a material intended for use in situations where protection and shock absorption are required. The explorations moved into a space that begins to ask questions about how we interact with technology and the ways that we treat the digital things around us with care. The visual forms are influenced by the forms of the material, developed for function but formally, are very engaging. The sounds are displayed live from within the object that is being smashed. The signal is affected and amplified in real time to create a more engaging sense of the internal results of the action inflicted upon the object.
The resulting interactions was found to be pleasing by many of the users. Some described it as fun and others said that the action and response was therapeutic for them.
