When I say you say

This assignment is about creating a new way of visualizing and communicating music. My music score evolved from the simple “connect the dots” notion to breather patterns and planetary motion.

In this version I’m connecting dots with different types of waves, and the way you would read this is by numbers. You can serialize these number and form different wave patterns. Each wave is different (amplitude, frequency) and this is left for interpretation. Here i started developing a legend for my system.

Reading Sound, code, image (reading assignment from week 5) helped evolve my ideas. Also the graphic score library provided good examples. Guillermo Gregorio’s work was my main inspirator.

My final idea uses circular motion, breathing, and frequencies.

Description:

As you are the center, breathing is around you. This is how i plan to time my graphic score. The duration of the number of breaths dictate how long a note should be played and how long the piece is.

This particular example there are 64 breaths, which is the duration of the piece, and the breath is composed of two stages, which lends itself for subdivisions. There is top and bottom (12 and 6 o’clock) beginning of the breath (inhale) and then the end (exhale). Cresendo and diminuendo, rise and fall, etc. The breath’s length is determined by the size of the “orbiting” circle (planet).

This is written for a group performance, so each person would get a wave, frequency, amplitude to manage with their breathing. Could just simple chords for accompaniment, could be percussion, could be any instrument or element in music. The focus is on the individual, because you are the center, you are important, your actions affect the entire universe.

My midterm proposal involves the mobile smart phone as a tool of expression and collection. Today on my way to ITP I documented my commute by taking photos of graffiti with my Iphone. Documentation is vital to any process, and this experiment strengthened my interest in this particular form of expression.

What I intend to do is to have smart phone users document graffiti (pictures) and street music (video) during their daily routines. While I experimented the still part of my project today, I had cool graffiti to look like while I was riding the train. During that short or lengthy ride, people listen to music, read books or magazines, or just stare into the motion outside the train window. Why not review the media that you have in your smart phone in aims to make the subway / metro experience more enjoyable.

Graffiti and street music fall under a similar umbrella, they all are and happen on the streets, outside! The documentation of this material provides a larger spectrum of awareness in relationship to were you are located. In New York City we experience street expression very frequently. Street musicians play their music in heavy traffic stations such as Union Square, Bedford ave stop, etc. Graffiti, well, graffiti is everywhere. You can’t avoid it, and I dislike when it gets taken away. Because the money used to clean up graffiti is such a waste.

Music  and graffiti on the streets will be the center of my project. People around the world will see the art that is everywhere on the streets. Users will upload the media taken with their smart phones and share it on a blog or website so that everyone can admire, comment  and rate.

Right now you can find my project here:

Mobile Media Midterm

You can email graffiti. Click here to send e-mail

(for now).

In working with prototypes we were asked to design a personal time piece that was portable.

I’m working with Nahana Shelling and we thought of a structure that expresses different measurements of time. Sometimes you don’t’ have to know where you are in time. It depends how we measure it.

We thought that a series of rings stacked on top of each other could rotate at a certain speed according to different type frames.

Time is perceived differently by everyone and everything. An epoch in time is nearly not important unless you witness the change of an epoch.

The image below will take you to my partners blog. The toy blow was part of our inspiration. The chick hops for a certain amount of time. This is an example how time can be contained within itself.

link to nahana's blog

The final piece materials will probably include a mirror surface, a crank mechanism for different time frames, and lots of ticking.

David Deutsch help visualized what time means for us depending on your place in the universe.

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day.” Time is just an illusion that humans have created by measuring the motion of the celestial object that are closest to us. Time organizes pages in history and our daily schedules. Usually seasons, and the presence of the sun and the moon makes our understanding of time work for us. A life span is measured in time, but what does that mean? Avg. life span is 80 years. How many summers is that? How many conversations is that? How many loves? How many children, grandchildren is that?

There are infinite ways to measure time, not just by seconds, minutes, hours and so on. Our piece intends to break that illusion of time. We can measure the sun and moons movements, galaxies movements, super massive black holes, quasars, the expanding universe. We would be able to perceive what an EPOCH is until we experience the change of it.

Initial stages of the physical prototype. We started on Friday afternoon and worked for about 2 hours.

We have been exploring 12-tone, serialism, atonal, dodecaphony.

Here is my 12-tone:

12tone

12tone.v2 w/live

Spectral music. overtones. and so on.

using spear: v1. spear

v2.spear

My service is working and you can email media @ SMSer@diagonalpeople.com

I’m working on building a database for the media emailed or text. MySql and Php work well together, and so the user will upload a video or picture that will be inserted into my database, then Php will read that database to show the work on an html page.

I’m narrowing down my service to the streets. that is all.

here is a test database with pictures.

You can email or MMs media to SMSer@diagonalpeople.com

Group:
Brit, Andy, Jason.

Design with Constraints

We thought of different ideas for the Home HIV test that will be deployed in South Africa. We met on Friday for about an hour after we shared our ideas via email. We brought different sketch ideas and the created a prototype.

The HIV test is 6″x6″x1″ which could be reduced6″x2″x1″ by compressing the test. This conversion led to our first “tube” idea.

I also thought of the surface area will be affected. The tube shape will decrease the panel of display. Also it can present stability problems.

The elongated design proposes a bit more stability.

I worked with the tube idea with Andy, because we wanted to compress the package. We changed the end caps for just one cap that holds both test tubes.

The idea seems to work, then I thought of the stability of the tube. I though of adding two leg clips that would support the tube better while the test is upright for 20 minutes.

So our design will not feature the leg clip idea, but it could be something to think about.

The tube design provides less surface area for pictures, but

it is more pocket-able. Thinking green, the one plastic end cap can reduces possible pollution

[insert final design pic]

There were other design ideas that we didn’t take in consideration based on the complexity of assembly. I think reducing the plastic pieces is key to the design constrains. Specially if there is no exit recycling strategy.

Week 1 assignment:

Office and Enhanced Senses.

I thought of how this theme could work together in order to improve productivity while maintaining good relationships with your co-workers in the office.

These are the five words I selected to describe the theme.

+Focus

+Space

+Relationship

+Choise

+Noise

Each word represents what I thought was relevant to this device for enhancing sense positivly at the office.

The images provide a sense of how interactions at work can change  through this sense enhancing device.

There is always a choice.

Peeking can be minimized.

Noise can be shut off.

Invisibility!

All of these can help your production at work depending how you use your new senses.

Keeping in mind this device has to be used for good not evil, the work place can become a more productive environment while keeping distractions to a minimum.

My SMS/MMS based project.

I would like people to report meaningful media that can encourage change.

This idea came after listening to WNYC this weekend. Users are being encouraged to submit pictures on how the recession is affecting certain markets. For example: store closings, good deals, drink specials, etc. I thought this is an extremely interesting way of documenting the period we are living in.

Following up on my final last semester the graffiti glove I thought it would be nice to keep track of the graffiti around a neighborhood, subway stop, street corner, general area, etc.

I’ve noticed an increasingly amount of graffiti around the JMZ line and LES subways stops. Even on my walk to school from Broadway/Lafayette stop, i’ve noticed daring graffiti stunts.

Now I’m frankly I’m getting tired of the piles of trash in the city. This is certainly a huge problem in my neighborhood and I wish sometimes I didn’t live there.  Then again I come to NoHo and there is a similar problem, not as prominant, but when the wind picks up you see trash whirlwinds and bottles rolling aimlessly.

Now it would be interesting to see people take pictures of unprecedented trash pile ups in their neighborhoods to fuel my project.

Maybe all of this is correlated. Recession, graffiti, and piles of trash.

unemployment can trigger self expression through graffiti?

waste management services on the decrease thanks to the lack of funding?

I can honestly hope that this city cleans up, but leaves graffiti alone.