Sunday Report (9/25)

This morning I decided to report some of my actions related to the class this weekend. I know it isn't required but it helps the narrative to explain events and decisions so I don't have to say, "I forgot to mention that I decided...".

Anyway I had gotten this mirror

Front

Back with board removed

It is a very sturdy mirror. It's made of plastic so it will hold up. When I bought it I think it looked interesting and I could perhaps use it, but this morning I realized how I could actually use it for the sound project. 

Why not make a magic mirror? I would just have to put the touchpoints onto pieces of metal that are decoratively shaped not unlike the snakes on the Snow White mirror and it would make weird screeching sounds. As you can see on the back picture, there is space behind the mirror to hide the battery and all the cords. The placement of the speakers might give me trouble but the frame itself can easily cut into.

Earlier I finished taking apart the toy flashlight and made a diagram of the circuit so I could better understand how it worked.

It has three buttons in a row plus a single button, a switch and rotating mechanism which I call a turntable switch (it might not be the actual name but its the same basic principles of a turntable).

As the circuit 2 I made has 6 touch points and a switch I think the best course of action is a symmetrical orientation if I choose to pursue this idea. It will be: 3 touchpoints in row, the circuit 2 switch, the turntable (and related light), the flashlight switch and the buttons. I am not sure where the 4th solo button from the flashlight will go but like I said I would like the other touchpoints to be pieces of decorative of metal.

Anyway, that is my project idea. Will work on it tomorrow and ask Thomas questions. Will see what comes of this idea. Either way, I have two circuits.

Hertzian Tales Ch2

In the last chapter of Hertzian Tales, we discussed technology and its interpretations (metafors, etc.). In this second installment, the writers are again talking about machines but this time in regards to interfaces. Previously, I had complaints about the writers style overcomplicating the discussion so it was not easily interpreted. I must admit the writers got better explaining the ideas they were presenting in this chapter. It was not over cluttered with references, in lou of such methods they actually expanded upon ideas in a way that was straightforward and easy to understand their meaning.

In this chapter, the writers discussed interfaces such as user-friendliness, environment and other things which influenced the design of technology. I admit I was bored at first by the ideas in this chapter because they seemed pretty straightforward but once I got into the meat of the chapter halfway through I got intralled. 

There were a number of influences to the interface which seemed straightforward (certain groups of people for example), but the idea of semantics was interesting. In that section of the chapter they mentioned Lisa Krohn who created a device called an “Answerphone” which combined an answering machine with a phone to make a device which transcribed and printed messages. Even with today’s technology I think that creation from 1987 is really cool and I wish I had one. Plus the idea of a device which looks like what they are designed to do is cool. 

The other section which was fun to find out about was called pets or memoricry of human behavior. They mentioned a car in japan which stops running if you are not feeling well. It reminded me so much of Baymax from Big Hero 6. The idea of alien devices was interesting as well since it was more abnormal devices.

I really enjoyed this chapter because each time I turned the page (or scrolled through the pages) there was some new extraordinary device (a ball that moves itself!) that caught my attention and with my attention I could better assimilate some of the deeper design choices chosen and their interpreations.

Saturday Report (9/24)

9/24
I went to a number of thrift stores in search of the element which would combine the two circuits for my sound project.

At one store I saw a gumball machine which I thought was cool but I didn't know what I would do with for the sound project.

The last thrift store I went to I found a mirror (pictured below) with a blue plastic frame. When I saw it I thought it had potential. Not exactly what I had been looking for but then again I didn't know what I was looking for. Since I probably will be posting a lot of pictures of said mirror till I finish the project here is a dinosaur which was hanging out across the street from the final thrift store.

What I did 9/19 - 9/21

9/19
On tuesday, we presented our group projects (see previous post). I think it went well. They seemed to like it. The suggestions from the class were mainly in regards to location (going somewhere else other than the library/campus).

During the other half of class, I worked on the circuit. I recreated what I had done (with suggestions from Thomas). I got the basic set up in place with alligator clips, but I did start soldering some of the basic wires (such as the two wire attached to the speaker).

9/21
Today in class we discussed Chapter 1 of Hertzian Tales by Anthony Dunne. It was interesting. In the discussion, we talked about objects as metaphors such as Magritte's Treachery of Images painting. We mentioned thumb drives which I researched and found was that name was a brand name.
-Thomas showed a cool picture of a first resistor which looked very artistic

"we live in a world of ideas...so why not live it that way?"

-we saw a electronic room with programmable appearance
-we learned about something called "duo skin" which is metalic goldleaf tatoos that can be used as: input devices / output devices / communication devices and even have LED lights. You can design the circuit on graphic design program and then use a vinel cutter on the gold leaf/tattoo paper. Cut it out and then apply to skin.

The other half was dedicated to working on the sound project. I had found a toy with buttons and a light in one of the boxes in the FabLab, so I had decided to take it apart. I was able to unscrew all but one screw which had been stripped as well as a screw which was on the absolute center of the toy (thus unattainable). With the help of Thomas I was able to pry it apart and then smashed it because the center screw did not want to comply.

Admittedly at the time I commented that I was sort of disappointed on the contents after all that effort but I do like the circuit from the toy and I may play with it for the sound project.

What I did 9/12 - 9/14

 9/12
We continued to play with circuits in class. But this time rather than using a bread board we actually soldered it down to a board. It took me a long time to get mine going. I accidentally switched the speaker and the battery wires. Then I didn't realize the speaker wires were a reflection of what the power wire orientation. So there was a lot of unsoldering going on. That being said, it worked out.
The picture is from when solder had combined on two wires so I had to clean it. Like I said, it took a long time. But I got it working to annoy people with the sound.

9/14
The next class I played around with the circuit I had made the previous class. I cut the wire and fixed some of the soldering. Then explored I glanced around the cabinets for ideas for future projects. I decided to ask Thomas a question and that gave him an idea of how to fix circuit 2 (which I had) so it would shut off other than when it is unplugged from the battery. I'll have to play with inserting different resisters with a switch to change the frequency.

On 9/16 Ben gave me the device for the group project. Might be better than I thought it would be.

Group Project

Ben created a device with a button and a dial. When one pushes the button and turns the dial a loud frequency screams from it. It's a pretty fun device with a fairly simple circuit. It's based on a design from Instructables of using a LM386 as an Oscillator. The box is Ben's creation.

Once Ben created the box he gave it to me and Toung to get reactions. It took several several minutes of deliveration to figure out where we would place it. We considered placing it at a mall, but I vetoed it as it looks too much like a bomb for my taste.

Finally we decided to go to the front of the library and placed it by a lamp post. And then we recorded it:

Hertzian Tales Ch1

Although it was long (not War and Peace long but long enough), the article was fascinating in its own way. I had taken a hundred or more student lecture class when I was at the University of Central Florida and the professor delved into this subject of technology and its many definitions. There were a lot of interesting discussions on this very subject. I do not think the writer (or writers) of this text did the best job exploring the issues here. It was very dry and oddly phrased so they reference all this stuff but not really saying all that much or too complicated to fully appreciate. I mean no offense to the writers but I think the style does not do justice to the concepts they want to put forth which, if you understand them, are actually very interesting.

However, that being said, when you do understand what the heck the writers are trying to say, the whole psychological exploration of electronic devices is pretty cool. We are not talking smart phones or tablets here we are delving into technology on the conceptional level and how it impacts certain areas of life and the metaphors put forth. It is pretty amazing to just sit and think about. And then add in the whole idea of design of technology. I do not know. This stuff might just be going over my head as it is pretty mind blowing think about. But then it is all pretty simple as well as we are talking the combination of design/tecnology as packaging. I am pretty uncomplex when it comes to technology. 

I know the basics of how things work (and if I do not I research), but the writers (and my professor back at UCF) really explore technology further than I have really thought about. 

What I did 9/7/16

This past Wednesday was a busy day because we got our breadboards so that we could make little noise circuits without any need of soldering.

It took a little bit for me to get mine to work because apparently I didn't put my wires in all the way but in the end it turned out well. I'm going to need a bit of help in this class. This will certainly be a learning experience.

We also assembled a group for the Project 1. I hope it goes well. None of us had concrete ideas so the other members chose not to meet this weekend. Like I said, I hope this goes well because I hate putting off work till later. 

The Art of Sound response

The ideas and concepts put forth by the futurists including Luigi Russolo was very interesting. I was fascinated by the idea of questioning what makes music music and our recognition of everyday sounds as being considered “normal”. They put forth a number of great points I will need to sleep on and reread to see if I understand correctly. I also enjoyed the idea of the futurist “band”. The idea of these wild, unprepared people performing in such a bizarre way is really a funny picture to imagine. I really am sorry we do not have sound videos of these figures performing because that would be really great to hear/see (side note I will need to search to see if anyone recreated such performances (surely someone on the internet has thought to do this…I realize it was 1913 —a little over 100 years ago—but someone could have lived long enough for sound movies to be invented…heck they did have wax cylinder recorders which could have recorded something so I’ll have to do some research).

I have to admit something because I think it’s really cool and relevant: I’m a college student with lots of assignments so anyway I can multitask I will immediately take. I noticed the text of the article was copyable so I copied the 1913 manifesto onto a document. From there I enabled my text to speech function on my computer so that said document (which is about sound) was verbalized by a computerized voice. In other words: I kind of sort of made futurist sound art out of a futurist manifesto on the art of sound. It was actually pretty funny (especially since it read every single word on the document including the “ubuclassics ubu.com / the art of noise luigi russolo” and number that was on each page). So while I am not sure if I will be able to hear a real futurist sound band performance I did get a performance of sound art through this reading.

Project 0: Cyber Nails & Gadget Fingers

Had to make a poster dedicated to upgrading ones body with technology. So I did this poster:

Cyber Nails was inspired by a friend on Facebook who always shares all of these fashion "how-to" videos especially a lot of videos related to the painting of nails. So I thought why not have electronic nails -- or Cyber nails--which would have the ability to change color at a push of a button (or in this case through the handy ability of an app). In theory, you should be able to photograph a pattern/design and upload it to your nails (much like Adobe Capture app). Plus: it's indestructable (no more chipping/breaking of nails!).

Note the left corner "From the "Don" Adams Toolbox" which is a reference to Don Adams who (in addition to be a ridiculous spy on "Get Smart") also was the original voice actor for Inspector Gadget -- an inspiration for the Gadget Fingers.